Episode 10: The Bombing of Nagasaki & the Catholics of Urakami

Summary:

Those who survived faced many struggles - they were stigmatized as irradiated persons, called hibakusha; they faced local pressure to leave the devastated cathedral in ruins as a peace memorial; they experienced "survivor guilt"; and struggled with traumatic memories of losing family and homes.

Although the writings of Dr. Takashi Nagai explained the bombings as providential, many Catholics felt dissatisfied with his views . These different perspectives began to be shared after Pope St. John Paul II's 1981 visit to Japan, in which he spoke of the evils of atomic warfare and stated at Hiroshima, "War is the work of humanity; war is destruction of human life; war is death." (Dangerous Memory, p. 75). Survivors took this message to mean they did not need to accept uncritically Nagai's sacrificial theory of the bombing.

Among the survivors we discussed were:

Sources and Further Reading

Movie: All that Remains (Ignatius 2016) - Includes a short documentary with Paul Glynn.

Specific Focus on Nagasaki Bombing:

General Background on the end of WWII in the Pacific and the atomic bombings:

Image Credit: **"Urakami Cathedral" by Jake (based on stained glass image at Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral)

*Episode 9: The Virgin of Guadalupe & St. Juan Diego *

Brief Chronology:

(Based mainly on Appendix B of Our Lady of Guadalupe, cited below).

Summary:

Just as millions of northern and western Europeans left the Catholic Church as a result of the Protestant Reformation(s), millions of Native Americans entered the Catholic Church. One witness reported that by his count as many as nine million baptisms occurred in Mexico in the space of about 15 years in the early 16th century. The flood of conversions came after the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on the cloak (the "tilma") of an Indian named Eagle that Speaks, baptized as "Juan Diego."

Over time the image has become iconic and ubiquitous in Mexican Catholicism. But hasn't modern science probably debunked the "miraculous" image on the tilma by now? Listen to our discussion of this vivid, unique Marian apparition and why it is something you need to know about. We also discuss how the Church generally evaluates Marian apparitions and private revelation.

Sources and Further Reading:

• Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love by Carl Anderson and Eduardo Chavez (Image, 2009) - Includes the Nican Mopohua in an appendix.

Documentary:

Guadalupe: A Living Image (2009)

Music Credit: *Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!

Show Notes :

Image Credit: "Nick Black Elk" by Jake.

Music Credit: *Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!

Brief Chronology:

Summary:

In this episode we discuss a modern candidate for sainthood, Nicholas Black Elk (ca. 1863-1950). Black Elk was a Lakota Sioux medicine man whose journey took him from traditional Lakota religion and the Ghost Dance movement to Roman Catholicism.

He was probably born in 1863, at a time when his people, the Lakota, still lived independently hunting buffalo on the Northern Great Plains, in what is now the Dakotas and Montana. He relates the story of the first few decades of his life in Black Elk Speaks, a book written by and formed out of a series of conversations with a Nebraskan poet, John G. Neihardt in the early 1930s. Included in the book are his memories of Crazy Horse, the battle of Little Big Horn, meeting Queen Victoria as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, the Ghost Dance movement, and witnessing the tragic massacre of Lakota civilians at Wounded Knee. And that was only the first part of his long life.

Black Elk's life was full of prayer and intense religious questioning. He experienced visions from a young age and eventually became a medicine man. After marrying a Catholic, he eventually converted and became a catechist and missionary, travelling and speaking across the country. At the same time, he passed on Lakota traditions by sharing his life experiences and knowledge with Neihardt (Black Elk Speaks) and anthropologist Joseph Epes Brown (author of The Sacred Pipe), as well as performing traditional dances for tourists.

His legacy and claims about his personal religious beliefs remain controversial. Scholars continue to debate whether he continued to believe traditional Lakota religion alongside Christianity, was a sincere orthodox Catholic who rejected the traditional past, and how he reconciled different belief systems and chapters of his life.

Two clarifications/corrections to the episode - We checked again on the Two Roads chart and are still unclear on the exact story of its origins, but you can learn more about it in Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala by Steltenkamp. Also, the speech by Benjamin Black Ellk and separate comments by Benjamin Black Elk's nephew concerning the practice of Christianity alongside traditional religion were connected in the retelling in our conversation, but would best be understood (and parsed out) by reading/listening to them in context in the sources below, the documentary Walking the Good Red Road and the first chapter of Black Elk Lives.

