MSI Press Blog

  Sula, well known across the Internet for the general sharing of her story by Guideposts , All Creatures , and others, is listed on every Sunday bulletin of Old Mission San Juan Bautista .  Sula has survived five bouts of cancer, written a book about it ( Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story ). When she entered remission after her fifth bout and concurrent with closure of the Mission gift shop, her home, because of covid regulations, Sula, now 14 years ago, went into retirement, living with a parish couple that has taken care of her whenever she needed to recuperate for years. Now, she comes to the church on Sundays to be with the parishioners and lend them support as she always has. Sula's first cancer is skin cancer. The first bout required clipping her ears. The second bout required removing her ears. She remains in remission from skin cancer. Sula's second cancer was carcinoma at the injection site of a vaccination (her hip). The first time required surgi...

(Christmas photo by Lovejoy Studios, Hollister, CA; originally published in The Hollister Freelance )  This Caturday, we are sharing some new pictures of Sula, parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, who has earned Internet fame and written six books (one in Spanish) and two more proposed. For today, though, thought it might be fun just to share some pictures of the author herself, as she has appeared in various interviews and stories over the years. Photo by Klimek, for Guideposts Magazine. More from that article can be found HERE . Portrait by Kat, cat artist in New York City. Drawing of Sula by Stacy Gentry, photographer and Old Mission Gift Shop manager--and overseer of Sula's care and caregivers. And the newspaper article with the photo above. And another newspaper article : "Cat's Story Is a Tale of Hope" ( The Hollister Freelancer ; photo by Nick Lovejoy). And yet another article , "Sula the Cat Is on a Mission in San Juan" ( The Gilroy Dispatch...

Sula, the parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, is quite a famous cat. Google her, and you will find lots of pictures and references. She has appeared as the lead article in Guideposts Magazine and in A ll Creatures Magazine -- and she has written six books of her own, including one in Spanish. The excerpt below is from one of her earlier books, a beloved one that was illustrated by the late Zhenya Yanovich, a Russian artist of growing esteem. The 12 Days of Christmas The twelve days of Christmas refer to the period extending from Christmas to Epiphany. The song you just read and maybe even sang in your head is well known both to Catholics and to those not in the Church. It is a secular tribute to something sacred, but many people do not know the sacred part. Do you know that there are three feasts during the 12 days of Christmas? They date from the fifth century and all focus on the incarnation of the Word of God (Christ) as the baby Jesus, human like us—well, like...