In many ways, the rhetoric and horror of recent weeks, particularly in the light of the appalling and fatal shooting of the 31-year-old American Christian influencer Charlie Kirk, has illustrated for many decent people around the world the lethal incoherence of what Pope Benedict XVI and others have warned was an impending civilisational collapse.
This disintegration, warned the Pope, involves the rejection of the rule of law, the loss of reverence for the life and dignity of the human person, the loss of objective reason and a culture of subjective amnesia which opens the doors to a “dictatorship of relativism”, even if the face of the dictators are fatally petty, bred in the hothouses of their social media bubbles.
Many of Pope Benedict’s public speeches spoke of the fragility and the importance of the spiritual and theological heart of culture, most notably the European Christian culture and all the societies based around this core.
Pope Benedict taught that intercultural arguments and debates, as important as they were for civic discourse and civility, must be matched by the witness and the authority of noble Christian saints, scholars and artists who brought and bring Christ to life in the concrete moments of their daily lives as well as into the lives of others.
In a 2008 audience, Pope Benedict explained why the example and legacy of his papal patron, St Benedict of Nursia and his Rule, was so important at the time of the cultural collapse of the Roman Empire and in ours as well:
“In contrast with a facile and egocentric self-fulfilment, today often exalted, the first and indispensable commitment of a disciple of St Benedict is the sincere search for God on the path mapped out by the humble and obedient Christ, whose love he must put before all else, and in this way, in the service of the other, he becomes a man of service and peace.”
The Pope explains in the same audience that St Benedict’s vision has such importance for reviving anything of value in “the West”:
“Of course, in order to create new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical instruments are important, but it is also necessary to awaken an ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise a new Europe cannot be built. Without this vital sap, man is exposed to the danger of succumbing to the ancient temptation of seeking to redeem himself by himself” through a variety of blood-soaked, manic and technology-driven utopias of the 20th and 21st centuries.
This week, the 17th of September marks the feast of one of the brightest lights in the history of the medieval Church and society, and a feminine genius inspired by St Benedict – she is St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179).
St Hildegard was a remarkable woman by any measure. She was born in the Rhineland as Europe was emerging from disarray in the year 1098. Her parents, who were of a rising culture of nobility in the region, dedicated their daughter to the care of a holy feminine mystic, scholar and hermitess, St Jutta.
In his apostolic letter declaring St Hildegard as a Doctor of the Universal Church, Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “This great woman truly stands out crystal clear against the horizon of history for her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching.”
St Hildegard was deeply immersed in the learning of her spiritual mother St Jutta. She imbibed the Holy Scriptures, the Patristics, herbal medicine and philosophy. As Pope Benedict writes in his letter: “The profound spirituality of her writings had a significant influence both on the faithful and on important figures of her time and brought about an incisive renewal of theology, liturgy, natural sciences and music.”
In so many ways, St Hildegard is a demonstration of the elements of integration of personal holiness, broad imagination and culture and civilisation which Pope Benedict was evoking.
St Hildegard not only argued for the faith – she prayed, doctored, composed music, had mystical insights, prayed and healed while writing tirelessly to popes, monarchs and political leaders.
One of the most insightful scholars of St Hildegard is Dr Anna Silvas, who has given some marvellous talks for the Thomas More Centre in the New England area and whose early article about St Hildegard captures brilliantly the scope of the great abbess’ civilising power and deeply Christic humanism.
It is the importance of forming citizens of the City of God and the human polis to which the TMC has been dedicated. We work with ideas, conversations, readings, interviews, oral histories and classes in order to civilise ourselves and to bring together a new civilising of our Land.
The Melbourne Book Launch: Remembering Cardinal George Pell
Following the success of our Sydney book launch of Professor Tracey Rowland’s highly engaging collection of memories and personal encounters of the great Churchman and patron of TMC, we will be hosting a book launch in Melbourne on September 30 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. The guest speaker is Greg Sheridan, foreign editor for The Australian.
All our newsletter subscribers will be invited to act quickly to attend this launch in person or to book a livestream access to this special event. Book here.
The Nicholas Tonti-Filippini Oration & the White Mass
There is a very helpful information page with the latest booking lists now available on the Melbourne Archdiocesan page.
This page provides a concise outline about the Nicholas Tonti-Filippini Oration for 2025, which this year will include a dinner and the oration speech by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on Friday, October 17, at 7pm at the Catholic Leadership Centre, East Melbourne.
If nursing, allied health or medical students would like support to attend this dinner, a few sponsors are offering tickets for this purpose.
There will be a 6pm Mass preceding the oration, which will honour and re-dedicate the work of healthcare professionals and workers – traditionally called “the White Mass”, to which all are welcome. The main celebrant and homilist will be the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter A. Comensoli, and will be next door to the Leadership Centre at St John the Evangelist Church, 594 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne.
Here’s to a deepening of culture and civilisation.
Anna Krohn
Executive Director
Thomas More Centre
Featured image credit: Ralph Hammann | CC BY-SA 4.0