Finally, a disclaimer: this episode covers some controversial episodes in American history as well as a controversial religious thinker. We hope you find this a useful addition to the conversation about Black Elk. Of course we always recommend going back to the sources - ad fontes - and forming your own judgment about this fascinating candidate for sainthood.

Link to the Documentary:

Walking the Good Red Road

Sources and Further Reading:

• Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux by John G. Neihardt (Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press 1988).

*Image Credit: *"Marriage," Detail from a 14th century manuscript originating in Catalonia, Spain, available online from the British Library, Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. (Public Domain)

Music Credit: *Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!

Episode 7: Celibacy - Summary:

In this episode we discussed the history of celibacy in the Church, from Jewish roots in 1st century Palestine up to the Second Lateran Council in the high middle ages.

Celibacy in some form seems to exist in the apostolic and early church. So too did the ordination of married men. The debates are what the situation looked like: was celibacy required for all priests after ordination, even married ones? Did married priests separate from their wives, live Josephite marriage with them, or continue to have sexual relations with them? How did it come to the point that different parts of the Church developed different practices?

The Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient historians show that some members of the Jewish sect known as the Essenes practiced celibacy. The Levitical priesthood also abstained from sexual relations with their wives during their service in the temple. The New Testament must be understood in this context, where sexual continence and even a more monastic form of celibate life were already known.

As we stated in the episode, we tried to carefully limit our theological discussion. But for your reference, here are some of the key Bible passages to be aware of:

Celibacy in the early Church seems to have been connected with the Eucharistic celebration, not the ascetic ideals of monasticism which emerged a little later. This being the case, the practice may ultimately be traceable back to the Jewish roots of Christianity and is not as likely to be derived from sects that were against marriage or despised the body. Church fathers drew parallels between the Old Testament high priests, priests and Levites, and the bishops, presbyters, and deacons of the New Testament.

That said, we have to largely infer the practice of the early church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries indirectly. Based on the statements of local councils in the 4th century, as Jesuit scholar Christian Cochini explains, it seems that the likely expected practice was for priests to separate from their wives or live chastely with them following ordination. This was not practiced consistently in reality, prompting numerous councils to reiterate the discipline expected for deacons, priests and bishops. In the West, local councils such as the Council of Elvira, held around 305 in what is now Granada, Spain unequivocally called for priests to abstain from sexual relations with their wives after ordination. It was followed by other local councils in Arles and Carthage (390). The first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea in 325, may have touched on the issue as well in its ambiguous third canon. Some excerpts from these councils read as follows:

• Council of Elvira (circa 305), Canon 33: "It has seemed good absolutely to forbid the bishops, the priests, and the deadons, i.e. all the clerics in the service of the ministry, to have [sexual] relations with their wives and procreate children; should anyone do so, let him be excluded from the honor of the clergy." (Cochini, p. 159).

• *Council of Nicaea (325), Canon 3 *"On the women who live with clerics": "The great Council has absolutely forbidden bishops, priests, and deacons - in other words, all the members of the clergy - to have with them a sister-companion with the exception of a mother, a sister, an aunt, or, lastly, only those persons who are beyond any suspicion." (Cochini, p. 185)

• Council of Carthage (390):

• 2nd Council of Arles (442-506)

But what did the fathers of Nicaea mean? Were priests' wives included or excluded from the category of women allowed to still live with priests? One Byzantine historian said that a respected confessor named Paphnutius intervened to convince the council not to impose celibacy on married priests. Yet Norman Tanner, in his book The Councils of the Church, notes that some scholars believe the canon refers not to celibacy at all, but to the scandalous practice of some religious teachers living with their female disciples, as Paul of Samosata notoriously did (Tanner, 38).

