St. Odo of Cluny

St. Odo of Cluny

Odo was born in 879 in Maine, and was the son of a pious and surprisingly learned layman, Abbo. Though vowed by his father to St. Martin in babyhood, he was given a military training and became a page at the court of Duke William. But the exercises of war and hunting were unendurable to him, and he was permitted to fulfill his father’s vow by becoming a canon of the church of St. Martin at Tours. In this office he was in the companionship of worldly ecclesiastics. He revolted from the careless life which for a time he had practiced with them, and studied Virgil, till, warned by a dream of serpents in a jar, he abandoned the poets for the Prophets and Apostles. With Bible study he now mingled an exaggerated asceticism, keeping himself in a narrow and unfurnished cell.

He also read the Benedictine Rule, and proposed to become a monk. But the life of the monks at Tours, like that of the canons, was shocking to the earnest young ascetic. Odo now spent a period at Paris in the study of logic and music, and then returned to Tours to teach and write. But he soon set forth in quest of a suitable monastic home and we find him, in 909, entering with a companion Berno’s monastery at Baume. Here he distinguished himself by his humility, and in recognition of his learning was appointed master of the cloister school. He bore with invincible patience the hostility of unfaithful monks, and gained the complete confidence of Berno. At Berno’s command he was ordained a priest. When Berno died, early in 927, the monks of Cluny unanimously chose the saintly teacher of Baume as their abbot; and the better element of the Baume community followed him to Cluny.

With ripened gifts Odo devoted himself to the upbuilding of the young institution. In his first year of office he secured from Rudolph, the ruler of Burgundy, a charter which reaffirmed the terms of Duke William’s donation, and strongly emphasized Cluny’s immunity from all secular and ecclesiastical interference. The monks were exempted from tolls in the markets, and numerous valuable manors were added to the monastic property.

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St. Philippine-Rose Duchesne

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Founder in America of the first houses of the society of the Sacred Heart, born at Grenoble, France, 29 August, 1769; died at St. Charles, Missouri, 18 November, 1852. She was the daughter of Pierr-Francois Duchesne, an eminent lawyer. Her mother was a Périer, ancestor of Casimir Périer, President of France in 1894. She was educated by the visitation Nuns, entered that order, saw its dispersion during the Reign of Terror, vainly attempted the re-establishment of the convent of Ste-Marie-d’en-Haunt, near Grenoble, and finally, in 1804, accepted the offer of Mother Barat to receive her community into the Society of the Sacred Heart. From early childhood the dream of Philippine had been the apostolate of souls: heathen in distant lands, the neglected and poor at home. Nature and grace combined to fit her for this high vocation; education, suffering, above all, the guidance of Mother Barat trained her to become the pioneer of her order in the New world.

The miraculous Image of Mater Admirabilis was painted in 1844 by Pauline Perdrau, who at that time was a Sacred Heart postulant. This Image is in Rome near the Spanish steps at Trinita dei Monti, the Monastery of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. A statue or painting of Mater Admirabilis can be found in every Sacred Heart school around the world.

The miraculous Image of Mater Admirabilis was painted in 1844 by Pauline Perdrau, who at that time was a Sacred Heart postulant. This Image is in Rome near the Spanish steps at Trinita dei Monti, the Monastery of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. A statue or painting of Mater Admirabilis can be found in every Sacred Heart school around the world.

In 1818 Mother Duchesne set out with four companions for the missions of America. Bishop Dubourg welcomed her to New Orleans, whence she sailed up the Mississippi to St. Louis, finally settling her little colony at St. Charles. “Poverty and Christian heroism are here”, she wrote, “and trials are the riches of priests in this land.” Cold, hunger, and illness; opposition, ingratitude, and calumny, all that came to try the courage of this missioner, served only to fire her lofty and indomitable spirit with new zeal for the spread of truth. Other foundations followed, at Florissant, Grand Côteau, New Orleans, St. Louis, St. Michael; and the approbation of the society in 1826 by Leo XII recognized the good being done in these parts. She yearned to teach the poor Indians, and old and broken as she was, she went to labour among the Pottowatomies at Sugar Creek, thus realizing the desire of her life. Stirred by the recitals of Father De Smet, S.J., she turned her eyes towards the Rocky Mountain missions; but Providence led her back to St. Charles, where she died.

Grave of Mother Duchesne, in the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne, St. Charles, Missouri.

Grave of Mother Duchesne, in the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne in St. Charles, Missouri. Initially buried in the convent cemetery, St. Rose’s remains were exhumed three years later and found to be incorrupt. When she was moved to the shrine in 1951, they were found to be reduced to bones and dust. The enscription on the base of the cross is “O BON IESVS CRVCIFIÉ POVR NOUS SAVUEZ NOUS” This cross once was in the Visitation school in Grenoble, France, that was attended by Saint Duschesne.

Thirty-four years of mission toil, disappointment, endurance, self-annihilation sufficed, indeed, to prove the worth of this valiant daughter of Mother Barat. She had opened the road, others might walk in it; and the success hidden from her eyes was well seen later by the many who rejoiced in the rapid spread of her order over North and South America. Sincere, intense, generous, austere yet affectionate, endowed with large capacity for suffering and work, Mother Duchesne’s was a stern character that needed and took the moulding of Mother Barat.

Catherine M. Lowth (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Raphael Kalinowski, O.C.D. (1835-1907)

[Also known as Father Raphael of St. Joseph, O.C.D]

St. Raphaël KalinowskiFather Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski, was born at Vilna, 1st September 1835, and at baptism received the name Joseph. Under the teaching of his father Andrew, at the Institute for Nobles at Vilna, he progressed so well that he received the maximum distinction in his studies. He then went for two years (1851-1852) to the school of Agriculture at Hory-Horky. During the years 1853-1857, he continued his studies at the Academy of Military Engineering at St Petersburg, obtaining his degree in Engineering, and the rank of Lieutenant. Immediately afterwards he was named Lecturer in Mathematics at the same Academy. In 1859, he took part in the designing of the Kursk-Kiev-Odessa railway.

In 1863 the Polish insurrection against their Russian oppressors broke out. He resigned from the Russian forces, and accepted the post of Minister of War for the region of Vilna, in the rebel army. On 24th March 1864, he was arrested and condemned to death, a penalty that was mitigated to 10 years hard labour in Siberia. With an admirable strength of spirit, patience, and love for his fellow exiles, he knew how to instill into them the spirit of prayer, serenity and hope, and to give material help together with a word of encouragement.

St. Raphaël Kalinowski

St. Raphaël Kalinowski

Repatriated in 1874, he accepted the post of tutor to the Venerable Servant of God, Augusto Czartoryski, living mostly in Paris. His influence on the young prince was such, that Augusto discovered his true vocation as priest and religious. He was received into the Salesians by their founder, Saint John Bosco, in 1887. On the other hand, Joseph Kalinowski entered the Discalced Carmelites at Graz in Austria, and received the religious name of Brother Raphael of Saint Joseph. He studied theology in Hungary, and was ordained Priest at Czerna near Krakow, 15th January 1882.

Afire with apostolic zeal, he did not spare himself in helping the faithful, and assisting his Carmelite brothers and sisters in the ascent of the mountain of perfection.

Photo of the Czerna, Monastery of Discalced Carmelites. Poland, by Marek Ślusarczyk.

Photo of the Czerna, Monastery of Discalced Carmelites. Poland, by Marek Ślusarczyk.

In the sacrament of Reconciliation, he lifted up many from the mire of sin. He did his utmost for the work of reunification of the Church, and bequeathed this mission to his Carmelite brothers and sisters. His superiors entrusted him with many important offices, which he carried out perfectly, right until the time of his death.

Subscription3

Overcome by fatigue and suffering, and held in great respect by all the people, he gave his soul to God, 15th November 1907, at Wadowice in the monastery founded by himself. He was buried in the monastery cemetery, at Czerna, near Krakow.

During his life and after death, he enjoyed a remarkable fame for sanctity, even on the part of the most noble and illustrious of people.

(Source: Vatican)

[Nobility.org note: He also translated St. Therese’s book The Story of a Soul into Polish and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1991.]

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St. Edmund the Martyr

King of East Anglia, born about 840; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, November 20, 870.

St. Edmund the MartyrThe earliest and most reliable accounts represent St. Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia, though, according to later legends, he was born at Nuremberg (Germany), son to an otherwise unknown King Alcmund of Saxony. Though only about fifteen years old when crowned in 855, Edmund showed himself a model ruler from the first, anxious to treat all with equal justice, and closing his ears to flatterers and untrustworthy informers. In his eagerness for prayer he retired for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter by heart, in order that he might afterwards recite it regularly. In 870 he bravely repulsed the two Danish chiefs Hinguar and Hubba who had invaded his dominions. They soon returned with overwhelming numbers, and pressed terms upon him which as a Christian he felt bound to refuse. In his desire to avert a fruitless massacre, he disbanded his troops and himself retired towards Framlingham; on the way he fell into the hands of the invaders. Having loaded him with chains, his captors conducted him to Hinguar, whose impious demands he again rejected, declaring his religion dearer to him than his life.

