Mike Aquilina | |
---|---|
Born | Kingston, Pennsylvania, United States |
Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University |
Occupation(s) | Author, editor, poet, songwriter, speaker |
Organizations | Angelus |
Spouse | Terri |
Website | www |
Mike Aquilina is an American Catholic author and journalist working in the area of Church history, especially patristics. [1] He is co-founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, a Catholic research center based in Steubenville, Ohio. [2] [3]
Aquilina is also a contributing editor of Angelus , and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History series from Ave Maria Press. He hosts Way of the Fathers, a podcast produced by CatholicCulture.org. [4]
Aquilina was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania in 1963. He received his elementary and secondary education in Catholic schools in Pittston, Pennsylvania. He is a 1985 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, and he received that university's Oswald Award for Achievement in Journalism and Mass Media.
Aquilina is the author or editor of more than seventy books, including: What Catholics Believe (1999), Living the Mysteries (2003), The Fathers of the Church (2006), The Mass of the Early Christians (2007) and The Resilient Church (2007). His books have been translated into many languages, from Croatian and Portuguese to German and Braille. The Grail Code has appeared in ten languages since its publication in 2006.[ citation needed ]
Critics have praised Aquilina's work for making the Fathers accessible to non-academic readers: "Most scholars … study the paper trail — homilies, letters, teaching manuals, works of theological disputation … Aquilina loves the words, too. But he also finds the sermon in the stuff, the theology expressed in the little things that the first Christians left behind — fading murals on catacomb walls, pottery and dishware, pieces of coinage, ancient hymns and mass prayers, common household items … The point is that for Aquilina, the little things matter — because they tell us big things about what Catholics believe and how they look at the world". [5] Dr. John Grondelski said in the National Catholic Register : "Aquilina has made a vocation and career out of, in many ways, single-handedly popularizing patristics." [6]
Aquilina's book Ministers and Martyrs (2015), was an official companion volume to the NBC series A.D. The Bible Continues . A year later, he published The World of Ben-Hur, as a guide to MGM's remake of the Lew Wallace classic Ben-Hur . [7] [8]
Aquilina is also a poet and songwriter. [9] His poems, collected in the volumes Terms and Conditions (2014) and The Invention of Zero (2020), have appeared in U.S. literary journals and in Polish and Spanish translations. [10] His collaborations with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist Dion include the book Dion: The Wanderer Talks Truth and four albums: Tank Full of Blues (2012), New York Is My Home (2016), Blues with Friends (2020) and Stomping Ground (2021). [11] [12] The title song of New York Is My Home was recorded as a duet by Dion and Paul Simon, launched by Rolling Stone magazine, and released as a single in 2015. [13] It was used in episode 5 of season 1, in the drama series Horace and Pete . It was also chosen by clothing designer Ralph Lauren, as the catwalk theme for his 50th-anniversary show in 2018. [14] [15] The song also appears in the Deluxe Edition of Simon's album Stranger to Stranger .
Dion's album Blues with Friends (2020), which included twelve songs co-written with Aquilina, debuted at number one on Billboard and U.K. charts. [16] [17] It was also the number one Billboard Blues Album for 2020. [18] American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)", a single from Blues with Friends, as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs". [19] DiMucci-Aquilina songs have also been recorded with or performed by Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Amy Grant, Mark Knopfler, Joe Bonamassa, Brian Setzer, Joe Louis Walker, Billy F. Gibbons, Peter Frampton, Rickie Lee Jones, and many others. [20] Bob Dylan praised these songs for their craft. [21]
In recent years, Aquilina has hosted eleven television series on EWTN and hosted two independently produced feature documentaries, one on St. Perpetua and another on St. Augustine. He is a frequent guest commentator on Catholic radio, especially Relevant Radio and EWTN. His journalistic work has appeared in many periodicals.[ citation needed ]
Aquilina is the past editor of New Covenant magazine (1996–2002) and Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper (1993–1996). [22]
He and his wife, Terri, have been married since 1985. They live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh with their children, who are the subject of his book Love in the Little Things (2007).[ citation needed ]
John of Damascus or John Damascene was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus c. 675 or 676; the precise date and place of his death is not known, though tradition places it at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on 4 December 749.
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have lesser status.
Dion Francis DiMucci, better known mononymously as Dion, is an American singer and songwriter. His music incorporates elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially the lead singer of the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts, Dion embarked on a solo career, and was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, or with the Belmonts and the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for his signature hit songs "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among others.
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Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study, and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.
Richard Rohr, is an American Franciscan priest and writer on spirituality based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970, founded the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati in 1971, and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque in 1987. In 2011, PBS called him "one of the most popular spirituality authors and speakers in the world".
Kimberly Hahn is an American Catholic apologist and author, and member of the Steubenville City Council. She is the eldest child of Jerry and Patricia Kirk, and is married to apologist and author Scott Hahn.
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The Pope Benedict XVI bibliography contains a list of works by Pope Benedict XVI.
The veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church encompasses various devotions which include prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music devoted to her. Popes have encouraged it, while also taking steps to reform some manifestations of it. The Holy See has insisted on the importance of distinguishing "true from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its deformations by excess or defect". There are significantly more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than in other Western Christian traditions. The term hyperdulia indicates the special veneration due to Mary, greater than the ordinary dulia for other saints, but utterly unlike the latria due only to God.
Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus.
A number of prayers to Jesus Christ exist within the Roman Catholic tradition. These prayers have diverse origins and forms. Some were attributed to visions of saints, others were handed down by tradition.
The exact origins of both the rosary and scapular are subject to debate among scholars. Pious tradition maintains that both the rosary and the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel were given by the Virgin Mary to Dominic and Simon Stock respectively during the 13th century. Historical records document their growth during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. By the early 20th century, they had gained such a strong following among Catholics worldwide that Josef Hilgers, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, stated: "Like the Rosary, the Brown scapular has become the badge of the devout Catholic."
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