100 Hearts is a rare jewel in Catholic Cinema

Joseph McCullough

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Profiles of nuns in habit and a bishop in cassock with stern facial expressions.

100 Hearts, an earnest documentary by Paolo Damosso on Blessed Clelia Merloni, airs on Salt + Light TV Sunday, June 16, 2024 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT.

Complex narrative structure, bold artistic choices, beautiful cinematography, and a number of shocking betrayals.

On Sunday, June 16 at 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT, Salt + Light TV will air 100 Hearts, a film about Blessed Clelia Meroni by visionary Italian director and screenwriter, Paolo Damosso.

This film entwines two tales of betrayal: The true-life experience of Mother Clelia, the devout, 19th century Italian Foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who heroically overcame numerous personal obstacles to establish a thriving religious order; as well as a modern-day parable that brings to life Mother Clelia’s virtuous example of humility and forgiveness. (See the film's website for more.)

100 Hearts is quite excellent. In fact, I’d watch again – and I don’t often watch movies twice. For this reason, I’d like to take a moment to critically acclaim one of the film’s most stellar features, that being Damosso’s unique approach to character development.

In reflecting on this film, I realized that I generally approach films with a subconscious expectation that the story will have a clear hero and a clear villain — and, if not a villain, than some villainous force that prevents the main character from achieving their ultimate goal. This expectation became conscious to me as I watched the film and, at times, struggled to understand why the villains weren’t consistently behaving in a villainous way. In fact, it seemed to me as though the villains were generally good people. At first, I thought that this was simply bad writing, but by the time I reached the end of the film, I concluded that 1) I was very much mistaken in my assessment of the writer’s skill level, and that 2) The writer had employed the use of a character archetype with which I was not familiar. I will call this archetype, “The Holy Villain.”

To me, “The Holy Villain” is a sinner saved by grace – a character who is good, a character who does a great deal of good, but also a character who makes a couple of seriously awful life choices that give the protagonist a lot of grief. This character oscillates between doing great good and doing evil to a point that it’s confusing. Like, make up your mind already – are you for God or are you against Him? If you’re for Him, then smarten up and stop making bad life choices! Now I understand what God must feel like watching us. For that reason, I think that most Catholics will find the Holy Villain to be a very relatable character archetype; I know I did.

The Holy Villain archetype is made manifest in Merloni’s religious community. This film’s honest portrayal of dysfunctional relationship dynamics in these communities completely subverted my expectations. When I started watching this film, I thought I’d see a bunch of holy Catholic women living their best holy Catholic lives. What I witnessed instead was holy women who accomplished a lot of good and holy things, but would also display pride and jealousy on a few rare yet very notable occasions. Interestingly, in the case of these nuns, their vices manifested themselves in so generally tender and sublime a manner that their vices were nearly undetectable.

But if you gave it some time, you eventually found that the effect of their pride and jealousy promoted serious division in their religious community, and that it also happened to cause immense pain in the life of the innocent protagonist. At one moment, Mother Clelia and a fellow nun appear very friendly toward one another. Then a few moments later, we experience a moderate time jump and that same ‘friendly’ supporting character is gracefully backstabbing Mother Clelia. The cycle of friendship and backstabbing then repeats at an even pace.

“That seems oddly out of character for a nun,” I thought. “Why are they behaving in a way that is totally inconsistent with the high ideals to which they’d committed their lives?” The juxtaposition between their religious garments – which signify a commitment to holiness – and their problematic behaviour only added to my cognitive dissonance. Eventually, however, the story’s moral is made clear: A white-washed tomb carries deadman’s bones.

The worst and most surprising instance of betrayal, however, is committed by someone most of us can relate to: A lay person. Running parallel to Merloni’s real-life story is the modern tale of Professor Giulia De Magistris, a teacher at the Sacred Heart convent school. At the film’s outset, De Magistris is promoted as vice principal of the school, much to the jealousy and envy of at least half of her colleagues. Her career success is, however, tempered by profound grief, engendered by the death of her late husband, and her subsequent struggle to make sense of her life without him.

But for this small fact, things are going pretty well for the Professor, until an unexpected visit from the police throws her life into a state of chaos and collapse. Here, De Magistris experiences a loved one’s betrayal so intense that her entire understanding of reality is destabilized. As rumours of this surprise police visit spill out into the public, her professional life is destabilized, too.

Of course, everything is not as it seems, and an even more surprising and intense betrayal is yet to occur. When the truth was finally revealed, I must admit, I was dumbfounded. This betrayal was so bizarre a twist that to me it felt… uncomfortably realistic. And it left me seriously wondering whether I, as a practicing Catholic, would ever be capable of committing a crime that even I wasn’t expecting. The answer that the director Damosso gives is a resounding yes: Good people are capable of becoming Holy Villains. Do not be deceived. Sometimes, it’s the smallest seeds of vice, consistently nurtured, that create the greatest amount of chaos in a garden. And when they take root, they can create a big, prickly problem…

Thankfully, that’s not the only moral that this story offers. As the life of Blessed Clelia attests, good people are also capable of doing great things. No matter how many times Clelia was grievously betrayed by family, trusted confidants, friends and fellow religious, that woman forgave. Not once, not twice, but seventy times seven, with a kind smile, and a generous heart.

As you tune in on Sunday, June 16 at 8:30 pm ET to watch this incredible film, I encourage you to consider the people in your life who have hurt you the most, hurt you repeatedly, and will likely continue to hurt you. It might be your parents, your spouse, your inlaws, a sibling, a former best friend, a colleague, a neighbour, a stranger.

At the same time, I encourage you to consider the fact that this Blessed woman was found incorruptible 15 years after her death, a clear indication of her closeness to God. If the truest desire of our hearts is to love God with all our heart and all our soul, unconditional love and forgiveness of those who have wounded us most grievously is likely the best place to start.

I’m sure that Blessed Clelia would agree.

Tune in on Sunday, June 16 at 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT to watch 100 Hearts LIVE on Salt + Light TV.

Blessed Clelia, pray for us!