The Catholic Culture Podcast

Today's guest is Chase Faucheux, translator of a recent biography of Pope St. Gregory the Great. Topics include: The very low point in Rome's history in which Gregory came of age His being all things to all men in the city of Rome, as both a spiritual and temporal leader His longing for the monastic life even after he became Pope His remarkable forthrightness about his own shortcomings His diplomatic attempts to keep barbarians from destroying his city Links Sigrid Grabner, In the Eye of the Storm: A Biography of Gregory the Great https://ignatius.com/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-iesp/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This is a significantly truncated version of the original episode. Listen to the full episode here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/126-how-charlie-parker-changed-my-life/ Thomas Mirus goes solo in this episode to talk about how his relationship to music was completely transformed in his late teens, by exposure to the music of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. Before he had used music to stimulate an emotional response, but soon he found himself listening for the sake of musical beauty itself, regardless of emotions or lack thereof. This quickly opened up a whole world of contemplation (musical and otherwise). After discussing this deeper way of listening to music, Thomas explains how to follow the musical form of a jazz performance, and introduces the music of Charlie Parker and the new form of jazz he pioneered in the 1940s and early 50s, known as bebop. If you want to listen more extensively to the jazz artists heard in this episode, check out these albums (no links because these things are always going in and out of print in different compilations): Charlie Parker, listen to the complete Savoy and Dial master takes in whatever compilation you can find Bud Powell, Jazz Giant Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street Sonny Rollins Plus Four Music heard in this episode: Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Rising High Water Blues” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsFNi0ZVzj4 Charlie Parker, “Perhaps” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOOvq1sJvw Charlie Parker, “Blues for Alice” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7USMqAH8qk Charlie Parker, “Parker’s Mood” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ Charlie Parker, “Anthropology” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HkFBT4h190 Bud Powell, “So Sorry Please” from Jazz Giant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-IoDXFWr1c&list=PL9C4lRUjCkCt_oXThX81D3LhhRIUXVDqb&index=6 Clifford Brown and Max Roach, “Gertrude’s Bounce” from At Basin Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7TdrmmDkc&list=PLUJ7V33M1wR3yDePSuvG8W1LmV3uuPg-S&index=8 Sonny Rollins, “Pent-Up House” from Plus Four https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INeqyCTvm4s&list=OLAK5uy_k6jR4wR5XEIyRL95Ov95VXhkYkAKQZIfw This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Art historian Elizabeth Lev joins the show to discuss her new book, The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art. The book offers not only a history of sixteen centuries of art featuring St. Joseph, but also an account of the development of devotion to St. Joseph over the past two thousand years -from the old man sitting overlooked in the corner of early Nativity scenes to the glorious Patron of the Univeral Church. Links Watch on YouTube to see the artworks discussed: https://youtu.be/LiPgnGAcu-s Elizabeth Lev, The Silent Knight https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/the-silent-knight Episode with Elizabeth on the history of St. Anthony Abbot in art https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-temptation-st-anthony-elizabeth-lev/ Episode with Elizabeth on the film Ben-Hur https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ben-hur-1959-w-elizabeth-lev/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

For two decades, Maggie Gallagher was a leading voice writing about the importance of permanent, monogamous marriage to society. At first, that included pointing out the problems with divorce, feminism and single parenthood. Then as same-sex marriage became the predominant issue, Gallagher became the public face of the movement against it. A few years after the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the 50 states, Gallagher switched gears when Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco asked her to be Executive Director of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, which he founded in 2013. She says that to avoid despair, we have to build beautiful things. In this interview Maggie discusses: How becoming a single mother in college led her to focus her career on the defense of marriage Her time in the pro-marriage movement, including co-founding the National Organization for Marriage Why the defenders of marriage were less effective than the pro-life movement Why certain critiques of the pro-life movement's political involvement are unfair American classical liberalism’s inability to think about social institutions Meeting