by Timothy Egan
Welby’s depression, from Christianity Today, October 12, 2017.
Britain names minister for loneliness, from New York Times, January 17, 2018.
Welby’s Jewish background, from The Times of Israel, June 18, 2013.
Expulsion of Jews, from The Murder of William of Norwich, by E. M. Rose, Oxford University Press, 2016.
Welby on power of narrative, from Anglican News Service, http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2016/04/archbishop-justin-welbys-sermon-at-the-acc-16-opening-eucharist.aspx.
Welby on “understanding the world,” from his website list of sermons, http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org.
Conversion of the British Isles and Saint Patrick, from How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill, Doubleday, 1995.
History of Augustine’s landing, from “St. Martin’s Church: The Early History,” a pamphlet handed out by the church.
More on how the English converted, from Bede’s eighth-century history, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.asp.
Quote, “How these Christians love . . . ,” from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Christ, “. . . good news,” Luke 4:18.
Becket quote on clerical rule, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth persecutions, from “Elizabeth I’s War with English Catholics,” BBC History Magazine, May 2014.
Pope visits Canterbury, from BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_4171000/4171657.stm.
Return of Becket’s elbow, from The Guardian, May 27, 2016.
Cult of relics, from The Age of the Pilgrimage: The Medieval Journey to God, by Jonathan Sumption, HiddenSprings/Paulist Press, 2003.
First sign, from the guidebook Via Francigena: Pilgrim Trail Canterbury to Rome, by Alison Raju, Cicerone, 2011. Note: Not always 100 percent reliable on the route-finding, as other pilgrims have testified as well.
Quote on Christian influence, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Women as majority of Anglican ministers, from The Guardian, April 16, 2012.
Revelation of Welby’s parents, from The Independent, April 9, 2016.
Welby’s mother’s statement, issued April 7, 2016.
Welby’s statement on revelation, issued April 8, 2016.
3. At the Cliff of the Kingdom
Christopher Hitchens, from God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Twelve/Grand Central Publishing, 2007.
Carlo Laurenzi, from author interviews with him, and from his blog, https://viafrancigena2017.wordpress.com/blog.
Pope quote on atheism, from CNN, February 23, 2017.
Pope quote, “it’s this or nothing,” from America: The Jesuit Review, June 9, 2016.
Atheists in Sweden, from Reuters, October 27, 2016.
Pope quote, “people of pilgrims,” from National Catholic Register, October 24, 2016.
Abandoned church on trail to Dover, and Julia Peters, from author correspondence with Ms. Peters, who lives in Canterbury.
Medieval medicine, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/health-and-medicine-in-medieval-england.
Medieval diet, from author visit to Dover Castle.
Roland the Farter, from 1215: The Year of Magna Carta, by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham, Touchstone, 2003.
“The English drink no water,” quoted in A World Lit Only by Fire, by William Manchester, Back Bay, 1992.
Background on Pope Francis’s first two years, from The Francis Miracle: Inside the Transformation of the Pope and the Church, by John L. Allen Jr., Time Books, 2015.
Pope on proselytizing, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-very-grave-sin-for-catholics-to-try-to-convert-orthodox.
Church history and heretics, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Pope Pius XII silent on Holocaust, ibid. More on Pius XII and Holocaust, from Jerusalem Post, March 27, 2010.
Pope Francis on mortality, Catholic News Service, https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/pope-gives-youths-three-missions-before-synod-world-youth-day.cfm.
4. Besieged at Calais
The Jungle razed, from New York Times, October 25, 2016.
Sunni vs. Shiite fight over successor to Muhammad, New York Times, January 4, 2016.
Oscar Wilde pardoned, The Irish Post, February 2, 2017.
Quotes from Wilde, from Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years, by Nicholas Frankel, Harvard University Press, 2016.
Economic despair in Calais, from New York Times, April 29, 2017.
“We don’t want them,” reported in Sydney Morning Herald, October 26, 2016.
Bernard of Clairvaux, from the Medieval Sourcebook: St. Bernard, a collection of public domain texts circulated by Fordham University, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/sbook.asp.
Bernard responsible for Second Crusade, from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, published 1776 through 1789. I relied on the 1983 Penguin edition.
Saint Labre and Amettes, from author visit to town and his shrine, and from LightFoot Companion to the Via Francigena—Canterbury to Rome, by Babette Gallard, Pilgrimage Publications, 2014.
Ethelred the Unready, https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=ethelred2.
Sigeric and Ethelred, from The Anglo-Saxon Age, by Martin Wall, Amberley Publishing, 2015.
5. The Lost City of Saint-Omer
Information on monks and prayer at Saint-Omer, from author interview with Rémy Cordonnier, director of ancient collections, Bibliothèque de Saint-Omer.
Quote on humane Christians, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
History of library, number of books, from Patrimoines de Saint-Omer, http://www.patrimoines-saint-omer.fr/uk/Les-ressources/Les-partenaires/La-bibliotheque-d-agglomeration-de-Saint-Omer.
Monasteries’ growth throughout Europe, from Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization.
