The Pax Tablet

In the Middle Ages, the passing of the peace was accomplished by...
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Sunday Christ Images

In the Middle Ages, working on the Lord's Day was as big a probl...
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Supporting the Church in Anglo-Saxon England

When Christianity was first established in England in the years ...
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Liturgical Handwarmers

Celebrating the sacred liturgy in cold climates before the adven...
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The Religious Culture of Frankish Syria

From 1098 to 1187, there existed in Palestine a small Frankish c...
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Medieval Examination of Conscience

The reflective exercise known as the Examination of Conscience h...
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Devotion to the Heart of Christ Before St. Margaret Mary

In the distressed years surrounding the Second Vatican Council, ...
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The Ordeal of Bread and Cheese

Trial by ordeal (iudicium dei) was a means of obtaining...
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St. Joan and the Faerie Tree of Domrémy

The story of St. Joan of Arc is unparalleled in the annals of we...
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Henrik of Uppsala (d. 1156)

To call St. Henrik obscure is only possible to an English speaki...
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Ark of the Covenant in the Lateran Basilica

The most extensive exposition of medieval liturgical ideas comes...
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Torture: Historical and Ethical Perspectives

At the time of this writing (December, 2014), United States citi...
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The History of Beards in Western Christendom

What does the hair on a man's face mean? Since we are made in Go...
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History of Eucharistic Adoration to 1254

Among Protestant and secular historians alike, there is a tenden...
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Difference between Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin

This essay is meant to provide a basic introduction to the diffe...
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Four Contributions of the Cluniacs

In the year 910, Duke William of Aquitaine did something which w...
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Coronation of Charlemagne

If one were to have a basic literacy of the most important dates...
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Thorfinn of Hamar (d. 1285)

St. Thorfinn is one of the most obscure of all medieval saints f...
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The Legend of St. Maternus

St. Maternus is a semi-legendary figure from the history of the ...
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Ecclesiastical Property Ownership in the Middle Ages

One of the most commonly asserted statements about medieval Cath...
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Demonic Impregnation: Incubi and Succubi

This is the third installment in a series of essays studying the...
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St. Ingenuinus (d. 605)

St. Ingenuinus goes by many names; he is sometimes called Ingenu...
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Gesta Romanorum: The Severed Foot

The Gesta Romanorum was written at the turn o...
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Life in Medieval Cluny

Founded as part of the Benedictine reform in the early 10th cent...
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Capuciati and the Peace of Aquitaine (1183)

The long reign of the French King Philip Augustus (1180-1223) wa...
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Catholicism and Medievalism

Many of the challenges in the Church and world today could be re...
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Ostrich Eggs in the Liturgy

One of the most curious liturgical practices of the medieval Chu...
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Crusaders and Conversion

In the secular histories of modernity, it has become common to p...
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Greenland's Hvalsey Church

To visit the ruin's of Greenland's Hvalsey Church is to take a p...
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Gregory VII and the Reform of Penance

The term "Gregorian Reform" i...
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