The Mentoris Project Podcasts
Arts & Culture Podcasts
The Mentoris Podcasts: Meet the authors of the Mentoris Project book series featuring Italians and Italian Americans who mentored Western Civilization. Through these interviews, you'll learn about a variety of famous artists, adventurers, explorers, educators, and philosophers. From Aquinas to Volta, Brunelleschi to Vespucci, Cicero to Verdi, their stories will come alive to you through these engaging conversations. Join us, and perhaps you’ll find a mentor of your own to inspire and guide you.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Arts & Culture Podcasts
Description:
The Mentoris Podcasts: Meet the authors of the Mentoris Project book series featuring Italians and Italian Americans who mentored Western Civilization. Through these interviews, you'll learn about a variety of famous artists, adventurers, explorers, educators, and philosophers. From Aquinas to Volta, Brunelleschi to Vespucci, Cicero to Verdi, their stories will come alive to you through these engaging conversations. Join us, and perhaps you’ll find a mentor of your own to inspire and guide you.
Language:
English
Website:
https://www.mentorisproject.org/
Episodes
Desert Missionary: A Novel Based on the Life of Father Eusebio Kino with author, Nicole Gregory
1/14/2022
A celebrated teacher of mathematics and astronomy, Eusebio Kino’s future promised to be comfortable and secure. Jesuit elders urged the young priest to continue his ministry in education. But a greater voice called, and Father Kino answered by pursuing a lifetime of danger and uncertainty.
Leaving the cool Italian Alps for the blistering unexplored Spanish Territory—in areas now known as Sonora, Mexico, and the state of Arizona in the United States—Father Kino spread the joy and salvation...
Duration:00:18:44
The Embrace of Hope: A Novel Based on the Life of Frank Capra with author, Kate Fuglei
10/27/2021
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean was going to be the biggest adventure of Frank Capra’s life, but the five-year-old Sicilian boy’s dreams were soon hobbled by the cramped steamship’s unsanitary conditions. Feverish and weak, Frank suffered the seemingly endless nightmare through rolling seas torn from his family and frightened in the isolated sick bay.
Duration:00:29:24
Character Is What Counts: A Novel Based on the Life of Vince Lombardi with author, Jonathan Brown
10/6/2021
Every time he confessed his sins, young seminarian Vince Lombardi sought forgiveness for the one he just couldn’t stop committing—playing football. Football was more than a game to Lombardi. It was life. And the values it took to succeed—“perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority”—were ones he lived by and inspired in others.
Considered one of the best coaches of all time, whatever the sport, Lombardi was uncompromising in his expectations of...
Sinner. Servant. Saint.: A Novel Based on the Life of St. Francis of Assisi with author, Margaret O’Reilly
8/20/2021
His neighbors thought he was spoiled and lazy. His teachers found him incorrigible. His own father believed he was crazy. His mother never doubted that he was a true son of God.
Arrogant and grandiose, young Francis di Bernardone was an embarrassment to his family and a source of amusement to his community. He led a lavish, undisciplined life, squandering his father’s fortune on the finest food, wine, and late-night parties with his coterie of friends.
Convinced that he was destined for...
What A Woman Can Do: A Novel Based on the Life of Artemisia Gentileschi with Author, Dr. Peg Lamphier
6/12/2021
Though she was “just a girl,” Artemisia Gentileschi’s father recognized and nurtured his daughter’s raw talent and escorted her into the male-dominated elite circle of seventeenth-century fine artists. Later dishonored in the most humiliating way and betrayed by her father for the sake of his own reputation and fortune, the Caravaggio-inspired teenager summoned the fortitude to confront the monster who had stolen her virtue in a very public months-long trial.
Building Wealth 101 With Author, Robert Barbera
6/1/2021
Money may not grow on trees and maybe there's not a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. But in Building Wealth 101, entrepreneur and self-made real estate magnate Robert Barbera will show you how to take control of your finances and make your hard-earned money work for you and your future.
