Starting just 30 years after the Crucifixion, Catholic England produced remarkable figures, including lesser-known luminaries like Bishop Robert Grosseteste, who pioneered the scientific method. In my book Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England, I sought to present a panoramic overview of two thousand years of English history, from the first century to the [...]
I urge “imaginative conservatives” to use their imagination in selecting what they choose to read. Instead of wasting time with the toxic triteness of New York Times bestsellers, we need to reward the courage that adventurous publishers are showing by buying and reading the new and adventurous works that they are publishing. For almost a [...]
Each of us, in the face of an atrocity, can only pray to the Madonna with the Sword-Pierced Heart, seeking the mercy of her Son for sinful humanity and seeking to share in her sorrow for those innocent victims of man’s inhumanity to man. And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and [...]
Poetry, often called the thinking man's meme, has faded from popular culture. Still, Catholics could greatly benefit from exploring the works of poets who lived heroic, faith-filled lives. Were one to conduct a survey of modern-day Americans, taken at random, it is likely that not one in a hundred would have heard of the poet Richard [...]
Great literature does not pass away, nor does it lose its relevance, because, like the wise virgins of Scripture, it remains loyal to the Bridegroom and the unchanging truth that He teaches and the unchanging truth that He is. Like the saints, the Great Books are alive. Gertrud von le Fort's "The Wedding of Magdeburg" [...]
In Evangeline's quest of the Bride for the Bridegroom, of the lover for her true beloved, we are reminded of the soul’s quest for Christ, who is the Bridegroom of all bridegrooms. The figure of Evangeline Bellefontaine is as elusive as the figure of Gabriel Lajeunesse, the man to whom she was betrothed and whom [...]
There is little doubt that Dvořák’s "New World Symphony" will be performed across the United States as part of next year’s celebrations to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps we might hope and pray that the "Te Deum" that he composed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the [...]
In the long term, the hope is for the Gregory the Great Institute to become a major contributor to the “great conversation,” bringing the wisdom of Christendom to Canada’s beleaguered and floundering culture. We live in exciting times. As a native-born Englishman, I rejoice at the news that St. John Henry Newman is soon to [...]
I would say that taking idioms or gaining inspiration from past works does not constitute a continuum, i.e. tradition, if the intention is to put their integrity (their beauty) at the service of disintegration (ugliness). A correct term for such taking from the tradition would be vandalism. “Charles,” said Cordelia, “Modern Art is all bosh, [...]
Uruguay’s secular culture shuns Catholicism, yet heroes like Saint Anna Maria Rubatto and convert Alberto Methol Ferré defy the “libertine atheist” tide. A survey of the presence of the Catholic Church in South America will invariably focus on the largest nations, Brazil and Argentina, with reference also to countries such as Peru, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and [...]
All great literature, in poetry and prose, is part of the great conversation which has animated Western civilization for almost three thousand years. Anything purporting to be literature which owes nothing to this great conversation is rootless and meaningless. It is not worth reading because it was not worth writing. It has nothing to say. [...]
Why is seeing "Pride and Prejudice" as Jane Austen saw it so important? The answer is simple enough. She knows the work better than anyone else. Jane Austen might be the greatest of all women novelists. Certainly, there are few others who can reasonably be said to deserve such an accolade. One thinks perhaps of [...]
For the past quarter of a century I’ve been honoured to edit the St. Austin Review, popularly known as the StAR, a Catholic cultural journal, published six times a year. The StAR was launched in September 2001, the month of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. It appeared in the midst of that darkest of months as [...]
A look at four more unsung heroes from the Australian continent, including the great Frank Sheed! In the previous essay in this series, we focused on two heroic Australian Catholics who witnessed to the Faith in their defense of the dignity of the human person. In this chapter, we will celebrate four other Australians whose heroism [...]