‘Messiah’ Series to Air on EWTN Starting Holy Saturday

BY: Joseph Pronechen

In time for the Easter-to-Pentecost liturgical season comes Messiah, an eight-part film series that will air on EWTN beginning April 11.

Filmed in almost 30 locations from the Holy Land to the United States, including Rome and the Vatican, the sweeping scope of Messiah takes viewers on a journey exploring the prophecies of the Messiah beginning in the Old Testament, where the prophets were describing the coming Messiah before Jesus appeared, and through on to the New Testament and their fulfillment by Jesus during and after his earthly life.

Beginning in Exodus, the episodes highlight the journey to the Passion and continue to the Fall of Rome.

Leonardo Defilippis, founder of Saint Luke Productions, is featured as the on-screen narrator. He is joined by expert commentators, along with added dramatic voice acting and the inclusion of hundreds of Old Masters artworks and nearly two dozen deeply moving songs, hymns and orchestral performances.

“I had just completed co-writing Queen of Heaven and wanted to do what we did for Mary for Jesus,” said Rick Rotondi, creator and executive producer of the Messiah series. Queen of Heaven was in a sense a biography of Mary through history. Likewise, Messiah showcasing Christ’s “presence throughout history.”

“I also wanted to show how Jesus, despite the scandal of the cross, triumphed not only supernaturally the most important way, but within history,” Rotondi added. “To this very day through his Church he has gathered his people as a light to the nations and conquered movements and ideologies that oppose him.”

He explained that Jesus’ contemporaries had very specific expectations for the Messiah. He would be a Son of David and “triumph over God’s enemies, as Moses had over Pharaoh and David over Goliath. The Crucifixion was a crushing blow to these messianic hopes.”

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