Catholic Culture Audiobooks

“Whoever does not refer everything to the praise and love of the one God... may seem to be erudite, but he can by no means be considered wise.” Where we last left off, Augustine had just finished vindicating some "pagan" forms of knowledge—such as music— as useful in the study of Sacred Scripture. He’ll go into further detail concerning what should be avoided and what embraced from among the so-called pagan disciplines.  Rejection of superstition is a major theme contained in these chapters, and Augustine provides some helpful criteria for the Christian in discerning what is superstitious from what is not. While all superstitious human conventions must be rejected as worthless and sinful, human conventions not arranged with demons, but arranged among men themselves, can sometimes be useful—even essential. It’s here that Augustine discusses principles of logic and rhetoric—a subject he’ll return to later in Book IV.  Though much of what he discusses in these chapters may strike some as academic, Augustine is far from advocating an esoteric approach to the Scriptures. "Knowledge puffs up," Augustine quotes St. Paul, "but charity edifies." What Augustine accomplishes, rather, is a robust defense of the fundamentally catholic character of the truth. In so far as anything is true, it is Christ’s. Thus all knowledge must, in the end, be put to the service and love of God. Notes Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275 Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast! 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.

“While I was lying in darkness and in the obscure night, and while, ignorant of my real life, I was tossing about on the sea of a restless world wavering and doubtful in my wandering steps… I thought it indeed difficult and hard to believe... that divine mercy was promised for my salvation.” Born at the beginning of the 3rd century to a wealthy, pagan family in Carthage, Cyprian initially rose to prominence as an orator. After a youth spent in dissipation, Cyprian converted and was baptized at around 35 years old. His bishop became so impressed with him that after only one year, Cyprian was made first a deacon, and then a priest. When that same bishop died only one year later, Cyprian was chosen to succeed him! As bishop, Cyprian would shepherd the church in Carthage through many storms—including persecution, a pandemic, and schism. The Letter to Donatus came before all of that. It is the earliest of Cyprian's treatises, written very shortly after his conversion. In it, Cyprian writes to his friend, Donatus, who is also a recent Christian initiate. Cyprian describes elements of his own conversion, including details about the misery to which his sins had reduced him. Cyprian writes with eloquence and power, and he concludes his letter with a rousing exhortation to Christian life. The Letter to Donatus remains as compelling today as it was in 246 A.D. Notes Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46612/st-cyprian-treatises  Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1733  Way of the Fathers, Ep. 18 - The Short, Happy Life of Cyprian of Carthage: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-18-short-happy-life-cyprian-carthage/#  Donate at http://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.

"Deviant sexual assault has accomplished what liturgical abuse never could: it has generated secular media pressure and secular legal constraints so overwhelming that the apparat was forced to make its files public." Fr. Paul Mankowski was a Jesuit of the Midwest province and a former contributor to CatholicCulture.org. For years, he spearheaded CatholicCulture.org’s old "Off the Record" column, writing under the pseudonym of Diogenes. A brilliant priest who worked tirelessly for Catholic renewal, Fr. Mankowski was unfortunately stymied by his superiors. "What Went Wrong?", a 2003 address to the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, first appeared in written form on CatholicCulture.org; in it, Fr. Mankowski traces an excellent analysis of how the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis came about. Notes Full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5915  Phil Lawler Tribute to Fr. Mankowski: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/farewell-uncle-di-father-paul-mankowski-rip/  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.

Catholic Culture Audiobooks presents a 6-part series of St. Athanasius’ famous biography of St. Anthony. Listen to the entirety of Athanasius’ Life of St. Anthony without interruption. You may already be familiar, from its countless iterations across art and literature, with “The Temptation of St. Anthony”... but The Life of St. Anthony—of which the temptations are only part—is one of the most influential works in the history of Christian literature. Setting aside the unique authority and influence of the biographer (the great Church father, St. Athanasius of Alexandria), the work itself describes the life of a singularly holy man. In fact, it is the earliest biographical account of a saint who had become such without having had to suffer martyrdom. Though St. Anthony was not the first Christian hermit, he was the most popular: this account of his life did much to spread his ascetic and monastic ideals throughout the East and West. Anthony has been called not only the father of Christian monasticism, but even the founder of the religious life. Needless to say, we are very excited to be bringing you The Life of St. Anthony in its entirety. If you enjoy this reading and would like hear more, register with us at http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio! Notes Way of the Fathers episode on St. Anthony: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/anthony-desert-solitary-celebrity/ Catholic Culture Podcast episode on the Temptation of St. Anthony in art history https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-temptation-st-anthony-elizabeth-lev/ Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120446/early-christian-biographies Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3080 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.

“Everyone devoted to the study of the Holy Scriptures... will find nothing else except that God must be loved for His own sake, and our neighbor for the sake of God.” We’re resuming our multi-part reading series of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, or 'On Christian Doctrine'. This is our second installment in the series, having released the Prologue & Book 1 in an episode last month. Augustine dives deeper into the subject of scriptural interpretation in these chapters, including a seven-step process  from Fear of the Lord (step 1) to Wisdom (step 7). Think of it as Augustine’s seven habits of highly effective scriptural readers. Augustine's approach to Scripture, however, is not so much an academic approach as a spiritual one. For Augustine, all scriptural knowledge will boil down to the great dual commandment of love of God and love of neighbor. Notes Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275 Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast! 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.

