Showing posts with label 6th Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 6th Century. Show all posts

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Gregorian Chant


We just learned about the Christianity in Britain.

Another part of early Christianity is Gregorian Chant.

This is a type of singing that monks or people in church would do, where choirs would sing very slowly with not a lot of different notes.

It was very popular in the churches for choirs to learn songs in Gregorian chant and then sing them during service.
They were usually sung in the Latin language.

Many people have believed for a long time that Pope Gregory I was the one who came up with this and told everyone to learn it, but other historians now think maybe it was someone else.

The legends say that a dove came down and spoke into Gregory's ear and told him what to do.


(from: wikipedia - gregorian chant)


Gregorian chant - Deum verum - Callixtus


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Great Fire of Rome

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Christianity in Britain


We just learned about the Pope Gregory I.

Another part of early Christianity is Christianity in Britain.

Long ago living in England and Scotland were people called the Anglo Saxons.
They didn't believe in Jesus and God, so Pope Gregory I sent a man named Augustine on a mission to tell them about God.

Augustine talked to King Æthelberht of Kent and helped him be a Christian, and then people all over Britain became Christians too.


(from: wikipedia - gregorian mission)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ante Nicene Period

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Pope Gregory I


We just learned about Anno Domini.

Another part of early Christian history was Pope Gregory I.

When Gregory was younger, he was born to a rich family, and went to school.
Later on he joined the church and lived the life of a monk, giving to the poor and spending days quietly praying.
When his parents died, he took their land and turned it into a monastery for other monks to live.

One day he became Pope.
At that time there were many poor and sick people in Rome.
He worked to use his farms to make food to be sent to poor people all over the country.

He also tried to make it so the church was more organized, and he also sent people out as missionaries to other countries like England to tell them about Jesus.


(from: wikipedia - pope gregory i)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Christian Name

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Anno Domini


We just learned about the Hagia Sophia ancient church.

Another part of early Christianity is Anno Domini.

When we talk about what year it is, we sometimes put the letters AD at the end, like 2019 AD.

The AD stands for "Anno Domini" which means "Year Of"
"Anno Domini" is just a short way to say "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi" which means "year of our Jesus Christ".

A long time ago a man named Dionysius Exiguus was working on a new calendar to be different than the one that the old emperor Diocletian had used.
Diocletian was very bad for Christians and had many of them killed.

So Dionysius made a new calendar and said that the year was 525 AD.
By putting AD at the end, he was taking away the naming of the years from the bad Diocletian and giving it to Jesus.

In the new AD calendar, people believe that Jesus was born around 1 AD.
The time before that we call "BC" for "Before Christ".

In the old days before people used English they used "aCn" which was for "Ante Christum Natum" meaning "before Christ's birth".


(from: wikipedia - anno domini)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Split of Christianity and Judaism