During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Rithmomachia was one of the most popular games played in the universities and theological schools and promoted by Roger Bacon and Thomas More. Today, it has fallen into obscurity.
Links:
Wikipedia has a good simple presentation of the basics of rithmomachia
Here is a Renaissance presentation of rithmomachia
Rules for playing rithmomachia can be found here and here
For the really adventurous, here are the rules of Boolean rithmomachia
Computer [Java] versions of rithmomachia can be found here and here
Rithmomachia boards and pieces can be purchased here and here
SQPN’s Catholic New Media Celebration
Photo by navaburo
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#235 – The Philosopher’s Game
Shusako Endo’s book Silence describes the trials and persecutions of the Japanese Catholic Church during the late 1500s and 1600s. But what Endo describes in fiction, Fr. Cristóvão Ferreira, SJ found very real.
Links:
Hubert Cieslik, S.J. The Case of Christovao Ferreira. The true story behind Endo Shusaku’s best-selling novel Silence.
Silence by Shusaku Endo
SQPN’s Catholic New Media Celebration
Painting – The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew by Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#234 – Martyrdom and Apostasy
In 1942, the British needed someone special to help ensure the success of the Allied invasion of Sicily. Major Martin was that person – he was dead and he was Catholic.
Links:
More on Operation Mincemeat
BBC History Magazine Podcast talked about Operation Mincemeat in October 2008
SaintCast on Fr. Maximilian Kolbe
CNMC Boston
Photo from cosas de huelva
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#233 – Operation Mincemeat
In this episode, we finish our look at the history of the Union of Brest and the effects that it had upon the Orthodox Church in the Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth, plus I talk about leaving Austria.
Links:
Articles Concerning Union with the Roman Church
Map of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1600
One of the best books on this subject matter is “Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest” by Fr. Borys Gudziak
Photo – Image of the medal Clement VIII struck after the Union with the Ruthenian Church was established
CNMC MMX Boston 2010
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#232 – The Union of Brest, Part II
April 27, 2010 – 10:47 am
In the late 16th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Orthodox bishops faced some serious problems and would conclude that union with the Roman Catholic Church was the best solution.
Links:
Articles Concerning Union with the Roman Church
Map of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1600
One of the best books on this subject matter is “Crisis and Reform: The Kyivan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Genesis of the Union of Brest” by Fr. Borys Gudziak
Photo – Image of the medal Clement VIII struck after the Union with the Ruthenian Church was established
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#231 – The Union of Brest
On Pentecost Sunday 1972, Laszlo Toth took a hammer to the masterpiece of Michelangelo amidst a crowd of stunned visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Links:
Video of the damage to La Pietà – again the audio is a little too apocalyptic, but the images are very moving
Articles on La Pietà
Michelangelo’s other Pietà – The Deposition or Florentine Pietà, the Rodanini Pietà and perhaps the Palestrina Pietà.
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#230 – Michelangelo, La Pietà and Laszlo Toth
In just a few days, the Mongol armies had devastated the armies of Western Europe and all of Christendom seemed ready to fall. Pope Innocent IV placed all his hopes for peace in the hands of a sixty-five year old Franciscan.
Links:
Letter of Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan
The Letter of Great Khan Güyük to Pope Innocent IV
The Journal of Father John de Plano Carpini
Photo is map of the journey of Father John de Plano Carpini
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#229 – A Message for the Khan
Born a slave, ordained a priest – Father Augustus Tolton spent his life in the service of God. He strove against great odds to show to all Americans that racism had no place within the Catholic Church.
Prayer for the Cause of Father Augustus Tolton
O God, we give you thanks for your servant and priest, Father Augustus Tolton, who labored among us in times of contradiction, times that were both beautiful and paradoxical. His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time. We stand in the shadow of his ministry. May his life continue to inspire us and imbue us with that confidence and hope that will forge a new evangelization for the Church we love.
Father in heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your will, O God, glorify your servant, Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now ask through his intercession, (mention your request), so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved.
Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are God, living and reigning forever and ever. Amen
Bishop Joseph N. Perry
Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archdiocese of Chicago
2010
Links:
Biography of Father Tolton
There are are two books available about the life of Father Tolton – “A Place for My Children” and “From Slave to Priest”
CNMC MMX 200 – Catholic New Media Celebration in Boston
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#228 – Good Father Gus
The Cadaver Synod or the Synod Horrenda was one of the most unpleasant events in the history of the papacy at which Pope Stephen VI placed his predecessor Pope Formosus on trial. What made it more unpleasant was that Pope Formosus had died nine months earlier.
Links:
For more on the Cadaver Synod
Robert Browning’s The Ring and The Book account of the Cadaver Synod
On the difference between valid and licit sacraments
Picture is Jean Paul Laurens’ “Le Pape Formose et Etienne VII”
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#227 – The Cadaver Synod
March 21, 2010 – 10:56 am
Maria Gaetana Agnesi was one of the brightest mathematicians of the 18th century who just as she had been given a position at the Bologna Academy of Sciences gave it all up to serve the poor. Also in this episode a few words on Kyriopascha and Palmbuschen.
Links:
Massimo Mazzotti has written a recent book on Maria Agnesi called “The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God”
Here’s a good website with information about Maria Agnesi
Here’s a good website explaining “The Witch of Agnesi”
You can participate in the podcast listener’s survey here.
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#226 – Where Peace Reigns
catholicunderthehood.com 
