February 20 – Leaders and future nobility appear in times of desperate distress

February 20, 2025

Andreas Hofer

A patriot and soldier, born at St. Leonhard in Passeyrthale, Tyrol, 22 Nov., 1767; executed at Mantua, 20 Feb., 1810. His father was known as the “Sandwirth” (i. e., landlord of the inn on the sandy spit of land formed by the Passeyr. The inn had been in the family for over one hundred years). Hofer’s education was very limited. As a youth, he was engaged in the wine and horse trade, but he went farther afield, learned to know men of every class, and even acquired a knowledge of Italian that stood him in good stead later. After his marriage with Anna Ladurner, he took over his father’s business, which, however, did not flourish in his hands. Gifted, though not a genius, a dashing but upright young man, loyal to his God and his sovereign, he made many friends by his straightforward character; his stately figure and flowing beard contributing in no small degree to his attractiveness. When the Tyrol was handed over to Bavaria at the Peace of Presburg, the “Sandwirth” was among the delegates who escorted the departing Archduke John. Thenceforth he attended quietly to his own affairs until, in 1806, he was called to Vienna with others, and was informed of the proposed uprising in the Tyrol. At the outset of the rebellion he was by no means its chief, but acquired fame as a leader mainly by his capture of a Bavarian detachment in the marsh of Sterzing. Hofer was not engaged in the first capture of Innsbruck, being then an officer on the southern frontier with the title of “Imperial Royal Commandant”. When the French broke victoriously into the Tyrol and occupied Innsbruck, he issued a general summons to the people, which roused many patriots and drew them to his standard. The fact that the enemy, underestimating the strength of the popular party, left only a small garrison of troops, favoured their cause. After various skirmishes Hofer’s men broke into Innsbruck on 30 May. The real battle came off at Berg Isel. The “Sandwirth” took no part in the conflict; nevertheless he directed it with skill and success.

Victory of Andreas Hofer at Bergisel, 1809.

The Tyrol was now free from invasion for two months; indeed, a few bands of insurgents ventured into Bavarian and Italian territory. Under these conditions Hofer thought he could return to his home and leave the government in the hands of the Intendant Hormayr, who had been sent from Vienna. But when, in spite of positive assurances from the emperor, the Tyrol was abandoned at the armistice of Znaim, and Marshal Lefebvre advanced to subdue the country, the people determined to risk their lives for faith and freedom. Again the written order of the “Sandwirth” flew round the valleys. Haspinger and Speckbacher organized the people, and on 13 and 14 August occurred the second battle of Berg Isel. Haspinger decided the result of the day; but Hofer stood for some time in the very heat of the battle, and by bis energetic efforts induced the already weakening ranks to renew their efforts. Henceforth, the Intendant having fled, Hofer took the government into his own hands, moved into the Hofburg, and ruled his admiring countrymen in a patriarchal manner. Francis II bestowed on him a golden medal, but this proved fatal to Hofer, who was thereby strengthened in his delusion that the emperor would never abandon his faithful Tyrolese. Thus it happened that he even disregarded a letter from the Archduke John, as though it were a Bavarian or French proclamation, and on 1 November lost the third battle of Berg Isel against a superior force of the enemy.

Andreas Hofer, Josef Speckbacher, Joachim Haspinger and Kajetan Sweth, secretary to Hofer.

The renewed success of the French general and the Bavarian crown prince (afterwards Ludwig I) now determined Hofer to surrender; trusting however, to his friends and to false rumours, he changed his mind and decided to fight to the last. The mighty columns of the allies soon crushed all resistance, and the leaders of the peasant army saw that nothing remained but flight; Hofer alone remained and went into hiding. A covetous countryman, greedy for the reward offered for his capture, betrayed him. He was surprised in his hiding place, dragged to Mantua amid insults and outrages, and haled before a court. Without awaiting its sentence a peremptory order from Napoleon ordered him to be shot forthwith. He took his death-sentence with Christian calmness, and died with the courage of a hero. The prophecy he uttered in the presence of his confessor shortly before he died: “The Tyrol will be Austrian again” was fulfilled three years later. His remains were disinterred in 1823 and laid to rest in the court chapel at Innsbruck, where his life-size statue now stands. The emperor ennobled the Hofer family. The youth of Germany has been inspired by his heroic figure, and German poets like Mosen, Schenkendorf, Immermann, etc. have sung of his deeds and sufferings. Even the French pay a wondering homage to his sincere piety, his self-sacrificing patriotism, and his noble sense of honour (Denis in “Hist. gén.”; Corréard in “Précis d’histoire moderne”: a text-book for the pupils of the military school of St. Cyr).

Andreas Hofer with his advisors in the Hofburg in Innsbruck

Andreas Hofer und die Tiroler Insurrektion (Munich, 1810); HORMAYR, Das Land Tirol und der Tirolerkrieg, 1809 (Leipzig, 1845); RAPP, Tirol im Jahre 1809 (Innsbruck, 1852); EGGER, Geschichte Tirols (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1880); HEIGEL, in Allg. d. Biogr., s. v.; FRANKE, Hofer im Liede (Innsbruck, 1884); HIRN, Tirols Erhebung im Jahre 1809 (Innsbruck, 1909).

Pius Wittmann (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 21 – He Fearlessly Denounced Homosexual Clergy

February 20, 2025

St. Peter Damian

Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna “five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III,” 1007; died at Faenza, 21 Feb., 1072.

He was the youngest of a large family. His parents were noble, but poor. At his birth an elder brother protested against this new charge on the resources of the family with such effect that his mother refused to suckle him and the babe nearly died. A family retainer, however, fed the starving child and by example and reproaches recalled his mother to her duty.

Left an orphan in early years, he was at first adopted by an elder brother, who ill-treated and under-fed him while employing him as a swineherd. The child showed signs of great piety and of remarkable intellectual gifts, and after some years of this servitude another brother, who was archpriest at Ravenna, had pity on him and took him away to be educated. This brother was called Damian and it was generally accepted that St. Peter added this name to his own in grateful recognition of his brother’s kindness. He made rapid progress in his studies, first at Ravenna, then at Faenza, finally at the University of Parma, and when about twenty-five years old was already a famous teacher at Parma and Ravenna. But, though even then much given to fasting and to other mortifications, he could not endure the scandals and distractions of university life and decided (about 1035) to retire from the world. While meditating on his resolution he encountered two hermits of Fonte-Avellana, was charmed with their spirituality and detachment, and desired to join them. Encouraged by them Peter, after a forty days’ retreat in a small cell, left his friends secretly and made his way to the hermitage of Fonte-Avellana. Here he was received, and, to his surprise, clothed at once with the monastic habit.

Monastery di Fonte Avellana

Both as novice and as professed religious his fervour was remarkable and led him to such extremes of penance that, for a time, his health was affected. He occupied his convalescence with a thorough study of Holy Scripture and, on his recovery, was appointed to lecture to his fellow-monks. At the request of Guy of Pomposa and other heads of neighbouring monasteries, for two or three years he lectured to their subjects also, and (about 1042) wrote the life of St. Romuald for the monks of Pietrapertosa. Soon after his return to Fonte-Avellana he was appointed economus of the house by the prior, who also pointed him out as his successor. This, in fact, he became in 1043, and he remained prior of Fonte-Avellana till his death. His priorate was characterized by a wise moderation of the rule, as well as by the foundation of subject-hermitages at San Severino, Gamugno, Acerata, Murciana, San Salvatore, Sitria, and Ocri. It was remarkable, too, for the introduction of the regular use of the discipline, a penitential exercise which he induced the great abbey of Monte Cassino to imitate. there was much opposition outside his own circle to this practice, but Peter’s persistent advocacy ensured its acceptance to such an extent that he was obliged later to moderate the imprudent zeal of some of his own hermits. another innovation was that of the daily siesta, to make up for the fatigue of the night office. During his tenure of the priorate a cloister was built, silver chalices and a silver processional cross were purchased, and many books added to the library.

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Founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family

February 20, 2025

Pierre-Joseph Chaumonot

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, L’Ancienne-Lorette Church. One of Father Chaumonot’s lasting achievements was the founding of the Huron mission of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in 1674.

Jesuit missionary in New York and Canada, Born near Châtillon-sur-Seine in France, 1611; died at Quebec, 21 February, 1693. His name is sometimes written Calmonotti or Calvonotti. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Rome, at the age of twenty-one, and arrived at Quebec, 1 August, 1639. In September he was already at work on the missions of Lake Huron, where Brebeuf was superior. He remained there until after the death of Brebeuf and his companions and the destruction of the missions. He was deputed to conduct 400 Hurons to Quebec, and he established them on a reservation on the Isle of Orleans opposite the city. After Le Moyne had arranged for a mission among the Onondagas of New York, Chaumonot and Dablon were sent to organize it. This mission lasted only two years; the priests and the fifty colonists who joined them subsequently being obliged to escape in the night to avoid a general massacre. Returning to Canada, he devoted himself for the rest of his life to his Huron converts. He established his famous Christian settlement, known as Lorette, which after shifting several times was located finally on the river St. Charles where it still exists, though it is called “Jeune Lorette” in contradistinction to the “Ancienne Lorette” established by Chaumonot, who died before the last migration. He was the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family which figures extensively in early Canadian history.