A statue of St. Edmund the Martyr on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK.

A statue of St. Edmund the Martyr on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK.

His martyrdom took place in 870 at Hoxne in Suffolk. After beating him with cudgels, the Danes tied him to a tree, and cruelly tore his flesh with whips. Throughout these tortures Edmund continued to call upon the name of Jesus, until at last, exasperated by his constancy, his enemies began to discharge arrows at him. This cruel sport was continued until his body had the appearance of a porcupine, when Hinguar commanded his head to be struck off. From his first burial-place at Hoxne his relics were removed in the tenth century to Beodricsworth, since called St. Edmundsbury, where arose the famous abbey of that name. His feast is observed November 20, and he is represented in Christian art with sword and arrow, the instruments of his torture.

G. E. PHILLIPS (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Ambrose of Camaldoli

St. Ambrose TraversariAn Italian theologian and writer, born at Portico, near Florence, 16 September, 1386; died 21 October, 1439. His name was Ambrose Traversari. He entered the Order of the Camaldoli when fourteen and became its General in 1431. He was a great theologian and writer, and knew Greek as well as he did Latin. These gifts and his familiarity with the affairs of the Church led Eugenius IV to send him to the Council of Basle, where Ambrose strongly defended the primacy of the Roman pontiff and adjured the council not to rend asunder Christ’s seamless robe. He was next sent by the Pope to the Emperor Sigismond to ask his aid for the pontiff in his efforts to end this council, which for five years had been trenching on the papal prerogatives. The Pope transferred the council from Basle to Ferrara, 18 September, 1437. Subscription7 In this council, and later, in that of Florence, Ambrose by his efforts, and charity toward some poor Greek bishops, greatly helped to bring about a union of the two Churches, the decree for which, 6 July, 1439, he was called on to draw up. He died soon after. His works are a treatise on the Holy Eucharist, one on the Procession of the Holy Ghost, many lives of saints, a history of his generalship of the Camaldolites. He also translated from Greek into Latin a life of Chrysostom (Venice, 1533); the Spiritual Wisdom of John Moschus; the Ladder of Paradise of St. John Climacus (Venice, 1531), P.G., LXXXVIII. He also translated four books against the errors of the Greeks, by Manuel Kalekas, Patriarch of Constantinople, a Dominican monk (Ingolstadt, 1608), P.G., CLII, col. 13-661, a work known only through Ambrose’s translation. He also translated many homilies of St. John Chrysostom; the treatise of the pseudo-Denis the Areopagite on the celestial hierarchy; St. Basil’s treatise on virginity; thirty nine discourses of St. Ephrem the Syrian, and many other works of the Fathers and writers of the Greek Church. Dom Mabillon’s “Letters and Orations of S. Ambrose of Camaldoli” was published at Florence, 1759. St. Ambrose is honoured by the Church on 20 November.

HEFELE, Hist. of Councils (Edinburgh, 1871-96), XI, 313 sqq., 420, 463; MANSI, Coll. sacr. council. (Venice, 1788, 1792, 1798), XXIX, XXX, XXXI; EHRHARD in KRUMBACHER, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur, 2d ed. (Munich, 1897), 111-144.

JOHN J. A’ BECKET (cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia)

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BBC

Tens of thousands of veterans and civilians joined the King in paying their respects to the fallen at the annual National Service of Remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph in central London.

Members of the armed forces, including veterans of World War Two, then laid their wreaths, before commencing a march down Whitehall which took more than an hour to complete.

…the service at the Cenotaph on Sunday [is] among the most important events on the royal calendar.

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(Botoz.)

A Polish Jesuit and missionary, born in Lwów (Lemberg), 6 November 1807; died 14 November, 1852. He was the son of Joseph Antoniewicz, a nobleman and lawyer. His pious mother Josephine (Nikorowicz) attended to his early training on their estate at Skwarzawa, whither they moved in 1818. After the death of his father (1823), Charles entered the university a Lwów, to study law, devoting, however, much time to philology; hence besides Polish, he spoke fluently German, French, Italian, and English. Here he also gathered material for the history of the Armenians in Poland (his ancestors were Armenians) and wrote Polish and German poetry. Having finished his course in law with the highest distinction (1827), he made a tour through Austria and Rumania. During the Polish insurrection of 1830-31, he served for some time under General Dwernicki. In 1833 he marries his cousin Sophia Nikorowicz, and settled in Skwarzawa. His happy marital life ended with the death of his five children, followed shortly by that of his wife. This devout woman took the religious vows on her death-bed, beseeching her husband to enter some order. His mother also died as a religious in the Benedictine Order. This, as well as the advice of his spiritual director, Father Frederic Rinn, S.J., induced him to seek admission into the novitiate of the Jesuits at Stara Wies in September, 1839, where he took the solemn vows on 12 September, 1841. His philosophical studies were made at Tarnopol, where he was a colleague of the great theologian, Cardinal Franzelin. His theological studies he finished at Nowy Sacz. He was ordained priest on 10 October, 1844, by Bishop Gutkowski. While yet a student, he attracted universal attention by his unusual oratorical gifts. Upon the request of Count D’Este, Governor of Galicia, the Provincial (Father Pierling) appointed him missionary for the Sandec district, where crime and lawlessness (massacre of the nobility, 1846) reigned supreme. During seven months, Antoniewicz gave over twenty missions, preached over 200 sermons. Great was the success of his apostolic zeal and unremitting toils. His impaired health, however, compelled him to seek a mountainous climate in spring, 1847. Having recovered, he was assigned to St. Nicholas in Lwów, as preacher, and as confessor for students.

Fr. Charles Antoniewicz

When on 7 May, 1848, the Society of Jesus was dissolved in Austria, Antoniewicz went to Silesia (Graefenberg), returning incognito, however, to Lwów, in 1850. Being discovered, he left the country, stopping at Cracow, just after the memorable conflagration of 18 July, 1850, to console the grief-stricken inhabitants. On this occasion, he delivered the famous sermon “On the ruins of Cracow” (Na zgliszczach Krakowa). At the insistence of Cardinal Diepenbrock he gave missions in Silesia; there he also founded a house in Nissa, and was appointed its first superior. At the urgent entreaty of Archbishop Przyluski, he extended his missionary activity to Posen (1852). His boundless devotion and self-sacrifice during the terrible outbreak of cholera will always be remembered; for the hero, having himself contracted the disease, died a victim of brotherly love, 14 November, 1852. In the church at Obra, where he rests, his friends erected to his memory a monument, surmounted by his bust. A terse Latin sketch describes his brief but zealous career. In youth he composed many charming poems; later he gave preference to religious themes. He had genuine poetic talent, vivid imagination, a facile pen, and a captivating style. especially beautiful are his “Wianek krzyzowy” (Garland of the Cross), “Wianek majowy” (Wreath of May), “Jan Kanty, Sw. Jacek” (St. Hyacinth), etc. He is the author of many devotion works, and ranks high as an ascetic. These works, though simple in language, breathe genuine piety, singular gravity, and tender emotion; e. g. “Czytania swiateczne dla ludu” (Festive Readings for the Faithful), “Sw. Izydor Oracz” (St. Isidore), “Groby swietych polskich” (The Tombs of Polish Saints), “Listy w duchu Bozym do przyjaciol” (Spiritual Letters to Friends), and many others. He is, however, best known as an orator. But his ability cannot be judged by his printed sermons; his eloquence was an inspired heart-to-heart appeal. He is a master when he speaks in the eternal mercy, the Victim of the Cross, or the Blessed Virgin Mary. His sermons were collected and arranged by his fellow Jesuit, John Badeni, and published in four volumes (Cracow, 1893, 2d ed.), under the title “Kazania Ks. Karols Antoniewicza”. “Zbiór poezti” (a collection of poems) was likewise published in 1898-99 by Father J. Badeni. In the impossibility of enumerating here all his writings it may be said that he composed over seventy-six different works; six before he became a Jesuit, and seventy as a Jesuit, twenty-seven of which were published after his death.