Archbishop Cordileone and getting involved in the BXVI Institute The BXVI Institute's patronage of the arts, especially the liturgical arts The Archbishop's campaign of prayer and fasting for the conversion of Nancy Pelosi Links www.BenedictInstitute.org Benedict XVI Institute on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4a0pooErfPoWck0xc7WHGg Maggie Gallagher, Enemies of Eros https://www.amazon.com/Enemies-Eros-Revolution-Killing-Marriage/dp/0929387007 Maggie Gallagher and Linda Waite, The Case for Marriage https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184776/the-case-for-marriage-by-linda-j-waite-and-maggie-gallagher/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Carl Hostetter, editor of a new volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's unpublished notes, The Nature of Middle-earth, joins the show. Carl discusses: His collaboration with Christopher Tolkien leading to this new volume What other Tolkien writings we might expect to see published Why it may be good that Tolkien never finished the Silmarillion in his lifetime Tolkien's Thomistic reflections on elvish hylomorphism, and other revelations contained in the new book How Tolkien's obsession with consistency nearly destroyed his legendarium Potential problems with the theology of Middle-earth Anti-Catholic bias in contemporary Tolkien fandom and scholarship Links Carl Hostetter, The Nature of Middle-earth https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-nature-of-middle-earth-jrr-tolkien Interview with Jonathan McIntosh about The Flame Imperishable https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-40-tolkien-and-aquinas-jonathan-s-mcintosh/ Other resources recommended: J.R.R. Tolkien, Morgoth’s Ring, vol. 10 of The History of Middle-earth, ed. Christopher Tolkien Jonathan McIntosh, The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology Verlyn Flieger, Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World Corey Olsen's seminars on The Nature of Middle-earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duNayhMrrJ8&list=PLasMbZ4s5vIXZtwVbmyh6sTE56uiI_t0C This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

T.C. Merrill's debut novel, Minor Indignities, is an evocative portrayal of the vanity of undergraduate life at an Ivy League university. Its protagonist, a freshman consumed with what others think of him intellectually, socially and sexually, only makes a fool of himself the more he strains to impress. The novel ultimately becomes a richness of embarrassments whose final catastrophe illustrates the saying of St. Bernard: “Humiliation is the way to humility.” Merrill joins the show to talk about his novel, his essay "The Situation of the Catholic Novelist", Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, how a fiction writer should approach depicting sexuality, the relation between art and emotion, and René Girard. Watch interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xH1Fm6C9i7E Links Minor Indignities https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p103/minor-indignities-by-trevor-cribben-merrill.html "The Situation of the Catholic Novelist" https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p116/The-Situation-of-the-Catholic-Novelist.html This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Originally published as episode 59 on December 21, 2019, this popular episode is being rerun in a slightly improved version. This is a love letter to the great English Christmas carols, from “There Is No Rose” to “The Boar’s Head”. Did you know that not just any Christmas song is a carol? The true carol, in all its earthy splendor, is a distinctive product of the Catholic middle ages. Yet our forefathers didn’t limit caroling to Christmas: they wrote carols for every season of the year covering the entire story of our Redemption, not to mention secular topics at times. This episode explores the origin of carols in England, their cultural meaning, and how they were suppressed by the Puritans and were revived in modern times. And of course, you’ll hear a lot of great music throughout, ranging from historically informed performance to modern arrangements! Links Erik Routley, The English Carol https://www.amazon.com/English-Carol-Erik-Routley/dp/0837169895 Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas https://www.amazon.com/Carols-Christmas-Celebration-Surprising-Favorite/dp/0718031520 All music in this episode used with permission from the recording artist and/or label. Agincourt Carol, Alamire https://www.amazon.com/Deo-Gracias-Anglia-Alamire/dp/B008L1GZUO Nowell sing we both all and some, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2 Gabriel From Heaven’s King, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2 A Virgin Most Pure, Stairwell Carolers https://www.stairwellcarollers.com/en/o-magnum-mysterium/ Coventry Carol, Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, available on the CORO record label at https://thesixteenshop.com/ Bedfordshire May Carol, Shirley Collins https://mainlynorfolk.info/shirley.collins/records/withinsound.html Remember O Thou Man, The King’s Singers https://www.amazon.com/Remember-O-Thou-Man/dp/B073JZN754 Wassail (Gloucestershire