The Pearl of Great Price
Episodes
368 episodes
May 19 Alcuin of York - Capital letters and miniscule script
The greatest mind of the 8th Century - changed how we read letters, and saved a lot of knowledge from Viking Destruction. Alcuin of York - a one man renaissance was the sun who shone over Europe
May 18 The Original Megachurch - Drama and Kidnapping
Today we remember the disappearance of Aimee McPherson a remarkable and pioneering evangelist. And how she reappeared 5 weeks later in the Mexican Desert ... what happened?
May 17 Mapping the Mississippi with Marquette
The Jesuit explorer Jacques Marquette and the Canadian Fur Trapper Louis Joillet were the first to explore and map the Mississipi - they embarked today and this is their story
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May 16 Brendan the Navigator
Did a Celtic Monk called Brendan cross the Atlantic 1000 years before Columbus?
May 15 Rerum Novarum, the Pope and Revolution
Rerum Novarum was described as ground breaking - the foundational encyclical on Catholic Social Teaching. The only encyclical to spawn to follow up encyclicals as the Church tries to tread a middle line between Capitalism and Socialism
May 14 Salem Witch Trials
The infamous Salem Witch trials are now understood to be a bout of Puritan Mass Hysteria - and some historians argue lead to the end of experimental theocracies in the USA
May 13 Shooting in St Peters Square
Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca came millimeters from killing John Paul II today by shooting him four times at close range in St Peters Square. We look at the theories about why it happened and their relationship afterwards
May 12 The Pope and Fatima's third secret
On a thanksgiving pilgrimage to Fatima Pope John Paul II was attacked by a ultra-conservative priest brandishing a bayonet. Why was the Pope there in the first place? What was he giving thanks for?
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May 11 Irish Monasticism
We look at the life of Comgall, his student Columbanus and the distinctive form of Christian Community that emerged in Ireland. We also look at how that had shaped the universal church.
May 10 Karl Barth
The greatest Protestant theologian of the 20th Century, today we look at the life and thought of Karl Barth
May 9 An Assassination tests a Popes Faith
Today we remember the killing of Aldo Moro, former prime minister of Italy and how it tested the faith of an old friend Pope Paul VI
May 8 Rebuilding in the ashes of a revolution, Jean Vianney
A story of the savage French Revolution - its attempt to de-Christianise France and how a humble priest rebuilt the spiritual lives of his parishioners after. Jean Vianney would become the patron saint of priests
May 7 John Paul II in Romania & the Orthodox
At the turn of the Millennium the first Slavic Pope, John Paul II made bug steps towards reconciliation with the Orthodox Church. This covers his visit to Romania
May 6 Ghent Altarpiece
Its been described as the most stolen piece of art, the first great oil painting of the Northern Renaissance. A complex multi-panelled painting laced with Catholic Theology. Recovered by the famous monuments men in the second world war after Hi...
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May 5 Scopes Trial and Teaching Evolution
Today we look at infamous Scopes Monkey Trial and the attempt to overthrow the Butler Act which prohibited teaching evolution in schools. Also how the anti-evolution movement evolved into a Christian Science movement
May 4 Dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal
Today Alexander VI, the infamous Borgia Pope, issued a papal bull which drew up a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal
May 3 The Sign of the Beast
Today we look at the birth of Uriah Smith and Seventh Day Adventism. Emerging out of a failed prophecy of the End of the World we look at his writings about the Book of Revelation.
May 2 Fr Kircher, the Plague and Quarantine
The last polymath of the renaissance era was Fr Antanasius Kircher SJ. Among his many accomplishments he was the first to look at the blood of bubonic plague victims under a microscope and to realise that the 'pestis' was contagious. He suggest...
May 1 Death of David Livingstone
Perhaps the Westerner who did more to shape thinking about Africa then anyone else. Both a father of European Colonialism and a forerunner of African Nationalism. He died today and this is his story.
Apr 30 The Polish Mystic, Faustina and the Divine Mercy
The Polish Mystic Faustina Kowalska was declared a saint in the presence of 200,000 people today and the first Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated worldwide. We look at her short but spiritually intense life. How the devotion to the ...
Apr 29 Joan of Arc
The teenage illiterate peasant girl who saved France, inspired by courage and faith. We look at some of her story today, how she found herself in the corridors of power. A totemic figure that turned the tide in the Hundred Years War...
Apr 28 Mutiny on the Bounty
What essentially became the archetypal morality tale for Britain's period of Naval Supremacy. Most of the mutineers died fighting each other on Pitcairn Island, the last men standing repented and using the Ships Bible rebuilt their lives and co...
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Apr 27 Milton's Paradise Lost
Some people describe it as the greatest poem in the English Language. Today we look at the lament 'Paradise Lost' - by the idealistic Puritan John Milton. At the end of Cromwell's Commonwealth, and the restoration of the monarchy, im...
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Apr 26 Shakespeare's Baptism and Hidden Messages
Was William Shakespeare sending hidden messages to Catholics, at a time when in England to be a Catholic could be equated to treason? We look at the evidence and examine the context today, on the day he was baptised in the Church of Engla...
Apr 25 Barnsley FC & Muscular Christianity
We look at the life of Tiverton Preedy and the influence of the movement 'Muscular Christianity' on him. He founded Barnsley FC who are now owned by a consortium of Chinese and Indian businessmen, and baseball legend Billy Beane.
