Schools of Prayer

Sr Mary Apolline from the Berdardine Cistercian community at Brownshill, Stroud gives us her reflection on the remarkable twelfth century saint and reformer.

Fr James Hanvey SJ, Jesuit priest and Master at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, gives us an excellent reflection on Christian prayer for our Schools of Prayer podcast series.

Fr James McCaffrey OCD, a priest from the Carmelite Priory in Oxford, talks passionately about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and Carmelite spirituality.

St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus - the Jesuits - in 1540. Today there are over 18,000 priests and brothers present in more than 100 countries. One of the 18,000 just so happens to be our current Holy Father, Pope Francis. In this podcast Dr Rob Marsh SJ tells us about Ignatian prayer and spirituality.

In this 'Schools of Prayer' podcast, we learn more about Dominican prayer and spirituality from Sister Hyacinthe, from France - a Dominican Sister of St Joseph.

For this podcast, we travelled to the heart of the Cotswolds, to Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire, to speak to Fr Stephen Horton OSB, Prior and Novice Master at the Benedictine monastery. Prinknash is a monastic community of men, who live in the spirit of the Rule of Saint Benedict.

As the persecution and martyrdom of the early Christians came to an end at the beginning of the fourth century, a new form of heroic holiness began to emerge in the deserts of Egypt. Canon John Udris, Spiritual Director at Oscott College, talks to us about the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ - a sister of the Congregation of Jesus - introduces our 'Schools of Prayer' podcasts. Monks, nuns and priests in Catholic religious communities often have deeply prayerful lives that bring them closer to the Lord but what can they offer us as a tool for prayer and how does their prayer begin to shape ours? From the Dominicans to the Benedictines, the Carmelites to the Franciscans, this podcast series explores some of these wonderful 'Schools of Prayer'.