Chavagnes International College

The Catholic boarding school

Music plus reflections on faith and culture from a seat of Catholic learning since the 13th century. Chavagnes International College was first a medieval Benedictine monastery, then a seminary in the wake of the French Revolution and now an international Catholic boarding school for boys with its own Liberal Arts university college. Our podcast includes music from our liturgy (mostly the boys' choir singing chant and sacred polyphony, with some Bach and Mozart), plus talks from conferences and study days, fascinating interviews and much else besides.

  1. 03/04/2021

    Chavagnes Screech Owl

    Recorded 7.50pm, 4th March 2021. We hear him calling for hours from spring onwards... he seems to alternate with ordinary owls.

  2. 03/03/2021

    Nighttime at Chavagnes

    The natural sounds at midnight in March 2021 ... owls, moorhens and cows.

  3. 02/15/2021

    “Arthur Rimbaud: Catholicism and the Art of Blasphemy”, Robert Asch.

    “Arthur Rimbaud: Catholicism and the Art of Blasphemy”, Robert Asch. A talk delivered at the Chavagnes 2020 Summer Conference (online.)

    “Arthur Rimbaud: Catholicism and the Art of Blasphemy”, Robert Asch.

  4. 02/14/2021

    “Charles Péguy, the French Catholic Revival and a little girl called Hope”, Ferdi McDermott.

    Following calls from recent popes to a rediscovery of the theological virtue of hope, this paper examines a poem dealing specifically with that subject, by Charles Péguy, a French poet who died in 1914 in the early fighting of the First World War. He is a key figure of what has been called the French Catholic revival. His dramatic monologue takes the form of a catechism lesson lesson addressed to the young St. Joan of Arc, in which Hope is portrayed as a little girl. Rooted in a rediscovery of the “real” and under the influence of the philosopher Bergson, Péguy’s message seems to be that a childlike Hope could be the key to a renewal of Faith and Love, and perhaps to a re-energizing of the Christian message. Péguy wrote his poem at a time when France was deeply traumatized by the Franco-Prussian war, the Dreyfus scandal and the anti-clerical purge of the early 20th century. It was a society that had lost is bearings. Many themes of his day are strangely current in our own. This talk was delivered (online) as part of the Chavagnes 2020 Summer conference: Faith and the fin de Siècle.

    “Charles Péguy, the French Catholic Revival and a little girl called Hope”, Ferdi McDermott.

  5. 02/14/2021

    “Black Butterflies: the Life and Work of Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas”, Ferdi McDermott.

    OLIVE CUSTANCE WAS the long-suffering wife of Lord Alfred Douglas, the beautiful young man over whom Oscar Wilde lost his reputation, livelihood and family. But at the same time Lord Alfred was holding court in Oxford, his future wife, Olive, was already holding court in London. She ventured into literary society very young, at the age of sixteen in the London of the 1890s, surrounded by admirers of both sexes. A Catholic convert, like her husband, she was also an accomplished poet and her work is now being rediscovered.  This talk was delivered (online) as part of the Chavagnes 2020 Summer conference: Faith and the fin de Siècle.

    “Black Butterflies: the Life and Work of Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas”, Ferdi McDermott.

  6. 11/27/2020

    The Young Masters 2 : Nostalgia

    Join me, Ferdi McDermott, Headmaster of Chavagnes, for a friendly chat about the good old days, with a gathering of young friends, and of course (especially for this subject) some of my oldest and best friends ... Let's talk about nostalgia. Is it innate in man? Is there a gene for it? Or is it a folk memory of Eden? Or is it something that comes out when times are hard? Is it a comfort mechanism? Or a a survival mechanism ? With us this evening are Chavagnes Young Masters Philip Marhsall (Durham and Oxford) Charles Eric Lorin (McGill), Antoine Bureau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), Antoine Bertier (ESCP), plus three extremely fine Old Masters : my friend for over 25 years, Charles Coulombe (ITI, Austria), celebrated writer and journalist, then dear friend of 20 years and literary scholar Robert Asch  (Montréal), former professor at Chavagnes from 2002 to 2012  ... and last but not least, former Chief Librarian at the Manchester University Rylands Library and international authority on Cardinal Newman and the Oxford Movement, Peter Nockles, another old friend from my London days in the 1990s. Welcome to all these fine gentlemen.

    The Young Masters 2 : Nostalgia

  7. 11/21/2020

    The Young Masters 1 : The French Revolution

    Headmaster Ferdi McDermott asks the Young Masters of Chavagnes International College "What was the point of the French Revolution and did it succeed?" Featuring Philip Marshall (Durham and Oxford), Keir Martland (Cambridge), Charles Eric Lorin (McGill), Antoine Bureau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), Antoine Bertier (ESCP) and Ferdi McDermott (Edinburgh and Buckingham).

    The Young Masters 1 : The French Revolution

  8. 04/20/2020

    Thoughts on the Philosophy of Education, Professor Anthony O'Hear OBE

    Professor Anthony O'Hear asks why do we educate?  And then he explores the arguments for the defence of Liberal Arts education in today's world. Recorded at the 2019 Chavagnes Summer Conference.  http://www.chavagnes.org/conferences

    Thoughts on the Philosophy of Education, Professor Anthony O'Hear OBE
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About

Music plus reflections on faith and culture from a seat of Catholic learning since the 13th century. Chavagnes International College was first a medieval Benedictine monastery, then a seminary in the wake of the French Revolution and now an international Catholic boarding school for boys with its own Liberal Arts university college. Our podcast includes music from our liturgy (mostly the boys' choir singing chant and sacred polyphony, with some Bach and Mozart), plus talks from conferences and study days, fascinating interviews and much else besides.

Information

  • Creator
    The Catholic boarding school
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2021
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Catholic boarding school
  • Show Website
    Chavagnes International College