Wassail, arr. Vaughan Williams), Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland4 Green Growth the Holly, Early Music New York—Frederick Renz, Director https://www.earlymusicny.org/a-renaissance-christmas My Dancing Day, Robert Shaw Chorale https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Angels-Christmas-Hymns-Carols/dp/B000003D0G Drive the Cold Winter Away, Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/nwrb In the Bleak Midwinter, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2 Lullay My Liking (Holst), HSVPA Madrigal Singers (Houston, TX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw81DCQ3HhI A Hymn to the Virgin (Britten), VOCES8 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077GC4QVT/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp There is no rose, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2 Thanks to all, but especially to Ross W. Duffin for his generosity with Quire Cleveland’s back catalogue! Also recommended: A Waverly Consort Christmas: From East Anglia to Appalachia https://www.amazon.com/Waverly-Consort-Christmas-Anglia-Appalachia/dp/B000002SRK Other non-famous carols mentioned: Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life); This Endris Night; Tempus adest floridum (Good King Wenceslas); Kingsfold (I heard the voice of Jesus say); The Cherry Tree Carol; Masters In This Hall; The Golden Carol; Snow in the Street; New Prince, New Pomp This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Mary Lou Williams: one of the outstanding jazz pianists of all time, composer, Catholic convert, visionary, performer of works of mercy. Because Williams's career lasted and her style adapted through many changes in jazz from the swing era to the early 1970s, and because she mentored two of jazz's most influential figures (Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk), this episode is an opportunity not only to dive into her life and music, but to learn a little about jazz history more generally. Deanna Witkowski, herself a jazz pianist and Catholic convert, has written a new biography of Williams, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul, and performs Williams's compositions on her forthcoming album, Force of Nature. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/B31PwFU-FrY Links Buy Deanna's book and album: https://www.deannawitkowski.com/store Musical tracks heard in this episode: Mary Lou Williams: "Waltz Boogie", "Walkin' and Swingin'", "Night Life", "Holy Ghost" (composed by Larry Gales), "Autumn Leaves" (composed by Joseph Kosma), "Aries", "Taurus", "Virgo", "Anima Christi", "St. Martin de Porres". Excerpts from Bud Powell, "Cherokee" (composed by Ray Noble); Thelonious Monk "Monk's Dream"; Elmo Hope, "Eejah". Deanna Witkowski, "Intermission", composed by Mary Lou Williams and Milton Suggs, used with permission. From Deanna Witkowski's album Force of Nature.  This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This episode contains clips of highlights from episodes 45 and 47-49 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. Episode 45—Libertarianism vs. Natural Law on Private Property https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-45-libertarianism-vs-natural-law-on-private-property/ Episode 47—Our Lady’s Habit: Wearing and Loving the Brown Scapular—Fr. Justin Cinnante, O.Carm. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-47-our-ladys-habit-wearing-and-loving-brown-scapular-fr-justin-cinnante-ocarm/ Episode 48—Authority and Submission as Gift in Christian Marriage—Mary Stanford https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-48-authority-and-submission-as-gift-in-christian-marriage-mary-stanford/ Episode 49—A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth’s Court, Pt. I—Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-49-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-i-kerry-mccarthy/

Unlikely as it may sound, Catholic fiction has a certain amount of mainstream appeal in Japanese literature. Sono Ayako, one of Japan’s most famous novelists, wrote a novel about St. Maximilian Kolbe called Miracles, which has just been translated into English. Miracles is a semiautobiographical account of the author’s personal investigation into the miracles approved by the Vatican for Kolbe’s canonization. Her ambivalence towards her Catholic faith is challenged as she traces Kolbe’s steps from his childhood to his self-sacrifice in Auschwitz, with his time in Japan standing in between as the ascetic crucible which made him a saint. Ayako writes: "Before he died, this priest flung a tough question like a red-hot iron rod at the dried-up soul of modern Man. The question was, 'what does it mean for us to love one another?'" Translator Kevin Doak joins the show to discuss Miracles, Catholic fiction in Japan (which extends far beyond Endo’s Silence), and…Endo’s Silence. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ne9Yz5lC7qI Links Miracles https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p114/miracles-sono-ayako.html Kevin Doak, “Beyond Endo: The Hidden Renaissance of Japanese Catholic Novelists” https://benedictinstitute.org/2019/07/beyond-endo/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio