There is a book by Antonio Rosmini that perhaps few people know, partly because the production of the great scholar from Rovereto is huge and it is not possible to know everything. This book is called History of Impiety (Storia dell’empietà) and is a controversy with the French philosopher Beniamino Constant (1767-1830), accused of making religion a mere product of sentiment. In fact, the danger identified by Rosmini is not of secondary importance. We could say that today it is... Read more
The life of Theodore of Mopsuestia (or Theodore the Interpreter, 350-428) started in that fatal 4th century, a time when in the Church there will be dramatic changes that will remodel change completely the way she will act in the world. This is a time of great Christian thinkers, as Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Athanasius, Basil, the two Gregory’s, Damasus, Leo and so on. So not many are probably familiar with this bishop born in Antioch, in today’s Syria. He was... Read more
The past weeks a meeting was held in the Vatican to address the serious problem of child abuse by the clergy. In the Church the most significant problem is the abuse of adolescents, what in technical terms is called ephebophilia. Father Fortunato di Noto is at the forefront of the battle against child abuse, a voice informed about the vastness, gravity and consistency of this phenomenon. Father, can you tell us about your background? I have been a Catholic priest... Read more
Synesius of Cyrene (373-414), was a disciple of the celebrated philosopher Hypathia, a woman who was killed by a Christian mob, even if she was very well beloved by pagans and Christians alike. She was a Neoplatonic philosopher. So Neoplatonism will influence also our Synesius. Because we heard a lot about this name, “Neoplatonism,” let us see its fundamental ideas: “The most fundamental of these assumptions, which the Neoplatonists shared with the majority of intellectuals of the ancient world, including... Read more
The joy expressed in Gregorian chant is contained and austere, a joy with gravitas. It has nothing to do with the superficial, silly joy which we encounter in so many modern Church songs. Read more
Forgive me an outburst, but I understand why people no longer go to Mass, and I also have the remedy. Move the homily at the end of the Mass! Read more
Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) was an important writer, hymnographer and theologian in the IV century. We know very little about his early years and the information we have are somehow in contradiction. We know that the Bishop of Nisibis (where Ephrem was born and that was then in Syria, today in Turkey), Jacob (or James), brought him to participate at the Council of Nicaea in 325. Then, after being in charge of a theological school in Nisibis he will retire... Read more
There is no doubt that there is something wrong with education in the way we use this term today. First of all, “education” is used as synonym of “schooling” but, as a matter of fact, they are not the same thing. Read more
"When a country receives in massive proportions people that bring with them a culture and a religion that is radically different, the local cultural identity is automatically at stake". Read more
Let us not forget that the essential nature of music (and of worship music) is improvisational and oral. But indeed there is a sense of the written music coming from the score that cannot be not considered. Read more
Il Naufrago
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