THWAITES (ed.), Jesuit Relations, passim; CHARLEVOIX, History of New France (New York, 1872), II: ROCHEMONTEIX, Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle-France (Paris, 1896).

THOMAS J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 21 – Cornelius van Zierikzee

February 20, 2025

Fr. Cornelius van Zierikzee

Born at Zierikzee (whence he takes his surname), a town in the Province of Zeeland, Holland, about 1405, d. 21 Feb., 1462. The strict observance of the Franciscan Rule, upheld and propagated throughout Italy by St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran, was early introduced into Germany. At twenty Cornelius entered the Franciscan Order in the Province of Cologne, which at that time included the greater part of the Netherlands. It was famous for the number and sanctity of its members, among whom were several Scotsmen who had been educated at the universities on the Continent.

Zierikzee, Holland

This revival of the Franciscan life under the guidance of St. Bernardine no doubt came to the knowledge of King James I of Scotland, whose poetic spirit was in harmony with the Franciscan ideal. In 1436 the king requested the superiors of the order that he might have Friars of the Observance sent into his kingdom; but it was not until after the provincial chapter of the Observants held at Gouda in 1447, and apparently because of a fresh application by his son King James II, that it was decided to comply with the royal wishes. John Perioche de Mauberg, Vicar-general of the Ultramontine Observants, selected Fr. Cornelius as head of the mission. Fr. Cornelius was accompanied by six associates, of whom at least one, Fr. John Richardson, a graduate of the University of Paris, was a Scot; they were received with enthusiasm by all classes. Within a few years after the arrival of the Observants in Scotland they established nine convents in different towns; the postulants for admission to the order were numerous; youths belonging to the best families renounced the world to embrace the Franciscan life of poverty. Among those who received the habit from Fr. Cornelius were: Jerome Lindsay, U.J.D., of Paris, son of the Earl of Crawford, commemorated in the Franciscan Martyrology with title of blessed, pre-eminent for his humility, mortification, and spirit of prayer; David Crannok, who was physician to King James II and his consort Queen Margaret; he succeeded Fr. Cornelius in the government of the convents; Robert Keith, renowned for the sanctity of his life, a member of the family of the Earl Marishal; later on Robert Stuart, kinsman of King James V. The General Chapter of the Observants held at Mount-Luzon (Bourbonnais) erected the Scottish convents into a province, and granted it a seal representing St. Bernardine holding a tablet with the Holy Name painted on it and three mitres at his feet, to mark that the Scottish province owed its origin to the companions of the saint.

Another view of Zierikzee.

The Scottish Franciscans enjoyed a great reputation throughout Europe for adhering most conscientiously and strictly to the poverty and austerity of the order. James IV wrote to the pope in 1506 in praise of the Observants in his kingdom and their works. The Scottish province was in a flourishing state when the religious revolution broke out and the convents were destroyed. In 1560 Father John Patrick, Minister Provincial, accompanied by over one hundred fathers, left Scotland for the Netherlands, where they were hospitably recognized and incorporated in the provinces of Holland and Belgium. In 1462 Father Cornelius, worn out by his labours and austerities, left Scotland for his own province of Cologne, where he died in the convent at Antwerp. It is said that many miracles took place at his tomb. The writings of Father Cornelius, which consist of “Conciones ad populum Scotiae”, “Sermones ad Fratres”, “Epistolas plures”, have never been published.

GONZAGA, De origine seraphicae religionis prov. Scotiae (Rome, 1587); DEMPSTER, Hist. eccl. gentis Scotorum (Bologna, 1627); HUBER, Menologium Franciscanum (Munich, 1698); Martyrologium Franciscanum (Paris, 1638); WADDING, Annales Ord. Min. (Rome, 1745), VON LOO, Stimulus seraph. Conversationis (Rome, 1861); BRYCE, Scottish Grey Friars (London, 1909); BELLESHEIM, Hist. of the Cath. Church of Scotland, tr. HUNTER-BLAIR (London, 1891); SCHONTENS, Martyrologium Minoritico-Belgicum (Hoogstraeten, 1902); Necrologium Conv. Aberdonensis in Monuments Franciscan, II (London, 1882); M.S. Annales Prov. Coloniae in der Binterinsche Bibliotek in Blik.

GREGORY CLEARY (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 22 – Blessed Émilie d’Oultremont de Warfusée

February 20, 2025

(October 11, 1818 – February 22, 1878)

Belgian nun. She founded the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix. She took the name Mary of Jesus.

The daughter of Émile d’Oultremont (fr) and Marie-Charlotte de Lierneux de Presles, she was born at Wégimont Castle. Her father served as Belgian ambassador to the Holy See in Rome. In 1837, she married Victor van der Linden d’Hooghvorst; the couple had four children. Her husband died in 1847.

Portrait of Bl. Émilie d’Oultremont, Mother Marie of Jesus.

In 1854, while praying at a chapel in Bauffe, she experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Feeling that she had been called to religious life, she moved to Paris and set up a small religious community in her home. In 1857, she established a convent at Strasbourg; she founded the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix later that year.
She died in Florence, Italy at the age of 59.

Mother Mary of Jesus was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

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February 23 – St. Polycarp’s martyrdom

February 20, 2025

St. Polycarp’s martyrdom

Polycarp’s martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smyrna, to the Church of Philomelium “and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church”, etc. The letter begins with an account of the persecution and the heroism of the martyrs. Conspicuous among them was one Germanicus, who encouraged the rest, and when exposed to the wild beasts, incited them to slay him. His death stirred the fury of the multitude, and the cry was raised “Away with the atheists; let search be made for Polycarp”. But there was one Quintus, who of his own accord had given himself up to the persecutors. When he saw the wild beasts he lost heart and apostatized. “Wherefore”, comment the writers of the epistle, “we praise not those who deliver themselves up, since the Gospel does not so teach us”. Polycarp was persuaded by his friends to leave the city and conceal himself in a farm-house. Here he spent his time in prayer, “and while praying he falleth into a trance three days before his apprehension; and he saw his pillow burning with fire. And he turned and said unto those that were with him, ‘it must needs be that I shall be burned alive’ “. When his pursuers were on his track he went to another farm-house. Finding him gone they put two slave boys to the torture, and one of them betrayed his place of concealment. Herod, head of the police, sent a body of men to arrest him on Friday evening. Escape was still possible, but the old man refused to flee, saying, “the will of God be done”. He came down to meet his pursuers, conversed affably with them, and ordered food to be set before them. While they were eating he prayed, “remembering all, high and low, who at any time had come in his way, and the Catholic Church throughout the world”. Then he was led away.

Herod and Herod’s father, Nicetas, met him and took him into their carriage, where they tried to prevail upon him to save his life. Finding they could not persuade him, they pushed him out of the carriage with such haste that he bruised his shin. He followed on foot till they came to the Stadium, where a great crowd had assembled, having heard the news of his apprehension. “As Polycarp entered into the Stadium a voice came to him from heaven: ‘Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man’. And no one saw the speaker, but those of our people who were present heard the voice.” It was to the proconsul, when he urged him to curse Christ, that Polycarp made his celebrated reply: “Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me.” When the proconsul had done with the prisoner it was too late to throw him to the beasts, for the sports were closed. It was decided, therefore, to burn him alive. The crowd took it upon itself to collect fuel, “the Jews more especially assisting in this with zeal, as is their wont” (cf. the Martyrdom of Pionius). The fire, “like the sail of a vessel filled by the wind, made a wall round the body” of the martyr, leaving it unscathed. The executioner was ordered to stab him, thereupon, “there came forth a quantity of blood so that it extinguished the fire”. (The story of the dove issuing from the body probably arose out of a textual corruption. See Lightfoot, Funk, Zahn. It may also have been an interpolation by the pseudo-Pionius.)

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RCR – Part III, Chapter 1 & 2 – TWENTY YEARS AFTER

February 17, 2025

RCR in Portuguese

PART III

Revolution and Counter-Revolution

TWENTY YEARS AFTER

In 1976 the author was asked to write a preface to a new Italian edition of Revolution and Counter-Revolution. He deemed it better, instead, to present an analysis of the evolution of the revolutionary process in the nearly twenty years since the essay’s first edition. He therefore added this third part, which was first published in 1977. In 1992, in the aftermath of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the author updated this analysis with some commentaries published herein. – Ed.

CHAPTER I
The Revolution: A Process in Continual Transformation

Revolution and Counter-Revolution second English edition

Since so much time — marked by so many events — has elapsed since the first edition of Revolution and Counter-Revolution, one could fittingly ask if there is anything to be added regarding the matters treated in the essay. The answer could only be yes, as the reader will see.

1. Revolution and Counter-Revolution and the TFPs: Twenty Years of Action and Combat

Twenty Years After, the title of a novel by Alexandre Dumas — so appreciated by Brazilian adolescents until the moment now long past when profound psychological transformations destroyed the taste for that kind of literature — is brought to mind by an association of images as we begin these notes.