Ks. S. Baracz, Zywoty slawnych Ormoan w Polsce (Lemberg, 1856); Speil, P. Karl Antoniewicz, Missonar der Gesellschaft Jesu, ein Lebensbild (Breslau, 1875); Bandeni, Ks. Karol Antoniewicz (Cracow, 1896): Pelczar, Zarys dziejow kaznodziejstwa (Cracow, 1896), II, 320-322; Kuliczkowski, Zarya dziejow literatury pol. (Lemberg, 1891), 404, 404; Ks. Karol Antoniewicz, S.J., krotkie wspomniennie zycia i prae w polwiekowa rocznice jego zgonu (Cracow, 1902), and many minor sources.

BOLESLAUS E. GORAL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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During this period three persons of rank were also put to death in the kingdom of Firando. A distinguished nobleman, named Caspar Nixiguenca, was living at Tamanda, of which he was the ruler. He married his daughter, by the name of Mary, to the son of Condoquisan, the governor of the island. But the latter being an idolater felt reluctant to have in his house a daughter-in-law professing the Christian religion. He ceased not to make efforts to pervert her, until one day, no longer able to suffer his importunities, Mary left his house and went to the house of her father. The idolater, annoyed at her flight, wrote to her to return to his house under pain of being denounced to the king, who would not tolerate the Christian religion in his states. The pious young woman answered him that her religion forbade her to return, and that as she was a Christian, far from being afraid of death, she desired it.

The kingdom of Firando, also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island.

Condoquisan, to revenge himself, hastened to accuse Caspar to the king, who was a profligate pagan. Caspar was at once summoned by the bonzes, who were charged with proceeding against the Christians. Scarcely had he reached the place when the soldiers threw themselves upon him to tie him, and when he asked them why they did so, the bonzes said to him: “You are a Christian, and it is for this reason that you are condemned to death.” “If it is for this reason,” rejoined the nobleman, “bind me as much as you please, and do not fear that I will offer resistance.”

On the following morning the governor came to visit him, exhorting him to deny the faith if he wished to save his life as well as the life of his wife and his sons, who had also been arrested. Caspar answered that he was ready to die for Jesus Christ, and that he asked for no other grace than that he might die on the cross. The governor replied that for this the consent of the prince was needed. Then he had him conducted to the place where he was to be beheaded, and wished as a mark of honor to execute him himself.

Tasuke Bay, Hirado, Japan

On the same day the officers of justice proceeded to his house, where Ursula, his wife, and John, his son, were guarded. They wished to make them believe that they were going to lead them into exile with Caspar; but they were already aware of his martyrdom, and departed full of joy, not desiring anything so much as to die for the faith. The journey finished, a soldier suddenly drew his saber and struck Ursula with it with great violence; but the weapon slipped and did not kill her. The saintly woman had thus time to fall on her knees. Invoking Jesus and Mary, she received the second blow which deprived her of life. John, who was in advance, turned back on hearing the noise; and seeing his mother die, he also knelt as she had done, and had his head also cut off.

This triple martyrdom happened November 14, 1609; Caspar and Ursula were both fifty-four years old, and John was twenty-five. There was no sentence pronounced against Mary, nor against the young wife of her brother.

Rev. Eugene Grimm, ed. Victories of the Martyrs, vol. 9, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1888), 343–5.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 782

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Bl. Richard Whiting

Bl Richard Whiting, Bl. Roger James and Bl. John Thorne, along with a few other English Martyrs.

Bl Richard Whiting, Bl. Roger James and Bl. John Thorne, along with a few other English Martyrs.

Last Abbot of Glastonbury and martyr, parentage and date of birth unknown, executed 15 Nov., 1539; was probably educated in the claustral school at Glastonbury, whence he proceeded to Cambridge, graduating as M.A. in 1483 and D.D. in 1505. If, as is probable, he was already a monk when he went to Cambridge he must have received the habit from John Selwood, Abbot of Glastonbury from 1456 to 1493. He was ordained deacon in 1500 and priest in 1501, and held for some years the office of chamberlain of his monastery. In February, 1525, Richard Bere, Abbot of Glastonbury, died, and the community, after deciding to elect his successor per formam compromissi, which places the selection in the hands of some one person of note, agreed to request Cardinal Wolsey to make the choice of an abbot for them. After obtaining the king’s permission to act and giving a fortnight’s inquiry to the circumstances of the case Wolsey on 3 March, 1525, nominated Richard Whiting to the vacant post. The first ten years of Whiting’s rule were prosperous and peaceful, and he appears in the State papers as a careful overseer of his abbey alike in spirituals and temporals. Then, in August, 1535, came the first “visitation” of Glastonbury by Dr. Layton, who, however, found all in good order. In spite of this, however, the abbot’s jurisdiction over the town of Glastonbury was suspended and minute “injunctions” were given to him about the management of the abbey property; but then and more than once during the next few years he was assured that there was no intention of suppressing the abbey.

Remains of the choir of Glastonbury Abbey church

Remains of the choir of Glastonbury Abbey church

By January, 1539, Glastonbury was the only monastery left in Somerset, and on 19 September in that year the royal commissioners, Lavton, Pollard and Moyle, arrived there without warning. Whiting happened to be at his manor of Sharpham. Thither the commissioners followed and examined him according to certain articles received from Cromwell, which apparently dealt with the question of the succession to the throne. The abbot, was then taken back to Glastonbury and thence sent up to London to the Tower that Cromwell might examine him for himself, but the precise charge on which he was arrested, and subsequently executed, remains uncertain though his case is usually referred to as one of treason. On 2 October, the commissioners wrote to Cromwell that they had now come to the knowledge of “divers and sundry treasons committed by the Abbot of Glastonbury”, and enclosed a “book” of evidences thereof with the accusers’ names, which however is no longer forthcoming. Subscription8 In Cromwell’s MS., “Remembrances”, for the same month, are the entries: “Item, Certain persons to be sent to the Tower for the further examination of the Abbot, of Glaston . . . . Item. The Abbot, of Glaston to (be) tried at Glaston and also executed there with his accomplices. . . Item. Councillors to give evidence against the Abbot of Glaston, Rich. Pollard, Lewis Forstew (Forstell), Thos. Moyle.” Marillac, the French Ambassador, on 25 October wrote: “The Abbot of Glastonbury. . . has lately, been put in the Tower, because, in taking the Abbey treasures, valued at 200,000 crowns, they found a written book of arguments in behalf of queen Katherine.” If the charge was high treason, which appears most probable, then, as a member of the House of Peers, Whiting should have been attainted by an Act of Parliament passed for the purpose, but his execution was an accomplished fact, before Parliament even met. In fact it seems clear that his doom was deliberately wrapped in obscurity by Cromwell and Henry, for Marillac, writing to Francis I on 30 November, after mentioning the execution of the Abbots of Reading and Glastonbury, adds: “could learn no particulars of what they were charged with, except that it was the relics of the late lord marquis”; which makes things more perplexing than ever. Whatever the charge, however, Whiting was sent back to Somerset in the care of Pollard and reached Wells on 14 November. Here some sort of trial apparently took place, and next day, Saturday, 15 November, he was taken to Glastonbury with two of his monks, Dom John Thorne and Dom Roger James, where all three were fastened upon hurdles and dragged by horses to the top of Toe Hill which overlooks the town. Here they were hanged, drawn and quartered, Abbot Whiting’s head being fastened over the gate of the now deserted abbey and his limbs exposed at Wells, Bath, Ilchester and Bridgewater. Richard Whiting was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in his decree of 13 May, 1895. His watch and seal are still preserved in the museum at Glastonbury.

G. ROGER HUDLESTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Albert the Great

Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called “the Great”, and “Doctor Universalis” (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and surpassed all his contemporaries, except perhaps Roger Bacon (1214-94), in the knowledge of nature. Ulrich Engelbert, a contemporary, calls him the wonder and the miracle of his age: “Vir in omni scientia adeo divinus, ut nostri temporis stupor et miraculum congrue vocari possit” (De summo bono, tr. III, iv).

