Catholic Culture Audiobooks

We thought Catholic Culture Audiobooks listeners might be interested in this discussion with Mike Aquilina, host of Way of the Fathers, also on the Catholic Culture Podcast Network. For those who missed the YouTube livestream Q&A with Mike Aquilina on May 8th, 2023, here is the audio. It was a lively conversation where Mike fielded viewer questions about important cities of the early Church, early evidence for papal primacy, the role of charity in the early Church, Origen, the providential role of easy travel for the spread of the Gospel in the first centuries, and more. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA We’ll be doing more YouTube livestreams where viewers will be able to interact, ask questions and prompt discussion via the live chat box. Upcoming livestreams: 5/15, 8pm ET—Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET—Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers)

We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers) You can use this link to connect to the Mike Aquilina livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXvhOJuLZ8 The links to the other two livestreams will go up on the Catholic Culture YouTube channel a few days before each one.

“When the Master himself has explicitly said of the bread, ‘This is my body,’ will anyone still dare to doubt? When He is Himself our warranty, saying, “This is my blood,” who will ever waver and say it is not His Blood?” These the two final catechetical lectures given by Cyril to catechumens around 349 A.D are termed the Mystagogical Lectures. In them, Cyril instructs the newly baptized on the mysteries into which they had just been initiated: baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. He reserves his lectures on the Eucharist for last, to "crown the work" of his pupils' spiritual edification. Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120470/the-works-of-saint-cyril-of-jerusalem-vol-2 Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2431 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.

"It is not enough to be Christians in name. It behooves us to be such in fact. [...] So let us become His disciples. Let us learn to live the life that Christianity calls for. No one with any other name than this can belong to God." St. Ignatius was the third bishop of Antioch. The only extant writings by St. Ignatius are the seven letters he wrote as a prisoner on his way to Rome to face martyrdom. In this letter, Ignatius encourages the Magnesian Christians to maintain their unity and avoid false teachings, exhorting them to obedience to their bishop and warning against those who deny the reality of Christ's human nature or who would Judaize the faith. With this episode, Catholic Culture Audiobooks has now released the complete letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the chief figures among the Apostolic Fathers. Links Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120401/the-apostolic-fathers Letter to the Magnesians alternate translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1629 Other readings of Ignatius’ Letters: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm Way of the Fathers, Ep. 4—Ignatius of Antioch: To Know “Jesus Christ Our God” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-4-ignatius-antioch-to-know-jesus-christ-our-god/ 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.

"For the one who was born as Son, and led to slaughter as a lamb, and sacrificed as a sheep, and buried as a man, rose up from the dead as God." A vernacular version of the earliest surviving Easter vigil homily by a second-century bishop about whom little is known. Full text: https://www.kerux.com/doc/0401A1.asp Alternate translation: https://sachurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/On-Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf 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.

"People are shown to be not particularly spiritual at other times if they do not prove themselves to be more spiritual in these days." St. Leo the Great's pontificate was described by Pope Benedict XVI as “undoubtedly one of the most important in Church history”. His 96 extant sermons, given during the period 440-461, reveal his great desire for the unity of the Church and his strong belief in the primacy of the papacy. These three Lenten sermons were given in the years 441, 442, and 443 respectively. In them, Leo exhorts the faithful to use Lent as a time to fight against the temptations of the flesh and overcome the self, that they might participate fully in the Easter feast. Links St. Leo the Great Sermons: https://verbum.com/product/120449/st-leo-the-great-sermons Alternate Translations at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2215 and https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2217 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.

"I don't know which is the cause of the greatest grief for me: whether those who were slain, or those who were captured, or those whom the devil so deeply ensnared." St. Patrick's Letter to Coroticus is one of two extant works from the fifth century bishop who would come to be known as the “Apostle of Ireland.” Written several years into St. Patrick's missionary work in Ireland, this letter offers a stern rebuke to a British warlord named Coroticus and his soldiers, the latter of whom had killed and enslaved several of Patrick's recent Irish converts. Reading at times like a Pauline epistle, the letter reveals Patrick's deep love for his Irish flock, his courage in confronting the evils of his day, and his profound zeal for the Gospel. St. Patrick, pray for us! Links Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus Full Text: https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/epistola_english# Way of the Fathers, Ep. 51—St. Patrick | Paternal & Patristic: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/51st-patrick-paternal-and-patristic/  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.

"God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves." In this 1939 essay, J.R.R. Tolkien expounds upon his personal theory of fantasy. Considered by many to be his most influential scholarly work, the essay is remarkable both as an analysis of a literary form by one of its most important pioneers and as a key to understanding Tolkien's own legendarium. This reading is unabridged, with the exception of Tolkien’s footnotes and endnotes. Links On Fairy-Stories full text: https://archive.org/details/on-fairy-stories_202110 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 artist puts before him beauty of feature and form; the poet, beauty of mind; the preacher, the beauty of grace: then intellect too, I repeat, has its beauty, and it has those who aim at it." In 1854, Newman was invited to Dublin by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to serve as rector for the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin. Though he retired after only four years, during this time he composed and delivered the lectures that would become The Idea of a University. What is the point of a liberal education? What is the use of philosophy? What good is knowledge in general? These questions and others like them are the consideration of Newman's fifth discourse on university studies, in which he answers that the study of philosophy and acquisition of knowledge is a sufficient end and good in itself. Links Cluny Media edition: https://clunymedia.com/collections/john-henry-newman/products/the-idea-of-a-university The Idea of a University full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/ 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.

"Therefore, my child, communicate frequently, as often as you can, subject to the advice of your spiritual Father... and by reason of adoring and feeding upon beauty, goodness, and purity itself in this most divine Sacrament you too will become lovely, holy, pure." St. Francis de Sales continues his instruction in the devout life with these eminently practical chapters on how the saints are united to us, how to hear and read God's Word, how to receive inspirations, how to go to confession, and how to receive Communion. On this last subject, St. Francis observes: “one rarely does that well which one seldom does.” This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format. Be sure to subscribe so as not to miss an installment! Links Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales 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.