As centuries past and the middle ages dawned, amidst widespread upheaval, differences emerged between Eastern and Western practice. One attempt at reform and compromise in recognition of the status quo in some regards for the Eastern church occurred at the Qunisext Council, also called the Council in Trullo (held in 691). Today it remains foundational for Eastern canon law. The full text of Canon 13 from Trullo reads:

• " *Canon 13: *"Since we know it to be handed down as a rule of the Roman Church that those who are deemed worthy to be advanced to the diaconate or presbyterate should promise no longer to cohabit with their wives, we, preserving the ancient rule and apostolic perfection and order, will that the lawful marriages of men who are in holy orders be from this time forward firm, by no means dissolving their union with their wives nor depriving them of their mutual intercourse at a convenient time. Wherefore, if anyone shall have been found worthy to be ordained subdeacon, or deacon, or presbyter, he is by no means to be prohibited from admittance to such a rank, even if he shall live with a lawful wife. Nor shall it be demanded of him at the time of his ordination that he promise to abstain from lawful intercourse with his wife: lest we should affect injuriously marriage constituted by God and blessed by his presence, as the Gospel says: "What God has joined together let no man put asunder;" and the Apostle says, "Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled;" and again, "Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed." But we know, as they who assembled at Carthage (with a care for the honest life of the clergy) said, that subdeacons, who handle the Holy Mysteries, and deacons, and presbyters should abstain from their consorts according to their own course [of ministration]. So that what has been handed down through the Apostles and preserved by ancient custom, we too likewise maintain, knowing that there is a time for all things and especially for fasting and prayer. For it is meet that they who assist at the divine altar should be absolutely continent when they are handling holy things, in order that they may be able to obtain from God what they ask in sincerity.

Despite maintaining that celibacy even for married priests was the norm, various social and political factors combined with lack of priestly formation continued to cause this norm to not be followed consistently in the West either well into the middle ages. But whereas the Council in Trullo had allowed married priests to continue to have sex with their wives, the Gregorian Reformers and Second Lateran Council (1139) took the opposite approach. Desiring to enforce canon law and a vision of apostolic life, as well as crack down hard on the entanglement of the clergy in the secular feudal order, Lateran II forbade the ordination of married men, prohibited anyone from claiming a position in the church as their inheritance, and forbade the faithful to attend the masses of married priests. It is important to remember that these canons were part of a larger reform program which also targeted simony and lay investiture in an effort to fight corruption and scandal in the Church.

Lateran II (1139):

You can read about the Church's current teaching on clerical celibacy in paragraphs 1579 and 1580 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Sources and Further Reading:

• The Councils of the Church by Norman Tanner (The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2016).

Episode 6: Holy Dirt, Posadas, and More Catholic Customs - Show Notes

Image Credit: "Vow Gift to the Virgin of the Candelaria '[the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos], Image and license info available at the website of the National Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum, The Netherlands. (image dimensions modified).

Episode Summary:

We revisit the topic of holy dirt from our Bede episode again and have a more informal conversation on the history of some Catholic customs. Some of these customs are backed by solid tradition, while others are more controversial. We discuss the interplay of fact and legend, the possible pre-Christian roots of some traditions, and whether any of these cross the line into superstition. We are sure there is much more to learn and understand about each of these traditions, so please take our speculations with at least a small grain of salt this time around. For example, one correction to the episode: the Virgin of San Juan de Los Lagos is a statue/figurine and was not originally connected with an apparition per se, but rather a famous healing credited to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

All that said, we hope this discussion is thought provoking. Here are some customs and beliefs we discussed:

• Posadas and devotions to baby Jesus in Mexican culture

Sources

Articles Online:

Intro Music Credit:

Episode 5: The Venerable Bede - Show Notes

Image Credit: Folio 5r from the Codex Amiatinus (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Amiatinus 1), Ezra the scribe. [Public Domain] Available at Wikimedia Commons.

Brief Chronology (most dates are approximate):

Summary:

As discussed in our St. Patrick episode, Britain struggled after the Roman military left. Germanic tribes called the Angles and Saxons soon took advantage of the situation, perhaps after originally being invited as mercenaries to protect the Britons left behind by the Romans. The Pagan Angles and Saxons forced the Christian Britons toward the western side of Britain (Wales and Cornwall now) and carved out several new kingdoms for themselves in the south-eastern part of Britain, such as Kent, Mercia, and Northumbria, to name only a few. The conversion of the newcomers did not get well underway for another century and a half, which is the story Bede tells in his Ecclesiastical History.