Alexander Dumas

We just looked back to 1959; 1976 is almost over. Therefore, we are approaching the end of the second decade of this book’s circulation. Twenty years…
In this period, the essay’s editions have multiplied.^{1 *Updated Footnote 2021*}

It was not our intention to make Revolution and Counter-Revolution a mere study. We wrote it also with the intention of making it a bedside book for about one hundred young Brazilians who had asked us to orient and coordinate their efforts in view of the problems and duties they faced at the time. This initial handful — the seed of the future TFP — soon spread throughout Brazil, which is the size of a continent.

Some of the various TFP banners from around the world.

Propitious circumstances favored, pari passu, the formation and development of analogous and autonomous organizations throughout South America. The same occurred later in the United States, Canada, Spain, and France. More recently, intellectual affinities and promising cordial relations began to link this extensive family of organizations to personalities and associations of other countries of Europe. In France, the Bureau Tradition, Famille, Propriété,² founded in 1973, has been fostering the resulting contacts and approximations as much as possible.
These twenty years, then, were years of expansion. They were years of expansion, yes, but years of intense counter-revolutionary struggle as well.

TFP Student Action…various campaigns that the TFP have been doing over the years…Subscribe today by clicking on the picture!

Considerable results have been achieved in this way. As this is not the moment to enumerate them all,³ we limit ourselves to saying that, in each country where a TFP or a similar association exists, it has been continuously combating the Revolution, that is, more particularly, so-called Catholic leftism in the religious realm and communism in the temporal realm. In the genuine combat against communism, we include the battle against all modes of socialism, for these are merely preparatory stages or larval forms of communism. This combat has always been waged according to the principles, goals, and norms of Part II of this study.⁴

The fruits thus obtained well show the accuracy of what is said in this work on the inseparable themes of Revolution and Counter-Revolution.

^{1. Besides two initial printings in Catolicismo, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, in book form, has had two editions in Portuguese, three editions in Italian (one in Turin, two in Piacenza), one in German, six in Spanish (one in Barcelona, one in Bilbao, one in Santiago, Chile, one in Colombia, and two in Buenos Aires), three in French (in Brazil, Canada, and France), and four in English (Fullerton, California, New Rochelle, New York, York and Spring Grove, Pennsylvania). It has also been transcribed in full in the magazines Qué Pasa? (Madrid) and Fiducia (Santiago, Chile). These editions total over 100,000 copies. – Ed.}

^{UPDATE: It is also available in Polish, Romanian, Japanese, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Suomi/Finnish, Latvian and Bielorusso. Each language is linked to the RCR text in that respective language.}
^{2. Now the Association Française pour la Défense de la Tradition, de la Famille et de la Propriété.}
^{3. See the book Um homem, uma obra, uma gesta — Homenagem das TFPs a Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (São Paulo: Edições de Amanhã, 1989), which includes ample historical data on TFPs and TFP Bureaus in 22 countries on six continents. – Ed.}
^{4. Regarding the fight against the more recent forms of socialism, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveria’s What Does Self-Managing Socialism Mean for Communism: A Barrier? Or a Bridgehead? deserves special mention. It was widely published in 1982 (in 50 major Western newspapers and magazines, with a total of over 33 million copies). This publication prompted Friedrich A. Hayek, Noble Prize winner in economics, to write a letter of high praise. Also of great interest are the books España, anestesisda sin percribilo, amordazada sin saberlo, extraviada sin quererlo: la obra del PSOE and Ad perpetuam rei memoriam, published by the Spanish TFP in 1988 and 1991 respectively. – Ed.}

Almsgiving of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

February 17, 2025

The Kindness of Louis XVI painted by Philibert-Louis Debucourt. In February 1784, near Versailles, Louis XVI visited a poor peasant family. Moved by their plight, he gave them the purse he had on him. His act of kindness became quickly known by all.

During Lent we recall the duties of every Christian to apply themselves more fervently to almsgiving. In pre-revolutionary France it was for the King and the Queen to give an example to everyone else in this regard. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette took this duty seriously and throughout their reign did what they could to help the needy.
At the fireworks celebrating the marriage of the young prince and princess in May 1774, there was a stampede in which many people were killed. Louis and Antoinette gave all of their private spending money for a year to relieve the suffering of the victims and their families. They became very popular with the common people as a result, which was reflected in the adulation with which they were received when the Dauphin took his wife to Paris on her first “official” visit in June 1773. Marie-Antoinette’s reputation for sweetness and mercy became even more entrenched in 1774, when as the new Queen she asked that the people be relieved of a tax called “The Queen’s belt,” customary at the beginning of each reign. “Belts are no longer worn,” she said. It was only the onslaught of revolutionary propaganda that would eventually destroy her reputation.

Louis XVI often visited the poor in their homes and villages, distributing alms from his own purse. During the difficult winter of 1776, the King oversaw the distribution of firewood among the peasants. Louis was responsible for many humanitarian reforms. He went incognito to hospitals, prisons, and factories so as to gain first-hand knowledge of the conditions in which the people lived and worked.

…beloved Children, forget not that charity is due even yesterday’s enemy who today languishes in poverty, you will show that you have done your “bene agere” by Saint Paul…

The King and Queen were patrons of the Maison Philanthropique, a society founded by Louis XVI which helped the aged, blind and widows. The Queen taught her daughter Madame Royale to wait upon peasant children, to sacrifice her Christmas gifts so as to buy fuel and blankets for the destitute, and to bring baskets of food to the sick. Marie-Antoinette took her children with her on her charitable visits. According to Maxime de la Rocheterie:

Sometimes they went to the Gobelins; and the president of the district coming on one occasion to compliment her, she said, “Monsieur you have many destitute but the moments which we spend in relieving them are very precious to us.” Sometimes she went to the free Maternity Society which she had founded, where she had authorized the Sisters to distribute sixteen hundred livres for food and fuel every month and twelve hundred for blankets and clothing, without counting the baby outfits which were given to three hundred mothers. At other times she went to the School of Design also founded by her to which she sent one day twelve hundred livres saved with great effort that the rewards might not be diminished nor the dear scholars suffer through her own distress. Again she placed in the house of Mademoiselle O’Kennedy four daughters of disabled soldiers, orphans, for whom she said, “I made the endowment.”

The Queen adopted three poor children to be raised with her own, as well overseeing the upbringing of several needy children, whose education she paid for, while caring for their families. She established a home for unwed mothers, the “Maternity Society,” mentioned above. She brought several peasant families to live on her farm at Trianon, building cottages for them. There was food for the hungry distributed every day at Versailles, at the King’s command. During the famine of 1787-88, the royal family sold much of their flatware to buy grain for the people, and themselves ate the cheap barley bread in order to be able to give more to the hungry.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in the Garden of the Tuileries with Madame Lambale. Painting by Joseph Caraud

Madame de la Tour du Pin, a lady-in-waiting of Marie-Antoinette, recorded in her spirited Memoirs the daily activities at Versailles, including the rumors and the gossip. Her pen does not spare Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, which is why I find the following account to be of interest. Every Sunday, Marie-Antoinette would personally take up a collection for the poor, which the courtiers resented since they preferred to have the money on hand for gambling. The queen supported several impoverished families from her own purse. As Madame de la Tour du Pin describes:

We had to be there before seven, for the Queen entered before the chiming of the clock. Beside her door would be one of the two Curés of Versailles. He would hand her a purse and she would go around to everyone, taking up a collection and saying: “For the poor, if you please.” Each lady had her ‘écu’ of six francs ready in her hand and the men had their ‘louis.’ The Curé would follow the Queen as she collected this small tax for her poor people, a levy which often totaled as much as much as one hundred ‘louis’ and never less than fifty. I often heard some of the younger people, including the most spendthrift, complaining inordinately of this almsgiving being forced upon them, yet they would not have thought twice of hazarding a sum one hundred times as large in a game of chance, a sum much larger than that levied by the Queen. (Memoirs of Madame de la Tour du Pin: Laughing and Dancing Our Way to the Precipice, p. 74)

Taken from teaattrianon.blogspot.com

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette contributed a great deal throughout their reign to the care of orphans and foundlings. They patronized foundling hospitals, which the Queen often visited with her children. Above is a picture of an occasion in February, 1790, after their removal to Paris, when the king, the queen and their children toured such a facility, where the nuns cared for abandoned babies and little children. As is reported by Maxime de la Rocheterie, the young Dauphin, soon to be an orphan himself, was particularly drawn to the foundlings and gave all of his small savings to aid them.
The king and queen did not see helping the poor as anything extraordinary, but as a basic Christian duty. The royal couple’s almsgiving stopped only with their incarceration in the Temple in August 1792, for then they had nothing left to give but their lives.

(Sources: Memoirs of Madame de la Tour du Pin, Marguerite Jallut’s and Philippe Huisman’s Marie-Antoinette, Vincent Cronin’s Louis and Antoinette, Antonia Fraser’s The Journey, Madame Campan’s Memoirs, Mémoires de madame la Duchesse de Tourzel, Maxime de la Rocheterie’s The Life of Marie-Antoinette)

Taken from Tea at Trianon

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 748

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February 17 – Last Martyr under Elizabeth I

February 17, 2025

Ven. William Richardson

This is an illustration, said to be from about 1680, of the permanent gallows at Tyburn, which once stood where Marble Arch now stands. There was a three-mile cart ride in public from Newgate prison to the gallows, with large spectator stands lined along the way, so many people could see the hangings (for a fee). Huge crowds collected on the way and followed the accused to Tyburn.

