1054 and All That Quotes

“Rerum Novarum appeared in English under various titles, such as On the Condition of Labor. The encyclical was prompted by the sorrier aspects of the Industrial Revolution, and Leo was eager to affirm the rights and duties both of laborers and employers. This was welcomed by all laborers and by two or three employers.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“In 1917 three peasant children in the small town of Fatima, Portugal, claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Clever people thought the children were just being clever and amusing and so didn’t believe them, but people who didn’t consider themselves to be clever did believe the children.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“On his accession to the Throne of Peter, Pius declined to make his impoverished sisters papal countesses. This shocked Roman High Society, and just as well, since High Societies regularly need shocking.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“Baltimore Catechism No. 1 was for first communicants through fifth graders. Baltimore Catechism No. 2 was for sixth graders through ninth graders and for those preparing for confirmation. Baltimore Catechism No. 3 was for those already confirmed and for high schoolers. That’s as far as the catechisms went, because it was expected that by the end of high school a young person would know everything about the faith, which nearly was true, at least compared to today, when Catholic students finishing even Catholic high schools generally know less than was contained in Baltimore Catechism No. 1, further proof of the decline of education even within the Church.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“Leo affirmed that the state had an important role to play in society, but his words disappointed most legislators, given their impressions of how important they themselves were.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“For centuries, opponents of the Church have claimed that the Galileo Case shows that the Church has been hostile to science. Interestingly (but not to these opponents, it seems), it is the only case ever cited that purports to show the alleged hostility, because in every other interaction between the Church and science the two have been shown to be friends.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“More was condemned to the chopping block. His execution took place in 1535 at Tower Hill. His last words, as he stood on the scaffold, were “I die the king’s good servant but God’s first.” These words became so famous that they were made into a movie more than four centuries later. To this day no one can remember the last words of Henry VIII, and deservedly so.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“Augustine was the greatest theologian of antiquity. His mother was named Monica. She is famous for having prayed unceasingly that he would straighten out his life and become a Christian. Eventually he did so, but only after his mother became thoroughly exasperated with him, which is distressingly common when mothers have sons.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“Arianism, as the heresy was known, took on a life of its own. Even many bishops and priests subscribed to it because it was easier to think of Christ as having one nature rather than two, inasmuch as everyone in everyone’s neighborhood had only one nature. Arianism lasted for centuries, and in practice, even if not with that title, it is held by many today. They believe that Jesus was the Best Man Ever, but that’s it.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church

“Not long after Montanus passed from the scene, the bishop of Rome, Pope Victor I, declared that a different heretic, called Polycrates of Ephesus, had earned excommunication for being a public nuisance. This was the earliest recorded occasion of a pope issuing a disciplinary ruling regarding someone living far from Rome. It would not be the last occasion. It might not even have been the first, since most early records of such things don’t seem to have been recorded, but Victor gets the credit. Such are the breaks of history, as every historian knows.”
― Karl Keating, 1054 and All That: A Lighthearted History of the Catholic Church