Although Anglo-Saxon England seems to have been unstable and often violent, Bede himself lived a quiet life as a priest and scholar at the monastery of Jarrow from a young age until his death. He was probably born about 673 close to Jarrow, located in the northern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. He was sent to Wearmouth at age 7 to be educated. The monastery of St. Peter at Wearmouth had been founded relatively recently by a nobleman named Benedict Biscop, the community's first abbot, who travelled to Rome several times in his life and was enthusiastic about implementing what he learned there. Probably Bede left Wearmouth with Ceolfrith and others when the associated monastery of St. Paul was founded at Jarrow.

A plague seems to have swept the community at some point in Bede's childhood, leaving only the abbot Ceolfrith and a child (possibly Bede himself) well enough to chant the Psalter. Later in life, when Ceolfrith left Jarrow for a pilgrimage to Rome, Bede compared Ceolfrith to Eli, the priest to whom Hannah entrusted her child Samuel (Bede in this analogy). Ceolfrith died on the journey, but his gift to the pope, the Codex Amiatinus, survives to the present day. It was a rare single-volume version of the Bible created by Bede and his fellow monks.

Bede was ordained a deacon at the age of 19, then a priest at 30. He may never have ventured outside of his native Northumbria. (Ward, Give Love and Receive the Kingdom, ch. 2). He seems to have corresponded with people throughout Britain, gathering local information for his history of the English church.

Bede left behind a numerous books, including his landmark Ecclesiastical History of the English People, as well as other historical works and Biblical commentaries. In his Ecclesiastical History, completed in 731, he tells the story of how Roman Britain became Anglo-Saxon England, then how the Anglo-Saxons came to be Christianized by missionaries like Augustine of Canterbury (an Italian who later became bishop of Canterbury) and Bishop Aidan.

Here is a basic sketch of the Ecclesiastical History:

• Book I - Roman Britain is Christianized, but then overrun by the Pagan Angles and Saxons. Pope Gregory the Great sends missionaries led by Augustine of Canterbury, who reaches Kent in 597.

The unfamiliar names and sometimes unpredictable arrangement of material can make reading the Ecclesiastical History a challenge, but there are also many inspiring and colorful lives presented by Bede. Were it not for Bede, most of what we know about the poet Caedmon, Bishop Aidan, and Abbess Hilda would be lost to history. (See Ecclesiastical History, notes to p. 243, on p. 372) Bede's history is filled with tension between the old Paganism and Christianity, violent politics and religion, and the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon churches. Especially important is the conflict over the celebration of Easter and the proper form of the tonsure, issues which reach a head at the Synod of Whitby and are finally resolved in favor of unified adoption of the Roman customs by the end of Bede's book.

Bede also describes how St. Gregory the Great made crucial decisions as Pope to convert the barbarians who had settled in what was left of the Western empire and to try to baptize their cultures (cleansed of Paganism) instead of insisting on full rejection of their own traditions. (See Ecclesiastical History, Book I.30, p. 91-92 and notes p. 365) This decision set the stage for the conversion of pre-Christian holidays and customs we talked about back in our first episode on Dia de los Muertos.

An important legacy of Bede is how he helped shape the study of history. He made clear what sources he was relying on and helped to popularize the "year of our lord" (A.D./B.C.) system of dating events chronologically. (Ward, Give Love and Receive the Kingdom, ch. 2) While we moderns may take chronology for granted, agreement over the order of events and a system of dating should be appreciated as a major achievement. Bede also believed that a historian should faithfully transmit the traditions of the people (while still carefully noting sources and their reliability) and present history as an inspiration for living a holy life.

Bede's death on May 25, 735 is recounted by his student Cuthbert. He had been suffering from difficulty breathing for some time and had just finished dictating a book to a fellow monk. Earlier in the day he had distributed a few personal "treasures" : some pepper, handkerchiefs, and incense. (Cuthbert's Letter, p. 359). He asked his scribe to help him position himself near his personal area for prayer, seated on the floor of his monastic cell, and then peacefully passed away chanting "Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

St. Bede was not officially canonized, since he lived and died before the process had become very formalized, but he has been recognized as a saint since the Middle Ages. In 1899 he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII. His feast day is celebrated on May 25.

Sources:

Intro Music Credit:

Episode 4: St. Patrick - Show Notes

Brief Chronology (most dates are approximate):

(See the "Time Line" included as an appendix in St. Patrick of Ireland by Philip Freeman, which gives a more extensive chronology of the fall of Rome and events in Patrick's lifetime.)

