The histories of Knights Templar, the Cathars and the Essenes sects are fascinating, but also tragic. Some of what these groups believed went against the established church’s views with respect to whether Jesus was divine, whether he died on the cross, that he escaped to France and married, had children and so on. According to…
It’s an age of widespread cultural and ecclesial malaise: the State encroaches ever more into the affairs of the church; the clergy is indolent and ineffective, oft corrupt and unchaste; the laity is poorly catechized; and Gnosticism advances. It’s the twelfth century, into which a Teutonic prophetess stepped, prepared to confront the spirits of the…
In order to find the monastery in Tepla, in the western Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, a traveller should stamp the image of the church well into his memory beforehand. For there are few signs showing the way. The church’s two steeples do that. And yet Premonstratsky Klaster Tepla, as the monastery is called…
In a signed editorial in this week’s English edition, Giovanni Maria Vian wrote that “one has to go back to the heart of the Middle Ages to find similar examples, but in contexts that are in no way comparable to Benedict XVI’s decision.” The director explained that no Pope has beatified his immediate predecessor in…
An order of Cistercian monks in rural northern California lives a quiet life of prayer, contemplation and work. One of their projects is to reconstruct a medieval monastery, also called a chapter house, that dates back to 12th century Spain. The Abbey of New Clairvaux is using original stones carved for the Santa Maria de…
Like many other Christian traditions, the Episcopal Church has a custom of remembering “the saints.” And by saints, we simply mean those Christians throughout history whose lives continue to inspire and encourage us. Now, we are a little less likely than other traditions to venerate those saints, but we still believe it is very important…
Vladimir the Great survived many bloody battles during the Middle Ages as he became the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity. And since his death in 1015, Catholics have managed to retain possession of Saint Vladimir’s remains during wars, invasions, revolutions and disasters. But what is left of the patriarch of Eastern European Christianity almost…
Here is a translation of the address Pope Benedict XVI gave 20 October 2010 at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to speak to you about one of the women of the Middle Ages who inspired great admiration: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also…
National alerts were issued for several ‘priceless’ church artifacts stolen overnight on Sunday from Tidersrums church in southeastern Sweden’s Kisa. Among the missing items are an altar cross or crucifix, two candlesticks and three wooden sculptures from the 13th and 14th centuries. The sculptures, which newspaper Östgöta Correspondenten described as “priceless” on its website on…
Pope Benedict XVI said the penitential path of a little-known medieval mystic offers modern men and women a lesson on discovering the presence of God in their lives. He made the remarks at his general audience Oct. 13 in St. Peter’s Square, where tens of thousands of pilgrims joined him on an unusually warm fall…
Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of weekly talks on influential Christian women of the Middle Ages, speaking about St. Gertrude at his public audience on October 6. Born in 1256, St. Gertrude entered a convent school as a young girl, chose to enter monastic life, and had established herself as an outstanding scholar by…
At his weekly public audience on September 29, Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of talks on the influential women of the Middle Ages, speaking about St. Matilda of Hackeborn. Born into a noble family in 1241 or 1242, St. Matilda entered religious life and soon became head of a convent school; later she became…
At a recent luncheon, a Fordham professor gave a virtual tour of a European pilgrimage route that has attracted untold thousands of people throughout history, ranging from medieval noblemen to Fordham students who posted travel dispatches on the Internet. Richard Gyug, Ph.D., professor of history and medieval studies, spoke on Sept. 21 at a luncheon…
Plans by a group of Roman Catholic hermit monks to erect an outsized monastery in northern Wyoming have pitted neighbor against neighbor and aroused debate with religious undertones. At the center of the Wyoming controversy is a remote ranch where the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel want to build a…
The Ernest Hollings special collections library, has added something very special to the collection. The library has received a rare medieval Bible, dated back to 1240. It was written in Oxford, England, and is a smaller version so monks and friars could carry it around. It was purchased for $77,000 and is written in Latin….
