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On this episode, we move beyond the bloody beheading horrors of last week's show to question the more metaphysical nightmare of Purgatory, the eternal waiting room where people who sinned (but not too mortally) await their souls' slow movement through the afterlife's most mundane bureaucracy. We also learn about the divine daycare of unbaptized babies known as Limbo and hear the tales of two German frauleins, one of whom had an amazing cookie recipe, wrote new age music, and could be considered the patron saint of modern-day social media influencers. Finally, we meet two monks, one who flies and one who farts. It is truly an episode that has it all!
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In this blood-splattered, gore-soaked episode we learn about the noted masochist and self-harmer Rose of Lima and her power to prevent earthquakes. We also find out why John the Baptist, Saint Sabina, and Saint Seraphima were all beheaded and how the Saints' stories relate to another beheaded character, Ned Stark of Game of Thrones. Finally, we explore who would the Bachelorette be more likely to take on a date: Saint Michael the Archangel or Lucifer the Lightbringer, and the answer surprises absolutely no one. Fair warning there is some dark and bloody material in this episode that may not be appropriate for younger listeners.
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On this episode we are joined by actor Garrett Armyn, fresh off his performance as The Count of Monte Cristo for the Hudson Classical Theater Company, to discuss the surprising connection between English Jesuit martyr Saint Robert Southwell and his cousin William Shakespeare. Garrett performs poems by Southwell and explores how phrases and passages written by the Saint show up in plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth. We also note the feast of Saint Genesius, patron of actors, comedians, clowns, and lawyers.
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On this week's episode, we go through a laundry list of Saints whose feast days were observed over the past week including Saint Rock and his dog (and saint in his own right) Saint Guinefort. Saint Rock is the patron saint of doctors and contagious diseases so he's a great patron for these troubled times as is Saint Mamas, patron Saint of nurses. We also learn about "Honey Sweet" Saint Bernard, Saint Stephen of Hungary, and Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, and the woman who discovered the location of the True Cross of the Crucifixion.
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On this very special episode, we learn about the assumption, body and soul, of The Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven and hear why she threw her holy girdle down to the ground on her way up. We speculate on where that sacred relic now resides and discuss how Saint Mary may have been much more than the nuns from catholic school would have led us to believe. We also feature an interview with a very special guest, and Saint in her own right, co-host Christian O'Toole's own blessed mother Frances O'Toole, and hear how the Virgin Mary may have miraculously appeared to her in the form of lightning after the death of her first-born son. We also learn how brave boy Saint Tarcisius died defending the eucharist when he was only 12 and how the tears of Saint Lawrence are connected to the Perseid meteor shower.
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In this week's episode, we are joined by Tony-nominated actress and Orange Is the New Black star Elizabeth Rodriguez to discuss her role as Saint Monica in the LAByrinth Theater Company's 2005 production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. The play was written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and featured Sam Rockwell as Judas, Eric Bogosian as Satan, and Elizabeth as a powerful, Latina incarnation of Santa Monica who nags and nags and nags until she gets the job done. We dive deeper into the life of the real Saint Monica, through the writings of her son Saint Augustine, and learn how her tears brought Augustine around to the true faith and inspired the name of the town of Santa Monica, California. We also celebrate our Saint of the Day, St. Cyriacus, a patron invoked against demonic possession and a particular favorite of actor Robert Downey Jr. We also discuss how Cyriacus became one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the original super saint team-up-squad, that would eventually be followed by supergroups like The Avengers and The Justice League.
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It would be difficult to overstate Augustine of Hippo’s role in shaping Catholic theology. In this episode, we explore Saint Augustine’s philosophical evolution from a belief in the predestination of the heretical Manichaean sect to his conversion to the True Faith of free will, swayed finally by his mother’s tears and the sermons of Saint Ambrose. Along the way, we discuss how this debate continues to this day in popular shows like Devs and Loki, and how quantum physics and the multiverse could explain why some people believe we can manifest our own destiny. Recorded on the feast day of John-Francis Regis, patron saint of illegitimate children, lace makers, and social workers, we also learn about the history of the Jesuit order and how their focus on education continues to this day at the prestigious New York City Catholic school, Regis, named for this famously popular preacher who was known for his "indelicate language, satire, and savage invective."
