Katharina von Bora

Katharina von Bora escaped a convent hidden among barrels of fish and helped transform faith from something enclosed to something lived openly, revealing how spiritual authority changed when devotion stepped into shared life.
Season 1
Episode 62
Religion
Christianity

The Quiet Gifts of Saint Nicholas

On this gentle Christmas Day, Harmonia shares the true story of Saint Nicholas of Myra-the man whose quiet acts of compassion blossomed into centuries of secret gift-giving. Through soft scenes of ancient Myra and reflections on how unseen kindness still ripples through the world, this episode invites listeners of all ages to discover how even the smallest acts of goodness can warm an entire season.
Season 1
Episode 61
Religion
Christianity

Volmar of Disibodenberg: The Monk Who Steadied Hildegard's Light

In this episode, Harmonia tells the story of Volmar of Disibodenberg, the monk who became the first listener, scribe, interpreter, and protector of Hildegard of Bingen's extraordinary visions. Living in a world where women's mystical voices were often dismissed or feared, Volmar offered the kind of devotion that rarely makes history books-patient transcription, unwavering belief, and the clerical authority needed to ensure Hildegard's revelations were preserved rather than silenced.
Season 1
Episode 48
Religion
Christianity

Moses the Black: The Strength of a Softened Heart

In this episode, Harmonia reflects on the remarkable life of Moses the Black-a man shaped by violence who slowly transformed into one of the gentlest figures of the early desert monastic tradition. Moving from Julian of Norwich's hopeful vision and the old story of Pandora, Harmonia invites the listener into a deeper exploration of how people evolve across time, how societies change faster than any one life can fully grasp, and why mercy remains essential in a world quick to judge the past by the sharpness of the present.
Season 1
Episode 45
Religion
Christianity

Julian of Norwich: All Shall Be Well

In this Golden Thread episode, Harmonia steps into the quiet cell of Julian of Norwich-a medieval anchoress who lived through plague, famine, war, and fear, yet emerged with one of the most hopeful spiritual visions in history. Through scenes of candlelit illness, stark solitude, and the steady stream of townspeople seeking comfort at her window, Harmonia explores Julian's revelation that love, not despair, is the deepest layer of reality.
Season 1
Episode 43
Religion
Christianity

Savonarola: When Fear Tried to Purify Florence

In this episode, Harmonia returns after Hillel the Elder to walk through the charged streets of Renaissance Florence, where Girolamo Savonarola rose as a fierce moral voice in an anxious city. Through scenes of bonfires, crowded piazzas, and the tremble of a society seeking certainty, Harmonia explores how fear can masquerade as virtue-and why it can never sustain compassion or justice. She traces Savonarola's sincerity, his severity, and the spiritual lessons his rise and fall still offer today.
Season 1
Episode 41
Religion
Christianity

Matilda Joslyn Gage: Standing Outside the Gate

Harmonia joins Matilda Joslyn Gage on a gray day in New York Harbor, not on the official boats full of dignitaries but on a crowded barge of suffragists circling the new Statue of Liberty with banners that read "American women have no liberty." From that rocking deck, we trace Gage's path back to a childhood home on the Underground Railroad, where she learned that law and justice are not the same thing; through her uninvited speech at the 1852 women's rights convention; into her deep friendships (and tensions) with Stanton and Anthony; and finally to her most dangerous work, Woman, Chur

Season 1
Episode 38
Religion
Christianity

Antoinette Brown Blackwell: Equal Souls, Equal Minds

Harmonia takes us into a low-ceilinged church in South Butler, New York, on the night a young woman named Antoinette Brown Blackwell kneels to be ordained-under the wary gaze of men who have only ever blessed other men. From a childhood in rural Henrietta to theology lectures at Oberlin that would not grant her a proper place on the rolls, Antoinette's life becomes a test of one simple conviction: if women are fully human, then nothing about conscience, intellect, or calling is reserved for men.
Season 1
Episode 36
Religion
Christianity

Enmegahbowh: The Man in the Doorway

Harmonia travels to the White Earth reservation to remember Enmegahbowh, the first Native American priest in the Episcopal Church and a man whose very name means "the one who stands before his people." Born into Ojibwe tradition and ordained in a settler church, he spent his life in the doorway between worlds-translating, mediating, and refusing to let either story be erased.
Season 1
Episode 35
Religion
Christianity

Ink and Silence: The Faith of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

In a convent in 17th-century Mexico, Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz wrote theology, poetry, and defiance by candlelight. Her mind was her devotion, and her silence-when it came-was not submission, but a kind of spiritual martyrdom. This episode explores how her quiet resistance continues to echo in every soul that seeks to think and believe in equal measure.
Season 1
Episode 34
Religion
Christianity
Subscribe to Christianity