Victor Hugo quote on ruins, from The Memoirs of Victor Hugo, by Victor Hugo, Serenity Publishers, 2011.
How books were written in Middle Ages, from Books Before Gutenberg, a publication of the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, http://www.hrc.utexas.edu.
History of writing, from Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond, Norton, 1997.
Limits on mental capacity, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Gutenberg history, from New York Times, January 27, 2001. And from Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel. More Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg-bible.com/history.html.
Finding the Shakespeare, from author interview with Mr. Cordonnier.
Number of Catholics in France, from the journal LaCroix, January 12, 2017, from a study commissioned by Bayard Presse.
Hitchens on miracles, from his book God Is Not Great.
Victor Hugo quote, from http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?tag=freethinker.
6. A Night at the Monastery
Reference to guidebook, Raju, Via Francigena.
Early Christians, from the Book of Acts.
Gospel admonition to austerity, from Matthew 19:21.
Ulfilas in Germany and Martin in Gaul, from “Jesus and the Origins of Christianity,” a National Geographic special publication, reissued edition, December 2018.
Ulfilas and Martin, and conversion in fourth century, from “Ulfilas, Bishop of the Goths,” Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ulfilas.
Benedictine order, life of Benedict, from Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Benedict-of-Nursia.
Quote on fornicating monks, from Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire.
History of monks, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Story of Skellig Michael and Viking conversion, from author visit to Skellig Michael, County Kerry, Ireland.
Hi
story of Abbey of Saint Paul, from Traditional Vocations Blog, September 11, 2015, http://tradvocations.blogspot.com/2015/09/abbaye-saint-paul-de-wisques.html.
Typical day at the monastery, from schedule posted at the abbey. Also, “A Day in the Life of a Monk,” from https://www.quarrabbey.org/site.php?menuaccess=27.
Killing of Father Jacques Hamel, from The Guardian, July 26, 2016.
7. War and Peace on the Western Front
Treaty of London details, from “An Early Nonaggression Pact,” by Garrett Mattingly, Journal of Modern History, March 1938.
“Great seminal catastrophe,” George Kennan description, as quoted by Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Nation, October 5, 2017.
Jefferson quote, from letter of Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1823.
Scottish casualties in Battle of Arras, from BBC, April 9, 2017.
Tuchman quote, from The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman, Ballantine, 1994.
War widows, from The First World War, by John Keegan, Vintage, 2000.
More World War I casualty figures, and details on prosthetics, from Museum of the Great War, Péronne, France, author visit.
Poem, “In Flanders Fields,” by John McCrae.
8. The Miracles of Laon
Laon cable car, from a plaque on display at the foothill of the old lift.
Seven Wonders of Laon, from a handout at the Laon tourist office.
Saint Augustine on miracles, from Confessions.
Scientific examination of miracle cures at Lourdes, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3854941.
Number of miracles recorded in Bible, from The Good News Bible, American Bible Society, 1966, a “translation which seeks to state clearly and accurately the meaning of the original texts in words and forms that are widely accepted by people who use English.”
Paul’s conversion from Acts of the Apostles 9:3–17.
Paul a Pharisee, Acts 23:6, “I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees.”
Paul approving of murder of Saint Stephen, Acts 8:1.
Paul’s appearance, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Population of Christians and people in Roman Empire. There is no consensus among scholars on these numbers, but I relied on a well-documented recent book, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, by Bart D. Ehrman, Simon & Schuster, 2018.
Conversion of Constantine, ibid.
Conversion of Clovis, from A History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours, Penguin Classics, 1976.
Miracles requirements and sainthood, from website of American canon lawyer Cathy Caridi, http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2013/07/18/how-many-miracles-are-required-to-canonize-a-saint/#forward.
Miracle mummies, from The Incorruptibles: A Study of the Incorruption in the Bodies of Various Saints, by Joan Carroll Cruz, Tan Books, 1997.
Michael O’Neill, Stanford graduate, on miracles, from his book Exploring the Miraculous, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2015. And from his website, http://www.miraclehunter.com.
9. Sluts and Saints Along the Chemin des Dames
Joan of Arc in Corbény, from a plaque in the town.
Joan burned twice over after her death, from The Independent, October 11, 2012.
More Joan biography, from Joan of Arc: A History, by Helen Castor, HarperCollins, 2015.
Quote of officer on seeing Joan sleeping in the hay, from Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint, by Donald Spoto, HarperSanFrancisco, 2007.
King Solomon’s wives, from 1 Kings 11:3.
Jesus on sex, and the Old Testament on sex, from Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions About Sex and Desire, by Jennifer Wright Knust, HarperCollins, 2011.
Mary’s life, possible siblings of Jesus, from National Geographic, November 8, 2015, cover story on the life of Mary.
Jesus’s response, after woman praises his mother, from Luke 11:27.
Jesus had a brother, mentioned in Mark 6:3. Slightly different versions elsewhere, but Good News Bible contains this sentence: “Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James . . . ,” which is nearly identical to Matthew 13:55.
