under the patronage of St Joseph and St Dominic

By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, remembering Zion;
on the poplars that grew there we hung up our harps. . . Ps 136

History

I. Spem in Alium

This is a republication of an article which appeared on this website in September 2007.  The majestic Latin motet for 40 voices which is its subject was written by (Catholic) Thomas Tallis in sixteenth century England.  Many assert he did so during the reign of Queen Elizabeth [1558 - 1603], but American conductor and musicologist George Steel has made a compelling argument for the reign of Catholic Queen Mary Tudor [1553-1558]. more

II. Mary Tudor

The first Queen of England reigned for just five and a half years.  She was the last Catholic to do so.  Her attempts to return the English realm to the Faith were largely defeated by the harm already done by her father, Henry VIII.  more

III. Review of Phoenix from the Ashes

IV. Splendour of the Middle Ages: the Majestic Influence of the Catholic Church on Mankind

This is a reproduction of part of chapter 2 of H J A Sire’s Phoenix from the Ashes (Kettering Ohio, 2015) where the author nails the lies purveyed by Protestant and agnostic commentators down the centuries about the effects wrought in society under the influence of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.

The author notes the adoption, under the Church’s influence during that splendid time of all that was best in other civilisations ; of her insistence on the universality of truth across every discipline and the acceptance, and worth, of the need for debate and disputation to arrive at the truth ; of the laying then of the foundations of the science of logic and of modern science ; of the elaboration, in the face of great opposition, of the one true philosophy grounded in reality (to the exclusion of all ideology) ; of the establishment of the roots of democracy ; of the origins of the university, the hospital, and of a dozen other institutions we take for granted in the modern world, institutions over whose provenance we never trouble ourselves such is the arrogance of modern parochialism.

The reproduction of the part of chapter 2 may be found here.

V. King Richard III & the Rise of the House of Tudor

The recovery of the remains of the last Yorkist King of England serves as a catalyst for a fresh study of the man, as of his betrayal into the hands of a man who had no legitimate claim to the English Crown.  The evils flowing from this disruption of right order are with us today (note: a simplified family tree has been added at the request of several readers).  more