“Her glories are not only for the sake of her Son — they are for our sakes also.” Whereas in The Glories of Mary for the Sake of Her Son, Newman focuses primarily upon the then soon-to-be-defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception, here he draws special attention to Mary’s Assumption, and to the fitness — or, as he says, becomingness — of both dogmas. Newman further points out that Mary’s glories are not only for the sake of her Son, but for the sake of us, the rest of her children, as well. Notes On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse18.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.

“All the aspirations which the prayer of other religions expresses are fulfilled in the reality of Christianity beyond all measure.” This ecclesial document was written in 1989 by the then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI. Ratzinger was responding to a surge of popular interest in forms of Eastern spirituality—including such methods as Zen, yoga, and so-called transcendental meditation—which had led to an uncritical adoption by some Christians of methods of prayer incompatible with Christian worship. The fascination with Eastern methods continues today, and Christians must still carefully distinguish that which is authentically Christian from that which is not. Ratzinger’s is a masterful and accessible treatment on certain fundamentals of Christian prayer. Though he addresses the letter to bishops, one need not be a theologian to be spiritually edified — or have one's prayer enriched — by what he writes. Links Aspects of Christian Meditation Full text: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.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.

“In accordance with the view of the apostle Paul, let us give attention to the text - that we can, as he himself says, receive ‘the mind of Christ’ and know ‘the things that are given us by God.’” After St. Paul, Origen of Alexandria may well have been the most titanic intellectual figure of the first three centuries of Christianity.In the breadth of his writings and in the depth of his influence, Origen is equaled by few among the Church Fathers. He brought the Catechetical School of Alexandria to its height after succeeding Clement as its head. He was the first to make Scriptural exegesis into a science. His works were copied by Sts. Jerome and Ambrose among many others, and he influenced great medieval mystics like St. Bernard and Meister Eckhart. He dared to go where no Christian thinker had gone before — and though he fell into some theological errors, he nevertheless submitted all his thought to the judgment of the Universal Church and attained something very close to a martyr’s death. Origen’s homilies are simple, conversational and spiritually edifying. One is struck by his conviction that every word, every grammatical construction of Scripture has a purpose, and by his care not to let any meaning God intended go to waste. His interpretations give the lie to contemporary mischaracterizations of how early Christians understood the bible, especially with regard to the creation texts. Notes Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46619/origen-homilies-on-genesis-and-exodus Way of the Fathers, Ep. 19—Origen: The Most Controversial Christian Ever? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/life-origen-most-controversial-christian-ever/ Way of the Fathers, Ep. 20—Origen, Part 2: Hero, Heretic—or Hybrid? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/origen-part-2-hero-heretic-or-hybrid/ 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.

July 24, 2020 is being observed by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as a day of mourning for Hagia Sophia, in response to the decision by Turkey’s President to convert the historic cathedral in Istanbul from a museum to a mosque.  In a message to the Greek Orthodox faithful, Archbishop Elpidiphoros wrote, “knowing that on Friday, July 24th, there will be an ‘inauguration’ of this program of cultural and spiritual misappropriation and a violation of all standards of religious harmony and mutual respect, we call upon all the beloved faithful of our Holy Archdiocese to observe this day as a day of mourning and of manifest grief. We urge you to invite your fellow Orthodox Christians and indeed all Christians and people of goodwill to share in the following observances.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops shared this invitation, indicating that the Hagia Sophia — after serving for over eighty years as a museum — had become a place of encounter and dialogue between people of all faiths and cultures.  The Greek Orthodox have asked that every church toll its bells, every flag be raised to half-mast, and that the Akathist Hymn is chanted in the evening — to which the USCCB has added that for Catholics unfamiliar with the Akathist Hymn, the recitation of the rosary is recommended. Both prayers entreat the Mother of God for her intercession. It is for this reason that we are re-releasing our reading of the Akathist Hymn, which appeared on this podcast back in March for the feast of the Annunciation. As access beyond the most recent 15 episodes of this podcast is restricted to our registered users, this particular episode is a perfect example of the kind of content only available to those who register for free at catholiculture.org/getaudio. We want everyone, however, to have access to this resource on this day. So for those who have yet to register, please consider doing so. And for those who have already registered and listened to this episode, we hope this re-release will serve as a prompting to join together with us as we unite alongside our fellow Christians in this day of mourning, praying the words of this powerful and ancient prayer to the Mother of God. Notes Full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=899 Example of sung chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IYzQ2Ava4 Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. 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.  

“Whoever, then, appears in his own opinion to have comprehended the Sacred Scriptures, or even some part of them, yet does not build up with that knowledge the two-fold love of God and his neighbor, has not yet known as he ought to know.” “Everything which is not exhausted by being given away is not yet owned as it ought to be.” This episode marks the beginning of an exciting new work on Catholic Culture Audiobooks: De Doctrina Christiana, or On Christian Doctrine, by St. Augustine of Hippo. Though De Doctrina is a shorter work than Confessions or The City of God, it’s ranked right alongside them in significance — the three books together comprising St. Augustine’s contribution to the “Great Books of the Western World” list. In this episode, we hear Book One in its entirety. Augustine provides, by way of introduction to the study of interpretation, an influential synthesis of Christian teaching based on the idea that only God should be enjoyed, as the source of true happiness, whereas all other things are meant to be used toward our true end.  Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be releasing the other three books in two parts each — for a total of seven episodes, each about an hour or so in length. It’s the longest work we’ve tackled yet on this podcast, but we hope you’ll join us on the journey as we make our way through this great work of our Christian inheritance and Catholic culture. Notes Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275 Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. 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.