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Pope St. Gelasius I - Famuli Vestrae Pietatis: On the Two Swords

Release Date: 08/22/2024

St. John Henry Newman - The Oxford Sermons | 2. The Influence of Natural and Revealed Religion Respectively

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"The philosopher aspires towards a divine principle; the Christian, towards a Divine Agent." St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were isntrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism. In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman’s own conversion to Catholicism years later. These...

St. John Henry Newman - The Oxford Sermons | 1. The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospels

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"The philosopher might speculate, but the theologian must submit to learn." St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England. In this collection of fifteen sermons, Newman especially explores the relationship between faith and reason, and lays the groundwork for themes he would later develop in works like his Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In...

St. Vincent Ferrer - On the Purification of Mary

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

“This present feast is one of the greater of the whole year... Because there are three grades of sanctity which we celebrate in this feast.” St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) was a Spanish Dominican friar, theologian, and renowned preacher known for his fiery sermons and missionary work across Europe. He was deeply devoted to calling people to repentance, emphasizing the urgency of salvation and often preaching about the Last Judgment. This earned him the moniker "Angel of the Judgment." In this Candlemas sermon, St. Vincent reflects on the three significant events which this great...

St. Francis de Sales - Introduction to the Devout Life | Full

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"Be sure that wherever our lot is cast we may and must aim at the perfect life." Written over 400 years ago, Introduction to the Devout Life is still one of the most popular books for those pursuing holiness. St. Francis de Sales explains how to turn that desire for sanctity into resolutions that yield grace-filled results. Themes include: Pursuing a devout life whole-heartedly Incorporating prayer and sacraments into a busy schedule Growing in virtue Battling wisely against temptation Making spiritual progress through daily, monthly, and yearly exercises Whether you are just...

Pope Benedict XVI - Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) | Part 2

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

“Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world—this is the invitation I would like to extend with the present Encyclical.” Deus Caritas Est, or “God is Love,” was the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, released on December 25, 2005. This letter focuses on the nature of Christian love,...

St. John Henry Newman - Reverence, a Belief in God's Presence

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"They are the class of feelings we should have—yes, have in an intense degree—if we literally had the sight of Almighty God; therefore they are the class of feelings which we shall have, if we realize His presence." This sermon appears among a collection of sermons originally written and preached by St. John Henry Newman before his conversion to Catholicism. In it, Newman emphasizes that true reverence arises from a deep, abiding awareness of God's presence. Links Reverence, a Belief in God's Presence full text: SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks SIGN UP for Catholic...

St. Henry Walpole - Upon the Death of M. Edmund Campion

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"You thought perhaps when learned Campion dies, His pen must cease, his sugared tongue be still; But you forgot how loud his death it cries How far beyond the sound of tongue and quill." In 1581, a young Englishman named Henry Walpole attended the execution of the Jesuit Edmund Campion. As Campion was hung, drawn and quartered, Walpole stood close enough to be spattered with his holy blood. Though Campion’s fame in England was already great, Walpole would amplify it further with a splendid, lengthy poem, which became enormously popular among English Catholics—so popular that the man who...

Pope Benedict XVI - Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) | Part 1

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

“This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ, we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love”. It is there that this truth can be contemplated. It is from there that our definition of love must begin. In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move.” Deus Caritas Est, or “God is Love,” was the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, released on December 25, 2005. This letter focuses on the nature of Christian love, particularly examining the relationship...

G.E.M. Anscombe - Contraception and Chastity

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"For we don't invent marriage... any more than we invent human language. It is part of the creation of humanity and if we're lucky we find it available to us and can enter into it. If we are very unlucky, we may live in a society that has wrecked or deformed this human thing." Elizabeth Anscombe was a prominent 20th-century British philosopher, known for her influential work in ethics and her deep commitment to Catholic doctrine. In her essay 'Contraception and Chastity'—one of the earliest defenses of Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae—Anscombe expertly explains the evil of...

St. John Henry Newman - Three Poems on the Angels

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

My oldest friend, mine from the hour When first I drew my breath; My faithful friend, that shall be mine, Unfailing, till my death... "St. Michael" full text: "Angelic Guidance" full text: "Guardian Angel" full text: Happy feast of the Guardian Angels! More links: SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter DONATE at Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark...

More Episodes

"For there are two, O emperor Augustus, by which the world is principally ruled: the sacred authority of pontiffs and the royal power."

Pope St. Gelasius I reigned as pope from 492 to 496 AD and is best known for articulating the doctrine of "the two swords." This doctrine explains that man is subject to two powers: the temporal and the spiritual. Whereas the temporal power wields natural authority to promote the common good, the spiritual power wields supernatural authority for the care of souls. While recognizing that these two powers complement one another, Gelasius asserts the ultimate primacy of the spiritual authority over the temporal.

Pope Gelasius' contributions helped shape the relationship between church and state in medieval Europe, and to this day the Church's position remains what he first described in this famous letter to the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I.

Links

Famuli Vestrae Pietatis full text: https://thejosias.com/2020/03/30/famuli-vestrae-pietatis/

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