(Alias Anderson.) Last martyr under Queen Elizabeth; b. according to Challoner at Vales in Yorkshire (i.e. presumably Wales, near Sheffield), but, according to the Valladolid diary, a Lancashire man; executed at Tyburn, 17 Feb., 1603. He arrived at Reims 16 July, 1592 and on 21 Aug. following was sent to Valladolid, where he arrived 23 Dec. Thence, 1 Oct., 1594, he was sent to Seville where he was ordained. According to one account he was arrested at Clement’s Inn on 12 Feb., but another says he had been kept a close prisoner in Newgate for a week before he was condemned at the Old Bailey on the 15 Feb., under stat. 27 Eliz., c. 2, for being a priest and coming into the realm. He was betrayed by one of his trusted friends to the Lord Chief Justice, who expedited his trial and execution with unseemly haste, and seems to have acted more as a public prosecutor than as a judge. At his execution he showed great courage and constancy, dying most cheerfully, to the edification of all beholders. One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen.

John B. Wainewright (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 17 – He burned the pagan temple

February 17, 2025

St. Theodore of Amasea

Surnamed Tyro (Tiro), not because he was a young recruit, but because for a time he belonged to the Cohors Tyronum (Nilles, Kal. man., I, 105), called of Amasea from the place where he suffered martyrdom, and Euchaita from the place, Euchais, to which his body had been carried, and where he was held in such veneration that the city was frequently spoken of as Theodoropolis. His martyrdom seems to have taken place 17 Feb., 306, under the Emperors Galerius Maximian and Maximin, for on this day the Menologies give his feast. The Greeks and Armenians honour him also on the first Saturday of Lent, while the Roman Martyrology records him on 9 Nov. In the twelfth century his body was transferred to Brindisi, and he is there honoured as patron; his head is enshrined at Gaeta. There are churches bearing his name at Constantinople, Jerusalem, Damascus, and other places of the East. An ancient church of Venice, of which he is titular, is said to have been built by Narses. At the foot of the Palatine in Rome is a very old church, circular in shape and dedicated to S. Teodoro, whom the Roman people call S. Toto, which was made a collegiate church by Felix IV. The people showed their confidence in the saint by bringing their sick children to his temple. His martyrdom is represented in the choir of the cathedral of Chartres by thirty-eight glass paintings of the thirteenth century (Migne, “Dict. iconogr.”, 599). He is invoked against storms. Emblems: temple, torch, crocodile, pyre, crown of thorns.

Saint Theodore of Amasea

St. Gregory of Nyssa delivered a panegyric on his feast and gave several data concerning his life and martyrdom (P.G., XLVI, 741, and Ruinart, 505). The oldest text of the “Martyrium S. Theodori Tironis” was published by Delehaye in “Les legendes grecques des saints militaires”, p. 227, but it is considered largely interpolated (Anal. Boll., XXX, 323). St. Theodore is said to have been born in the East (Syria or Armenia are mentioned by some writers). He enlisted in the army and was sent with his cohort to winter quarters in Pontus. When the edict against the Christians was issued by the emperors, he was brought before the Court at Amasea and asked to offer sacrifice to the gods. Theodore, however, denied their existence and made a noble profession of his belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The judges, pretending pity for his youth, gave him time for reflection. This he employed in burning the Temple of Cybele. He was again taken prisoner, and after many cruel torments was burned at the stake.

BUTLER, Lives of the Saints; Dict. of Christ. Biog.; STADLER, Heiligenlexikon; ARMELLINI, Le chiese di Roma (Rome, 1887); Allard, Hist. des persecut., V (Paris, 1908), 44; CHEVALIER, Bio-Bibl., II, 4410.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 17 – He suffered a three-fold death agony

February 17, 2025

Blessed Francis Regis Clet

A Lazarist missionary in China; b. 1748, martyred, 18 Feb., 1820. His father was a merchant of Grenoble in France, his mother’s name was Claudine Bourquy. He was the tenth of fifteen children. The family was deeply religious, several members of it having consecrated themselves to God. Francis attended the Jesuit college at Grenoble and afterwards entered the diocesan seminary which was in charge of the Oratorians. His extant letters in French and Latin show a cultivated mind. On 6 Mar., 1769, he entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Mission or Lazarists, at Lyons. There he made his vows in 1771 and was ordained priest in 1773. The same year he went as professor of moral theology to the diocesian seminary at Annecy. His zeal and learning produced excellent fruits. In the sixteenth year of his stay at Annecy he was sent to Paris for the election of a superior general of the congregation. He did not return, for the new superior general appointed him director of the internal seminary, at the motherhouse in Paris. Scarcely a year had elapsed when the sacking of St. Lazare, on the eve of the taking of the Bastille, scattered his flock. Many of the young men returned to the dismantled house the next day and gathered around their director, but the fury of the revolution prevented their remaining.

It was at this period that his ambition to become missionary was manifested. His superior yielded to his desires, and he was sent to China in 1791. The first post assigned him was in Kiang-Si, one of the most destitute Christian settlements in China. He had great difficulty in acquiring the language, which he never fully mastered. The next year he was sent to Hou-Kouang where he laboured for 27 years. Death soon deprived him of his two brother-priests and for several years he ministered alone to a vast district. In spite of difficulties, he succeeded in keeping up the fervour of the Christians and bringing many pagans to fold. In July, 1812, his church and schoolhouse were destroyed, but he escaped. In 1818 the persecution broke out again with renewed fury.

After several remarkable escapes from the searching parties, he was betrayed by a Chinese Christian, for the 1500 dollars set on his head, and was taken, 16 June, 1819. He had to undergo the greatest cruelty for five weeks, but not a word of complaint escaped him. Being transferred to another prison, he was treated more humanely and found there Father Chen, a Chinese Lazarist, from whom he could receive the sacraments. On 1 Jan., 1820, however, sentence of death was passed on him. The execution took place, 18 Feb., 1820. He was tied to a stake erected like a cross, and was strangled to death, the rope having been relaxed twice to give him a three-fold death agony. He was beautified by Pope Leo XIII, 27 May, 1900, and his feast day is on the 17 February. His remains rest in the chapel of the mother house of the Lazarists, in Paris. His holy life and death were the inspiration of Blessed John Gabriel Perboyre, also a Lazarist, who was martyred in China in 1840.

Lives by VAURIS (Paris, 1853); DEMINUID (2 vols., Paris, 1893); RONGEST (Paris, 1900); DE MONGESTY (Paris, 1906).

B. Randolph (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 18 – Confronted the Emperor and annulled the Robber Council of Ephesus

February 17, 2025

St. Flavian

Bishop of Constantinople, date of birth unknown; died at Hypaepa in Lydia, August, 449. Nothing is known of him before his elevation to the episcopate save that he was a presbyter and skeuophylax or sacristan, of the Church of Constantinople, and noted for the holiness of his life. His succession to St. Proclus as bishop was in opposition to the wishes of the eunuch Chrysaphius minister of Emperor Theodosius, who sought to bring him into imperial disfavour. He persuaded the emperor to require of the new bishop certain eulogiae on the occasion of his appointment, but scornfully rejected the proffered blessed bread on the plea that the emperor desired gifts of gold. Flavian’s intrepid refusal, on the ground of the impropriety of thus disposing of church the treasures, aroused considerable enmity against him.

Pulcheria, the emperor’s sister, being Flavian’s staunch advocate Chrysaphius secured the support of the Empress Eudocia. Although their first efforts to involve St. Flavian in disgrace miscarried, an opportunity soon presented itself. At a council of bishops convened at Constantinople by Flavian, 8 Nov., 448, to settle a dispute which had arisen among his clergy, the the archimandrite Eutyches, who was a relation of Chrysaphius was accused of heresy by Eusebius of Dorylaeum. Flavian exercised clemency and urged moderation, but in the end the refusal of Eutyches to make an orthodox declaration on the two natures of Christ forced Flavian to pronounce the sentence of degradation and excommunication. He forwarded a full report of the council to Pope Leo I, who in turn gave his approval to Flavian’s decision (21 May, 449) and the following month (13 June) sent him his famous “Dogmatic Letter”. Eutyches’ complaint that justice had been violated in the council and that the Acts had been tampered with resulted in an imperial order for the revision of Acts, executed (8 and 27 April, 449). No materior could be established, and Flavian was justified.

