Saints Perpetua and Felicity, a young noblewoman and her slave, were martyred for their faith in A.D. 203, under the emperor Severus. At the time of their arrest, Perpetua had an infant son, and Felicity was pregnant
Lebor Gabála Érenn is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the 11th century. It recounts the mythical taking of Ireland by the Milesians, and how they assumed the kingship over the Tuatha De Danann.
This account of the life of St. Mary is the primary source of what we know about her. Allegedly right before her death she recounted her life to St. Zosimas of Palestine, who went on to have his student, Sophronius compose a this volume about her charity and ascetic lifestyle. She remains a popular figure of Egyptian Christianity in the 4th century. This book also includes the original Latin text of Sophronius, as well as the English translation.
On the Trinity is a Latin book written by Augustine of Hippo to discuss the Trinity in context of the logos. Although not as well known as some of his other works, some scholars have seen it as his masterpiece, of more doctrinal importance even than Confessions or The City of God.
The First Apology was an early work of Christian apologetics addressed by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In addition to arguing against the persecution of individuals solely for being Christian, Justin also provides the Emperor with a defense of the philosophy of Christianity and a detailed explanation of contemporary Christian practices and rituals. This work, along with the Second Apology, has been cited as one of the earliest examples of Christian apology, and many scholars attribute this work to creating a new genre of apology out of what was a typical Roman administrative procedure.
John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities.
In this short treatise, St. Augustine of Hippo explains the power of man's free will and it's limitations and interplay with the will of God especially concerning the Christian doctrine of salvation.
Our Righteous Father Ephrem the Syrian was a prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, but especially among Syriac Christians, as a saint. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is January 28.
On the Trinity is a Latin book written by Augustine of Hippo to discuss the Trinity in context of the logos. Although not as well known as some of his other works, some scholars have seen it as his masterpiece, of more doctrinal importance even than Confessions or The City of God.
The Letter of St. Jerome stand as perhaps one of the few literature treasures that have survived late antiquity, along with that of St. Augustine and Plotinus. This first volume incorporates Letters 1 through 50, and are an excellent cross-section of St. Jerome's early theological and ecclesiastical thought.
On the Freedom of a Christian, sometimes also called A Treatise on Christian Liberty, was the third of Martin Luther's major reforming treatises of 1520, appearing after his Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation and the work Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith, in the Calvinist theological tradition. Although drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, largely of the Church of England, it became and remains the 'subordinate standard' of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide. In 1643, the English Parliament called upon learned, godly and judicious Divines, to meet at Westminster Abbey in order to provide advice on issues of worship, doctrine, government and discipline of the Church of England. Their meetings, over a period of five years, produced the confession of faith, as well as a Larger Catechism and a Shorter Catechism. For more than three centuries, various churches around the world have adopted the confession and the catechisms as their standards of doctrine, subordinate to the Bible.
The Rule of Saint Albert was composed in 1208 AD by St. Albert of Jerusalem, and is among the shortest of monastic rules of consecrated life in existence of the Catholic church. It was written in French, and is almost exclusively composed of scriptural precepts. It remains among the corpus of Carmelite literature and is distributed among the novitiates before they formally enter into the order.
This 5th century Coptic work, originally composed in Greek, is a powerful meditation on the fears associated with death, judgment, and the afterlife. It articulates a deep anxiety about the eternal consequences of sin, including punishment in hell and the unyielding nature of divine judgment. The author reflects on the inevitability of facing one's deeds without the possibility of defense or escape, emphasizing the contrast between the fate of the righteous and the damned. The text serves as a call to repentance, urging readers to live virtuously to attain eternal joy rather than suffering.
This work, originally titled, Itinerarium mentis in Deum, was completed in 1259 AD and follows St. Augustine's path to God, from the external world to the interior world of the mind, and then beyond the mind from the temporal to the eternal. It remains as a significant work in the corpus of the medieval Christian Mystical tradition, and its creative imagery remains a staple of both Christian art and Catholic homiletics.
The Proslogion (Latin Proslogium; English translation, Discourse on the Existence of God), written in 1077-1078, was written as a prayer, or meditation, by the medieval cleric Anselm which serves to reflect on the attributes of God and endeavours to explain how God can have qualities which often seem contradictory. In the course of this meditation, the first known formulations of the ontological argument for the existence of God was set out.
Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen, was bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death. He is venerated as a saint in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism.
This account of the life of St. Mary is the primary source of what we know about her. Allegedly right before her death she recounted her life to St. Zosimas of Palestine, who went on to have his student, Sophronius compose a this volume about her charity and ascetic lifestyle. She remains a popular figure of Egyptian Christianity in the 4th century. This book also includes the original Latin text of Sophronius, as well as the English translation.
The text of the Vita Ansgarii, also known as the 'Life of St. Ansgar', is the hagiography work relating to his life and missionary travels, written by Rimbert of Hamburg, his disciple and successor, who assumed the chair of the archbishopic in the German city of Bremen. His biography is an important source, not only in detailing Ansgar's Scandinavian missionary work to the Swedish and Danish tribes, but also in its descriptions of the everyday denizens of the region during the height of the Viking Age.
This work is the brief charter, composed in Latin at the court of the Emperor Sigismund, formed the chivalry society of the Order of the Dragon. Its membership was relegated to members of the German nobility and sovereign monarchs, all of whom took oaths of loyalty and mutual support to drive the Ottoman Turks out of Europe. These knights who made this pledge maintained to organize a crusade to supply military support to the declining Eastern Roman Empire, as well as various Balkan princes, which in time, would prove to be politically disastrous in coming years with the collapse of the Varna Crusade a few decades later. Among those who would eventually swear oaths to the order, Vlad II, Prince of Wallachia, would be among the most popularly remembered, as he would bear the title of the order in his post-nomen Dracul.