Awake & Alert - Rouse yourself with this Advent Podcast
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
Release Date: 11/28/2025
Conversion of St. Paul
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
7 minute Podcast on why the Church celebrates the Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, aka St. Paul, with a special feast. Dr. Italy on the Sonrise Morning Show of EWTN.
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St. Anthony, the Desert & Spiritual Warfare
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
When people today hear "St. Anthony," they usually think of the 13th century miracle-working Franciscan who is best known for finding lost objects. But a thousand years earlier, there lived the first St. Anthony who was also a miracle worker in a most remarkable way. This Anthony, an Egyptian, was a leader in the movement called monasticism. Giving away property and privilege to follow Jesus into poverty, Anthony left the comfort of civilization to go alone into the desert to battle the devil in imitation of Jesus Christ. Anthony prayed, healed, and fought many battles,...
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Jesus, John the Baptist & the River Jordan
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
Everyone has heard of the river Jordan, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. But few know much about it or can visualize it. Dr. Italy has taught on the banks of the Jordan upwards of thirty times over the past twenty years. Here he paints a visual picture of the Jordan emerging in far North Israel from the base of the snow-capped Mt. Hermon, and flowing downhill to the Sea of Galilee at the location of the ancient town of Bethsaida and just a short distance from Capernaum.
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Wedding Feast at Cana - Sign of Transformation
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
Everyone knows the story of the first of the Lord's "signs" -- how Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana at the request of Mary, his mother. But there is more to the story than at first meets the eye.
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Epiphany Revealed - Three Magi Kings & Their strange gifts
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
This commentary on the Feast of the Epiphany uncovers the meaning of the term epiphany and explains why the Magi -- Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior, the three kings of Orient riding camels and carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh -- are found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene.
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Mary, Mother of God?
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
January 1 is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. Not because it is New Year's day, but because it is the octave (8th day) of Christmas. This feast of Mary, the Mother of God, brings home the reality of the incarnation. In Jesus, the Creator truly became man. And that man had, and still has, a mother. So affirmed the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in AD 431.
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Holy Family Feast - Piety in the 21st Century?
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
The Feast of the Holy Family challenges us to grow in the virtues of piety, honor, patience, and forbearance. And to learn to laugh together.
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Bethlehem and the Christmas Story
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
14 minute podcast in which Dr. Italy describes the town of Bethlehem and the field of the Shepherds at the time of the birth of Christ. Helps bring the Christmas story alive as we read of the little town that was the city of David. At Christmas we sing “O little town of Bethlehem.” But what was this town like at the time of Jesus? And how likely is it that the Church of the Nativity, on Manger Square, is built over the actual birth site of Jesus. What is it like to enter and explore that church and to descend into the cave that is traditionally regarded as the place...
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The Deeper Meaning of Christmas
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
We all know the elements of the Christmas story: Caesar's census and Herod, shepherds and Magi, ox , swaddling clothes & manger, a stable and not room in the inn, Bethlehem and the Prince of Peace. But underneath each of these people, places, and things, there is deeper meaning that often goes unnoticed.
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St. Joseph - Father of Faith
Catholic Heritage with Dr. Italy
Saint Joseph always appears in Manger scenes during Advent and Christmas time and even has a special Solemnity or Feast in his honor, St. Joseph's Day, March 19. But he is so often neglected that St. John Paul II decided to write a special teaching about his role as foster-father of Jesus. This essay makes a case that St. Joseph teaches us some crucial things about the nature of faith that we can't afford to forget.
info_outlineThe Season of Advent provides us a rich selection of Scriptures from both New and Old Testaments. One recurring theme of many of these readings is that it is now time to rouse ourselves from sleep and become much more spiritually awake and alert.