During the Counter-Reformation, Jesuits used theater to warn of the dangers of Hell and the guide to the glories of Heaven. Performances of Jacob Bidermann, SJ’s Cenodoxus were no exception, causing some audience members to do penance and leading others into religious vocations. Links: Websites about Cenodoxus and Jacob Bidermann can be found here and [...]
Pope Benedict XV repeatedly called for an end to the violence of the First World War, but his cries just as repeatedly were rejected by the governments of belligerent countries that would be satisfied with nothing less than total victory. Yet, it was not only the governments of belligerent countries that thwarted Benedict’s mission – [...]
After his ordination, Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM ministered in Prisoner of War camps braving the anger of German Nazis and French guards. More than once his life will be in grave jeopardy. He will have to endure much before he finally fulfills his dream of going to Japan. Links: Biography and photos of Fr. Goldmann, [...]
When WWII broke out, Gereon Karl Goldmann, a Franciscan seminarian, was ordered to enlist in the German Army. He will struggle to remain faithful to his Church and to his country both as an officer in the Wehrmacht and, later, in Hitler’s Waffen SS. This struggle will bring him on the path to the priesthood [...]
Many cultures have special traditions for the celebration of Christmas. Polish Catholics celebrate with the sharing of opłatki. Austrian and German Catholics await the coming of the Christkindl. New traditions are also being established – for example, the Christmas Pickle. Links: You can purchase opłatki from here and here and here. An example of the [...]
Children in Catholic schools in the 1940s, 50s and 60s spent much time raising money to “ransom pagan babies”. But the work of the HCA, the Holy Child Association, was about more than baptism – it was about children helping children. Links: Holy Childhood Association – Official website of the HCA in the US HCA [...]
Father Herman Leo Van Breda, OFM played a key role in the preservation of the nachlass of Edmund Husserl. At great risks to himself, he ensured that these priceless writings concerning phenomenology would survive – writings that would in turn prove tremendously influential upon Catholic philosophy and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Links: [...]
On 19 October 1386, the first lectures were given at the University of Heidelberg making it the oldest university in Germany. Because of the Great Schism which had split the Catholic Church between allegiance to Rome or to Avignon, German professors in Paris who gave their allegiance to Rome were unable to remain at the [...]
On 25 September 1555, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic league agreed to the Peace of Augsburg. The Peace of Augsburg brought at temporary end to the fighting between Lutherans and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire by establishing the principle Cuius regio, eius religio. Each German prince in the Empire could [...]
Between 11 September and 8 October 1557, Catholic and Protestant theologians met at Worms to discuss their theological differences. The Catholic theologians included Michael Helding, and St. Peter Canisius, SJ. The Protestant theologians included Philip Melanchthon, Johannes Brenz and Erhard Schnepf. Canesius had previously condemned these type of gatherings as “The experience of centuries gives [...]
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