I. LIFE
St. Albertus Magnus Painting by Joos van Gent

St. Albertus Magnus Painting by Joos van Gent

Albert, eldest son of the Count of Bollstädt, was born at Lauingen, Swabia, in the year 1205 or 1206, though many historians give it as 1193. Nothing certain is known of his primary or preparatory education, which was received either under the paternal roof or in a school of the neighbourhood. As a youth he was sent to pursue his studies at the University of Padua; that city being chosen either because his uncle resided there, or because Padua was famous for its culture of the liberal arts, for which the young Swabian had a special predilection. The date of this journey to Padua cannot be accurately determined. In the year 1223 he joined the Order of St. Dominic, being attracted by the preaching of Blessed Jordan of Saxony second Master General of the Order. Historians do not tell us whether Albert’s studies were continued at Padua, Bologna, Paris, or Cologne. After completing his studies he taught theology at Hildesheim, Freiburg (Breisgau), Ratisbon, Strasburg, and Cologne. He was in the convent of Cologne, interpreting Peter Lombard’s “Book of the Sentences”, when, in 1245, he was ordered to repair to Paris. There he received the Doctor’s degree in the university which, above all others, was celebrated as a school of theology. It was during this period of reaching at Cologne and Paris that he counted amongst his hearers St. Thomas Aquinas, then a silent, thoughtful youth, whose genius he recognized and whose future greatness he foretold. The disciple accompanied his master to Paris in 1245, and returned with him, in 1248, to the new Studium Generale of Cologne, in which Albert was appointed Regent, whilst Thomas became second professor and Magister Studentium (Master of Students). In 1254 Albert was elected Provincial of his Order in Germany. He journeyed to Rome in 1256, to defend the Mendicant Orders against the attacks of William of St. Amour, whose book, “De novissimis temporum periculis”, was condemned by Pope Alexander IV, on 5 October, 1256. During his sojourn in Rome Albert filled the office of Master of the Sacred Palace (instituted in the time of St. Dominic), and preached on the Gospel of St. John and the Canonical Epistles. He resigned the office of Provincial in 1257 in order to devote himself to study and to teaching. At the General Chapter of the Dominicans held at Valenciennes in 1250, with St. Thomas Aquinas and Peter of Tarentasia (afterwards Pope Innocent V), he drew up rules for the direction of studies, and for determining the system of graduation, in the Order. In the year 1260 he was appointed Bishop of Ratisbon. Humbert de Romanis, Master General of the Dominicans, being loath to lose the services of the great Master, endeavoured to prevent the nomination, but was unsuccessful. Albert governed the diocese until 1262, when, upon the acceptance of his resignation, he voluntarily resumed the duties of a professor in the Studium at Cologne. In the year 1270 he sent a memoir to Paris to aid St. Thomas in combating Siger de Brabant and the Averroists. This was his second special treatise against the Arabian commentator, the first having been written in 1256, under the title “De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroem”. He was called by Pope Gregory X to attend the Council of Lyons (1274) in the deliberations of which he took an active part. The announcement of the death of St. Thomas at Fossa Nuova, as he was proceeding to the Council, was a heavy blow to Albert, and he declared that “The Light of the Church” had been extinguished. It was but natural that he should have grown to love his distinguished, saintly pupil, and it is said that ever afterwards he could not restrain his tears whenever the name of St. Thomas was mentioned. Something of his old vigour and spirit returned in 1277 when it was announced that Stephen Tempier and others wished to condemn the writings of St. Thomas, on the plea that they were too favourable to the unbelieving philosophers, and he journeyed to Paris to defend the memory of his disciple. Some time after 1278 (in which year he drew up his testament) he suffered a lapse of memory; his strong mind gradually became clouded; his body, weakened by vigils, austerities, and manifold labours, sank under the weight of years. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1622; his feast is celebrated on the 15th of November. The Bishops of Germany, assembled at Fulda in September, 1872, sent to the Holy See a petition for his canonization; he was finally canonized in 1931.

II. WORKS

St. Albert the Great

Two editions of Albert’s complete works (Opera Omnia) have been published; one at Lyons in 1651, in twenty-one folio volumes, edited by Father Peter Jammy, O.P., the other at Paris (Louis Vivès), 1890-99, in thirty-eight quarto volumes, published under the direction of the Abbé Auguste Borgnet, of the diocese of Reims. Paul von Loë gives the chronology of Albert’s writings the “Analecta Bollandiada” (De Vita et scriptis B. Alb. Mag., XIX, XX, and XXI). The logical order is given by P. Mandonnet, O.P., in Vacant’s “Dictionnaire de théologie catholique“. The following list indicates the subjects of the various treatises, the numbers referring to the volumes of Borgnet’s edition. Logic: seven treatises (I. 2). Physical Sciences: “Physicorum” (3); “De Coelo et Mundo”, “De Generatione et Corruptione”. “Meteororum” (4); “Mineralium” (5); “De Natura locorum”, ” De passionibus aeris” (9). Biological: “De vegetabilibus et plantis” (10) ” De animalibus” (11-12); “De motibus animalium”, “De nutrimento et nutribili”, “De aetate”, “De morte et vita”, “De spiritu et respiratione” (9). Psychological: “De Anima” (5); “De sensu et sensato”, “De Memoria, et reminiscentia”, “De somno et vigilia”, “De natura et origine animae”, “De intellectu et intelligibili”, “De unitate intellectus” (9). The foregoing subjects, with the exception of Logic, are treated compendiously in the “Philosophia pauperum” (5). Moral and Political: “Ethicorum” (7); “Politocorum (8). Metaphysical: “Metaphysicorum” (6); “De causis et processu universitatis” (10). Theological: “Commentary on the works of Denis the Aereopagite” (14); “Commentary on the Sentences of the Lombard” (25-30); “Summa Theologiae” (31-33); “Summa de creaturis” (34-35); “De sacramento Eucharistiae” (38); “Super evangelium missus est” (37). Exegetical: “Commentaries on the Psalms and Prophets” (15-19); “Commentaries on the Gospels” (20-24); “On the Apocalypse” (38). Sermons (13). The “Quindecim problemata contra Averroistas” was edited by Mandonnet in his “Siger de Brabant” (Freiburg, 1899). The authenticity of the following works is not established: “De apprehensione” (5); “Speculum astronomicum” (5); “De alchimia” (38); Scriptum super arborem Aristotelis” (38); “Paradisus animae” (37); “Liber de Adhaerendo Deo” (37); “De Laudibus B. Virginis” (36); “Biblia Mariana” (37).

III. INFLUENCE

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St. Agnes of Assisi

St. Agnes of Assisi

Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253.

She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three Companions” of St. Francis. Agnes’s childhood was passed between her father’s palace in the city and his castle of Sasso Rosso on Mount Subasio.

St. Agnes of AssisiOn 18 March, 1212, her eldest sister Clare, moved by the preaching and example of St. Francis, had left her father’s home to follow the way of life taught by the Saint. Sixteen days later Agnes repaired to the monastery of St. Angelo in Panso, where the Benedictine nuns had afforded Clare temporary shelter, and resolved to share her sister’s life of poverty and penance. At this step the fury of Count Favorino knew no bounds. He sent his brother Monaldo, with several relatives and some armed followers, to St. Angelo to force Agnes, if persuasion failed, to return home. The conflict which followed is related in detail in the “Chronicles of the Twenty-four Generals.” Monaldo, beside himself with rage, drew his sword to strike the young girl, but his arm dropped, withered and useless, by his side; others dragged Agnes out of the monastery by the hair, striking her, and even kicking her repeatedly. Presently St. Clare came to the rescue, and of a sudden Agnes’s body became so heavy that the soldiers having tried in vain to carry her off, dropped her, half dead, in a field near the monastery. Overcome by a spiritual power against which physical force availed not, Agnes’s relatives were obliged to withdraw and to allow her to remain with St. Clare.  St. Francis, who was overjoyed at Agnes’s heroic resistance to the entreaties and threats of her pursuers, presently cut off her hair and gave her the habit of Poverty. Soon after, he established the two sisters at St. Damian’s, in a small rude dwelling adjoining the humble sanctuary which he had helped to rebuild with his own hands. There several other noble ladies of Assisi joined Clare and Agnes, and thus began the Order of the Poor Ladies of St. Damian’s, or Poor Clares, as these Franciscan nuns afterwards came to be called. From the outset of her religious life, Agnes was distinguished for such an eminent degree of virtue that her companions declared she seemed to have discovered a new road to perfection known only to herself. As abbess, she ruled with loving kindness and knew how to make the practice of virtue bright and attractive to her subjects.

Fresco of Saint Clare and nuns of her Order, Chapel of San Damiano, Assisi

Fresco of Saint Clare and nuns of her Order, Chapel of San Damiano, Assisi

In 1219, Agnes, despite her youth, was chosen by St. Francis to found and govern a community of the Poor Ladies at Monticelli, near Florence, which in course of time became almost as famous as St. Damian’s. A letter written by St. Agnes to Clare after this separation is still extant, touchingly beautiful in its simplicity and affection. Nothing perhaps in Agnes’s character is more striking and attractive than her loving fidelity to Clare’s ideals and her undying loyalty in upholding the latter in her lifelong and arduous struggle for Seraphic Poverty. Full of zeal for the spread of the Order, Agnes established from Monticelli several monasteries of the Poor Ladies in the north of Italy, including those of Mantua, Venice, and Padua, all of which observed the same fidelity to the teaching of St. Francis and St. Clare. In 1253 Agnes was summoned to St. Damian’s during the last illness of St. Clare, and assisted at the latter’s triumphant death and funeral. On 16 November of the same year she followed St. Clare to her eternal reward.