Summary:

When Patrick was born in the late 4th century, his native land of southern Britain was still a Roman province, but the western Roman Empire was crumbling fast. No one actually knows where Patrick’s family estate or the nearby village Bennavem Taburniae that he mentions was, except that it must have been close to the sea in western Britain. In his Confessio, Patrick says his father was a deacon in the Church named Calpornius and that his grandfather Potitus was a priest. Patrick’s name (really Patricius) means “Patrician” - as in upper class, noble. (Freeman, Ch. 1)

St. Patrick left behind two letters in Latin, but in everyday life he may have spoken a lost Celtic language similar to modern Welsh. His medieval biographer Muirchú records him saying a possibly Old British word, "Mudebroth!", perhaps meaning "By God's judgment!" once when he was irritated (see Freeman, Ch. 1).

Like St. Augustine, Patrick was not one of those saints who got off to a great start. He alludes to a great sin from his teenage years that he is always very vague about and that comes back to cause controversy for him later. He admits that he does not take religion seriously in his youth. That changes when Patrick gets captured by Irish raiders near his home sometime in the early 400s. There were probably thousands of people (including many Christians) taken captive in this period of Roman decline and sold to work on farms in Ireland. (Freeman, Ch.2)

After Patrick was enslaved, he was sold and put to work watching sheep, perhaps in northwestern Ireland, which was lonely and physically miserable work since it meant spending lots of time outside in the cold and rain. Cold and alone, Patrick started to rediscover his Christian faith, praying night and day. Finally, he hears a voice telling him it is time to escape. Trusting in God, he just walks away one day and heads for the faraway eastern coast. He sails with a crew of pagans to either Britain or (possibly) Gaul. In any case, the crew unexpectedly ends up someplace so bleak that he describes it as a “desert” and they almost starve to death. One sensational theory is that it might be Gaul in the year 407, when the barbarians flood the western empire. (Cahill p. 104). But it seems just as likely, if not more so, that they found themselves on an unfamiliar shoreline in Britain far from their intended port due to some accident (See Freeman, Ch. 3). The pagans challenge Patrick to make his God save them, so Patrick prays and a herd of pigs crosses their path.

Eventually Patrick returned to his family in Britain, but as time passes he dreams that he is being called back to Ireland. He dreams that someone named Victoricus (a fellow captive?) comes with letters for him, one of which is inscribed "voice of the Irish." The letters cry out for him to return to Ireland.

No one knows exactly when Patrick finds his way back to Ireland as a missionary. Traditionally the year is 432. The reason this date is given, according to Thomas O’Loughlin, is that it puts Patrick one year after the supposedly short-lived mission of a bishop named Palladius, who was sent to the Irish by Pope Celestine in 431. Phillip Freeman speculates that maybe Patrick trained as a priest in Gaul and there, because he knew the Irish language, was attached to Palladius's mission. Some also speculate that Patrick may have know St. Germanus of Auxerre, who travelled from Gaul to combat the Pelagian heresy in Britain. We just don’t know, but these theories do tie everything together nicely.

St. Bede the Venerable (writing in the early 8th century) does not mention Patrick. Instead, he gives credit to Palladius for being the first bishop of Ireland (Bede, I.13). Miurchú (writing in the late 7th century) explains that Palladius was sent to evangelize Ireland but dies early without accomplishing much, with the result that Patrick is really the one who deserves to be remembered as converting Ireland. Both writers unfortunately have axes to grind. Bede may have wanted to emphasize the role of Rome and may have not really appreciated the contribution at the time of the humble Briton, Patrick. However, Muirchú also has an agenda in emphasizing Patrick since it helped build up the authority of Armagh's claim to be leading bishopric of Ireland.

Patrick's own account, in his Confessio, is more vague. He does not describe how he evangelizes Ireland in detail, except to say that he was a bishop and baptizes thousands of people. It is likely he had a long and difficult ministry to the many Christian slaves spread across northern Ireland, along with a steady stream of converts. At some point some of his flock were kidnapped by a British ruler named Coroticus, prompting Patrick to condemn Coroticus in one of the letters that has been preserved. It is possible this letter caused a backlash against Patrick, prompting him to write the second letter, the Confessio. (See Freeman, Ch. 11 and 12). In that document he alludes to accusations against himself several times and the mysterious sin from his youth. History does not record how the disputes ended, but Muirchú tells us that according to legend when Coroticus would not listen to Patrick, God transformed Coroticus into a fox.

