Faith through history

Council of Constance (1414-1418)

The Council of Constance is the sixteenth Ecumenical Council recognized by the Catholic Church. It is known mainly for its successful ending of the Western Schism but in the process it also gave strong support to the conciliarist tendencies in Europe. Following the election of rival Popes in 1378 and the failure of the Council […]

Devotio Moderna

Isaac Padinjarekuttu (Professor of Church History at Oriens Theological College, Shillong) The Devotio Moderna is one of the best known and most effective religious reform movements of the late Middle Ages with considerable after-effects in the church. The movement originated in the Netherlands, and spread over large areas of Germany. It has so far proved […]

Avignon Exile

It refers to the period of the so-called Avignon Papacy (1309 to 1377) during which seven successive Popes resided in Avignon in France rather than in Rome. This absence of the Popes from Rome is also sometimes called the “Babylonian Captivity of the Popes” or the “Babylonian Captivity of the Church” although we do not […]

Elisabeth of Schönau (c. 1129-1164)

Elisabeth of Schönau was a German Benedictine visionary. She was born of an obscure family near Bonn, Germany, and entered the double Monastery of Schönau in Nassau at the age of twelve and made her profession as a Benedictine nun in 1147. In 1157 she became abbess of the nuns. She was given to works […]

St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)

Foundress of the Order of Saint Clare or Poor Clares, Clare was born at Assisi of the Offreduccio family, but nothing is known of her early life. She became one of the earliest and most illustrious followers of the Franciscan ideal and vowed to follow St Francis in the practise of poverty and the imitation […]

Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308)

John Duns, commonly called Duns Scotus, also called Doctor Subtilis (the Subtle Doctor) for the subtle and penetrating manner of his thoughts, and Doctor Marianus for his contribution to the development of the dogma of Immaculate Conception, is generally considered to be one of the three most important philosopher-theologians of the Middle Ages, together with […]

St Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74)

Also called Doctor Communis and Doctor Angelicus, Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican philosopher and theologian. He was born at Roccasecca near Aquino in the kingdom of Naples as the youngest son in an aristocratic family. At the age of 5 he was given to the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino in the expectation that he […]

St Albert the Great (d. 1280)

Philosopher, theologian and scientist, Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), also known as Albert of Cologne and Universal Doctor because of the extraordinary depth of his knowledge, was a German Dominican who decisively influenced the Church’s stance toward Aristotelian philosophy brought to Europe by the spread of Islam. Students of philosophy know him as the teacher […]

Pope Tells New Cardinals Never To Stray From The Path Of Jesus

Notre Dame Cathedral ‘Back In The Light’ After Glorious Reopening