St. Flavian of Constantinople

The long-standing rivalry between Alexandria and Constantinoble now became a strong factor in the dissensions. It had been none the less keen since the See of Constantinoble had been officially declared next in dignity to Rome, and Dioscurus, Bishop of Alexandria, was quite ready to join forces with Eutyches against Flavian. Even before the revision of the Acts of Flavian’s council, Chrysaphius had persuaded the emperor of the necessity for an oecumenical council to adjust matters, and the decree went forth that one should convene at Ephesus under the presidency of Dioscurus, who also controlled the attendance of bishops, Flavian and six bishops who had assisted at the previous synod were allowed no voice, being, as it were, on trial. (For a full account of the proceedings see EPHESUS, ROBBER COUNCIL OF). Eutyches was absolved of heresy, and despite the protest of the papal legate Hilary (later pope), who by his Contradicitur annulled the decisions of the council, Flavian was condemned and deposed. In the violent scenes which ensued he was so ill-used that three days later he died in his place of exile. Anatolius, a partisan of Dioscurus, was appointed to succeed him.

Pope Leo I

St. Flavian was repeatedly vindicated by Pope Leo, whose epistle of commendation failed to reach him before his death. The pope also wrote in his favour to Theodosius, Pulcheria, and the clergy of Constantinople, besides convening a council at Rome, wherein he designated the Council of Ephesus Ephecinum non judicium sed latrocinium. At the council of Chalcedon (451) the Acts of the Robber Council were annulled and Flavian eulogized as a martyr for the Faith. Pope Hilary had Flavian’s death represented pictorially in a Roman church erected by him. On Pulcheria’s accession to power, after the death of Theodosius, she brought the remains of her friend to Constantinople where they were received in triumph and interred with those of his predecessors in the see. In the Greek Menology and the Roman Martyrology his feast is entered 18 February, the anniversary of the translation of his body. Relics of St. Flavian are honoured in Italy.

St. Flavian’s appeal to Pope Leo against the Robber Council has been published by Amelli in his work “S. Leone Magno e l’Oriente” (Monte Cassino, 1890), also by Lacey (Cambridge, 1903). Two other (Greek and Latin) letters to Leo are preserved in Migne, P.L. (LIV, 723-32, 743-51), and one to Emperor Theodosius also in Migne, P.G. (LXV, 889-92).

F.M. RUDGE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 18 – Fra Angelico brought part of heaven to earth

February 17, 2025

Blessed Fra Angelico

Posthumous portrait of Bl. Fra Angelico by Luca Signorelli

A famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of Mugello, Tuscany, 1387; died at Rome, 1455. He was christened Guido, and his father’s name being Pietro he was known as Guido, or Guidolino, di Pietro, but his full appellation today is that of “Blessed Fra Angelico Giovanni da Fiesole”. He and his supposed younger brother, Fra Benedetto da Fiesole, or da Mugello, joined the order of Preachers in 1407, entering the Dominican convent at Fiesole. Giovanni was twenty years old at the time the brothers began their art careers as illustrators of manuscripts, and Fra Benedetto, who had considerable talent as an illuminator and miniaturist, is supposed to have assisted his more celebrated brother in his famous frescoes in the convent of San Marco in Florence. Fra Benedetto was superior at San Dominico at Fiesole for some years before his death in 1448. Fra Angelico, who during a residence at Foligno had come under the influence of Giotto whose work at Assisi was within easy reach, soon graduated from the illumination of missals and choir books into a remarkably naive and inspiring maker of religious paintings, who glorified the quaint naturalness of his types with a peculiarly pious mysticism. He was convinced that to picture Christ perfectly one must need be Christlike, and Vasari says that he prefaced his paintings by prayer. His technical equipment was somewhat slender, as was natural for an artist with his beginnings, his work being rather thin dry and hard. His spirit, however, glorified his paintings. His noble holy figures, his beautiful angels, human but in form, robed with the hues of the sunrise and sunset, and his supremely earnest saints and martyrs are permeated with the sincerest of religious feeling. His early training in miniature and illumination had its influence in his more important works, with their robes of golden embroidery, their decorative arrangements and details, and pure, brilliant colours. As for the early studies in art of Fra Angelico, nothing is known. His painting shows the influence of the Siennese school, and it is thought he may have studied under Gherardo, Starnina, or Lorenzo Monaco.

On account of the struggle for the pontifical throne between Gregory XII, Benedict XIII, and Alexander V, Fra Giovanni and his brother, being adherents of the first named, had in 1409 to leave Fiesole, taking refuge in the convent of their order established at Foligno in Umbria. The pest devastating that place in 1414, the brothers went to Cortona, where they spent four years and then returned to Fiesole. There Fra Angelico remained for sixteen years. He was then invited to Florence to decorate the new Convent of San Marco which had just been allotted to his order, and of which Cosmo de’ Medici was a munificent patron.

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February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 17, 2025

St. Conrad of Piacenza

Hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, date of birth uncertain; died at Noto in Sicily, 19 February, 1351. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged in his usual pastime of hunting, he ordered his attendants to fire some brushwood in which game had taken refuge. The prevailing wind caused the flames to spread rapidly, and the surrounding fields and forest were soon in a state of conflagration. A mendicant, who happened to be found near the place where the fire had originated, was accused of being the author. He was imprisoned, tried, and condemned to death.

As the poor man was being led to execution, Conrad, stricken with remorse, made open confession of his guilt; and in order to repair the damage of which he had been the cause, was obliged to sell all his possessions. Thus reduced to poverty, Conrad retired to a lonely hermitage some distance from Piacenza, while his wife entered the Order of Poor Clares. Later he went to Rome, and thence to Sicily, where for thirty years he lived a most austere and penitential life and worked numerous miracles. He is especially invoked for the cure of hernia. In 1515 Leo X permitted the town of Noto to celebrate his feast, which permission was later extended by Urban VIII to the whole Order of St. Francis. Though bearing the title of saint, Conrad was never formally canonized. His feast is kept in the Franciscan Order on 19 February.

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Romanée-Conti: symbol of tradition and nobility

February 17, 2025

We should not be surprised that a single bottle of Romanée-Conti sometimes sells for $10,000 and more, for the Domaine Romanée-Conti (aka DRC) is one of the oldest and finest vineyards of Burgundy, France, and its wines, a veritable symbol of tradition and nobility.

Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti

In 1087—eight years before Blessed Urban II would call the nobility and chivalry of Europe to arms in the First Crusade—the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Vivant de Curtil-Vergy was officially restructured as a dependant priory of the famous Abbey of Cluny, some 60 miles away.

In 1131, the acreage that would later become the famous Domaine, was deeded to the Priory by Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy. However, it was only in 1241—during the reign of Saint Louis IX, King of France—that the monks turned the acreage into vineyards. They cultivated these vineyards for almost 350 years, selling them at last to Claude Cousin, on February 19, 1584. With the passing years, the renown of the Domain’s wines increased and the vineyard changed hands several times, being purchased on July 18, 1760 by His Most Serene Highness, Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, head of the cadet branch of the French royal family.

Romanée-Conti wine

From the days of the Prince on, the Domain’s Grand Cru wines were known as Romanée-Conti.
In 1776, Louis François Joseph, the last Prince of Conti, inherited the vineyards at the death of his father, but they were confiscated during the French Revolution, and the republican government auctioned them off to the highest bidder, Nicolas Defer de la Nouerre, in 1794.

Romanée-Conti vineyard

In the mid-nineteenth century, like many European vineyards, the Domaine Romanée-Conti was affected by the phylloxera epidemic, but it was one of the last vineyards of Burgundy to replace the old blighted vines with new ones originating from grafts on to the blight-resistant American rootstocks. This reconstitution task was only completed after World War II, in 1947.
Brie and Portobello Mushroom Recipe: https://nobility.org/2012/01/19/brie-recipes/

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February 13 – John Fowler

February 13, 2025

John Fowler

Scholar and printer, b. at Bristol, England, 1537; d. at Namur, Flanders, 13 Feb., 1578-9. He studied at Winchester School from 1551 to 1553, when he proceeded to New College, Oxford where he remained till 1559. He became B.A. 23 Feb., 1556-7 and M.A. in 1560, though Antony a Wood adds that he did not complete his degree by standing in comitia. On Elizabeth’s accession he was one of the fifteen Fellows of New College who left of their own accord or were ejected rather than take the Oath of Supremacy (Rashdall, History of New College, 114). This disposes of the calumny circulated by Acworth in his answer to Sander, called “De visibili Romanarchia”, to the effect that Fowler took the oath to enable him to retain the living of Wonston in Hampshire. There is, indeed, no trace of any desire on his part to receive Holy orders and he subsequently married Alice Harris, daughter of Sir Thomas More’s secretary. On leaving Oxford he withdrew to Louvain, where like other scholars of his time he turned his attention to the craft of printing. His intellectual attainments were such as to enable him to take high rank among the scholar-printers of that age. Thus Antony a Wood says of him: “He was well skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues, a tolerable poet and orator, and a theologian not to be contemned. So learned he was also in criticisms and other polite learning, that he might have passed for another Robert or Henry Stephens. He did diligently peruse the Theological Summa of St. Thomas of Aquin, and with a most excellent method did reduce them into a Compendium.” To have a printing press abroad in the hands of a competent English printer was a great gain to the Catholic cause, and Fowler devoted the rest of his life to this work, winning from Cardinal Allen the praise of being catholicissimus et doctissimus librorum impressor.