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Her mother Hortulana and her younger sister Beatrice, both of whom had followed Clare and Agnes into the Order, had already passed away. The precious remains of St. Agnes repose near the body of her mother and sisters, in the church of St. Clare at Assisi. God, Who had favoured Agnes with many heavenly manifestations during life, glorified her tomb after death by numerous miracles. Benedict XIV permitted the Order of St. Francis to celebrate her feast. It is kept on 16 November, as a double of the second class.

PASCHAL ROBINSON (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Edmund Rich

St Edmund RichArchbishop of Canterbury, England, born 20 November, c. 1180, at Abingdon, six miles from Oxford; died 16 November, 1240, at Soissy, France. His early chronology is somewhat uncertain. His parents, Reinald (Reginald) and Mabel Rich, were remarkable for piety. It is said that his mother constantly wore hair-cloth, and attended almost every night at Matins in the abbey church. His father, even during the lifetime of his mother, entered the monastery of Eynsham in Oxfordshire. Edmund had two sisters and at least one brother. The two sisters became nuns at Catesby. From his earliest years he was taught by his mother to practise acts of penance, such as fasting on Saturdays on bread and water, and wearing a hair shirt. When old enough he was sent to study at Oxford. While there, the Child Christ appeared to him while he was walking alone in the fields. In memory of what passed between him and Christ on that occasion, he used every night to sign his forehead with the words “Jesus of Nazareth”, a custom he recommended to others. Anxious to preserve purity of mind and body, Edmund made a vow of chastity, and as a pledge thereof he procured two rings; one he placed on the finger of Our Lady’s statue in St. Mary’s Oxford, the other he himself wore.

St. Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, reconciling Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and Henry III.

St. Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, reconciling Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and Henry III.

About 1195, in company with his brother Richard, he was sent to the schools of Paris. Thenceforward, for several years, his life was spent between Oxford and Paris. He taught with success in both universities. After having devoted himself to the study of theology, Edmund acquired fame as a preacher, and was commissioned to preach the Sixth Crusade in various parts of England. All this time his austerities were very great. Most of the night he spent in prayer, and the little sleep he allowed himself was taken without lying down. Though thus severe to himself, he was gentle and kind towards others, especially to the poor and sick, whom sometimes he personally attended. In 1222 Edmund became treasurer of Salisbury cathedral. Ten years later he was appointed to the Archbishopric of Canterbury by Gregory IX and consecrated 2 April, 1234.

Stained glass window in Saint-Martin de L'Isle-Adam Church. photo taken by Reinhardhauke.

Stained glass window in Saint-Martin de L’Isle-Adam Church. photo taken by Reinhardhauke.

Notwithstanding the gentleness of his disposition, he firmly defended the rights of Church and State against the exactions and usurpations of Henry III. He visited Rome in 1237 to plead his cause in person. This fearless policy brought him into conflict, not only with the king and his party, but also with the monks of Rochester and Canterbury. Determined opposition met him from all sides, and constant appeals were carried to Rome over his head. In consequence, a papal legate was sent to England, but Henry adroitly managed the legate’s authority to nullify Edmund’s power. Unable to force the king to give over the control of vacant benefices, and determined not to countenance evil and injustice, Edmund saw he could not longer remain in England. In 1240 he retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny. Here he lived like a simple religious till the summer heat drove him to Soissy, where he died. Within six years he was canonized, and numerous miracles have been wrought at his shrine. Notwithstanding the devastation that from time to time has overtaken Pontigny, the body of St. Edmund is still venerated in its abbey church. Important relics of the saint are preserved at Westminster Cathedral; St. Edmund’s College, Ware; Portsmouth Cathedral, and Erdington Abbey. The ancient proper Mass of St. Edmund, taken from the Sarum Missal, is used in the Diocese of Portsmouth, of which St. Edmund is patron. In September, 1874, 350 English pilgrims visited St. Edmund’s shrine. The community, known as Fathers of St. Edmund, were forced to leave their home at Pontigny, by the Associations law. The “Speculum Ecclesiae”, an ascetical treatise, and the “Provincial Constitutions” are the most important of St. Edmund’s writings.

 

Besides the three ancient lives of St. Edmund by MATTHEW PARIS, ROGER BACON, and ROGER RICH, there is a fourth ascribed to BERTRAND OF PONTIGNY in MARTENE AND DURAND, Thesaurus Ancedororum. For a complete account of the MSS. records, the reader is referred to WALLACE, St. Edmund of Canterbury (London, 1893), 1-18, and to DE PARAVICINI, St. Edmund of Abingdon (London, 1898), xiii-xlii; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 16th Nov.; S. Edmund Archp. of Canterbury (London, 1845) (Tractarian); WARD, St. Edmund Archbp. of Canterbury (London, 1903); ARCHER in Dict. of Nat. Biog., s.v.

COLUMBA EDMONDS (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 14, 2024

St. Mechtilde

(MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA).

St. MechtildeBenedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families, while here sister was the saintly and illustrious Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn. Some writers have considered that Mechtilde von Hackeborn and Mechtilde von Wippra were two distinct persons, but, as the Barons of Hackeborn were also Lords of Wippra, it was customary for members of that family to take their name indifferently from either, or both of these estates. So fragile was she at birth, that the attendants, fearing she might die unbaptized, hurried her off to the priest who was just then preparing to say Mass. He was a man of great sanctity, and after baptizing the child, uttered these prophetic words: “What do you fear? This child most certainly will not die, but she will become a saintly religious in whom God will work many wonders, and she will end her days in a good old age.” When she was seven years old, having been taken by her mother on a visit to her elder sister Gertrude, then a nun in the monastery of Rodardsdorf, she became so enamoured of the cloister that her pious parents yielded to her entreaties and, acknowledging the workings of grace, allowed her to enter the alumnate. Here, being highly gifted in mind as well as in body, she made remarkable progress in virtue and learning.

Ten years later (1258) she followed her sister, who, now abbess, had transferred the monastery to an estate at Helfta given her by her brothers Louis and Albert. As a nun, Mechtilde was soon distinguished for her humility, her fervour, and that extreme amiability which had characterized her from childhood and which, like piety, seemed hereditary in her race. While still very young, she became a valuable helpmate to Abbess Gertrude, who entrusted to her direction the alumnate and the choir. Mechtilde was fully equipped for her task when, in 1261, God committed to her prudent care a child of five who was destined to shed lustre upon the monastery of Helfta. This was that Gertrude who in later generations became known as St. Gertrude the Great. Gifted with a beautiful voice, Mechtilde also possessed a special talent for rendering the solemn and sacred music over which she presided as domna cantrix. All her life she held this office and trained the choir with indefatigable zeal. Indeed, Divine praise was the keynote of her life as it is of her book; in this she never tired, despite her continual and severe physical sufferings, so that in His revelations Christ was wont to call her His “nightingale”. Richly endowed, naturally and supernaturally, ever gracious, beloved of all who came within the radius of her saintly and charming personality, there is little wonder that this cloistered virgin should strive to keep hidden her wondrous life. Souls thirsting for consolation or groping for light sought her advice; learned Dominicans consulted her on spiritual matters. At the beginning of her own mystic life it was from St. Mechtilde that St. Gertrude the Great learnt that the marvellous gifts lavished upon her were from God.

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Saint Gregory of Tours

Born in 538 or 539 at Arverni, the modern Clermont-Ferrand; died at Tours, 17 Nov., in 593 or 594.

Statue of St. Gregory of Tours at the Louvre.

Statue of St. Gregory of Tours at the Louvre.

He was descended from a distinguished Gallo-Roman family, and was closely related to the most illustrious houses of Gaul. He was originally called Georgius Florentius, but in memory of his maternal great-grandfather, Gregory, Bishop of Langres, took later on the name of Gregory. At an early age he lost his father, and went to live with an uncle, Gallus, Bishop of Clermont, under whom he was educated after the manner of all ecclesiastics in his day. An unexpected recovery from a serious illness turned his mind towards the service of the Church. Gallus died in 554, and Gregory’s mother went to live with her friends in Burgundy, leaving her son at Clermont in the care of Avitus, a priest, later Bishop of Clermont (517-594). Avitus directed his pupil towards the study of the Scriptures. According to Gregory, rhetoric and profane literature were sadly neglected in his case, an omission that he ever after earnestly regretted. In his writings he complains of his ignorance of the laws of grammar, of confounding the genders, employing the wrong cases, not understanding the correct use of prepositions, and the syntax of phrases, self-reproaches that need not be taken too seriously. Gregory knew grammar and literature as well as any man of his time; it is a mere affectation on his part when he poses as ill-instructed; perhaps he hoped thereby to win praise for his learning. Euphronius, Bishop of Tours, died in 573, and was succeeded by Gregory, Sigebert I being then King of Austrasia and Auvergne (561-576). Charibert’s death (567) had made him master of Tours. The new king was acquainted with Gregory and insisted that in deference to the wishes of the people of Tours he should become their bishop; thus it came to pass that Gregory went to Rome for consecration. The poet, Fortunatus, celebrated the elevation of the new bishop in a poem full of sincere enthusiasm whatever its defects (“Ad cives Turonicos de Gregorio episcopo”). Gregory justified this confidence, and his episcopal reign was highly creditable to him and useful to his flock; the circumstances of the time offered peculiar difficulties, and the office of bishop was onerous both from a civil and a religious point of view.

