Gallagher based his play on taped accounts by Father Robert O'Leary, chaplain of Warren County Jail in Vicksburg, and on the research done by Benedictine Brother Claude Lane that included courtroom records and newspaper accounts.

Death-row inmate Claude Newman claimed to have had a vision that resulted in dramatic changes in his character and actions. O'Leary was highly skeptical until Newman revealed things he could not have known by natural means, including a vow the priest had made three years earlier in a foreign country.

Gallagher is retired from the maintenance crew of United Airlines. He writes mainly dramas based on historical figures. Seven of his plays have been produced locally, as well as in Canada, Nebraska and Ireland. Sunnyvale Community Theater was another venue for Quo Vadis before landing in Hoover Theater, a former school, at 1635 Park Ave.

Gallagher is the father of Delia Gallagher, the CNN Vatican correspondent who made such a hit with viewers during the new pontiff's election that she is now working out of New York City for CNN. Cathal's wife runs the Gallagher Learning Center in Saratoga.

Quo Vadis, the only Catholic theater company in California, began in 1995. The play will run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Oct. 6-22. Tickets at $15 and $12 are available through TicketMaster or at the box office at 408.252.3530.

ART--FROM BAT GUANO?: Saratogan Bill Ford reports that he has nothing on me when it comes to cave art. He and wife Norma are recently back from a three-week trip to Bulgaria where they toured caves containing paintings 3,000 years old. The hook here is that these artists used bat guano for the medium.

Subjects found in the Bulgarian cave were mainly animals, but there were also male humans, bows and arrows and mother goddess figures rendered. The artwork was designed to bring good fortune in hunting or was part of a fertility rite--or both, it is thought.

Bill, a retired veterinarian who should know from animals, had some trouble identifying these representations, except for an occasional dog. "They all looked like giraffes to me. And where would a giraffe have come from in Bulgaria?"

The drawings weren't stick figures; they looked more like silhouettes.

(I was left to wonder, why are bats the only species with a special word for their feces? Maybe it's because bat guano plays such an important role in the economy of so many countries.)

Another highpoint of the Ford expedition in Eastern Europe was taking part in the folk festival in Koprivshtitsa, a celebration held every five years that commemorates the birthplace of the Bulgarian Revolution that ultimately, in 1876, overthrew the Ottoman Empire's domination.

At Arbanassi's Church of the Nativity, the Fords viewed 2,000 frescoes of biblical scenes, dating from the 17th century. As for music (Norma is a musician), bagpipes made of goatskin were almost as ubiquitous as dinner plates at local restaurants.

The Fords also visited Thracian burial mounds, viewing the gold and silver treasures found within the burial structures. Polygamy was standard practice for the Thracians. I hadn't heard hide nor hair about the Thracians since Latin II days, but they roamed Bulgaria for centuries.

Having Bulgarian friends constituted one impetus for the travelers visiting that part of the world.

ANNIVERSARY PARTY: The fifth anniversary of the founding of Assistance League was celebrated at the Saratoga home of Eileen Rothschild and husband Norval Nelson. Assistance League came into being largely through the networking and persistence of Los Gatan Chrystie DeSoto.

When a new service group here was proposed the question arose, "What needs are there in Saratoga or Los Gatos?" Plenty, as it turned out. Today more than 100 Assistance League members volunteer 14,000 hours per year, serving 6,000 seniors and families. Even in an area of plenty, many underserved and unnoticed people benefit.

KATRINA BAKE SALE: The Los Gatos-Saratoga Las Madres playgroups held a bake sale last Sunday near the Los Gatos farmers market to benefit Katrina victims. "As mothers with young children, we were shaken to see how many pregnant women, babies and children were among the victims of Hurricane Katrina," Karen Paculba Ryu explains. "Our maternal instincts came out, wanting to do something to assist with fundraising for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund."

The fundraiser was "a great way for us to unite as a community of moms, as well as model the acts of compassion and giving for our children."

Got a tip for Saratoga Sampler? Send email to maryanncook@earthlink.net.