The English Government kept an eye on his work, as we learn from the state papers (Domestic, Eliz. 1566-1579), where we read the evidence of one Henry Simpson at York in 1571, to the effect that Fowler printed all the English books at Louvain and that Dr. Harding’s Welsh servant, William Smith, used to bring the works to the press. He seems to have had a press at Antwerp as well as at Louvain, for his Antwerp books range from 1565 to 1575, whereas his Louvain books are dated 1566, 1567 and 1568; while one of his publications, Gregory Martin’s “Treatise of Schism” bears the impress, Douay, 1578. More thorough bibliographical research than has yet been made into the output of his presses will probably throw new light upon his activity as a printer. The original works or translations for which he was personally responsible are: “An Oration against the unlawful Insurrections of the Protestants of our time under pretence to reforme Religion” (Antwerp, 1566), translated from the Latin of Peter Frarinus, which provoked a reply from Fulke; “Ex universâ summâ Sacrae Theologiae Doctori os S. Thomae Aquinatis desumptae conclusiones” (Louvain, 1570); “M. Maruli dictorum factorumque memorabilium libri VI” (Antwerp, 1577); “Additiones in Chronica Genebrandi” (1578); “A Psalter for Catholics”, a controversial work answered by Sampson; epigrams and verses. The translation of the “Epistle of Orosius” (Antwerp, 1565), ascribed to him by Wood and Pitts, was really made by Richard Shacklock. Pitts also states that he wrote in English a work “Ad Ducissam Feriae confessionis forma”, Fowler also edited Sir Thomas More’s “Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation” (Antwerp, 1573).

Edwin Burton (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 13 – Soldier of Christ

February 13, 2025

Alphonsus Salmeron

Jesuit Biblical scholar, born at Toledo, 8 Sept., 1515; died at Naples, 13 Feb., 1585. He studied literature and philosophy at Alcala, and thereafter went to Paris for philosophy and theology. Here, through James Lainez, he met St. Ignatius of Loyola; together with Lainez, Faber, and St. Francis Xavier he enlisted as one of the first companions of Loyola (1536). The small company left Paris, 15 Nov., 1536, and reached Venice, 8 Jan., 1537, and during Lent of that year went to Rome. He delivered a discourse before the Holy Father and was, in return, granted leave to receive Holy orders so soon as he should have reached the canonical age. About 8 Sept., all the first companions met at Vincenza, and all, save St. Ignatius, said their first Mass. The plan of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land was abandoned. Salmeron devoted his ministry in Sienna to the poor and to children. On 22 April, 1541, he pronounced his solemn vows in St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls, as a professed member of the newly-established Society of Jesus. The autumn of that year, Paul III sent Salmeron and Broët as Apostolic nuncios to Ireland. They landed, by way of Scotland, 23 Feb., 1542. Thirty-four days later they set sail for Dieppe and went on to Paris. For two years Salmeron preached in Rome; his exposition of the Epistle to the Ephesians thrice a week in the church of the Society effected much good (1545). After preaching the Lent at Bologna, he went with Lainez to the Council of Trent (18 May, 1546) as theologian to Paul III. The Dogma of Justification was under discussion. The two Jesuits at once won the hearts and respect of all; their discourses had to be printed and distributed to the bishops. Both set out for Bologna (14 March, 1547) with the Council. After serious sickness at Padua, Salmeron once again took up his council work. The next two years were in great part spent in preaching at Bologna, Venice, Padua, and Verona. On 4 Oct., 1549, Salmeron and his companions, Le Jay and Canisius, took their doctorate in the University of Bologna, so that they might, at the urgent invitation of William IV of Bavaria, accept chairs in Ingolstadt. Salmeron undertook to interpret the Epistle to the Romans. He held the attention of all by his learning and grace of exposition. Upon the death of Duke William, and at the instigation of the Bishop of Verona, much to the chagrin of the faculty of the Academy of Ingolstadt, Salmeron was returned to Verona (24 Sept., 1550). That year he explained the Gospel of St. Matthew. Next year (1551) he was summoned to Rome to help St. Ignatius in working up the Constitutions of the Society. Other work was in store. He was soon (Feb., 1551) sent down to Naples to inaugurate the Society’s first college there, but after a few months was summoned by Ignatius to go back to the Council of Trent as theologian to Julius III. It was during the discussions preliminary to these sessions that Lainez and Salmeron, as papal theologians, gave their vota first. When the Council once again suspended its sessions, Salmeron returned to Naples (Oct., 1552). Paul IV sent him to the Augsburg Diet (May, 1555) with the nuncio, Lippomanus, and thence into Poland; and later (April, 1556) to Belgium. Another journey to Belgium was undertaken in the capacity of adviser to Cardinal Caraffa (2 Dec., 1557). Lainez appointed Salmeron first Provincial of Naples (1558), and vicar-general (1561) during the former’s apostolic legation to France. The Council of Trent was again resumed (May, 1562) and a third pontiff, Pius IV, chose Salmeron and Lainez for papal theologians. The rôle was very delicate; the Divine origin of the rights and duties of bishops was to be discussed. During the years 1564-82, Salmeron was engaged chiefly in preaching and writing; he preached every day during eighteen Lenten seasons; his preaching was fervent, learned, and fruitful. His writings during this long period were voluminous; Bellarmine spent five months in Naples reviewing them. Each day he pointed out to Salmeron the portions that were not up to the mark, and the next day the latter brought back those parts corrected.

University of Alcalá de Henares.

The chief writings of Salmeron are his sixteen volumes of Scriptural commentaries–eleven on the Gospels, one on the Acts, and four on the Pauline Epistles. Southwell says that these sixteen volumes were printed by Sanchez, Madrid, from 1597 till 1602; in Brescia, 1601; in Cologne, from 1602-04, Sommervogel (Bibliothèque de la C. de J., VII, 479) has traced only twelve tomes of the Madrid edition–the eleven of the Gospels and one of the Pauline commentaries. The Gospel volumes are entitled, “Alfonsi Salmeronis Toletani, e Societate Jusu Theologi, Commentarii in Evangelicam Historiam et in Acta Apostolorum, in duodecim tomos distributi” (Madrid, 1598-1601). The first Cologne edition, together with the second (1612-15), are found complete. These voluminous commentaries are the popular and university expositions which Salmeron had delivered during his preaching and teaching days. In old age, he gathered his notes together, revised them, and left his volumes ready for posthumous publication by Bartholomew Pérez de Nueros. Grisar (Jacobi Lainez Disputationes Tridentinae, I, 53) thinks that the commentary on Acts is the work of Perez; Braunsberger (Canisii epist., III, 448) and the editors of “Monumenta Historica S.J.” (Epistolae Salmeron, I, xxx) disagree with Grisar. The critical acumen of Salmeron, his judicious study of the Fathers and his knowledge of Holy Writ make his Scriptural exegesis still worth the attention of students. He was noted for his devotion to the Church, fortitude, prudence, and magnanimity. The Acts of the Council of Trent show that he wielded tremendous influence there by his vota on justification, Holy Eucharist, penance, purgatory, indulgences, the Sacrifice of the Mass, matrimony and the origin of episcopal jurisdiction–all most important questions because of the gradual infiltration of some heretical ideas into a small minority of the hierarchy of that time.
WALTER DRUM (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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The Catholic Church Accepts Any Form of Government that Does Not Oppose Divine and Human Rights

February 13, 2025

In an allocution to the extraordinary Secret Consistory of February 14, 1949, Pius XII affirms:

“[The Catholic Church] admits any and every form of civil government provided it be not inconsistent with divine and human rights. But when it does contradict these rights, bishops and the faithful themselves are bound by their own conscience to resist unjust laws.”

The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII: A Theme Illuminating American Social History (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993), Appendix IV, p. 395.

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February 14 – From humble birth to the most exalted throne

February 13, 2025

Pope Honorius II

(Lamberto Scannabecchi)

Born of humble parents at Fagnano near Imola at an unknown date; died at Rome, 14 February, 1130. For a time he was Archdeacon of Bologna. On account of his great learning he was called to Rome by Paschal II, became canon at the Lateran, then Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede, and, in 1117, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. He was one of the cardinals who accompanied Gelasius II into exile. In 1119 Calistus II sent him as legate to Henry V, German Emperor, with powers to come to an understanding concerning the right of investiture. In October of the same year he was present at the Synod of Reims where the emperor was solemnly excommunicated by Callistus II. A great part of the following three years he spent in Germany, endeavouring to bring about a reconciliation between the pope and the emperor. It was chiefly through his efforts that the Concordat of Worms, the so-called “Pactum Calixtinum” was effected on 23 September, 1123. In this concordat the emperor renounced all claims to investiture with staff and ring, and promised liberty of ecclesiastical elections. When the concordat was signed by the emperor, the cardinal sang a solemn high Mass under the open sky near Worms. After the Agnus Dei he kissed the emperor, who then received Holy Communion from the hands of the cardinal and was in this manner restored to communion with the Church. Callistus II died on 13 December, 1124, and two days later the Cardinal of Ostia was elected pope, taking the name of Honorius II.