I. GREGORY AS BISHOP

He undertook with great zeal the heavy task imposed on him. In the near past King Clovis had both used and abused his power, but his services to the social order and the fame of his exploits caused the abuses of his reign to be in great part forgiven. His successors, however, had fewer merits, and when they sought to increase their authority by deeds of violence, almost endless civil war was the result. Might overcame right so often that the very notion of the latter tended to disappear. Barbarian fierceness and cruelty were everywhere rampant. During the war between Sigebert and Chilperic, Gregory could not restrain his just indignation at the sight of the woes of his people. “This”, he wrote, “has been more hurtful to the Church than the persecution of Diocletian”. In Gaul, at least, such may have been the case. The Teutonic tribes newly established in Gaul, or loosely wandering throughout the whole Roman Empire, were well aware of their physical prowess, and disinclined to recognize any rights save that of conquest. Their chiefs claimed whatever they desired, and the army took the rest. Whoever ventured to oppose them was put out of the way with pitiless rapidity. The civilization on which they so suddenly entered was for them a source of annoyance and confusion; coarse material pleasures appealed to them far more than the higher ideals of Roman life. Drunkenness was prevalent in all classes, and even the proverbial chastity of the Franks was soon a forgotten glory. Vengeance threw off all restraint of religion; the powerful and the lowly, clergy and laity, were a law unto themselves. Queen Clotilda, the model of women, was popularly thought to have nourished feelings of revenge against the Burgundians for more that thirty years (see, however, for a rehabilitation, G. Kurth, “Sainte Clotilde”, 8th. ed., Paris, 1905, and article CLOTILDA). Guntram, one of the best of the Frankish kings, put to death two physicians because they were unable to restore Queen Austrechilde to health. This being the moral temper of the upper classes, it is needless to speak of the Gallo-Frankish multitude. It is greatly to St. Gregory’s honour that amid these conditions he fulfilled the office of bishop with admirable courage and firmness. His writings and his actions exhibit a tender solicitude for the spiritual and temporal interests of his people, whom he protected as best he could against the lawlessness of the civil power.

St. Gregory and King Chilperic I, from the Grandes Chroniques de France de Charles V, 14th century illumination.

St. Gregory and King Chilperic I, from the Grandes Chroniques de France de Charles V, 14th century illumination.

Amid his labours for the general welfare he upheld always what was right and just with prudence and courage. By his office he was the protector of the weak, and as such always opposed their oppressors. In him the Merovingian episcopate appears at its best. The social morality of the sixth century has no braver or more intelligent exponent that this cultivated gentleman. Gregory explains the government of the world by the constant intervention of the supernatural: direct assistance of God, intercession of saints, and recourse to the miracles wrought at their tombs. He also played a prominent part in increasing the number of churches, which were then the centres of religious life in Gaul. The cathedral church at Tours, burnt down under his predecessor, was rebuilt, and the church of St. Perpetuus restored and decorated. Since the days of Clovis the Church had held, through her bishops, a preponderating position in the Frankish world. In the eyes of the people the bishops were the direct representatives of God, and dispensed His heavenly graces quite as the king bestowed earthly favours. This was not owing, however, to their moral or religious position, but rather to their social influence. With the spread of the rude barbarian civilization in Gaul the old Roman civilization, especially in municipal administration, was unable to cope. The civil authority was unequal to the former responsibilities it assumed, and was soon oblivious of its obligations. The public offices, however, which it neglected corresponded to pressing social needs that must somehow be satisfied. At this juncture the bishops stepped into the breach and became at once politically more important under Frankish than they had been under Roman rule. The Frankish kings gladly recognized in them indispensable auxiliaries. They alone possessed science and learning, while they rendered signal services on different missions freely intrusted to them, and which they alone were capable of fulfilling. On the other hand they were slow to reprove their barbarian masters or to resist them. Gregory himself says in his reply to Childeric: “If one of us were to leave the path of justice, it would be for you to set him right; should you, however, chance to stray, who could correct or resist?”. The only duty the bishops seem to have preached to the Frankish kings was a conscientious fulfilment of the royal duties for the good of souls. This duty the kings did not deny, though they often failed to execute it or took refuge in a too liberal conscience.

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St. Hilda

November 14, 2024

St. Hilda

Abbess, born 614; died 680. Practically speaking, all our knowledge of St. Hilda is derived from the pages of Bede. She was the daughter of Hereric, the nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria, and she seems like her great-uncle to have become a Christian through the preaching of St. Paulinus about the year 627, when she was thirteen years old.

Moved by the example of her sister Hereswith, who, after marrying Ethelhere of East Anglia, became a nun at Chelles in Gaul, Hilda also journeyed to East Anglia, intending to follow her sister abroad. But St. Aidan recalled her to her own country, and after leading a monastic life for a while on the north bank of the Wear and afterwards at Hartlepool, where she ruled a double monastery of monks and nuns with great success, Hilda eventually undertook to set in order a monastery at Streaneshalch, a place to which the Danes a century or two later gave the name of Whitby.

Whitby Abbey

Under the rule of St. Hilda the monastery at Whitby became very famous. The Sacred Scriptures were specially studied there, and no less than five of the inmates became bishops, St. John, Bishop of Hexham, and still more St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, rendering untold service to the Anglo-Saxon Church at this critical period of the struggle with paganism. Here, in 664, was held the important synod at which King Oswy, convinced by the arguments of St. Wilfrid, decided the observance of Easter and other moot points. St. Hilda herself later on seems to have sided with Theodore against Wilfrid. The fame of St. Hilda’s wisdom was so great that from far and near monks and even royal personages came to consult her. Seven years before her death the saint was stricken down with a grievous fever which never left her till she breathed her last, but, in spite of this, she neglected none of her duties to God or to her subjects. She passed away most peacefully after receiving the Holy Viaticum, and the tolling of the monastery bell was heard miraculously at Hackness thirteen miles away, where also a devout nun named Begu saw the soul of St. Hilda borne to heaven by angels.

St. Hilda of Whitby receiving a visit from Caedmon.

With St. Hilda is intimately connected the story of Caedmon (q. v.), the sacred bard. When he was brought before St. Hilda she admitted him to take monastic vows in her monastery, where he most piously died.

The cultus of St. Hilda from an early period is attested by the inclusion of her name in the calendar of St. Willibrord, written at the beginning of the eighth century. It was alleged at a later date the remains of St. Hilda were translated to Glastonbury by King Edmund, but this is only part of the “great Glastonbury myth.” Another story states that St. Edmund brought her relics to Gloucester. St. Hilda’s feast seems to have been kept on 17 November. There are a dozen or more old English churches dedicated to St. Hilda on the northeast coast and South Shields is probably a corruption of St. Hilda.

Herbert Thurston (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Obituary

H.I.R.H. DOM ANTONIO OF ORLEANS-BRAGANZA, IMPERIAL PRINCE OF BRAZIL (1950-2024)

We fulfill the painful duty of announcing the death of His Imperial and Royal Highness the Prince Imperial of Brazil, Dom Antonio of Orleans and Braganza in Rio de Janeiro today, November 8, 2024, aged 74, comforted by the Sacraments of the Holy Church, as Our Lord saw fit to call him to Himself.

He leaves his spouse, the Imperial Dowager Princess of Brazil, Christine de Ligne of Orleans-Braganza; and children, the Imperial Prince of Brazil, Dom Rafael of Orleans-Braganza and the Princesses Gabriela and Amelia of Orleans-Braganza; a son-in-law, James Spearman, and grandchildren, Joaquim and Nicholas Spearman.

Deeply saddened, Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, asks everyone to pray for the soul of his beloved and always loyal brother.

Information about the funeral will be issued in due course.

Pro Monarchy / Secretariat of the Imperial House of Brazil

Rua Itápolis, 873 – Pacaembu
01245-000 São Paulo – SP
(11) 2361-3214
condolencias@monarquia.org.br

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St. Martin of Tours

Bishop; born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Pannonia (Hungary), about 316; died at Candes, Touraine, most probably in 397.

