Sanctifying Signs

Sanctifying Signs
Author: David Aers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

Sanctifying Signs presents a critical study of Christian literature, theology, and culture in late medieval England.

Saints and Signs

Saints and Signs
Author: Massimo Leone
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2010-08-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 3110229528

Saints and Signs analyzes a corpus of hagiographies, paintings, and other materials related to four of the most prominent saints of early modern Catholicism: Ignatius of Loyola, Philip Neri, Francis Xavier, and Therese of Avila. Verbal and visual documents – produced between the end of the Council of Trent (1563) and the beginning of the pontificate of Urban VIII (1623) – are placed in their historical context and analyzed through semiotics – the discipline that studies signification and communication – in order to answer the following questions: How did these four saints become signs of the renewal of Catholic spirituality after the Reformation? How did their verbal and visual representations promote new Catholic models of religious conversion? How did this huge effort of spiritual propaganda change the modern idea of communication? The book is divided into four sections, focusing on the four saints and on the particular topics related to their hagiologic identity: early modern theological debates on grace (Ignatius of Loyola); cultural contaminations between Catholic internal and external missions (Philip Neri); the Christian identity in relation to non-Christian territories (Francis Xavier); the status of women in early modern Catholicism (Therese of Avila).

Romano Guardini's Meditations before Mass and Sacred Signs

Romano Guardini's Meditations before Mass and Sacred Signs
Author: Romano Guardini
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2024-06-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0870613235

Follow the spiritual wisdom of one of the twentieth century’s great theologians, Romano Guardini, as you prepare your mind, body, and heart for Mass. Guardini’s sacramental imagination influenced the liturgical renewal that took shape in the Second Vatican Council, and has been highly praised by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Romano Guardini’s Meditations before Mass and Sacred Signs collects two seminal works from Guardini that are both filled with brief meditations on the fundamental elements and actions of the liturgy. Taken together, these two classics provide readers with a treasure-trove of reflections on the source and summit of Christian life—The Eucharist. Romano Guardini’s Meditations before Mass is a set of thirty-two reflections on what the Mass asks of us, and how we might properly respond. The book is divided into two parts: Part one focuses on cultivating the appropriate dispositions we need to bring to Mass. Part two delves into the various dimensions of the Mass and the movements that demand our attention. Sacred Signs goes on to explore in twenty-six short meditations the actual things of the Mass as they are used sacramentally—water and wine, kneeling and standing, altar and linens—and the ways that they make spiritual and eternal realities visible. Likened to a mother who teaches her child to do the sign of the Cross, and a teacher who instructs his student as to the meaning of the act, Guardini hoped that he “could bring the sacred signs to life” for the reader. Together, these works reorient our attention and understanding so that, in Guardini’s words, “the gaze lifted to the altar (can) grow inwardly quiet and receptive to holiness.” Though both works were written before Vatican II, their relevance has only grown over the years. They are a spiritual feast for the mind and heart, and a guide for modern people who wish to make sense of the Church’s feasts and liturgies. Romano Guardini’s Meditations before Mass and Sacred Signs are wise, pastoral, and timeless classics on preparing for and savoring the Mass from a theological giant at his very best, yet relatable and meaningful to everyday Catholics who want to deepen their worship through the Mass.

Signs of Hope

Signs of Hope
Author: David Hope
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2010-01-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441157417

David Hope is the leader of the Catholic wing of the Church of England. He is the son of a builder from Wakefield, Yorkshire who was appointed to the highest office in the Church of England because of his profound spiritual authority ( he is a man of great personal holiness) and because of his practical commonsense approach to day-to-day problems in the Church. Underneath the charm, the humour and the holiness is a very tough down-to-earth Yorkshireman. These great qualities are exemplified in this new collection of Hope`s sermons and addresses. Whether he is addressing the congregation of a fashionable Episcopal Church in New York, or a conference of tough-minded business men at the Institute of Management his ability to touch the hearts and minds of his audience is outstanding. `Within the space of one week`, writes David Hope `I can find myself at the Great Yorkshire Show, at the York Races, addressing a group of business executives on the subject of business ethics, presenting awards to apprentices on an engineering course and visiting the classes in a primary school in a deprived urban area`. It is the application of the Catholic gospel to such a variety of circumstances and people`s lives that has made David Hope the outstanding Christian leader that he is. At all times, he points the way to existential openness and to transcendence. His qualities are evident for all to read in this compelling new book.

Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy
Author: Robert Stackpole
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: God (Christianity)
ISBN: 9781596142084

"This revised edition takes you on a tour of Divine Mercy throughout salvation history, through the Old and New Testaments, in the writings of the Church's great theologians, and in the lives and writings of the saints down through the ages. In this revised edition, Dr. Stackpole expands his chapter on the great theologian St. Augustine, includes a new chapter on the spiritual master St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and highlights the involvement of Pope Benedict XVI at the first World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in 2008"--Publisher's description.

Gregory the Great and His World

Gregory the Great and His World
Author: R. A. Markus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1997-10-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521586085

Markus's new and accessible work is the first full study of Gregory the Great since that of F. H. Dudden (1905) to deal with both Gregory's life and work as well as with his thought and spirituality. With his command of Gregory's works, Markus portrays vividly the daily problems of one of the most attractive characters of the age. Gregory's culture is described in the context of the late Roman educational background and in the context of previous patristic tradition. Markus seeks to understand Gregory as a cultivated late Roman aristocrat converted to the ascetic ideal, caught in the tension between his attraction to the monastic vocation and his episcopal ministry, at a time of catastrophic change in the Roman world. The book deals with every aspect of his pontificate: as bishop of Rome, as landlord of the Church lands, in his relations to the Empire, and to the Western Germanic kingdoms in Spain, Gaul, and, especially, his mission to the English.

Votive Panels and Popular Piety in Early Modern Italy

Votive Panels and Popular Piety in Early Modern Italy
Author: Fredrika H. Jacobs
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2013-10-07
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107023041

This book traces the origins and development of the use of votive panel paintings in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.