Painting of the Official recognition by Pope Honorius II of the Templars at the Council of Troyes in 1128. Painting by François Marius Granet

Party spirit between the Frangipani and the Leoni was at its highest during the election and there was great danger of a schism. The cardinals had already elected Cardinal Teobaldo Boccadipecora who had taken the name of Celestine II. He was clothed in the scarlet mantle of the pope, while the Te Deum was chanted in thanksgiving, when the proud and powerful Roberto Frangipani suddenly appeared on the scene, expressed his dissatisfaction with the election of Teobaldo and proclaimed the Cardinal of Ostia as pope. The intimidated cardinals reluctantly yielded to his demand.

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February 14 – Renounced Earthly Nobility To Obtain Heavenly Nobility

February 13, 2025

Sts. Cyril and Methodius

These brothers, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Though belonging to a senatorial family they renounced secular honors and became priests. They were living in a monastery on the Bosphorus, when the Khazars sent to Constantinople for a Christian teacher. Cyril was selected and was accompanied by his brother. They learned the Khazar language and converted many of the people. Soon after the Khazar mission there was a request from the Moravians for a preacher of the Gospel. German missionaries had already labored among them, but without success. The Moravians wished a teacher who could instruct them and conduct Divine service in the Slavonic tongue. On account of their acquaintance with the language, Cyril and Methodius were chosen for their work. In preparation for it Cyril invented an alphabet and, with the help of Methodius, translated the Gospels and the necessary liturgical books into Slavonic. They went to Moravia in 863, and labored for four and a half years. Despite their success, they were regarded by the Germans with distrust, first because they had come from Constantinople where schism was rife, and again because they held the Church services in the Slavonic language. On this account the brothers were summoned to Rome by Nicholas I, who died, however, before their arrival. His successor, Adrian II, received them kindly. Convinced of their orthodoxy, he commended their missionary activity, sanctioned the Slavonic Liturgy, and ordained Cyril and Methodius bishops. Cyril, however, was not to return to Moravia. He died in Rome, 4 Feb., 869.

St. Methodius baptizing King Borivoj I of Bohemia & his wife St. Ludmila

At the request of the Moravian princes, Rastislav and Svatopluk, and the Slav Prince Kocel of Pannonia, Adrian II formed an Archdiocese of Moravia and Pannonia, made it independent of the German Church, and appointed Methodius archbishop. In 870 King Louis and the German bishops summoned Methodius to a synod at Ratisbon. Here he was deposed and condemned to prison. After three years he was liberated at the command of Pope John VIII and reinstated as Archbishop of Moravia. He zealously endeavored to spread the Faith among the Bohemians, and also among the Poles in Northern Moravia. Soon, however, he was summoned to Rome again in consequence of the allegations of the German priest Wiching, who impugned his orthodoxy, and objected to the use of Slavonic in the liturgy. But John VIII, after an inquiry, sanctioned the Slavonic Liturgy, decreeing, however, that in the Mass the Gospel should be read first in Latin and then in Slavonic.

Wiching, in the meantime, had been nominated one of the suffragan bishops of Methodius. He continued to oppose his metropolitan, going so far as to produce spurious papal letters. The pope, however, assured Methodius that they were false. Methodius went to Constantinople about this time, and with the assistance of several priests, he completed the translation of the Holy Scriptures, with the exception of the Books of Machabees. He translated also the “Nomocanon”, i.e. the Greek ecclesiastic-civil law. The enemies of Methodius did not cease to antagonize him. His health was worn out from the long struggle, and he died 6 April, 885, recommending as his successor Gorazd, a Moravian Slav who had been his disciple.

cfr. L. ABRAHAM (1913 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 15 – Sts. Faustinus and Jovita

February 13, 2025

Sts. Faustinus and Jovita Martyrs, members of a noble family of Brescia; the elder brother, Faustinus, being a priest, the younger, a deacon. For their fearless preaching of the Gospel, they were arraigned before the Emperor Hadrian, who, first at Brescia, later at Rome and Naples, subjected them to frightful torments, after which they were […]

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February 15 – Ferdinand II, Emperor

February 13, 2025

Ferdinand II Emperor, eldest son of Archduke Karl and the Bavarian Princess Maria, b. 1578; d. 15 February, 1637. In accordance with Ferdinand I’s disposition of his possessions, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola fell to his son Karl. As Karl died in 1590, when his eldest son was only twelve years old, the government of these […]

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RCR – Part II, Chapter IX – Chapter XII – End of Part II

February 10, 2025

CHAPTER IX The Driving Force of the Counter-Revolution There is a driving force of the Counter-Revolution, just as there is one of the Revolution. 1. Virtue and Counter-Revolution We have singled out the dynamism of the human passions unleashed in a metaphysical hatred against God, virtue, good, and especially against hierarchy and purity, as the […]

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February 10 – He fought socialism in both its Nazi and Soviet form, and paid for it with his life

February 10, 2025

BL. ALOJZIJE STEPINAC was born into a large Catholic family on 8 May 1898 in Krasic. After graduation from high school in 1916, he completed military service during World War I. In 1924 he decided to study for the priesthood and was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Germanicum-Hungaricum College. He earned doctorates […]

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February 10 – God Gave Her What Her Brother Would Not

February 10, 2025

St. Scholastica, Virgin (c. 480 – 10 February 547) This saint was sister to the great St. Benedict. She consecrated herself to God from her earliest youth, as St. Gregory testifies. Where her first monastery was situated is not mentioned; but after her brother removed to Mount Cassino, she choose her retreat at Plombariola, in […]

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February 11 – Elected pope while on Crusade in Palestine

February 10, 2025

Blessed Pope Gregory X Born 1210; died 10 January, 1276. Pope Gregory X was declared Blessed on July 8, 1713 by Pope Clement XI. The death of Pope Clement IV (29 November, 1268) left the Holy See vacant for almost three years. The cardinals assembled at Viterbo were divided into two camps, the one French […]

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February 11 – St. Benedict of Aniane

February 10, 2025

St. Benedict of Aniane Born about 745-750; died at Cornelimünster, 11 February, 821. Benedict, originally known as Witiza, son of the Goth, Aigulf, Count of Maguelone in Southern France, was educated at the Frankish court of Pepin, and entered the royal service. He took part in the Italian campaign of Charlemagne (773), after which he […]

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The Universal Scope of the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility

February 10, 2025

Chapter 2 The Universal Scope of the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility The Situation of the Italian Nobility in the Pontificate of Pius XII 1. Why Focus Specifically on the Italian Nobility? In 1947 the constitution of the Italian Republic abolished all titles of nobility. (1) The last blow was […]

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Devotion to the Holy Rosary

February 10, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira February 12th 1964 As we all know, one great value of devotion to the Rosary is that it was revealed by Our Lady to Saint Dominic as a means for reviving the Faith in regions heavily devastated by the Albigensian heresy. Indeed, the general practice of the Rosary revived the […]

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Saint Eulalia of Barcelona – February 12

February 10, 2025

Saint Eulalia of Barcelona A Spanish martyr in the persecution of Diocletian (February 12, 304), patron of the cathedral and city of Barcelona, also of sailors. The Acts of her life and martyrdom were copied early in the twelfth century, and with elegant conciseness, by the learned ecclesiastic Renallus Grammaticus (Bol. acad. hist., Madrid, 1902, […]

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Tadeusz Kosciuszko – February 12

February 10, 2025

Tadeusz Kosciuszko Polish patriot and soldier, b. near Novogrudok, Lithuania, Poland, 12 February, 1752; d. at Solothurn, Switzerland, 15 October, 1817. He was educated at the military schools of Warsaw and Versailles, and attained the rank of captain in the Polish army. When the American Revolution broke out he embarked for the scene of conflict […]

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February 6 – Apostle of Flanders

February 6, 2025

St. Amandus One of the great apostles of Flanders; born near Nantes, in France, about the end of the sixth century. He was, apparently, of noble extraction. When a youth of twenty, he fled from his home and became a monk near Tours, resisting all the efforts of his family to withdraw him from his […]

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February 6 – “No priest, no Mass”

February 6, 2025

Edmund Plowden Born 1517-8; died in London, 6 Feb., 1584-5. Son of Humphrey Plowden of Plowden Hall, Shropshire, and Elizabeth his wife, educated at Cambridge, he took no degree. In 1538 he was called to the Middle Temple where he studied law so closely that he became the greatest lawyer of his age, as is […]

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February 7 – Liberal to Anti-liberal

February 6, 2025

Pope Blessed Pius IX (GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI-FERRETTI). Pope from 1846-78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878. BEFORE HIS PAPACY His early years. After receiving his classical education at the Piarist College in Volterra from 1802-09 he went to Rome to study philosophy and theology, but left there in 1810 […]

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Heroic Prince Ucondono Met the Persecution Head-On

February 6, 2025

Prince [Justus] Ucondono, a distinguished general, to whom Taicosama was indebted for his empire, was living for six years in exile, because he had refused to abjure his faith. He had been stripped of his dignities, deprived of his estates, his old father, his wife, and his large family sharing in the same privations; yet […]

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Do Public Awards and Punishments Dignify and Encourage, or Corrupt and Humiliate?