Museum Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal. Saint Martin on horseback sharing his cloak with a begger. France, Loire Valley, 1531. Limestone.

Museum Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal. Saint Martin on horseback sharing his cloak with a begger. France, Loire Valley, 1531. Limestone.

In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him thither, and when he reached adolescence was, in accordance with the recruiting laws, enrolled in the Roman army. Touched by grace at an early age, he was from the first attracted towards Christianity, which had been in favor in the military camps since the conversion of Emperor Constantine.

His regiment was soon sent to Amiens in Gaul, and this town became the scene of the celebrated legend of the cloak. At the gates of the city, one very cold day, Martin met a shivering and half-naked beggar. Moved with compassion, he divided his coat into two parts and gave one to the poor man. The part kept by himself became the famous relic preserved in the oratory of the Frankish kings under the name of “St. Martin’s cloak”.

St Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army (fresco by Simone Martini)

St Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army (fresco by Simone Martini)

Martin, who was still only a catechumen, soon received baptism, and was a little later finally freed from military service at Worms on the Rhine. As soon as he was free, he hastened to set out to Poitiers to enroll himself among the disciples of St. Hilary, the wise and pious bishop whose reputation as a theologian was already passing beyond the frontiers of Gaul. Desiring, however, to see his parents again, he returned to Lombardy across the Alps. The inhabitants of this region, Subscription11infested with Arianism, were bitterly hostile towards Catholicism, so that Martin, who did not conceal his faith, was very badly treated by order of Bishop Auxentius of Milan, the leader of the heretical sect in Italy. Martin was very desirous of returning to Gaul, but, learning that the Arians troubled that country also and had even succeeded in exiling Hilary to the Orient, he decided to seek shelter on the island of Gallinaria (now Isola d’Albenga) in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

As soon as Martin learned that an imperial decree had authorized Hilary to return to Gaul, he hastened to the side of his chosen master at Poitiers in 361, and obtained permission from him to embrace at some distance from there in a deserted region (now called Ligugé) the solitary life that he had adopted in Gallinaria. His example was soon followed, and a great number of monks gathered around him. Thus was formed in this Gallic Thebaid a real laura, from which later developed the celebrated Benedictine Abbey of Ligugé. Martin remained about ten years in this solitude, but often left it to preach the Gospel in the central and western parts of Gaul, where the rural inhabitants were still plunged in the darkness of idolatry and given up to all sorts of gross superstitions. The memory of these apostolic journeyings survives to our day in the numerous local legends of which Martin is the hero and which indicate roughly the routes that he followed.

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[From Benedict XV’s encyclical Ad beatissimi Apostolorum, of November 11, 1914]:

“Human fraternity, indeed, will not remove the diversities of conditions and therefore of classes. This is not possible, just as it is not possible that in an organic body all the members should have one and the same function and the same dignity. But it will cause those in the highest places to incline toward the humblest and to treat them not only according to justice, as is necessary, but kindly, with affability and tolerance, and will cause the humblest to regard the highest with sympathy for their prosperity and with confidence in their support, in the same way as in one family the younger brothers rely on the help and defense of the elder ones.”

Nobility book

American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. 39 (October 1914), pp. 673-674 in 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), Documents V, p. 483.

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From Benedict XV’s encyclical Ad beatissimi Apostolorum, of November 11, 1914:

Face to face with those to whom either fortune or their own activity  has brought an abundance of wealth stand the proletaires and the workers, inflamed with hatred and jealousy because, although they share the same nature, they are not in the same condition. Infatuated as they are by the fallacies of agitators, to whose guidance they are ordinarily most docile, who should persuade them that it does not follow because men are equal by nature that all ought to occupy the same grade in society, but that every one holds that position which his qualifications, if circumstances permit, have procured for him?

Chinese poster saying: “Destroy the old world; build a new world.” Classic example of the Red art from the early Cultural Revolution. Worker crushes the crucifix, Buddha and classical Chinese texts with his hammer; 1966.

Chinese poster saying: “Destroy the old world; build a new world.” Classic example of the Red art from the early Cultural Revolution. Worker crushes the Crucifix, Buddha and classical Chinese texts with his hammer; 1966.

Wherefore when the needy struggle against those who are well to do, as if the latter had taken possession of property that belonged to others, they not only offend against justice and charity, but even against reason, because they also, if they desired, could by means of honorable labor succeed in improving their condition. What consequences, not less inconvenient for individuals than for the community, this class hatred begets it is needless to say. (American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. 39 (October 1914), pp. 673-674).

Nobility book

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), Documents V, pp. 482-483.

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St. Josaphat Kuncevyc

Martyr, born in the little town of Volodymyr in Lithuania (Volyn) in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk, Russia, 12 November, 1623.

St. Jozafat Kuncewicz

St. Jozafat Kuncewicz

The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine Union had become a dead-letter; in the case of the Ruthenian Church, complete demoralization followed in the wake of its severance from Rome, and the whole body of its clergy became notorious alike for their gross ignorance and the viciousness of their lives. After the Union of Berest’ in 1596 the Ruthenian Church was divided into two contending parties — the Uniates and those who persevered in schism — each with its own hierarchy. Among the leaders of the schismatic party, who laboured to enkindle popular hatred against the Uniates, Meletius Smotryckyj was conspicuous, and the most celebrated of his victims was Josaphat.

Icon of St. Josaphat with a relic of his.

Icon of St. Josaphat with a relic of his.

Although of a noble Ruthenian stock, Josaphat’s father had devoted himself to commercial pursuits, and held the office of town-councilor. Both parents contributed to implant the seeds of piety in the heart of their child. In the school at Volodymyr Josaphat — Johannes was the saint’s baptismal name — gave evidence of unusual talent; he applied himself with the greatest zeal to the study of ecclesiastical Slav, and learned almost the entire casoslov (breviary), which from this period he began to read daily. From this source he drew his early religious education, for the unlettered clergy seldom preached or gave catechetical instruction. Owing to the straitened circumstances of his parents, he was apprenticed to the merchant Popovyc at Vilna. In this town, remarkable for the corruption of its morals and the contentions of the various religious sects, he seemed specially guarded by Providence, and became acquainted with certain excellent men (e.g. Benjamin Rutski), under whose direction he advanced in learning and in virtue.
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November 12 – Four years in Stalin’s concentration camp

November 11, 2024

Blessed Hryhorij Lakota Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church auxiliary bishop who suffered religious persecution and was martyred by the Soviet Government. Hryhorij Lakota was born 31 January 1893 in Holodivka, Lviv Oblast. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Przemyśl on 16 May 1926. On 9 June 1946, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, as […]

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November 13 – One of the Great Popes of the Middle Ages

November 11, 2024

Pope St. Nicholas I Born at Rome, date unknown; died 13 November, 867; one of the great popes of the Middle Ages, who exerted decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. He was of a distinguished family, being the son of the Defensor […]

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November 13 – Patroness of missionaries

November 11, 2024

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. Also called Mother Cabrini, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a religious institute which was a major support to the Italian immigrants to the United States. She was the first citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. She was born in Sant’Angelo […]

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November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 7, 2024

Born     December 29, 1811, in Aitona, Lleida, Spain Died     20 March 1872, in Tarragona, Spain Beatified     April 24, 1988 Feast     November 7 Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching for adult persons—at Barcelona. In 1860-61, he also founded a […]

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November 8 – Four Crowned Martyrs

November 7, 2024

Four Crowned Martyrs The old guidebooks to the tombs of the Roman martyrs make mention, in connection with the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana, of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Quatuor Coronati), at whose grave the pilgrims were wont to worship (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 178-79). One of these itineraries, […]

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November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 7, 2024

St. Willehad Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He […]

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Commentaries on Charlemagne and St. Willehad of Bremen:

November 7, 2024

by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira “Saint Willehad, bishop and confessor was the first bishop of Bremen, diocese created by Emperor Charlemagne after his conquests. In the year 788, the 21st  of his reign, Charlemagne gave that see a certificate that read: “In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Charles, by the […]

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November 9 – He burned the pagan temple while out on bail

November 7, 2024

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 […]

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November 10 – Giuliano Cesarini

November 7, 2024

(Also known as CARDINAL JULIAN) Born at Rome, 1398; died at Varna, in Bulgaria 10 November, 1444. He was one of the group of brilliant cardinals created by Martin V on the conclusion of the Western Schism, and is described by Bossuet as the strongest bulwark that the Catholics could oppose to the Greeks in […]