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In this episode, Rosemary and Sean give their picks for the GOATS or Greatest Of All Time Saints. They also share the stories of some of their less-known personal favorites and Rosemary interviews special-guest Father James Martin, Jesuit priest and author of “My Life with the Saints,” about the real-life humanity of the saints and the miraculous sermons of baby saints Rumbold and Ambrose. We also learn how the cinematic life of the Irish poet-saint Columba led to a landmark copyright infringement case, how burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down can help you sell your house, how praying to St. Anne can literally save your life, and how modern-day bohemian Brooklynite Dorothy Day could be on her way to becoming a saint, despite having an abortion in her wild younger days as a hard-drinking riot girl in Greenwich Village.
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Your name, your birthday, your nationality, your job, your hobby, each entitles you to the papally prescribed, perpetual, personal protection of a plethora of powerful patrons in paradise. Whatever your problem, a holy host of heavenly helpers is at hand. And you don't even have to be Catholic! In this pilot episode authors and experts, Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers explain where the saints come from, how they are officially canonized, and how they can help us in everyday life. We learn the truth about the real Saint Nicholas' broken nose, why Saint Brigid taught a fox to dance, how Saint Columbanus taught Europe to read, and why Tupac could be considered a modern-day saint.
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From the publisher's feed
Saints Preserve Us is an irreverent but informative show that chronicles the bizarre lives, often equally bizarre deaths, and posthumous mythologies of Catholic Saints. It's a glorious mash-up of…
Each episode will showcase specific saints examining their lives, the art they've inspired, and the legacies they've left behind. Through the lens of these misfits, martyrs, and messiahs we will also explore themes and topics that are relevant to the culture today including political division, apocalyptic fixation, quests for revenge, women's rights, racial inequality, life, death, and the debate over free will versus determinism. We'll interview members of the clergy, art historians, religious studies professors, theologians, and luminaries from the world of literature and pop culture who can offer insight into the pantheon of Saints, their meaning, their significance, their impact on our society and how they can help us understand our current moment.
Every week the show will also feature our in-house Saints experts and award-winning authors of the book Saints Preserve Us, Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers. Sean Kelly was the editor of National Lampoon from 1971 to 1978 during which he "broke his own record for obscurantism, reach an apotheosis with a dense parody of Finnegan's Wake." In 1975 he was a founding editor of Heavy Metal, the adult fantasy magazine, and as a freelance writer, he has been published in Bazaar, Benneton’s Colors, Interview, Irish America Magazine, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Playboy, SPY, The Village Voice, & the Quarterly of Joyce Studies. He reviewed a great many children’s books for the New York Times and created material for John Candy, George Carlin, Jane Curtin, Robert Klein, Steve Martin, Martin Mull, Gilda Radner, & Jonathan Winters.
Rosemary Rogers is an author, humorist, and former music producer whose eight books have been published by Random House, Villard, St. Martin’s Press, Hearst, Barnes & Noble, and City Lights. She collaborated with Sean Kelly on the bestseller Saints Preserve Us, currently in its 18th international printing. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, O. The Oprah Magazine, Oprah: Live Your Best Life, and Irish America, where she contributed to the magazine, website, and podcast and has been running her ongoing series “Wild Women.” She also frequently collaborates with her husband, Robert Downey, Sr.
Sean and Rosemary are joined each week by their producer and co-host Christian O’Toole, former Director of Video and Podcast Producer for Men’s Journal and story producer and editor of two documentary features on psilocybin assisted therapy, Focus on Clinical Research: Part One - The Johns Hopkins Stoy and Focus on Clinical Research: Part 2 - Death, Dying and Psychedelics.