According to one tradition, Patrick died in 461. He is remembered as bishop of Armagh. His feast day is March 17.

Sources:

Children's Books

Intro Music Credit:

Image Credit:

Episode 3: St. Thomas More - Show Notes

*Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!

Brief Chronology:

Episode Summary:

This was a long conversation, but we hope you get a lot out of good information from it! Thomas More was (probably) born February 7, 1478 in London, England. His childhood was a unstable time for England: the final years of a civil war between rival branches of the ruling Plantagenet family called the Wars of the Roses. Thomas More would become an important official under the new Tudor dynasty, especially under Henry VII's son Henry VIII. More studied grammar, logic and rhetoric from a young age and was eventually sent to Oxford and the Inns of Court to study law. He also spent some years as part of the household of Cardinal Morton, which may have helped shape him spiritually.

More's family came from a middle class background: his grandfathers were a baker and brewer. His father John More was sent to study law and eventually became a judge. However, the family seems to have been targeted by Henry VII after a young Thomas More opposed a tax in parliament that the king wanted. (+ Correction to the episode: the tax was related to posthumous knighting of Arthur and a dowry for Princess Margaret's marriage to the king of Scotland).

After Henry VII's death, More found favor with his son Henry VIII and eventually More rose to the high position of Lord Chancellor, technically the highest judicial post, but which also included other duties at the king's discretion. Both before and after becoming Lord Chancellor, More was responsible for suppressing what were then considered heresies (Protestantism), a fact which has made him controversial for modern scholars. The Reformation is traditionally reckoned to have begun with Martin Luther posting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517. The reformation spread to the rest of Europe and started to take on new forms. In England it was viewed as a dangerous sequel to the Lollard movement. Henry VIII's government, fearing sedition and social chaos, violently suppressed the Protestants. More was the highest lay official in this government and vehemently opposed to the Protestants' attack on tradition. Six people were executed for heresy during his time in office and many protestant books were seized and burned. During this period More wrote books against the ideas of Luther and Tyndale, who had ironically been influenced by the ideas of More's friend Erasmus.

(+ Another correction to the episode: the Bible text that Zwingli and other reformers liked, which Jake butchers is," The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing." - John 6:63).

Nonetheless, More was moderate in his response to his son-in-law William Roper's temporary conversion to Protestantism and he may have sensed that the Reformation would eventually gain the upper hand. He privately confided to Roper, "'And yet, son Roper, I pray God,' said he, 'that some of us, as high as we seem to sit upon the mountains, treading heretics under our feet like ants, live not the day that we gladly would wish to be at league and composition with them, to let them have their churches quietly to themselves, so they would be content to let us have ours quietly to ourselves." (Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, Knight, p. 18). Ironically, More became a victim of the same government he had served.

More took over office as Lord Chancellor, following the fall of Cardinal Wolsey from royal favor, in a turbulent time. While central Europe was dividing along sectarian lines, Italy was fought over by France and the Holy Roman Empire. England shifted first from an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire (championed by Wolsey) to an alliance with France when it became clear that Emperor Charles V would not support Henry VIII's claim to be king of France. However, despite Wolsey's efforts, Pope Clement VII would not approve Henry VIII divorce from Queen Catherine, Charles V's aunt. Clement VII was apparently fearful after Charles V's troops sacked Rome in 1527, but he also may have realized that the annulment could have tarnished his spiritual and moral authority, which was already in jeopardy due to the Reformation (Richard Marius, Thomas More, p. 214-15).

In his position of power, More's beliefs eventually became impossible to reconcile with King Henry VIII's objectives of divorcing Catherine and declaring himself supreme head of the Church of England. More was allowed to resign, but refused to publicly support the marriage or the new laws enacting the English Reformation. Anne Boleyn and the royal secretary Thomas Cromwell, both favoring reformation, increasingly targeted More. After refusing an oath to support the marriage to Anne Boleyn and succession, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. After over a year of confinement, during which he continued to refuse to take the oath or to say directly why he would not, he was finally put on trial for treason. When he was executed on July 6, 1535, More told onlookers "to pray for him, and to bear witness with him that he should now suffer death in and for the faith of the Holy Catholic Church." (Roper, p. 50) Four hundred years later, in 1935, Pope Pius XI declared Thomas More a saint along with his fellow martyr St. John Fisher.

