Abbey Program With

‘Holy Twins’ Authors

BETHLEHEM — Kathleen Norris, The New York Times’ best-selling author of The Cloister Walk, and Tomie dePaola, a Newbery Honor and Caldecott Honor winning artist and the author of 26 Fairmount Avenue and Strega Nona have created a book about a topic that is very close to both of their hearts. The Holy Twins (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; September 10, 2001; $16.99; 32 pages; ages 5 and up) is a lovingly written and glowingly illustrated picture book about Saint Benedict, the brother who created the Benedictine Rule, the founding principle for many orders, including the Benedictine Monks, and his saintly twin sister, Saint Scholastica.

The absorbing story of The Holy Twins humanizes these spiritual figures, beginning with their happy childhood, their separation and education, and finally the trials and miracles that accompanied their maturing into adulthood.

The Abbey of Regina Laudis will host a book signing with Kathleen Norris and Tomie dePaola to celebrate their collaboration on the new children’s illustrated picture book. Ms Norris and Mr dePaola will be at The Monastic Art Shop at the abbey, on Flanders Road in Bethlehem, on Saturday, September 29, from 10 to 11:30 am.

The contemplative Benedictine community of the Abbey of Regina Laudis welcomes with particular joy these authors, whose own lives have been personally touched by the lives of the twin saints, Benedict and Scholastica, as they have experienced them through their own encounters with contemporary Benedictine monastic communities.

Kathleen Norris is an oblate of a Benedictine monastery and she lived for a liturgical year among Benedictine monks, a story she captured in her best-selling book, The Cloister Walk. Tomie dePaolaHe began a lifelong interest in Benedict and Scholastica when, as a young man, he spent a brief time exploring his spiritual vocation among the Benedictine monks at Weston Priory in Vermont.

For more information, call The Monastic Art Shop at the Abbey of Regina Laudis at 203-266-7637 or visit the website at www.AbbeyOfReginaLaudis.com