Category: Death
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The Death of Corrupt Clergymen
About the Author: Thomas of Cantimpré (1201 – 1272) was pushed into the Church because a hermit told his father that unless one of his sons became a priest, the father would spend a very long time in purgatory. But Thomas took to the priestly life, becoming a noted preacher and theologian and writing several…
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Ars Moriendi: How Jesus Died
About the work: A second excerpt from the “Craft of Dying” reflects on Christ’s death and draws from it five pieces of advice for those on the point of death. Furthermore, forasmuch as Saint Gregory saith: Every doing of Christ is our instruction and teaching; therefore such things as Christ did dying on the cross,…
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Requiem Aeternam
by Tate Pumfrey Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, Who now ascend the ladder laced in light Perpetual. That day of tears, of fright, Of mourning, mounts before these souls who ford Across the hidden hem of time toward That shore immortal. Christ, you did delight In calling Lazarus from death to life, Now…
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Stewarding Death on the Homestead
About the Author: Mark Kutolowski lives with his wife and three children at Metanoia of Vermont, a lay Catholic homestead guided by the spirituality of Saint Benedict. metanoiavt.com “Thank you, Dimitri, for the gift of your life.” I speak the words softly to the 90 pound lamb I’m holding. I have him up on his…
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Saint Paul on Dying with Christ
About the Story: The good news of the Gospel seems to have raced to Rome, and soon Saint Paul (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD), the Apostle to the Gentiles, wrote them one of his great letters. Here in Romans 6:1-14, Saint Paul explains what Christians should believe about death and about life. 1 What shall…
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Introduction to Tradition Magazine, Issue Two: Death
Here we are again slipping into winter, and for most of the natural world, winter is a time of dying. Many animals will not survive the winter: the ones who are too old, the ones who are too young, the foolish, the unlucky, the squirrel who has forgotten where he hid the nuts. It’s no…
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Athenagoras on the details of the Resurrection
About the Author: Christianity teaches that the dead will rise again in a physical resurrection. This is a comforting doctrine, but right from the start Christians realized that it raises philosophical questions as well. How does a resurrection work? If we get back the same bodies that we had, how can we account for the…
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Sonnet 13
About the Author: William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) was active in the years after Catholicism became illegal in England. Part of the case that he was a secret Catholic ties Shakespeare to Saint Thomas More. In Shakespeare’s official plays, More is almost written out, but Shakespeare and other authors collaborated on a play about Saint…
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How Death came into the World
About the Story: In the first pages of Genesis (3:1-19) we encounter the story of original sin, precipitated by Eve’s encounter with the strange figure of the serpent in the garden. This can be no ordinary serpent. Snakes don’t talk, and they also don’t tempt people, and we are not original in viewing the serpent as a…
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Saint Gregory the Great
About the Author: In his Dialogues, Saint Gregory in conversation is challenged on the immortality of the soul. He tells stories to make the case. Saint Gregory makes the point that saints offer a specifically Catholic case for the immortality of the soul: “For sick persons come unto their dead bodies, and be cured: perjured persons…