Even if Thomas More had not risen to high office or been martyred for his faith, he would still be famous today as a renaissance humanist and writer. He left behind political works such as Utopia as well as religious and philosophical writings, such as the Dialogue Concerning Heresies and the Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. He was friends with the famous humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, who remembered More after his execution as follows: " [...] Thomas More, who was the chief magistrate of his country, whose heart was whiter than snow, a genius such as England never had before, nor ever will have again, a country by no means lacking genius" (Erasmus’ Dedicatory Preface to Ecclesiastes, August 1535, online at The Center for Thomas More Studies).

Primary Sources:

Secondary Sources:

Movies:

Image Credit: "Thomas More and His Family" (1592) - Rowland Lockey [Public domain]

Episode 2 - Show Notes

In our second episode, we take a step back from history to discuss our faith, education, and plans for the podcast. You will learn the random ways we discovered our love of history: with Lilia her interest in history began with learning about Vlad the Impaler (Dracula); and with Jake it started with a trip to a colonial history museum in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Our faith and interest in history grew at the University of Dallas, where we met each other while studying abroad in Rome. We hope this podcast will help others learn about Catholic history along with us. Join us next time as we discuss St. Thomas More.

References:

**Episode 1: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) - Show Notes

*Episode Summary *

In our first episode, we talk about Día de los Muertos, Mexico's unique take on All Souls and All Saints Days. We discuss the pre-Hispanic history of the holiday and whether it is truly Catholic (we say Yes!). Our sources are listed down in the next section, especially the book The Skeleton at the Feast by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloë Sayer. Here is a quick summary of what we covered in this episode:

Many traditions now connected with Day of the Dead go back to Mexico's Native American roots. The Aztecs believed "the nature of life was strictly governed by the need to propitiate the gods." (Skeleton at the Feast, page 28). The Aztec god who ruled the underworld was named Mictlantecuhtli and depicted as a skeleton. The Aztecs celebrated two month long festivals called the "Little Feast of the Dead" and the "Great Feast of the Dead" in the summer. Practices such as decorating altars with flowers and food offerings go back to these festivals.

When the Spaniards arrived, they brought Catholic missionaries with them, especially the Franciscans. The Catholic missionaries tried to win converts partly by transferring some aspects of the Aztec holidays over to similar Christian holidays. This is how the summertime feasts of the dead ended up transferred to November 2, All Soul's Day. Attending mass, tolling of bells, and prayers for the souls of the dead were added to the Day of the Dead celebration. However, the holiday continued to be celebrated differently in the Native American countryside versus the more Mestizo urban areas.

So, was the Catholic conversion of this holiday complete and authentic? Listen to the podcast to hear what we thought!

The images of playful, laughing skeletons (calaveras in Spanish) that are connected with Day of the Dead have a rich history of their own. Images of skulls and skeletons go all the way back to the pre-Hispanic past in Mexico and can be seen in surviving Aztec books, such as the Codex Borgia. The skulls were updated by the influential early 20th century engraver José Guadalupe Posada (see The Skeleton at the Feast, pages 125- 127 for famous examples). There is even a visual reference to Posada's famous engraving La Catrina in the 2017 Disney/Pixar movie Coco.

Other symbols connected with Day of the Dead include the family ofrenda, an altar where mementos and pictures of loved ones are placed; flowers, especially marigolds; elaborately cut paper banners (see Skeleton at the Feast, page 32 for an ancient example); and sweets such as pan de muerte.

Sources:

The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloë Sayer (University of Texas Press, 1991) - This is the book we were mainly discussing in the episode whenever we talk about "the chapter" we read or what "they " told us about Day of the Dead. This is highly recommended for understanding the history of Day of the Dead.

*Cover Art Credit: *

*Calavera de la Catrina (Skull of the Female Dandy), from the portfolio 36 Grabados: José Guadalupe Posada, published by Arsacio Vanegas, Mexico City, c. 1910 [Public Domain]

*Children's books: *

*Movies: *

"Say hi to your mother for me" quote by Andy Samberg portraying Mark Wahlberg in SNL Skit (Season 35, 2009)