Jesus had a brother “virtually indisputable,” from Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan, Random House, 2013.
Gnostic Gospels, discovery, meaning, and quotes from The Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels, Vintage, 1979.
Mary Magdalene, from The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene, by Jane Schaberg, Bloomsbury, 2004. Note that the Gospels are in conflict whether Mary was the first person to see the resurrected Christ or merely one of the first. John says she was the first, in John 20:11–18.
Gospel of Mary, from the Gnostic Society Library, http://gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm. See also “Who Framed Mary Magdalene?,” by Heidi Schlumpf, U.S. Catholic, April 2000.
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene, and her thinking he was the gardener, from John 20:15.
Woman wins argument with Christ, Mark 7:24 and Matthew 15:21, and thanks to Nicholas Kristof for alerting me to this.
Paul on sex, from 1 Corinthians 7:1; on marriage, 7:8–9; on no direct command from God on his view, 7:25.
Charlemagne forbidding his daughters from marrying, from La Belle France, by Alistair Horne, Vintage, 2006.
Jerome, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Jerome’s possible affair with Paula, which he denied in Epistle 45, https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/woman/34.html.
Quote on Jerome’s influence on Bible, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-jerome-the-bible-translator.
Lucretius, from The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt, Norton, 2011.
Augustine, from his Confessions.
Augustine’s influence, from “The Invention of Sex,” by Stephen Greenblatt, The New Yorker, June 19, 2017.
Pope Gregory recasting Mary Magdalene, from Homily 33, http://magdalhnh.blogspot.com/2009/01/homily-33.html.
Early church appealing to women, from The Rise of Christianity, by Rodney Stark, HarperCollins, 1997.
Brigid, from Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization.
Brigid of Ireland praying for ugliness, from Irish America, February/March 2018.
Twain quote on Joan, from Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain, Harper and Brothers, 1896.
Joan biography, from The Life of Joan of Arc, vol. 1, by Anatole France, John Lane, 1908.
Joan’s trial, from Spoto, Joan.
Joan judged by forty-two male clerics, from Horne, La Belle France.
Total number of priests and nuns, from http://www.fides.org/en/news/64944-VATICAN_CATHOLIC_CHURCH_STATISTICS_2018.
Half of clerics had wives in the Middle Ages, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Martin Luther quote on masturbation, from Helen L. Owen, “When Did the Catholic Church Decide Priests Should Be Celibate?,” History News Network, October 2001.
Pope Francis on priestly celibacy, as reported on CNN, February 23, 2017.
Pope on priests, men, and disciples, as reported on NPR, November 1, 2016.
10. When God Anointed Kings
William of Saint-Thierry, from On the Nature and Dignity of Love, Cistercian Publications, 1981.
Belloc, his book on the walk to Rome, The Path to Rome, by Hilaire Belloc, first published 1902. I relied on the 2015 Wallachia Publishers edition.
Europe a “heathen continent,” from Christianity Today, April 18, 2016.
Clovis’s place in French history, from Horne, La Belle France.
Number of Christians martyred by Rome, from Stark, The Rise of Christianity.
More Christian deaths from fellow Christians than Roman persecution, from Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire.
Destruction by Christians of classical statues, temples,
etc., from The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, by Catherine Nixey, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.
Roma locuta est saying, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Total number of Christians, as percentage of Empire, from Stark, The Rise of Christianity.
Julian’s complaint about corpses, as quoted in Rome: A History in Seven Sackings, by Matthew Kneale, Simon & Schuster, 2018.
Durant quote, from The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, by Will Durant, Simon & Schuster, 1944.
Conventional view of fall of Rome, from Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Story of Romulus Augustulus, in part, from The Last Roman: Romulus Augustulus and the Decline of the West, by Adrian Murdoch, Stroud, 2006.
Gibbon quote, from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Prohibitions against the Jews, from Danziger and Gillingham, 1215.
Jews killed in Spain and Portugal, from Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire.
King’s oath to “extirpate heretics,” from Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, by Simon Schama, Vintage, 1990.
Inquisition in Spain, including quote from papal delegation, from Johnson, A History of Christianity.
Story of the Holy Ampulla, from The Legend of the Sainte Ampoule, by Sir Francis Oppenheimer, Faber & Faber, 1953.
Smiling Angel, from the official cathedral brochure. Additional information from New York Times, December 4, 2015.
11. The Highest Use of Monks
Moët & Chandon, from author visit and tour at winery in Épernay.
Churchill and champagne, from NPR, April 1, 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/01/472459579/hitler-couldnt-defeat-churchill-but-champagne-nearly-did.
Bottles of champagne consumed by Churchill, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/drinks/the-day-i-tried-to-match-churchill-drink-for-drink.
William of Newburgh quote, from Danziger and Gillingham, 1215.
Hautvillers, from author visit to Dom Pérignon’s tomb.
12. Napoleon Was Bullied Here
Pope on heaven being boring, from National Catholic Register, April 27, 2018.
Pope Francis, “Allow yourself to be amazed,” as reported in Crux, October 15, 2017.
