Christopher completed his undergraduate studies at Benedictine College, earning degrees in philosophy, theology, and Spanish. He earned his MA at Baylor University, where he analyzed the presence and role of marriage in the religious theater of the Spanish Golden Age, and he is currently completing his PhD at the University of Notre Dame. On the way he met and married his beautiful wife and welcomed two children. Christopher’s research interests lie at the intersection of mystical and theatrical literature of the Spanish Baroque. More specifically, he is interested in examining how the central teachings and themes of the Spanish mystics were dramatized and popularized through theatrical and poetic genres such as the ‘comedia de santos’ and the ‘auto sacramental,’ and how these works are situated within the larger historical, cultural, and religious contexts of Baroque Spain. Christopher also serves as a Solomon Fellow for the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame, an appointment which reflects his interest in the intersection of Catholic intellectual and moral tradition and Hispanic culture.

A natural offshoot of Christopher’s academic interests is translation. He is the author of Reviving the Eucharistic Drama: The Autos Sacramentales of José de Valdivielso, which presents the first English edition of the dramas of Valdivielso, a Baroque Spanish priest and playwright known by his contemporaries as the ‘prince of Eucharistic poetry.’ Christopher’s translations are adapted for the current stage, and you can view the English premier of The Phoenix of Love here: https://youtu.be/0Xj71nOdlGo

An award-winning essayist, Christopher’s work has been published by Dappled Things, Cincinnati Romance Review, eHumanista, CHUY: Revista de Estudios Literarios, Hispanic Studies Review, and Institute for Latino Studies. Click below to check out some of his favorite articles:

Ascetic Purification, Mystical Union, and Feminine Actualization in the Coloquios Espirituales of Sor Marcela de San Félix | Published in Hispanic Studies Review

Marriage as Unifying Theme is La bienaventurada Madre Santa Teresa de Jesús

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In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Christopher is the author of The Way of Lucherium, an award-winning fantasy novel that asks: what if the realities of grace and sin, of demonization and deification, were made explicitly visible in our bodies, souls, and relationships?