Officially, St. Patrick’s Day is the Roman Catholic feast day celebrating St. Patrick, who is credited with converted Ireland to Christianity. However, in the United States in the 20th century, St. Patrick’s Day has morphed into a celebration of Irish pride and all things Irish. Even out west, where America’s Irish population is much smaller per capita than it is in the east, … [Read more...]
ST. PATRICK’S DAY IN THE SOUTH
You don’t have to be Irish or Catholic to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the most popular of Catholic feast days in the United States. However, it does help if you live in the northeast. Let’s face it: when it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, its places like Boston, Philadelphia and Buffalo which usually grab the spotlight, not to mention New York City and its massive celebration. … [Read more...]
ST. PATRICK’S DAY IN THE MIDWEST
The cities of the American Midwest are home to a huge Irish Catholic population, and not surprisingly St. Patrick’s Day is very popular here. Except for New York City and Boston, most of the oldest and largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations take place in the heavily Catholic cities of the Midwest, especially in the old industrial centers along the shores of the Great Lakes. So … [Read more...]
COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST RELIGIOUS SITES – BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER “I”
Magnificent sacred places can be found in all countries on the planet. But let’s face it, when it comes to the best of the best, the “I”s generally have it: Israel, Italy, India, Iran and Iraq collectively pack in virtually all of the top sites of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, not to mention some of the most important sites in Buddhism (the most visited religious … [Read more...]
TOP FIVE POSSIBLE LOCATIONS OF THE HOLY GRAIL
The Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus drank during the Last Supper and which caught at least some of his blood during the Crucifixion, is (no pun intended) the Holy Grail of religious artifacts. This vessel, if it could be found and verified, would undoubtedly be the greatest treasure of the Christian faith. Its existence and location have been the subject of countless … [Read more...]
BIBLICAL EPICS PART TWO – LESS THAN STELLAR BIBLE MOVIES
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of D.W. Griffith’s silent masterpiece Intolerance, it is easy to remember the many great Bible epics that Hollywood has turned out over the last hundred years. From the classics (The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur) to the controversial (The Last Temptation of Christ) to the contemporary (The Passion of the Christ), Hollywood’s greatest … [Read more...]
BIBLICAL EPICS PART ONE – CELEBRATING A CENTURY OF THE BIBLE IN FILM
On September 5, 2016, Hollywood celebrated the 100th anniversary of the release of the movie Intolerance, considered by many to be the greatest (or at least one of the greatest) films of the Silent Era. Produced and directed by D.W. Griffith as a sort of apology for his earlier film Birth of a Nation, which was heavily criticized for its racist overtones, Intolerance focused … [Read more...]
SEVEN THINGS ST. HELENA DISCOVERED (OR NOT)
St. Helena is one of the most important figures in the history of the early church. The mother of the emperor Constantine and an early Christian, she was pivotal in influencing her son in legalizing the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the 4th century. During the 320s, Constantine commissioned his mother Helena to travel to the Holy Land to identify Biblical … [Read more...]
AMERICA’S MARITIME CHURCHES
From the earliest days of its founding to the present, America has a great and rich maritime tradition. This blended with America’s proud religious tradition, and the result was the construction of churches near harbors all along the coasts, dedicated to serving the needs of brave and lonely merchantmen. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many of America’s ports and harbors … [Read more...]
TOP FIVE RELIGIOUS SITES DESTROYED IN 2018
In 2018, the people of Germany and Jews around the world commemorated the 80th anniversary of the infamous “Kristallnacht”. On that day in 1938, the Nazi orgy of terror and violence against the Jews began in earnest, and many synagogues across Germany were damaged or destroyed. While the Holocaust is now well behind us, the march of time and the wanton destruction of … [Read more...]