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November 10 – Pope Paul III

November 7, 2024

(ALESSANDRO FARNESE). Born at Rome or Canino, 29 Feb., 1468; elected, 12 Oct., 1534; died at Rome, 10 Nov., 1549. The Farnese were an ancient Roman family whose possessions clustered about the Lake at Bolsena. Although counted among the Roman aristocrats, they first appear in history associated with Viterbo and Orvieto. Among the witnesses to […]

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November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 4, 2024

Bl. Frances d’Amboise Duchess of Brittany, afterwards Carmelite nun, born 1427; died at Nantes, 4 Nov., 1485. The daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, she was betrothed when only four years old, to Peter, second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, the marriage being solemnized when she had reached the age of fifteen. […]

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November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 4, 2024

St. Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died […]

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November 5 – Her name means “God is an oath”

November 4, 2024

St. Elizabeth (God is an oath—Ex., vi, 23) Zachary’s wife and John the Baptist’s mother, was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke, i, 5), and, at the same time, Mary’s kinswoman (Luke, i, 36), although what their actual relationship was, is unknown. St. Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) explains that Sobe and […]

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Letter of the Venerable Pierre Toussaint to William Schuyler*

November 4, 2024

New York, November 5, 1823 SIR, I have received your charming letter which has truly afforded me the greatest pleasure in the world and I see well that you are a young man of word. Yes, my dear sir, I believe I am the happiest of all mortals when I receive letters from Madame la […]

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November 6 – Duchess d’Alençon

November 4, 2024

Blessed Margaret of Lorraine Duchess d’Alencon, religious of the order of Poor Clares, born in 1463 at the castle of Vaudémont (Lorraine); died at Argentan (Brittany) 2 November, 1521. The daughter of Ferri de Vaudimont and of Yolande d’Anjou, little Margaret became an orphan at an early age and was brought up at Aix-en-Provençe, by […]

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November 6 – We know nothing about him, except his miracles

November 4, 2024

St. Leonard of Limousin Nothing absolutely certain is known of his history, as his earliest “Life”, written in the eleventh century, has no historical value whatever. According to this extraordinary legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family of the time of King Clovis, and St. Remy of Reims was his godfather. After having secured […]

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October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 31, 2024

St. Wolfgang Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period […]

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Conviviality Among Men Always and Necessarily Produces a Scale of Degrees and Differences

October 31, 2024

Pius XII says in his allocution to Fiat workers on October 31, 1948: “Human society always produces, of necessity, a whole scale of degrees and differences in physical and intellectual qualities…” “The Church does not promise the absolute equality that others claim, for she knows that human society always produces, of necessity, a whole scale […]

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November 1 – Warrior bishop

October 31, 2024

St. Genesius (of Lyons) (Or GENESTUS.) Thirty-seventh Archbishop of Lyons, d. 679. Feast, 1 November. He was a native of France, not of Arabia or Armenia as is sometimes stated and became a religious and abbot (not of Fontenelle, but) attached to the court and camp of Clovis II where he acted as chief almoner […]

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For saving her people, she was made their judge

October 31, 2024

Deborah the Prophetess (also known as Debbora the Judge, Deborah the Matriarch) Prophetess and judge: she was the wife of Lapidoth and was endowed by God with prophetic gifts which secured for her the veneration of the divided Israelitic tribes and gave her great authority over them. Her wisdom was first displayed in settling litigious […]

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All Saints’ Day: How many saints were noble?

October 31, 2024

All Saints’ Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity? by Plinio Correa de Oliveira The current misunderstanding of nobility and the analogous traditional elites results largely from the adroit but biased propaganda spread against them by the French Revolution. Such propaganda, continuously disseminated throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by […]

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The Institution Of All Souls’ Day

October 31, 2024

It was St. Odilo of Cluny who first appointed one day every year to be set aside in a special manner for prayer for the faithful departed. It happened that a certain religious belonging to France was returning home from Palestine, where he had gone to visit the places consecrated by the foot steps of […]

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November 2 – His mother celebrated his death as if it were a wedding

October 31, 2024

Blessed John Bodey Martyr, born at Wells, Somerset: 1549; died at Andover, Wilts., 2 November, 1583. He studied at Winchester and New College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1568. In June, 1576, he was deprived, with seven other Fellows, by the Visitor, Horne, Protestant Bishop of Winchester. Next year he went to […]

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The Crusades – Part IX

October 31, 2024

I. Origin of the Crusades; II. Foundation of Christian states in the East; III. First destruction of the Christian states (1144-87); IV. Attempts to restore the Christian states and the crusade against Saint-Jean d’Acre (1192-98); V. The crusade against Constantinople (1204); VI. The thirteenth-century crusades (1217-52); VII. Final loss of the Christian colonies of the […]

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October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 28, 2024

Saint Alfred the Great In this incomparable prince were united the saint, the soldier, and the statesman in a most eminent degree. Sir Henry Spelman (Conc. Brit.) gives us his character in a rapture. “O, Alfred,” says he, “the wonder and astonishment of all ages! If we reflect on his piety and religion, it would […]

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Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor

October 28, 2024

By Jeremias Wells When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a debt of gratitude is a moral […]

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October 29 – One of the Martyrs of Douai

October 28, 2024

Blessed Edward Waterson Born at London; martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7 January 1594 (1593 old style). A romantic episode marks this martyr’s early career, for as a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants, and attracted the attention of a wealthy Turk, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would embrace […]

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October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 28, 2024

The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity. Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain of the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself with taking part in those […]

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Baroness Herbert of Lea: a convert to the Catholic Faith

October 28, 2024

Mary Elizabeth Ashe à Court-Repington was born in Richmond, Surrey, on July 21, 1822. She was the only daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Ashe à Court-Repington, member of Parliament, and the niece of William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury, British Ambassador to the Russian Imperial Court at St. Petersburg. In August 1846, at the age of […]

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What Is the Fire of Chivalry?

October 28, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira It is to have the resolution of soul to wage any battle, at any cost, in any way, facing every sacrifice, to attain the victory of Our Lady over the devil. Now, we cannot say that this spirit is as pure and unstained in us as what I am describing, […]

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How Saint Anthony Mary Claret Engaged the Culture of His Times

October 24, 2024

by Plinio Maria Solimeo October 23, 2024 How Saint Anthony Mary Claret Engaged the Culture of His Times The history of nineteenth-century Spain cannot be understood without studying the life of this great Catholic missionary.  Saint Anthony Mary Claret was one of the great pillars of the Holy Catholic Church in the nineteenth century. When […]

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October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 24, 2024

St. Antonio María Claret y Clará Spanish prelate and missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec., 1807; died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct., 1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he […]

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Maria Feodorovna, Tsarina of all the Russias, Patron of the Impoverished Nobility

October 24, 2024

Maria Feodorovna, Tsarina of all the Russias, was born princess of Württemberg on October 25, 1758. She was the second wife of Tsar Paul I, who fought against Napoleon Bonaparte, when the latter began to expand the egalitarian tenets of the French Revolution militarily to the rest of Europe. Among her numerous accomplishments, Tsarina Maria […]

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October 25 – St. Cuthbert Mayne

October 24, 2024

St. Cuthbert Mayne Martyr, born at Yorkston, near Barnstaple, Devonshire (baptized 20 March, 1543-4); died at Launceston, Cornwall, 29 Nov., 1577. He was the son of William Mayne; his uncle was a schismatical priest, who had him educated at Barnstaple Grammar School, and he was ordained a Protestant minister at the age of eighteen or […]

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The Hummingbird

October 24, 2024

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira  October 26, 1980 Once as I was sitting in the small porch of a farmhouse, a hummingbird suddenly stopped in the air and began sucking nectar from the flowers of climbing ivy. He ‘kissed’ each flower in turn. The hummingbird’s flight was similar to an arrow’s trajectory — so inflexible […]

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The Necessary Spirit of the Crusader

October 24, 2024

In general, medieval men understood the role of fortitude in maintaining their Christian culture. They had no illusions about their own weaknesses and vices. They understood the need to confront the disorders and evils that will always plague this vale of tears. Calling upon God, the faithful in varying degrees summoned from themselves the strength […]

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Bl. Celina Chludzińska v. Borzęcka

October 24, 2024

 (1833-1913) Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection Celine Chludzinska Borzecka was born on 29 October 1833 in Antowil, Orsza (formerly Polish territory, today Belarus), to Ignatius and Petronella Chludzinski, whose families were wealthy landowners. One of three children, she grew up in an environment of sound Catholic and patriotic traditions, and […]

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October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 24, 2024

Sts. Edesius and Frumentius Tyrian Greeks of the fourth century, probably brothers, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; the latter a saint and first Bishop of Axum, styled the Apostle of Abyssinia, d. about 383. When still mere boys they accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Abyssinia. When their ship stopped at one of […]

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The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 21, 2024

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might […]

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Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 21, 2024

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

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