New book recounts Fr. Kapaun’s story for young audience

Spreading knowledge about, appreciation of, and devotion to Venerable Emil Kapaun has gotten a little easier and kid-friendlier. That is because a couple of weeks ago, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita released Father Emil Kapaun: Soldier of Christ, an illustrated children’s book that offers a brief overview of his life.

Scott Carter, who coordinates the diocese’s Office for the Beatification of Ven. Emil Kapaun, authored the book. Before Carter submitted the final version to the printer for publication, he convened an informal focus group for a reading: his two oldest daughters, five-year-old Emilia and three-year-old Genevieve. 

“They were excited and it was fun,” he said. “Emilia told me, ‘Dad, that’s my patron,’ which was really heartwarming.’”

Big project

Carter says he pondered for years how to bring Fr. Kapaun’s story to more children, and credits much of the book’s creation to two Sarahs. One of them – his wife Sarah Carter – was a source of inspiration and encouragement.

“We had talked about it, but it really came to the surface a bit over a year ago,” he said. “We have a great intro with the board book by Leah and Maria Somes, but as the girls have gotten older, Sarah really encouraged me to write a children’s book that expands the story more, so I started thinking about how to do that.”

Then there is Sarah Oshakuade, a local artist and a parishioner at Wichita’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. She hosted a vendor’s table at the 2022 Midwest Catholic Family Conference in Wichita, where she displayed religious drawings such as renderings of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s famous painting “L’innocence,” as well as some of her nonreligious projects on a slideshow display.

At one point, Carter happened by her booth and was impressed by Oshakuade’s artwork. He picked up a business card, but the visit was so low-key that she doesn’t even know if she was present for it. “I might have been away from the table,” Oshakuade said. “I don’t remember.”

But she definitely recalls the conversation that ensued a year and a half later when Carter used that business card to contact her. The possibility of a children’s book had been marinating in his mind – and that of his wife – for quite some time, but it felt like a bolt from the blue for Oshakuade.

“He reached out, saying he had this project,” she said. “We met in person, and he showed me examples of other picture books he really liked.”

As they discussed it, Oshakuade recounts, Carter’s confidence in and enthusiasm for the project were infectious. Nevertheless, she acknowledges, the very scope of such an undertaking intimidated her. Usually, she explains, a commissioned colored pencils project on paper requires between two and four weeks to complete. A children’s book with about 20 illustrations could require eight months. 

“It ended up taking about 13 months of drawing,” she said. “There was a lot of bringing illustrations with me on family trips and long car rides. When we traveled to Colorado for my brother-in-law’s medical school graduation, I was in our Airbnb at night before bed, working on the wheat field drawing.”

That picture helps depict young Emil’s life on the family farm, which is part of the story that Carter said he was careful to include, even though it might have been a more compelling hook to open with dramatic depictions of U.S. soldiers under fire. 

“It would have been easy to jump in and start in the thick of the action, but I wanted kids to connect with him,” Carter said. “Fr. Kapaun was an ordinary boy from Kansas. Those are the sorts of examples that connect us with the saints, and so the book opens with him growing up on the farm and discerning his call to the priesthood.”

That section of the story includes young Emil riding a bike, sitting alone in church contemplating missionaries and martyrs, and – after his ordination – playing baseball with children.

“Fr. Emil would go to bat wearing his clerics – his priestly clothes,” the book describes. “Even when one team found itself down a few runs, Fr. Emil would switch sides and smack a big home run. He always wanted to make sure no one was left behind.”

Snippets

The book goes on to show how the desire to leave no one behind endured onto the battlefield after Fr. Kapaun became an army chaplain. It describes nighttime snow flurries descending on American soldiers amid a surprise attack. As Fr. Kapaun anoints his men and drags them to safety, they urge him to flee. 

“‘Father, you’ve got to get out of here!’ the soldiers pleaded with him. ‘If you’re here when the sun comes up, you’ll be captured with us,’” it reads. “Fr. Emil thought about the missionaries and martyrs from his childhood, and their great love.

“‘No, my place is here with the wounded,’ Father replied. He had made up his mind. His boys needed him.”

The book goes on to depict the captured soldiers’ forced march, and how Fr. Kapaun carried the injured Sergeant Herb Miller. The story continues in the prison camp, and includes scenes in which Fr. Kapaun crafts a crude cup from a piece of sheet metal and then uses it to melt snow for drinking water, as well as Fr. Kapaun leading the prisoners in an Easter Sunday service. The final pages describe how Fr. Kapaun fell ill and, as he was being carried away to die, asked the guards’ forgiveness for the times he got angry with them. Then it recounts his last words:

“Don’t worry about me, I’m going where I always wanted to go, and when I get there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”

The story ends with the prisoners carving a crucifix in Fr. Kapaun’s honor as they survive another two years in the camp and then emerge sharing stories of their late chaplain’s love and courage. It encourages readers to pray for Fr. Kapaun to be recognized as a saint and concludes with a prayer for that intention.

An older brother

Carter says he hopes the book will help evoke a sense of wonder in those who read and listen to it. “I hope it opens kids – and maybe their parents, too – to be moved by the Holy Spirit in subtle, unique ways that we can never see on the outside,” he said. 

As for things that can be seen from the outside, Carter lauds Oshakuade’s success at rendering recognizable pictures of Fr. Kapaun. “I knew she was the right choice when I saw how she captured Fr. Kapaun’s face,” he said. “We would talk about the pictures ahead of time, and she’d bring them to me. Sometimes I had to say ‘Wow!’ The picture where he’s being carried away to the ‘death house’ and is raising his arm from the stretcher to bless the guards has really stuck with me amid the 75th anniversary of his death.”

Oshakuade spent much of her youth in Arkansas City and was already familiar with Fr. Kapaun’s story when Carter first discussed the project with her. However, she says, after spending so much time trying to capture the chaplain’s likeness, he has become like an unseen older brother – that is, unseen in his present form. 

“Since this project, it feels like I see his face everywhere,” she said. “My top goal was to do his likeness justice. It’s a great relief when I hear that I have done that.”

During her youth, Oshakuade recalls her father frequently encouraging her to use her artistic gifts to glorify God. It has taken many years to fully appreciate that exhortation, she says, but it has become especially clear with this project. 

“It can be a form of prayer and meditation,” she said. “I feel like I know Fr. Kapaun in a much more personal way now and can actively go to him in prayer. Usually I am very strict with myself about my art, but I have noticed that as I pray for the grace of letting God be an active part in this process, I am able to take pride in what we have put out there for people to enjoy.” 

Copies of Father Kapaun: Soldier of Christ can be obtained by clicking here.