Anglican saints
The word saint derives from the Latin sanctus, meaning holy, and has long been used in Christianity to refer to a person who was recognized as having lived a holy life and as being an exemplar and model for other Christians. Beginning in the 10th century, the Catholic Church began to centralise and formalise the process of recognising saints; the process whereby an individual was added to the canon (list) of recognised saints became known as canonisation.
21 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Alcuin
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the cleric, educator and poet from York who put learning for its own sake at the heart of the Carolingian Renaissance
30 January 2020
Featuring: Joanna Story, Andy Orchard, Mary Garrison
History9th-century philosophers8th-century Christian theologians, 8th-century English writers, 8th-century writers in Latin, Anglo-Saxon poets, Anglo-Saxon writersAnglican saintsMedieval English theologiansMedieval Latin-language poetsScholastic philosophersChristian hagiographersGrammarians of Latin8th century9th centuryLanguageTheologyChristina Rossetti
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti.
1 December 2011
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Rhian Williams, Nicholas Shrimpton
CultureEnglish hymnwriters19th-century English women writersBurials at Highgate CemeteryWriters from the London Borough of CamdenAnglican saintsVictorian women writersEnglish fantasy writersPoets from LondonSonneteersEnglish women poetsBritish people of Italian descent, English people of Italian descent, Polidori-Rossetti family19th-century British writersVictorian poets19th centuryDietrich Bonhoeffer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bonhoeffer's ideas about Christian ethics, the role of the Church in a secular world, and his attempts to overthrow Hitler.
27 September 2018
Featuring: Stephen Plant, Eleanor McLaughlin, Tom Greggs
ReligionChristian humanistsAnglican saintsProtestants in the German Resistance20th-century German philosophersPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarChristian ethicistsHumboldt University of Berlin alumniChristian poetsExecuted philosophersChristian radicalsLutheran saints20th centuryGermanyFrederick Douglass
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of the prominent abolitionist, who in 1845 told his story in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
8 February 2018
Featuring: Celeste-Marie Bernier, Karen Salt, Nicholas Guyatt
History19th-century American male writers19th-century American memoirists, People of the Six Years' WarAnglican saintsActivists for African-American civil rightsAmerican male journalists19th-century American businesspeopleUnderground Railroad peopleAmerican lecturersWriters from Baltimore19th-century male writersAmerican autobiographersDeaths from coronary thrombosis19th centuryGeorge Fox and the Quakers
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the foundation of the Religious Society of Friends, otherwise known as the Quakers, in the 17th century.
5 April 2012
Featuring: Justin Champion, John Coffey, Kate Peters
George Herbert
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of 'the most beautiful poem in the world' whose works on his relationship with God offered comfort to Charles I when he faced execution.
7 November 2024
Featuring: Helen Wilcox, Victoria Moul, Simon Jackson
CulturePoet priestsAnglican poetsAnglican saintsTuberculosis deaths in England17th-century English poets17th-century Christian mysticsPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarAlumni of Trinity College, CambridgeProtestant mysticsAnglo-Welsh poets17th-century deaths from tuberculosisSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male poets17th-century English Anglican priestsAnglican writersPeople educated at Westminster School, LondonLutheran saints17th centuryWalesHildegard of Bingen
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval mystic, composer and writer Hildegard of Bingen.
26 June 2014
Featuring: Miri Rubin, William Flynn, Almut Suerbaum
HistoryGerman women philosophersManuscript illuminatorsAnglican saintsRoman Catholic mysticsPre-Reformation Anglican saintsHerbalistsCatholic philosophersGerman classical composersWomen religious writersWomen mystics12th-century writers in LatinMystic poetsMedieval Latin-language poets12th-century Christian saintsBenedictine philosophersAngelic visionariesCreators of writing systemsDoctors of the Church12th centuryLanguageMusicJohannes Kepler
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
29 December 2016
Featuring: David Wootton, Ulinka Rublack, Adam Mosley
John Donne
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the extraordinary life and work of one of England's finest love poets and, as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, most remarkable preachers.
12 January 2023
Featuring: Mary Ann Lund, Sue Wiseman, Hugh Adlington
CultureCritics of the Catholic ChurchAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordPhilosophers of religionLiteracy and society theoristsEpigrammatistsEnglish people of Welsh descentIndependent scholars17th-century English poets16th-century English male writersMetaphor theoristsWriters about activism and social changeChristian poetsSonneteersEnglish male poets17th-century Anglican theologiansLutheran saintsAnglican poetsAnglican saints16th-century English poetsPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarWriters from LondonPeople from the City of London17th-century English male writersLiterary theoristsMetaphysical poetsEnglish satiristsPoet priestsEnglish male non-fiction writersPamphleteers17th-century English Anglican priests16th century17th centuryTheologyJohn Wesley and Methodism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the difference John Wesley made during the Christian Revival of the 18th Century, developing Methodism into a major movement around the world
10 December 2020
Featuring: Stephen Plant, Eryn White, William Gibson
ReligionChristian humanistsEnglish letter writersEnglish Anglican theologiansEnglish pamphleteersAlumni of Christ Church, Oxford18th-century evangelicalsChristian radicalsLutheran saintsChristianity in OxfordAnglican saints18th-century Anglican theologiansPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarEnglish abolitionistsEnglish sermon writersFounders of English schools and collegesFounders of religionsGerman–English translatorsEnglish evangelicals18th-century English diaristsPeople educated at Charterhouse SchoolTranslators of the Bible into EnglishChristian vegetarians18th centuryTheologyJohnson
Melvyn Bragg discusses Samuel Johnson, a giant of 18th century literature, language and letters, and perhaps the most quotable Englishman to have ever lifted a pen.
