This is such a neat story!
October 2017
Papal Artifacts was happy to announce that several artifacts belonging to this Collection were included in Mike & Grace Aquilina’s newest book. The award winning author also included in his acknowledgements, first and foremost, the Curator of Papal Artifacts, Father Richard Kunst:
This book would never have seen print without the heroic generosity of three men: Fr. Richard Kunst, the curator at PapalArtifacts.com……etc. (page 411)
We delight in the information about each artifact the Aquilinas included and encourage you to read such a wonderful addition to papal history. They have not only brought the items to life in a rich and rewarding manner, they have furthered the mission of Papal Artifacts by extending the Collections’ reach in a whole new venue.
Here are the items from Papal Artifacts included in their book:
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- St. Pius V Shoe
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- Micro Mosaic Broach with Maker’s Mark of the Vatican
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- A Missal Page Turner from the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIII
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- A Ballot from the Conclave Electing Pope Pius X
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- Pope Benedict XV’s Fountain Pen (Also Featured on the Cover)
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- Vatican II Parking Pass
Mike & Grace Aquilina, Authors
A Review of A History of the Church in 100 Objects by Mike and Grace Aquilina
The star of Bethlehem exemplifies the birth of Jesus, the Wittenberg Door is synonymous with the Protestant Reformation, and “the pill” symbolizes the sexual revolution. It’s “stuff” that helps tell the story of Christianity.
In this unique, rich, and eye-catching book, popular Catholic author and EWTN host Mike Aquilina tells the Christian story through the examination of 100 objects and places. Some, like Michelangelo’s Pietà, are priceless works of art. Others, like a union membership pen, don’t hold much monetary value. But through each of them, Aquilina offers a memorable and rewarding look at the history of the Church.
When Catholics tell their story, they don’t just write it in books. They preserve it in memorials, monuments, artifacts, and museums. They build grand basilicas to house tiny relics.
In this stunning book, Aquilina, together with his writer-daughter Grace, show how the history of the Church didn’t take place shrouded in the mists of time. It actually happened and continues to happen through things that we can see and sometimes hold in our hand.
The Christian answer to Neil MacGregor’s New York Times bestseller A History of the World in 100 Objects, Aquilina’s A History of the Church in 100 Objects introduces you to:
- The Cave of the Nativity (the importance of history, memory, and all things tangible)
- Catacomb niches (the importance of Rome, bones, and relics of the faith)
- Ancient Map of the World (the undoing of myths about medieval science)
- Stained Glass (representative of Gothic cathedrals)
- The Holy Grail (Romance literature and the emergence of writing for the laity)
- Loaves and fish (a link from Jesus to the sacrament of the Eucharist)
- The Wittenberg Door (Martin Luther and the onset of the Reformation)
Each of these and the 93 other items and places in the book tell part of the Christian story. Each is an essential piece of the story of our salvation.
God makes himself known and accessible through material things, always accommodating himself to our condition. It is, after all, the condition he created for us—spiritual and material—and the form he assumed for our salvation.
A New Book by Mike Aquilina
Understanding the Mass
“The Mass has to be life changing or we’ve missed the whole point of it. We have formed one body. Now when we see our brothers and sisters suffering injustice, we have to respond.”
–Mike Aquilina