By adhering to some simple principles you can create independence and freedom and pave a path to your dreams.
Building Heaven's Ceiling: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Brunelleschi with Author, Joe Cline
5/14/2021
One of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Filippo Brunelleschi was more than an Italian designer. Brunelleschi made his mark in architecture and construction.
In his early years, sculpting was Brunelleschi’s passion. But after being passed over for a major commission, he set his sights on architecture, and changed the landscape of Italy as it is known today.
Brunelleschi’s most prominent contribution, the dome of Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was the first of its kind, paving...
Duration:00:27:13
Ride Into the Sun: A Novel Based on the Life of Scipio Africanus with Author, Patric Verrone
4/25/2021
In a time when birth and class determined one’s destiny, Andrea Palladio’s father recognized there was nothing common about his son and vowed to nurture his gifts. Impressed by the boy’s sketches, quick mind, and ease with numbers, influential mentors took an interest in young Palladio and he didn’t disappoint. Palladio’s life experiences, talents, and apprenticeships with stone carvers led him to an unexpected career—architecture.
Commissioned by nobles who had no design experience, but...
The Architect Who Changed Our World: A Novel Based on the Life of Andrea Palladio with Author, Pamela Winfrey
3/4/2021
In a time when birth and class determined one’s destiny, Andrea Palladio’s father recognized there was nothing common about his son and vowed to nurture his gifts. Impressed by the boy’s sketches, quick mind, and ease with numbers, influential mentors took an interest in young Palladio and he didn’t disappoint. Palladio’s life experiences, talents, and apprenticeships with stone carvers led him to an unexpected career—architecture.
Commissioned by nobles who had no design experience, but...
Duration:00:23:02
A Man Of Action Saving Liberty: A Novel Based On The Life Of Giuseppe Garibaldi with Author, Dr. Rosanne Welch
11/14/2020
Giuseppe Garibaldi yearned for a world of equality, liberty, and freedom for all nations, races, and genders. America had long claimed her independence from England, yet his beloved Italian peninsula was in a never-ending state of instability and war as the Austrian Empire, French, Church, and regional kingdoms wrestled for power.
Forced into exile, Garibaldi’s resolve to unify his homeland into the sovereign nation of Italy led him on adventures that spanned the continents. On sea,...
Dark Labyrinth: A Novel Based On The Life Of Galileo Galilei With Author, Peter David Myers
6/24/2020
Enchanted by the labyrinth of stars above, Italian professor Galileo Galilei was determined to unearth the mysteries held within. It was 1609 and inspired by the newly invented “perspective glass,” which magnified objects on land up to three times their size, Galileo designed prototype after prototype until he achieved an unheard of 20x magnification. He pointed his invention to the heavens and the world would never be the same.
He was the first to see the moon’s craters, Jupiter’s moons,...
Dark Labyrinth: A Novel Based On The Life Of Galileo Galilei With Author, Peter David Myers
6/17/2020
Enchanted by the labyrinth of stars above, Italian professor Galileo Galilei was determined to unearth the mysteries held within. It was 1609 and inspired by the newly invented “perspective glass,” which magnified objects on land up to three times their size, Galileo designed prototype after prototype until he achieved an unheard of 20x magnification. He pointed his invention to the heavens and the world would never be the same.
He was the first to see the moon’s craters, Jupiter’s moons,...
Duration:00:25:20
A Boxing Trainer’s Journey: A Novel Based on the Life of Angelo Dundee with Author, Jonathan Brown
5/4/2020
To train the greatest, he had to be the greatest.
On the streets of South Philly, Angelo Dundee learned what it took to survive—a sense of purpose, a clear head, and sometimes . . . a powerful right uppercut. Boxing was the family business and the ring was his home.
A skilled trainer and cut man, Dundee intuitively adapted to whatever his fighter needed, be it doctor, therapist, drillmaster, or friend. With gauze and liniment or a well-timed joke, Dundee knew how to keep his guy in the...
