The Hopeful Mysteries are a new set of meditations on the rosary, the beloved Catholic devotion. They arose within the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida in 2024 and were approved by the local bishop, William Wack. The bishop’s approval signified that this new set of mysteries are “worthy of pious devotion anywhere,” although they have [...]
At a time when our nation was still young and finding its feet culturally, Frederic Church took on the role of explorer and interpreter of the visual splendors of the New World—and of the rest of the world. He was a native American genius who also became a global artist, showing America to Americans and [...]
J.S. Bach had many artistic associations during his life, but one of the most intriguing was with Silvius Leopold Weiss, the celebrated player of the lute. The connection between the two goes deeper than their literal friendship. Weiss is one of the few Baroque composers whose work could actually be confused for Bach’s on first [...]
The Merry Fiddler The Romantic tradition has taught us to value originality in the arts, exalting those artists who were pathbreakers and radical individualists. But the fact is that all artists learn by building on the past and imitating those who came before. History offers notable examples of artists known for imitating other [...]
The Dead Sea Scrolls can only be interpreted in the light of faith as an amazing gift from God at a time when faith needed strengthening and a return to its historic roots. Selections from the Dead Sea Scrolls are being exhibited at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., this year. Seeing the [...]
Music held a notable place within Thomas Jefferson's cultured and humanistic life—a point reinforced by his insistence on having music instruction at his newly founded University of Virginia. This shows the importance Jefferson placed on music in the life of the mind, just as his involvement with music throughout his life enhances his image as [...]
The doctrine of new creation is a treasure of our faith, one of our strengths, which sets us apart from other worldviews and philosophies throughout history and throughout the globe. We must not lose it, for it is the source of our hope in a God who creates, restores, and redeems—an active God who is [...]
During his heyday, George W. Chadwick was the most respected American “serious” composer. His music conveys a feeling of old-time America in a way that most listeners can relate to and enjoy. If we are looking for a “usable past” in American music, there is no better place to start than G.W.C. How do we [...]
When Christianity left its Hebrew homeland and entered the Greco-Roman world, it fell under the influence of that world’s philosophical climate. The Greek cultural heritage is one of intellectual curiosity, and for that all of humanity (including the Church) should be grateful. Christianity began in Israel and radiated outward to the rest of the Mediterranean [...]
There are many moral problems in our world, but they are all arguably rooted in a lack of prayer, of regular communion with God. Here, then, at an opportune time comes a book about prayer: James Papandrea’s "Praying the Wisdom" teaches how to pray with the Bible. Praying the Wisdom: Inspired Prayers for Lectio Divina [...]
Books on theology and books on gardening are more than plentiful, but rarely are both topics fused in the way these books manage to do. Christine Norvell gives us the intellectual grasp of the relationship between creation and the life of the soul, while Samantha Stephenson explains how, by cultivating both the earth and our [...]
The Church owes a profound debt to Eusebius of Caesarea, for without him much of early Christian history and lore would have passed into oblivion, and we would be ignorant of a good deal of our early past. Most believers are probably unaware that the question of Jesus Christ’s divinity was once put up for [...]
Tradition can be either oral or written. Never in the early Fathers do we get the sense that the written scriptures are in any way separate from tradition. St. Irenaeus makes it plain that the writing of the gospels grew out of the apostles’ oral preaching, which itself grew out of the personal experience of [...]
The mid-twentieth-century opera, “The Trial at Rouen,” tells the story of the final days of St. Joan of Arc, her imprisonment, and trial for heresy. Composer Norman Dello Joio employs themes of conscience, belief, and spiritual motivation; he makes us think about the consequences of institutional corruption and the power of individuals to rise above [...]