She was a great mystic, practical and effective reformer and one of the most influential authors of the spiritual life. St Teresa of Avila, founder of the Discalced Carmelites. Author of the Interior Castle and Way to Perfection 

The Civil War had started months earlier because of the right to own slaves and Lincolns election. Today he called for a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer to bring an end to the strife. The war would last another 4 years

When Otto published the idea of the Holy during World War One it was a sensation, soon translated into multiple languages.  He coined the term numinous to describe the experience of the Other.  Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans

A key moment in English History - the first synod of Bishops which stabilised the church with its diocesan boundaries, unified England and clarified marital practice.  We have records because of the first Historian of Christian Europe, a B...

Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov was a Russian theologian, philosopher, poet and amateur artist. He co-founded the Slavophile movement and created a Theology around 'sobornost' or community

Today in 2000 we remember how  a quarter of a million Christians clogged the streets, to pay their final respects to the evangelist Bakht Singh who was being buried in Hyderabad, India.  It was one of the largest funerals in the ...

There is growing appreciation of the impact of the non conformist minister. Thomas Byre lifes work.  His theorem which was posthumously published has now created a whole school in the field of Statistics

The Korean peninsula is a grassroots church - as it grew without any direct clerical influence for many years.  A diplomat brought back the books of the Italian Jesuit Missionary from Beijing, which explained how Christianity was complemen...

George Herbert - a gifted orator at Cambridge University and then the court of James I. left all that behind to be ordained in the Church of England and work in a rural parish. He poetry published posthumously became very popular in a divided a...

Hugely influential in the life of many British writers - particularly C S Lewis, but also across the pond with Mark Twain. Born a Calvinist, died an Anglican, this Scottish minister and writer left a profound legacy 

The first female doctor in Switzerland - she would convert to Catholicism and set up the community of St John with Hans Urs von Balthazar

Gilles de Rai was one of the earliest serial killers on record, today he was arrested in 1440 after an investigation by the Bishop of Nantes

Dominic de Guzman founded the Order of Preachers who were hugely responsible with spreading devotion to the Rosary. He has two countries named after him. This is the story of the miraculous painting attributed to him 

Now the most famous champagne is named in his honour, Pierre Perignon was a Benedictine Monk who perfected the method of making sparkling wine 

The final novel of Dostoevsky is possibly his most famous - the Brothers Karamazov.  Wrought out of terrible grief and struggles with faith after the death of his three year old son Aloysha.  One of Russia's greatest novelists has pro...

Bishop Richard Challoner has been called the most influential English Catholic of the 18th Century.  It was an uneasy time before Catholic Emancipation laws and least safe in London. The Catholic Church was still illegal after Queen Elizab...

Bishop Bartholomew De La Casas chronicled the terrible atrocities that Spanish colonists carried out on the indigenous people of Central and South America.  He was appointed protector of the Indians by the Spanish Legal Establishment, His ...

Carl Gustav Jung was one of the most creative thinkers of the 20th Century. The founder of analytical psychology his fascination with religion was life long

Today we remember the life of Michael Novak - influential author of the Spirit of Democratic Capitalism.  He tweaked Weber's famous Protestant Work Ethic and claimed that free capitalist economies owed more to a Catholic Work Ethic

Francis Collins the director of the Human Genome Project is a devout Christian. we explore his life today

Today we remember how the dynamic Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe offered his life for another at Auschwitz. We look at his rich life, his devotion to the ' Immaculada' and his legacy 

The great Irish Writer James Joyce had a confusing and complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. But his books have had a remarkable influence and following

Today we look at the tradition of Popes handing out Golden Roses that have been blessed on Laudate Sunday.  How Paul VI gave one today to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Aparecida

Today we look at the life and thought of George Ellis, committed Quaker and Cosmologist. Co-author with Stephen Hawking of the 'Yellow Peril' a standard text book on General Relativity Theory.  Also developed the theory of kenotic-ethics w...

Today we remember the first papal encyclical that allowed for the possibility of Salvation outside of Church. We look at the history of soteriology - the theology of salvation