The Riddle of the Tongues: A Review
The Riddle of the Tongue Stones: How Blessed Nicolas Steno Uncovered the Hidden History of the Earth - Thomas Salerno (2024), Word on Fire...
A Vatican Spy: A Project of Hope and Love
A friend of mine, Anton Casta, is working on a biography on his own father whose name he shares. Anton Sr. lived a dramatic...
Laetare, Ierusalem!
A blessed Laetare Sunday to all our readers! This Fourth Sunday of Lent is named after the Introit, Laetare Ierusalem marking the halfway point...
Saint Patrick’s Magnificat
Towards the end of his life, Saint Patrick wrote his 'Confessions' which, like his near-contemporaneous Saint Augustine's autobiography of the same title, is meant...
Three Reasons to Read the Book of Jonah this Lent
Every year, the Wednesday after Ash Wednesday, the Mass readings revolve around the prophet Jonah. Not only does the first reading come from the...
Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Memory
As we begin the Lenten pilgrimage on this first Sunday, a fitting help to our deovtion is Allegri's Miserere, his unsurpassed musical setting of...
Eliot’s Ash Wednesday
T.S. Eliot published his poem Ash Wednesday in 1930, after he had composed during his conversion to Anglicanism (in 1927). The theme is, fittingly,...
Bairstow’s Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Sir Edward Bairstow (1874 - 1946) was an Anglican organist and composer, who wrote mainly for the church. Our schola is learning his polyphonic...
Bach’s ‘With Joy and Peace I Depart’
In 1725, on this feast of the Presentation/Candlemas/Purification, J.S. Bach first presented his cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin - With Joy...
Bach’s Christmas and Epiphany Oratorio
Between 1734 and 1735, J.S. Bach composed six Oratorios - or six parts of one long Oratorio - for the Christmas season, which the...