Duration:00:32:42
Breaking Barriers: A Novel Based On The Life Of Laura Bassi with Author, Jule Selbo
4/2/2020
On the streets of South Philly, Angelo Dundee learned what it took to survive—a sense of purpose, a clear head, and sometimes . . . a powerful right uppercut. Boxing was the family business and the ring was his home.
A skilled trainer and cut man, Dundee intuitively adapted to whatever his fighter needed, be it doctor, therapist, drillmaster, or friend. With gauze and liniment or a well-timed joke, Dundee knew how to keep his guy in the fight and instill confidence in the bleakest of final...
Duration:00:26:47
Relentless Visionary: Alessandro Volta With Author, Michael Berick
2/4/2020
If asked to list important inventors, few remember to include Alessandro Volta. Yet, his is a household name more spoken than that of Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright Brothers, or even Thomas Edison. That’s because the terms “volt” and “voltage” can be attributed to Volta, the inventor of the “Voltaic pile,” which is recognized as the first electric battery. A product of the Age of Enlightenment—a time when ideas about reason, science, literature and liberty took center stage—Volta employed...
Duration:00:24:00
The Faithful: A Novel Based on the Life of Giuseppe Verdi with Author, Collin Mitchell
1/21/2020
Born in Italy at the tumultuous end of France’s influence in Europe, Giuseppe Verdi went on to become the world’s most recognizable name in opera.
Set against the rise of the Italian states in the middle of the nineteenth century, The Faithful depicts an artist bedeviled by his role not just as a composer, but as an unassuming icon of the Italian Unification and the birth of modern Italy.
Through chance encounters in gilded Milanese salons and the hushed politics of the Italian opera, we...
Duration:00:19:18
Saving the Republic: A Novel Based on the Life of Marcus Cicero with Author, Eric Martin
1/8/2020
As the first century approached, a sickly boy was born while the Roman Republic was nearing its ultimate demise. The boy’s life and the country both hung in the balance.
But the strong and determined young man grew to be the Republic’s fiercest defender. With his dogged determination and towering intellect, Marcus Tullius Cicero became a famed statesman, celebrated orator, and an esteemed philosopher.
Surviving civil wars, political intrigues, and assassination attempts, Cicero pushed...
Humble Servant of Truth: A Novel Based on the Life of Thomas Aquinas with Author, Margaret O'Reilly
12/17/2019
Known today among many as the most brilliant light of the Church, Aquinas was a Catholic priest and a Doctor of the Church. His synthesis of Aristotle’s philosophy with Christianity significantly influenced Western thought and solidified his legacy as one of the greatest philosophers of the Western world.
Over his lifetime, Aquinas wrote many Eucharistic hymns, some of which are to this day included in the Church’s liturgy. His theological insight and natural reason make him an ideal model...
Defying Danger: A Novel Based on the Life of Father Matteo Ricci with Author, Nicole Gregory
12/2/2019
The Forbidden City—home to the opium-addicted Ming Dynasty emperor and protected by thousands of ruthless eunuchs—no European had ever been inside. Would a simple Jesuit priest be the first?
Armed with a homemade clock, a wealth of patience, and an uncompromising drive to share his faith with a new people, Father Matteo Ricci would overcome one barrier only to be met by another: treacherous seas, a complex language, and a culture with an unshakable mistrust of foreigners and rooted in the...
Duration:00:28:40
The Soul of a Child: A Novel Based on the Life of Maria Montessori with Author, Kate Fuglei
11/19/2019
The Soul of a Child: A Novel Based on the Life of Maria Montessori places the brilliant educator and reformer in the context of her time. It examines the relationships, inner struggles, and inspirations of Maria Montessori, a woman with heart, empathy, and resilience. As a strong woman who lived through two world wars, the rise of Fascism in Spain and Italy, and the dawn of the nuclear age, she remained undeterred in her faith in the possibility of positive change through education. Her life...
Duration:00:37:11