February 6, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira We were recently asked to comment on the fact that the custom of granting awards to the best students is being abolished in several schools. At the root of this new policy is the idea that the public bestowal of awards is doubly harmful: exciting vanity in the beneficiaries of […]

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February 8 – Saint John of Matha, a strong and mighty Angel

February 6, 2025

Saint John of Matha Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. He was born into Provencal nobility in 1154 at Faucon-de-Barcelonnette, France. As a youth, he was educated at Aix-en-Provence, and later studied theology at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he was urged by a vision during his first Mass to […]

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Mary Queen of Scots

February 6, 2025

Mary Queen of Scots Mary Stuart, born at Linlithgow, 8 December, 1542; died at Fotheringay, 8 February, 1587. She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland. His death (14 December) followed immediately after her birth, and she became queen when only six days old. The Tudors endeavored by war to force on […]

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February 9 – Johann Georg von Eckhart

February 6, 2025

Eckhart, Johann Georg von (called Eccard before he was ennobled), German historian, b. at Duingen in the principality of Kalenberg, September 7, 1664; d. at Würzburg, February 9, 1730. After a good preparatory training at Schulpforta he went to Leipzig, where at first, at the desire of his mother, he studied theology, but soon turned […]

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February 9 – Marianus Scotus

February 6, 2025

MARIANUS SCOTUS, Abbot of St. Peter’s at Ratisbon, born in Ireland before the middle of the eleventh century; died at Ratisbon towards the end of the eleventh century, probably in 1088. In 1067 he left his native country, intending to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Like many of his countrymen, however, who visited the Continent, […]

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February 9 – The bishop who converted the son of Penda

February 6, 2025

St. Finan Second Bishop of Lindisfarne; died 9 February, 661. He was an Irish monk who had been trained in Iona, and who was specially chosen by the Columban monks to succeed the great St. Aidan (635-51). St. Bede describes him as an able ruler, and tells of his labours in the conversion of Northumbria. […]

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Louis XVI Gives a Marriage Dowry to 100 Poor French Girls

February 6, 2025

On February 9th, 1779 (in the narrative of Louise de Grandpré, to whom the study of Notre Dame has been a veritable passion), a large crowd pressed towards the cathedral; the ground was strewed with fresh grass and flowers and leaves; the pillars were decorated with many coloured banners. In the choir the vestments of […]

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RCR – Part II, Chapter IV – Chapter VIII

February 3, 2025

CHAPTER IV What is a counter-revolutionary? What is a counter-revolutionary? One may answer the question in two ways: 1. In Actuality The actual counter-revolutionary is one who: — knows the Revolution, order, and the Counter-Revolution in their respective spirits, doctrines, and methods; — loves the Counter-Revolution and Christian order, and hates the Revolution and “anti-order”; […]

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What One Lie Can Do

February 3, 2025

In the days when the first Catholic missionaries went to Japan to preach the Gospel to the natives, certain merchants from Holland went to the Emperor and told him that the only aim that these missionaries had was to bring the Portuguese and the Spaniards into the country, that in time they might take possession […]

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February 3 – The Stuff of Which Saints Are Made

February 3, 2025

St. Anschar (Or Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar.) Called the Apostle of the North, was born to the French nobility in Picardy, 8 September, 801; died 5 February, 865. He became a Benedictine of Corbie, whence he passed into Westphalia. With Harold, the newly baptized King of Denmark who had been expelled from his kingdom […]

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February 3 – Half Fierce Pagan Princess, Half Gentle Christian Princess

February 3, 2025

St. Werburgh of Chester (WEREBURGA, WEREBURG, VERBOURG). Benedictine, patroness of Chester, Abbess of Weedon, Trentham, Hanbury, Minster in Sheppy, and Ely, born in Staffordshire early in the seventh century; died at Trentham, 3 February, 699 or 700. Her mother was St. Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and St. Sexburga, and her father, Wulfhere, […]

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February 4 – Portuguese noble and favorite of the king, he strove to convert the nobility of India – and paid for it with his life

February 3, 2025

St. John de Brito Martyr, born in Lisbon, 1 March, 1647, and was brought up at Court, martyred in India 11 February, 1693. Entering the Society of Jesus at fifteen, he obtained as his mission-field Madura in southern India. In September, 1673, he reached Goa. Before taking up his work he spent thirty days in […]

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February 4 – Probably the most learned man of his age

February 3, 2025

Blessed Maurus Magnentius Rabanus (Hrabanus, Rhabanus) Abbot of Fulda, Archbishop of Mainz, celebrated theological and pedagogical writer of the ninth century, born at Mainz about 776 (784?); died at Winkel (Vinicellum) near Mainz on 4 February, 856. He took vows at an early age in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda, and was ordained deacon in […]

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February 4 – Pope Gregory V

February 3, 2025

Pope Gregory V Born c. 970; died 4 February, 999. On the death of John XV the Romans sent a deputation to Otto III and asked him to name the one he would wish them to elect in the place of the deceased pontiff. He at once mentioned his chaplain and relation, Bruno, the son […]

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February 5 – St. Agatha

February 3, 2025

St. Agatha One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her legendary life, composed at a later date, […]

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February 5 – He put the Bible to verse and prose

February 3, 2025

St. Avitus (Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, though his death is place by some as late as 525 or 526. He was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman family closely related to the Emperor Avitus and other illustrious persons, and in which episcopal honors were hereditary. In […]

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January 30 – Cured in body and in soul

January 30, 2025

St. Hyacintha Mariscotti A religious of the Third Order of St. Francis and foundress of the Sacconi; born 1585 of a noble family at Vignanello, near Viterbo in Italy; died 30 January, 1640, at Viterbo; feast, 30 January; in Rome, 6 February (Diarium Romanum). Her parents were Marc’ Antonio Mariscotti (Marius Scotus) and Ottavia Orsini. […]

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January 30 – Dom Guéranger

January 30, 2025

Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger Benedictine and polygraph; b. 4 April, 1805, at Sablé-sur-Sarthe; d. at Solesmes, 30 January, 1875. Ordained a priest 7 October, 1827, he was administrator of the parish of the Missions Etrangères until near the close of 1830. He then left Paris and returned to Mans, where he began to publish various […]

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January 31 – The Glory of the Ladies

January 30, 2025

St. Marcella (325–410) She was a Christian ascetic in ancient Rome. Growing up in Rome, she was influenced by her pious mother, Albina, an educated woman of wealth and benevolence. Childhood memories centered around piety, and one in particular related to Athanasius, who lodged in her home during one of his many exiles. He may […]

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January 31 – St. John Bosco Meets His First Noble Patroness

January 30, 2025

Juliette Colbert, a native of Vendée, had married Marquis Tancredi Falletti of Barolo, and of her it could be said, even as we read of Tabitha in the Acts of the Apostles: “This woman had devoted herself to good works and acts of charity.” Indeed, she used her abundant wealth to help the working classes […]

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February 1 – Adventurer Historian

January 30, 2025

François-Xavier Charlevoix Historian, born at St-Quentin, France, 24 October, 1682, died at La Flèche, 1 February, 1761. He entered the Society of Jesus, 15 September, 1698, at the age of sixteen, studied philosophy at the Collège de Louis le Grand (1700-1704), and then went to Quebec, where he taught grammar from 1705 to 1709. During […]

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February 1 – “The sublime genius of the man”

January 30, 2025

Saint Ephraem (Ephrem, Ephraim) Born at Nisibis, then under Roman rule, early in the fourth century; died June, 373. The name of his father is unknown, but he was a pagan and a priest of the goddess Abnil or Abizal. His mother was a native of Amid. Ephraem was instructed in the Christian mysteries by […]

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February 2 – “Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird”

January 30, 2025

St. Théophane Vénard (JEAN-THÉOPHANE VÉNARD.) French missionary, born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; martyred in Tonkin, 2 February, 1861. He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 […]

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February 2 – He hastened to the king, exhibited his wounded body and related his vision

January 30, 2025

St. Lawrence Second Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 2 Feb., 619. For the particulars of his life and pontificate we rely exclusively on details added by medieval writers being unsupported by historical evidence, though they may possibly embody ancient traditions. According to St. Bede, he was one of the original missionaries who left Rome with St. […]

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RCR – Part I Chapter XII. End of Part I – Part II Chapter I – III

January 27, 2025

Chapter XII The pacifist and therefore antimilitarist character of the Revolution is easily grasped in light of the preceding chapter. 1. Science Will Bring an End to War, The Military, and Police In the technological paradise of the Revolution, peace has to be perpetual, for science has shown that war is evil, and technology can […]

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Andreas Hofer

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St. Polycarp’s martyrdom

PART III

Revolution and Counter-Revolution

TWENTY YEARS AFTER

CHAPTER I The Revolution: A Process in Continual Transformation

1. Revolution and Counter-Revolution and the TFPs: Twenty Years of Action and Combat

Ven. William Richardson

St. Theodore of Amasea

Blessed Francis Regis Clet

St. Flavian

St. Conrad of Piacenza

John Fowler

Alphonsus Salmeron

In an allocution to the extraordinary Secret Consistory of February 14, 1949, Pius XII affirms:

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CHAPTER I
The Revolution: A Process in Continual Transformation