Elena Christine Royal

Writer | Editor | Designer

Elena Christine Royal

studied literature and theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville before receiving an MFA in Creative Writing from Pine Manor College. She has had the privilege of studying under published authors such as Laura Williams McCaffrey, David Yoo, and Renée Watson. She spent ten years teaching high school English, and she currently teaches theology in St. Louis, MO.

Writing Samples

Praying Like the Saints: Meditating With Scripture

If God loves anything, he loves growth. He has created all living things with an inherent capacity for expansion. Puppies grow into their paws, seedlings transform into cheerful daisies, and students mature into saints and scholars. All too often, we assume that prayer is somehow different. Prayer is perceived as a mystical gift that sweeps the chosen few into bouts of inexplicable ecstasy; the Lord could not possibly intend to speak to the “average” Christian. The saints, however, knew this was not true. Many have trod the path . . .

The Door: A Fairy Tale

A girl of eleven years found herself sitting in a gray car with a woman whose faded, grayed complexion expressed a wearisomeness that went beyond words. With each turn of the car, Libby wondered, "Is this it? This street? This house?" The last foster home she had lived in had been painted a warm yellow, and cheerful lilac bushes had framed the front porch. But her foster parents had decided that a child was too much work. They had thought they were ready -- Libby overheard them say -- they had managed a dog well enough. But a child was more than they expected . . .

The German St. Vincent Orphan Home

In literature, “orphan stories” have always had their appeal. Dickens’ Oliver Twist famously presents English orphan asylums as foreboding, cruel places; Oliver’s plaintive, “Please sir, can I have some more?” has become an iconic representation of the abuse and neglect orphans systematically (at least in theory) faced at the hands of distant caretakers. Similarly, the musical Annie presents a girl who sings with plucky optimism about her perennial desire to meet a family who will take her away from the orphanage . . .