27 October 2005
Featuring: John Mullan, Jim McLaverty, Judith Hawley
18th-century English male writers18th-century English writersEnglish essayistsEnglish literary criticsPeople with mood disorders18th-century lexicographers, 18th-century writers in LatinAnglican saintsStreathamites18th-century English poetsEnglish AnglicansConversationalistsMale essayistsEnglish travel writersEnglish sermon writersEnglish biographersBurials at Westminster Abbey18th centuryMargery Kempe and English Mysticism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Margery Kempe (1373-1438), the English mystic who went to Jerusalem and dictated her life story, said to be the first autobiography in English.
2 June 2016
Featuring: Miri Rubin, Katherine Lewis, Anthony Bale
HistoryAnglican saints15th-century English writersEnglish women non-fiction writersWriters from King's LynnRoman Catholic mystics14th-century Christian mystics, 14th-century English women writers, 15th-century English women writers, 15th-century deaths, English Catholic mystics, Middle English literaturePre-Reformation Anglican saintsEnglish Roman CatholicsWomen religious writersEnglish autobiographersWomen mysticsFemale saints of medieval EnglandEnglish religious writers14th century15th centuryMary Magdalene
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Magdalene, one of the best-known figures in the Bible.
25 February 2016
Featuring: Joanne Anderson, Eamon Duffy, Joan Taylor
Octavia Hill
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian reformer Octavia Hill, pioneer of social housing and campaigner for public open spaces.
7 April 2011
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Lawrence Goldman, Gillian Darley
Saint Cuthbert
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life of the Northumbrian monk, priest and hermit who lived on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and became one of England's most revered saints.
28 January 2021
Featuring: Jane Hawkes, Sarah Foot, John Hines
St Hilda
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss St Hilda, who led a large and influential network of monasteries in 7th century Britain.
5 April 2007
Featuring: John Blair, Rosemary Cramp, Sarah Foot
St Thomas Aquinas
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss St Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic Church's foremost western philosopher and theologian.
17 September 2009
Featuring: Martin Palmer, John Haldane, Annabel Brett
PhilosophyWriters about religion and scienceVirtue ethicistsScholastic philosophersUniversity of Paris alumniThomas AquinasClassical theismCritics of atheismDominican mysticsMedieval Latin-language poetsAristotelian philosophersChristian ethicistsLutheran saintsPhilosophers of lawAnglican saintsMetaphysicians13th-century writers in LatinAngelic visionariesDoctors of the ChurchMagic (supernatural)Catholic philosophersNatural law ethicistsChristian apologists13th-century philosophersSystematic theologians13th centuryLanguageMedicineTheologyThe Venerable Bede
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Venerable Bede, who revolutionised history and scholarship, and became adopted by Rome as the last of the founding fathers of Christian religion.
25 November 2004
Featuring: Richard Gameson, Sarah Foot, Michelle Brown
ReligionDoctors of the ChurchEnglish Christian theologians8th-century Christian theologians, 8th-century English writers, 8th-century writers in Latin, Anglo-Saxon poets, Anglo-Saxon writersAnglican saintsTrope theoristsNorthumbrian saintsEnglish Roman Catholic saintsMedieval English theologiansChristian hagiographersHistory of Catholicism in EnglandLutheran saints8th centuryTheologyThomas Becket
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Becket, chancellor turned archbishop, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral and whose tomb became a centre of pilgrimage across Europe.
14 December 2017
Featuring: Laura Ashe, Michael Staunton, Danica Summerlin
Wilberforce
In an unusual edition of In Our Time, marking the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade, Melvyn Bragg leaves the studio to examine the life of William Wilberforce.
22 February 2007
Featuring
ReligionBritish MPs 1784–1790, British MPs 1790–1796Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts18th-century evangelicalsEnglish AnglicansChristian radicalsEnglish religious writersUK MPs 1818–1820, UK MPs 1820–1826Anglican saintsEnglish philanthropistsEnglish abolitionists19th-century Anglicans19th-century English male writersAnglican writersAlumni of St John's College, CambridgeBritish MPs 1780–1784, Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies19th-century English non-fiction writers19th-century English politiciansBritish reformersEnglish male non-fiction writersBurials at Westminster Abbey18th century19th centuryWyclif and the Lollards
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval philosopher and theologian John Wyclif and his followers, the Lollards.
16 June 2011
Featuring: Anthony Kenny, Anne Hudson, Rob Lutton
ReligionCritics of the Catholic ChurchChristian humanistsAnglican saintsEnglish Reformation14th-century writers in Latin14th-century English writersEnglish evangelicalsPeople excommunicated by the Catholic ChurchTranslators of the Bible into EnglishProto-Protestants, Roman Catholic biblical scholarsTranslators to EnglishChristian radicalsDamnatio memoriae14th century