Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."

The letters of St. Ignatius give witness to many of the early Church's beliefs and practices. In this letter to the Church in Smyrna, Ignatius attests to Jesus' true humanity and true divinity, His real presence in the Eucharist, and the universal hierarchy of bishop, priest, and deacon. The letter is also notable for containing the first recorded use of the term Catholic Church.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1633

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses/verse15.html

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"In heaven, love will absorb fear; but in this world, fear and love must go together."

Vivat Christus Rex!

Links

Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume1/sermon23.html

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter

DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"But, if some shall disobey the words which have been spoken by Him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in no small transgression and danger."

This letter is the only extant work by St. Clement of Rome, a 1st-century successor of St. Peter said to have been consecrated by Peter himself.

According to Johannes Quasten, Clement's Letter to the Corinthians is "the earliest piece of literature outside the New Testament for which the name, position, and date of the author are historically attested." It illuminates the origins of several Christian doctrines, including those of apostolic succession, Petrine primacy, and the papal office.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1608

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"The unseen God alone was their Comforter, and this invests the scene of their suffering with supernatural majesty, and awes us when we think of them."

This episode features a sermon first given by St. John Henry Newman on the Feast of St. Stephen the Martyr, in which he reflects on martyrdom and the early church martyrs.

Links

Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon4.html

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter

DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"The uproar in the stadium was such that nobody could be heard at all."

An authentic, firsthand account of St. Polycarp's martyrdom on February 22, 156.

Among other things, the account attests to the veneration of saintly relics by early Christians. The letter puts forth a clear defense of the veneration of saints as distinct from the worship rendered solely to God.

The account is as moving now as it was when the Christians at Smyrna first wrote it.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1627

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"The letter of Ignatius sent to us by himself and all the others we have here we send you... and from them you will greatly profit."

St. Polycarp was the 2nd-century Bishop of Smyrna. Though he is known to have composed numerous letters, his Letter to the Philippians is the only one that has survived.

In this letter, Polycarp insists on the value of closely studying the letters of St. Paul and of St. Ignatius of Antioch, whose letters Polycarp had sent to the Philippians along with this letter.

Mike Aquilina on St. Polycarp: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-5-st-polycarp-and-social-network/

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1626

Sign up for our newsletter at https://www.catholiculture.org/getaudio

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Copy the ways of God in speaking to each as an individual person... Not every wound is healed by the same salve."

This episode features a letter written from one to saint to another: St. Ignatius' letter to St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Alongside Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome, Polycarp is regarded as one of the chief figures among the Apostolic Fathers.

Unlike other letters written by St. Ignatius and addressed to an entire Church community, this letter represents a personal correspondence from one early bishop to another. Polycarp so valued this letter, in fact, that he later had it copied in its entirety and sent to the Philippians.

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1634

Sign up for our newsletter at https://www.catholiculture.org/getaudio

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"We crowd these all up into one day; we mingle together in the brief remembrance of an hour all the choicest deeds, the holiest lives, the noblest labors, the most precious sufferings, which the sun ever saw."

Happy Solemnity of All Saints!

Today's reading is of a sermon from St. John Henry Newman's Anglican period, given while he was vicar at St. Mary's of Oxford on the occasion of the Feast of All Saints.

Newman was renowned for these sermons, and congregants would flock to University Church of St. Mary's to hear him preach. His sermons from this period remain among the greatest Christian discourses of all time.

Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon32.html

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Do not abandon the commandments of the Lord, but keep what you have received, without adding or subtracting."

The Didache is one of the most important sources from the age of the Apostolic Fathers; so instrumental, in fact, that some of the early Fathers considered it to be a part of the New Testament.

Effectively the oldest extant written catechism, it provides both moral and liturgical instruction, including the oldest recorded Eucharistic prayers.

In a time characterized by ambiguity and evasiveness, the simplicity with which the Didache puts forward its teaching is itself an instruction.

Links

Mike Aquilina on the Didache: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-6-whats-in-name-anonymous-texts-from-early-church/

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1631

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.