Lives of the Popes

Sylvester and Constantine

The widespread persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire was finally over for good, beginning the "Peace of the Church". But the "Peace" could only be so peaceful, as internal dissension took the place of external foes, in the form of the Arian Crisis. This episode covers popes #33-35: Sts. Sylvester I, Mark, and Julius I. Links Way of the Fathers episodes: Council of Nicaea https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/22-council-nicaea-first-and-foremost/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/22-council-nicaea-first-and-foremost/] Arianism https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/411-heresies-arianism-man-who-became-god/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/411-heresies-arianism-man-who-became-god/] St. Athanasius https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-23athanasius-against-world/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-23athanasius-against-world/] SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters [https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters] DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio [http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio]

The Great Persecution

The first decade of the fourth century, from about 302 to 313, is one of the most remarkable in history. In that short time, the Church would go from the worst of persecutions to the beginning of an unprecedented new era of peace and favor. In what we might consider a foreshadowing of the Church's trials and final victory at the end of the world, the Great Persecution was merely the labor pains for the birth of Christendom. This installment covers popes #29-32: Sts. Marcellinus, Marcellus I, Eusebius, and Miltiades. Links Article version of this episode https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/great-persecution/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/great-persecution/] Phillip Cambell, "The Public Apostasy of Pope Marcellinus" https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2024/01/15/the-public-apostasy-of-pope-marcellinus/ [https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2024/01/15/the-public-apostasy-of-pope-marcellinus/] Way of the Fathers on Donatism https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/410-heresies-rebaptism-and-donatists/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/410-heresies-rebaptism-and-donatists/] SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters [https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters] DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio [http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio]

The Little Peace of the Church

The popes in the middle of the third century experienced intense persecution by the emperors Decius and Valerius, but this suddenly gave way to a period of official and explicit toleration, which provided the Church with a foretaste of the lasting relief that was to come under Constantine. This installment covers popes #24-28: Sts. Sixtus II, Dionysius, Felix I, Eutychian, and Gaius. Links Article https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/little-peace-church/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/little-peace-church/] The Paradoxical Prestige of the Deacon in the Early Church https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/paradoxical-prestige-deacon-in-early-church/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/paradoxical-prestige-deacon-in-early-church/] DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio [http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio] SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters [https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters]

Popes of the Lost Sheep

The three popes who reigned during this period all had to deal with serious divisions within the Church, especially over questions of how the Church should treat fallen-away Catholics who wished to return, as well as those who had been baptized by heretics and now wished to join themselves to the true Church. An important participant in these controversies, was St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who supported the positions of Pope Sts. Cornelius and Lucius, but clashed with the third, Pope St. Stephen. This episode covers popes #21-23: Sts. Cornelius, Lucius I, and Stephen I. Article: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/popes-lost-sheep/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/popes-lost-sheep/] Links Related Way of the Fathers episodes: * Novatian, Pt. 1 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/48-novatian-good-bad-ugly-pt-1-good/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/48-novatian-good-bad-ugly-pt-1-good/] * Novatian, Pt. 2 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/49-novatian-part-2-bad-and-ugly/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/49-novatian-part-2-bad-and-ugly/] * Pope St. Stephen and the Sacraments https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-st-stephen-and-sacraments/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-st-stephen-and-sacraments/] * Rebaptism and the Donatist heresy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/410-heresies-rebaptism-and-donatists/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/410-heresies-rebaptism-and-donatists/] * St. Cyprian of Carthage https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-18-short-happy-life-cyprian-carthage/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-18-short-happy-life-cyprian-carthage/] Fr. Ray Ryland, "Will the Real St. Cyprian Please Stand?" https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/will-the-real-st-cyprian-please-stand [https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/will-the-real-st-cyprian-please-stand] SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters [https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters] DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio [https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio]

The First Antipope

The first four of the six popes covered in this installment found themselves in conflict with a priest named Hippolytus, the most brilliant intellectual of the Roman Church at the time. Hippolytus would become the first antipope in the history of the Church, plaguing three successive papacies with his schism. Yet his story has a happy and even poetic ending. This episode covers popes #15-#20: Sts. Zephyrinus, Callistus I, Urban I, Pontian, Anterus, and Fabian. Article https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/first-antipope/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/first-antipope/] Modalism https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/47-heresies-modalism-god-as-monad-with-three-names/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/47-heresies-modalism-god-as-monad-with-three-names/] St. Hippolytus of Rome https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-17the-long-strange-trip-hippolytus-rome/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-17the-long-strange-trip-hippolytus-rome/] Leo XIII's encyclical on marriage https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-what-marriage-owes-to-church/ [https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-what-marriage-owes-to-church/] DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio [http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio] SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters [https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters]