Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

September 14 – His gallant defeat saved Canada from the French Revolution

September 14, 2026

Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon

A French general, born 28 Feb., 1712, at Candiac, of Louis-Daniel and Marie-Thérèse de Lauris; died at Quebec 14 Sept., 1759.

He was descended from Gozon, Grand Master of Rhodes of legendary fame, The warlike spirit of his ancestors had given rise to the saying: “War is the tomb of the Montcalms.”

Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm trying to stop Indians from attacking British soldiers and civilians as they leave Fort William Henry at the Battle of Fort William Henry.

Though less clever than a younger brother, a prodigy of learning at seven, Louis-Joseph was a classical scholar. A soldier at fifteen, he spent his leisures in camp reading Greek and German. He served successively at the sieges of Kehl and Philipsbourg, and became a knight of St. Louis (1741) after a campaign in Bohemia, and was appointed colonel of the Auxerrois regiment (1743). He received five wounds at the battle of Piacenza. In 1736 he had married Angélique-Louise Talon de Boulay, grand-niece of the famous intendant of that name. Of this union were born ten children. In 1755 he succeeded the ill-fated Dieskau, in the command of the French army in Canada, under governor Vaudreuil. The dissonance of character between the two chiefs was to cause much friction during this trying period. Unlike his superior, Montcalm was quick in conception, fearless, generous and impulsive, self-reliant and decisive in action. Intendant Bigot’s unscrupulous dishonesty, the apathy of the French court for the “few arpents of snow”, an impoverished colony, an ill-fed, ill-clad and badly provided army, all this enhances Montcalm’s heroic courage and faithfulness to duty. He was ably seconded by the skilful, prudent and brave chevalier de Lévis. The disproportion in numbers and resources between the belligerent forces rendered more arduous the problem to be solved. Yet it was only after a record of three brilliant victories that he was to end his glorious career on the Plains of Abraham. First in order of time comes the capture of Chouaguen (Oswego), an undertaking wherein all the odds were against the besiegers. Overcoming all diffidence, Montcalm succeeded (14 Aug., 1756), thereby winning the region of Ontario to the domination of France, and with a few badly armed troops taking 1600 prisoners, 5 flags, 100 guns, at the cost of only 30 killed and wounded. Attributing his success to God, he raised a cross with the inscription: “In hoc signo vincunt.”

The Victory of Montcalm’s Troops at Carillon. Painting by Henry Alexander Ogden

In connexion with a later triumph, the capture of Fort William Henry (9 Aug., 1757), Montcalm has been accused of tolerating the massacre by the Indians of the English prisoners. Yet, even Bancroft admits that he exposed himself to death to stop the savages infuriated by the rum given them by the English contrary to his orders. The last and greatest of Montcalm’s victories, shared by Lévis and Bourlamaque, was at Carillon (Ticonderoga), a battle which was to result either in the salvation or destruction of New France. Although a first encounter (5 July, 1758) had proved disastrous to the French, the death of the valiant young Lord Howe, the real head of the English troops, deprived Abercromby of his chief support. On the 8th the onslaught of the entire Anglo-American army was rendered impossible by the earthworks and complicated barricade of felled trees protecting Fort Carillon; while a deadly fire decimated the assailants. When the fray was over 2000 English soldiers lay killed or wounded, while the French losses were only 104 killed and 248 wounded; 3800 men had repulsed 15,000. In thanksgiving to the God of Hosts, Montcaìm raised a cross with an inscription.

Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham by Ralph Clark Stone.

After arresting the invasion by land, Montcalm had to face the attack of the naval forces. During the siege of Quebec by Wolfe, Montcalm with Lévis won a first victory at Montmorency Falls, with a loss of 450 to the English (31 July, 1759). But the final act was drawing nigh, which was to seal the fate of New France. On 13 Sept. the enemy stealthily scaled the Heights of Abraham, and at early morn was ranged in battle. Montcalm, thunderstruck by the unexpected tidings, hurried from Beauport and arrayed his troops. Though about equal in numbers, they were doomed to defeat for several reasons, including surprise, hardship, privation, fatigue, and a disadvantageous position. Both generals fell, Wolfe dying on the battle-field, and Montcalm the next morning. This battle, considered in its results, was one of the greatest events of the eighteenth century. It saved Canada from the French Revolution and heralded the dawn of American Independence.

Montcalm was a brave and generous commander, a high-minded and disinterested patriot; a faithful Christian giving to God the glory of his victories. His memory is cherished in the Old and the New World. In Canada he shares the honours awarded to his victor, as the following inscription on their joint monument testifies:

Mortem virtus Communem famam historia Monumentum posteritas dedit.

-a tribute duly anticipated by the French Academy in the last words of the hero’s epitaph in the chapel of the Ursuline monastery:-

Galli lugentes deposuerunt et generosæ hostium fidei commendarunt.

(The French mourned and buried him and commended him to the enemies’ generosity).

Death of Montcalm. Sketch by Marc Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté

CASGRAIN, Montcalm et Lévis (Tours, 1898); DOUGHTY. The Siege of Quebec and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Quebec, 1901); CHAPAIS, La prise de Chouaguen in La Nouvelle-France (1909); CANDIDE, Au pays de Montcalm in La Nouvelle-France (1909).

LIONEL LINDSAY (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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One of the Most Frequent and Most Grave Defects of Modern Sociology Lies in Underestimating Tradition

September 14, 2026

From the allocution of Paul VI to Slavic pilgrims of various countries, especially the United States and Canada, on September 14, 1963, the eleventh centennial of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Greater Moravia:

The Knitting Lesson by Eugene de Blaas

“It is characteristic of Catholic education to draw from history not only cultural material and reminders of events, but also a living tradition, a spiritual coefficient of moral formation, a constant direction for a direct and coherent progress in the march of time, a guarantee of stability and endurance, which gives to a people its dignity, its right to life, its duty to act in harmony with other peoples.

Homecoming from the harvest (On Lake Zug), painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

“One of the defects of modern sociology, most frequent and most serious, is to underestimate tradition, that is, to presume that a firm and coherent society can be established without taking into account the historic foundation on which it naturally rests, and that the breaking away from the culture inherited from preceding generations can be more beneficial to the life of a people than the progressive development, faithful and wise, of its patrimony of thought and habits.

Mountain procession in Ramsau, Austria, painted by Leopold Munsch.

“And furthermore, if this patrimony is rich with those universal and immortal values which the Catholic Faith instills in the conscience of a people, then to respect tradition means to guarantee the moral life of that people; it means to give them the consciousness of their existence, and to merit for them those divine helps which confer to the city of this world something of the splendor and perpetuity of the heavenly city.” (The Pope Speaks, Vol. 9, no. 2 [1964], p. 184.)

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 VI, p. 492.

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September 14 – Formerly a sign of abject disgrace, it now adorns even crowns and crests

September 14, 2026

The Cross could not be decently mentioned amongst Romans, who looked upon it as an unlucky omen, and as Cicero says, not to be named by a freeman.

However, the Emperor Constantine attributed his victory in the Quintian fields, near the bridge Milvius, to the Cross of the Christians, the inscription of which he caused to be put under his statue with which the senate honoured him in Rome, as Eusebius testifies. The same historian mentions that in his triumph, he did not mount the capitol, to offer sacrifices and gifts to the false gods, according to the custom of his predecessors, but “by illustrious inscriptions promulgated the power of Christ’s saving sign.”

Codinus assures us that he caused the sign of the cross, which he had seen in the air, to be erected in the chief square at Constantinople. He also set up in the principal hall of his palace at Constantinople, a great figure of the cross which he had seen in the heavens, and by the power of which he had been victorious. That not only the monogram, but also the figure of the cross was placed in the Labarum is clear from the description in Eusebius, and from the ancient medals in which it is represented.

The vision of the Cross appeared to Constantine in the sky on the eve of a battle, with the words, “In this sign thou shalt conquer,” a prophecy that was to prove true the next day when Constantine was victorious at Pons Milvius.
Painting by Sanzio Raffaello in Sala di Constantino.

The figure and sign of the cross were held in veneration before Constantine, who herein only practised what the church had learned from the apostles. St. Ephrem says, “The Christians marked their very doors with the precious and life-giving cross.” The figure of the cross was usually marked on the tombs of the primitive Christians

Eusebius assures us that he received the account he gives us from Constantine’s own mouth, who confirmed the truth of his narration by a solemn oath. That emperor loudly ascribed his victories to this miraculous sign of the Cross, which appears also from various inscriptions which he set up in public places, and from several medals which he and his successor struck.

Lactantius, who was preceptor to Crispus Cæsar, Constantine’s son, ascribes Constantine’s victory over Maxentius to the miraculous vision which he had in his sleep before the battle. Philostorgius, an Arian contemporary historian, in certain fragments of his history preserved by Photius, describing Constantine’s vision of the Cross in the air, says the heavenly sign extended very wide in the east with a wonderful light, and with the following inscription in Greek, “By this conquer.” In several ancient medals it is expressed in Latin: In hoc victor eris.

Painting of Constantine’s victory at the battle at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber River in 312.

(adapted from Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler, Vol IX, D.&J. Sadlier Publisher, New York, 1821, pp 656-657).

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What Weight Should Be Given to St. Thomas Aquinas’s Arguments Against Equality?

September 14, 2026

St. Thomas Aquinas pictured with a flaming sword pointed at the devil who lays defeated under St. Thomas’ feet.

A hierarchical and anti-egalitarian spirit is part and parcel of being a Catholic, as is evidenced in the writings of many popes and theologians, with special mention of St. Thomas Aquinas—upon whom Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira bases much of his argumentation. It is not without good reason that he does so:

1. St. Thomas Aquinas was solemnly praised in official documents by at least 70 popes throughout the centuries.

2. Pope Pius XI, in the encyclical Studiorum ducem (June 29, 1923), recalls that at the Council of Trent—convened to dispute Protestant errors—there were only two books on the altar available for consultation: The Holy Bible and the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Pope Pius XI

3. The Code of Canon Law promulgated by Benedict XV recommended that all teaching in seminaries be done according to the method and doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas.

4. St. Thomas, along with other saints, has the authority of a Doctor of the Church, having been made a Doctor by another saint: Pope St. Pius V.

Following are some of the examples of popes praising St. Thomas Aquinas:

John XXII, in the XIVth century, declared: “His doctrine is miraculous because it exceeds human capacity to take things as far as he did.” He further declared: “St. Thomas Aquinas, by himself, illuminated the Church more than all the other doctors combined.”

Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Aternae Patris (1789), compared St. Thomas Aquinas to a sun. “It (the Summa) warms the world with the splendors of its virtues and fills it with the irradiation of its doctrine.”

St. Ignatius of Loyola establishes that one love and profess St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine as one of his litmus tests of “being in consonance with the Church.”

Pope Pius XI did more than all the others by making St. Thomas Aquinas a Universal Doctor of the Church.

Pope Pius XII’s writings have innumerable references to St. Thomas Aquinas.

Pope Paul VI, in a Discourse given at Fossanova on September 14, 1974, the occasion of the seventh centenary of St. Thomas’s death, asked himself: “Thomas, our Teacher, what lesson can you give us?” He answered with these words: “Trust in the truth of Catholic religious thought, as defended, expounded, and offered by him to the capacities of the human mind.”

Pope Pius XII

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Fides et Ratio (September 14, 1998), stated that “the Church has been justified in consistently proposing St. Thomas as a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology.”

Finally, Pope Benedict XVI extolled St. Thomas Aquinas in three General Audiences in June 2010 and called the Summa Theologica a masterpiece.

To base one’s arguments, therefore, on St. Thomas Aquinas is indisputably to argue with great authority.

Tradition, Family Property Association, ed., Egalitarianism: The Metaphysical Value and Religion of Our Days – Social Leveling…Total Leveling (Glasgow: Tradition, Family, Property Association, 2011), xvii-xix.

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September 15 – The noble apostle of purgatory

September 14, 2026

St. Catherine of Genoa

(also known as Caterina Fieschi Adorno.)

Born at Genoa in 1447, died at the same place 15 September, 1510. The life of St. Catherine of Genoa may be more properly described as a state than as a life in the ordinary sense. When about twenty-six years old she became the subject of one of the most extraordinary operations of God in the human soul of which we have record, the result being a marvellous inward condition that lasted till her death. In this state, she received wonderful revelations, of which she spoke at times to those around her, but which are mainly embodied in her two celebrated works: the “Dialogues of the Soul and Body”, and the “Treatise on Purgatory”. Her modern biographies, chiefly translations or adaptations of an old Italian one which is itself founded on “Memoirs” drawn up by the saint’s own confessor and a friend, mingle what facts they give of her outward life with accounts of her supernatural state and “doctrine”, regardless of sequence, and in an almost casual fashion that makes them entirely subservient to her psychological history. These facts are as follows:

St. Catherine’s parents were Jacopo Fieschi and Francesca di Negro, both of illustrious Italian birth. Two popes — Innocent IV and Adrian V — had been of the Fieschi family, and Jacopo himself became Viceroy of Naples. Catherine is described as an extraordinarily holy child, highly gifted in the way of prayer, and with a wonderful love of Christ’s Passion and of penitential practices; but, also, as having been a most quiet, simple, and exceedingly obedient girl. When about thirteen, she wished to enter the convent, but the nuns to whom her confessor applied having refused her on account of her youth, she appears to have put the idea aside without any further attempt.

Palazzo Fieschi at Casella, Liguria, Italia, a Fieschi family palace.

At sixteen, she was married by her parents’ wish to a young Genoese nobleman, Giuliano Adorno. The marriage turned out wretchedly; Giuliano proved faithless, violent-tempered, and a spendthrift. And made the life of his wife a misery. Details are scanty, but it seems at least clear that Catherine spent the first five years of her marriage in silent, melancholy submission to her husband; and that she then, for another five, turned a little to the world for consolation in her troubles. The distractions she took were most innocent; nevertheless, destined as she was for an extraordinary life, they had the effect in her case of producing lukewarmness, the end of which was such intense weariness and depression that she prayed earnestly for a return of her old fervour. Then, just ten years after her marriage, came the event of her life, in answer to her prayer. She went one day, full of melancholy, to a convent in Genoa where she had a sister, a nun. The latter advised her to go to confession to the nuns’ confessor, and Catherine agreed. No sooner, however, had she knelt down in the confessional than a ray of Divine light pierced her soul, and in one moment manifested her own sinfulness and the Love of God with equal clearness. The revelation was so overwhelming that she lost consciousness and fell into a kind of ecstacy, for a space during which the confessor happened to be called away. When he returned, Catherine could only murmur that she would put off her confession, and go home quickly.

From the moment of that sudden vision of herself and God, the saint’s interior state seems never to have changed, save by varying in intensity and being accompanied by more or less severe penance, according to what she saw required of her by the Holy Spirit Who guided her incessantly. No one could describe it except herself; but she does so, minutely, in her writings, from which may here be made one short extract: — “[The souls in Purgatory] see all things, not in themselves, nor by themselves, but as they are in God, on whom they are more intent than on their own sufferings. . . . For the least vision they have of God overbalances all woes and all joys that can be conceived. Yet their joy in God does by no means abate their pain. . . . This process of purification to which I see the souls in Purgatory subjected, I feel within myself.” (Treatise on Purgatory, xvi, xvii.) For about twenty-five years, Catherine, though frequently making confessions, was unable to open her mind for direction to anyone; but towards the end of her life a Father Marabotti was appointed to be her spiritual guide. To him she explained her states, past and present, in full, and he compiled the “Memoirs” above referred to from his intimate personal knowledge of her.

Of the saint’s outward life, after this great change, her biographies practically tell us but two facts: that she at last converted her husband who died penitent in 1497; and that both before and after his death — though more entirely after it — she gave herself to the care of the sick in the great Hospital of Genoa, where she eventually became manager and treasurer. She died worn out with labors of body and soul, and consumed, even physically, by the fires of Divine love within her. She was beatified in 1675 by Clement X, but not canonized till 1737, by Clement XII. Meantime, her writings had been examined by the Holy Office and pronounced to contain doctrine that would be enough, in itself, to prove her sanctity.

The first published life, based on early MSS., is GENUTI, “Vita mirabile e dotrrina santa della Beata Caterina da Genova” (Florence, 1551). Founded on the above: FLICHE, “St. Catherine de Genes, sa vie et son esprit’ (1881); “Life and Doctrine of St. Catherine of Genoa” (Eng. Tr., New York, 1874). For a discussion of her doctrine, PARPERA, “Beata Caterina Genuensis illustrata (Genoa, 1682). See also BUTLER “Lives of the Saints”, IX, 14 Sept., and a modern life by DE BUSSIERE.

F.M. CAPES

The Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa can be read online here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/catherine_g/life

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The sin of Revolution

September 14, 2026

(based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)

What is the specific sin of the Revolution? It is not just the sin of pride and sensuality. Rather it is the sin of elevating pride and sensuality to supreme values according to which life must be organized.

Donna Gottschalk, a lesbian, at Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day parade in 1970.

Every one of the more profound concepts about any matter must be adjusted to this erroneous table of values. That is to say, everything becomes pride, everything becomes sensuality. Revolutionaries hate the doctrines which are contrary to pride and sensuality. They hate those men who are not proud and sensual. They are, at the same time, living fires of attachment to themselves and to the delights which pride and sensuality can bring. They are on the other hand living flames of scorn and hatred for those who are not like them. The simple presence of someone who is not like them becomes a censure.

Pro-choice feminists shouting obscenities to Pro-lifers at the March for Women’s Lives.

To be proud is not merely to consider oneself as more than others, but it is to hate those who are more than one. It is therefore to have hatred of all superiority, of all grandeur, and of all inequality.

Occupy Wall Street September 15, 2011.

To be proud is to be egalitarian. It is therefore to turn toward the trivial, the gross, the common and to give one’s soul to this. Acting in this manner is pride.

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September 16 – Wilton Abbey and its patroness St. Edith

September 14, 2026

St. Edith of Wilton

A Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles from Salisbury. A first foundation was made as a college of secular priests by Earl Wulstan of Wiltshire, about 773, but was after his death (800) changed into a convent for 12 nuns by his widow, St. Alburga, sister of King Egbert. Owing to the consent given by this king he is counted as the first founder of this monastery. St. Alburga herself joined the community, and died at Wilton. King Alfred, after his temporary success against the Danes at Wilton in 871, founded a new convent on the site of the royal palace and united to it the older foundation. The community was to number 26 nuns.

Edgar, King of the English. Also known as Edgar the Peaceful.

Wilton is best known as the home of St. Edith, the child of a “handfast” union between Edgar, King of the English (944-75), and Wulfrid, a lady wearing the veil though not a nun, whom he carried off from Wilton probably in 961. After Edith’s birth, Wulfrid refused to enter into a permanent marriage with Edgar and retired with her child to Wilton. Edith, who appears to have been learned, received the veil while a child, at the hands of Bishop Ethelwold of Winchester, and at the age of fifteen refused the abbacy of three houses offered by her father. She built the Church of St. Denis at Wilton, which was consecrated by St. Dunstan, and died shortly afterwards at the age of twenty-three (984). Her feast is on 16 September. St. Edith became the chief patron of Wilton, and is sometimes said to have been abbess. In 1003 Sweyn, King of Denmark, destroyed the town of Wilton, but we do not know whether the monastery shared its fate. Edith, the wife of Edward the Confessor, who had ben educated at Wilton, rebuilt in stone the monastery which had formerly been of wood.

Wilton House and the Palladian Bridge.

In 1143 King Stephen made it his headquarters, but was put to flight by Matilda’s forces under Robert of Gloucester. The Abbess of Wilton held an entire barony from the king, a privilege shared by only three other English nunneries, Shaftesbury, Barking, and St. Mary, Winchester. Cecily Bodenham, the last abbess, surrendered her convent on 25 March, 1539. The site was granted to Sir William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, who commenced the building of Wilton House, still the abode of his descendants. There are no remains of the ancient buildings.

DUGDALE, Monasticon Anglicanum, II (London, 1846), 315; HUNT in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v. EDITH (London, 1888).

Raymund Webster (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Prince George starts at Eton

September 10, 2026

His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Wales. Photo by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

h/t: royalcentral.co.uk

Prince George has officially begun his studies at Eton, arriving for his first day with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales at his side.

The prince, second in line to the throne, will spend five years at the school as a boarder.

Eton is a twenty minute walk away from Windsor Castle and close to George’s family home at Forest Lodge on the Windsor estate.

Prince William revealed that George had tried out boarding at his former school, Lambrook, where pupils can stay for one or several nights at a time, even if they are usually day students.

h/t: royalcentral.co.uk

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Prince Hisahito, Japan’s second in line to throne, turns 20

September 10, 2026

Prince Hisahito of Akishino

h/t: japantimes.co.jp

Prince Hisahito, the son of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, turned 20 on Sunday.

The prince, second in line to the throne, is a second-year student… at the University of Tsukuba, and is also engaging in official duties as a young member of the imperial family.

After completing his coming-of-age ceremony in September last year, Prince Hisahito made his debut at several events at the Imperial Palace, such as the New Year’s greetings in early January and a banquet for Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife held during their state visit to Japan in May.

h/t: japantimes.co.jp

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September 10 – Model of chastity

September 10, 2026

St. Nicholas of Tolentino

Born at Sant’ Angelo, near Fermo, in the March of Ancona, about 1246; d. 10 September, 1306. He is depicted in the black habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine — a star above him or on his breast, a lily, or a crucifix garlanded with lilies, in his hand. Sometimes, instead of the lily, he holds a vial filled with money or bread. His parents, said to have been called Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani (these surnames may merely indicate their birth-places), were pious folk, perhaps gentle born, living content with a small substance. Nicholas was born in response to prayers, his mother a model of holiness. He excelled so much in his studies that even before they were over he was made a canon of St. Saviour’s church; but hearing a sermon by a hermit of St. Augustine upon the text: “Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quae sunt in mundo, quia mundus transit et concupiscentia ejus”, he felt a call to embrace the religious life. He besought the hermit for admittance into his order. His parents gave a joyful consent. Even before his ordination he was sent to different monasteries of his order, at Recanati, Macerata etc., as a model of generous striving after perfection. He made his profession before he was nineteen. After his ordination he preached with wonderful success, notably at Tolentino, where he spent his last thirty years and gave a discourse nearly every day. Towards the end diseases tried his patience, but he kept up his mortifications almost to the hour of death. He possessed an angelic meekness, a guileless simplicity, and a tender love of virginity, which he never stained, guarding it by prayer and extraordinary mortifications. He was canonized by Eugene IV in 1446; his feast is celebrated on 10 September. His tomb, at Tolentino, is held in veneration by the faithful.

Acta SS., Sept. III, 636; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, III (Baltimore), 440; HAGELE in Kirchenlex., s.v.

Edward F. Garesche (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 10 – They always carried a copy of his Bible in battle

September 10, 2026

St. Finnian of Moville

Stained glass window at St. Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, Ireland. Photo by Andreas F. Borchert.

Born about 495; died 589. Though not so celebrated as his namesake of Clonard, he was the founder of a famous school about the year 540. He studied under St. Colman of Dromore and St. Mochae of Noendrum (Mahee Island), and subsequently at Candida Casa (Whithern), whence he proceeded to Rome, returning to Ireland in 540 with an integral copy of St. Jerome’s Vulgate. St. Finnian’s most distinguished pupil at Moville (County Down) was St. Columba, whose surreptitious copying of the Psaltery led to a very remarkable sequel. What remains of the copy, together with the casket that contains it, is now in the National Museum, Dublin.

It is known as the Cathach or Battler, and was wont to be carried by the O’Donnells in battle. The inner case was made by Cathbar O’Donnell in 1084, but the outer is fourteenth-century work. So prized was it that family of MacGroarty were hereditary custodians of this Cathach, and it finally passed, in 1802, to Sir Neal O’Donnell, County Mayo. St. Finnian of Moville wrote a rule for his monks, also a penitential code, the canons of which were published by Wasserschleben in 1851. His festival is observed on 10 September.

Colgan, Acta Sanct. Hib. (Louvain, 1645); O’Laverty, Down and Connor (Dublin, 1880), II; O’Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints (Dublin, s.d.); Healy, Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars (Dublin, 1902); Hyde, Lit. Hist. of Ireland (Dublin, 1901).

W. H. Grattan-Flood (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 10 – Arrested while preaching

September 10, 2026

St. Edward Ambrose Barlow

(Alias RADCLIFFE and BRERETON.)

St. Edward Ambrose Barlow

Priest and martyr, born at Barlow Hall, 1585; died 10 September, 1641. He was the fourth son of Sir Alexander Barlow, Knight of Barlow Hall, near Manchester, by Mary, daughter of Sir Uryan Brereton, Knight of Handforth Hall, Co. Chester, and was baptized at Didsbury Church 30 November, 1585; the entry in the register may still be seen. Educated at the Benedictine monastery of St. Gregory, Douai, he entered the English College, Valladolid, 20 September, 1610, but returned to Douai where his elder brother William Rudesind was a professed monk. He was himself professed in 1616 and ordained, 1617.

Sent to England, he laboured in South Lancashire with apostolic zeal and fervour. He resided chiefly at Wardley Hall, the seat of the Downe family, near Manchester, and at Morley’s Hall, a mansion of the Tyldesleys, in the parish of Leigh, some seven miles from Manchester.

At the former, his skull is still preserved, in a little receptacle on the staircase. At the latter he was apprehended for the fifth and last time on Easter Sunday, 25 April, 1641. He was arrested by the Vicar of Eccles, who marched at the head of his parishoners, clad in his surplice, and was followed by some 400 men armed with clubs and swords. He was preaching at the time and could have escaped in the confusion, but yielded himself up to his enemies, and was carried off to Lancaster Castle. Here after four months’ imprisonment he was tried, on 6 or 7 September, and sentenced next day, having confessed that he was a priest. On Friday, 10 September, he suffered the usual penalties at Lancaster.

Arrival of Prisoners at Lancaster Castle.

A beautiful picture of his life is given by Challoner from two manuscript relations belonging to St. Gregory’s monastery, one written by his brother Dom Rudesind Barlow, President of the AngloBenedictine Congregation. There is another manuscript, entitled “The Apostolical Life of Ambrose Barlow”, written by one of his pupils for Dom Rudesind, which is at present in the Library of Owen’s College, Manchester. It is to be printed among the publications of the Chetham Society. This contains many details hitherto unpublished. Two portraits of this martyr exist and also one of his father, Sir Alexander. Many of his relics are also preserved, a hand being at Stanbrook Abbey near Worcester. A full biography is in course of preparation.

[He was canonized on 25 October, 1970, by Pope Paul VI]

ALLANSON, Biographical MSS. (preserved at Ampleforth Abbey), I; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath. (London, 1885); CHALLONER, Memoirs; FLETCHER MOSS, Pilgrimages to Old Homes (Didsbury, 1903); IDEM, History of Didsbury (Manchester); IDEM, Chronicles of Cheadle, Cheshire (Didsbury, 1894); DODD, Church History of England (Brussels, 1739).

BEDE CAMM (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 11 – Burned slowly to death at Nagasaki

September 10, 2026

Blessed Charles Spinola

Born in Genoa in 1564, he was the son of the Count of Tassarolo, and the nephew of Cardinal Philip Spinola.

He was educated in Spain and in the Jesuit school in Nola, Italy. He entered the noviatiate in 1584, and was ordained in 1594.

In 1596, he received a letter appointing him to the missions in Japan. His journey was marked by shipwrecks and delays, which included captivity in England, and he reached his destination only in 1602, six years later. For twelve years, he worked at ministering to the growing Christian community in Japan. In 1614, all foreign missionaries were banished so Charles went into hiding, eluding capture for four years. After enduring four more years of captivity, he was burnt at the stake on September 10, 1622.

Charles was declared Blessed in 1867, along with 30 other Jesuits, over half of whom were Japanese.

Read about his life here

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September 11 – His fame will last forever as that of a gallant soldier and a true Christian

September 10, 2026

Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière

French general and commander-in-chief of the papal army, b. at Nantes, 5 February, 1806; d. at the château of Prouzel, near Amiens, 11 September, 1865. His father was descended from an old Breton family whose device was Spes mea Deus. His mother was Desirée de Robineau de Bougon. He made his classical studies at the college of Nantes, where his professor of philosophy was a priest who afterwards becane the Trappist Abbot of Bellefontaine. As had been the custom for centuries for the sons in his family, he was early destined for the army, and accordingly entered the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris, in 1826, and two years later the Ecole d’Application at Metz. He left the latter school with a commission as sub-lieutenant in the engineers and was sent to Montpellier. In 1830 he joined the detachment that took possession of Algiers, and was made a captain of Zouaves as a reward for gallant conduct.

French general Christophe Louis Léon Juchault de Lamoricière.

For seventeen years he remained in Africa, where he acquired a lasting reputation, acting not only as a valiant soldier, but as a pioneer of civilization, loved and esteemed by the Arabs as well as by his own soldiers. In 1833 he was directed by the French government to organize the “Bureau Arabe”, a sort of tribunal whose mission was to serve as mediator between Frenchmen and Arabs. His authority was so great among the native tribes that he never carried any arms while travelling through the country, but only a stick with which to defend himself, and this caused him to be named Bou-Aroua (father with a stick). After the capture of Bougie, he was promoted major and in 1835 lieutenant-colonel of Zouaves. In that capacity he took part in many a coup de main, inspiring his troops with indomitable courage, and always placing himself at the most perilous spot. His intrepidity at the storming of Constantine gained him the rank of colonel (1837). In 1840, after the engagement of Mouzaïa, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general and was given the command of the division of Oran. In the following year he played a most prominent part in the expedition against Tagtempt and Mascara. Thanks to his skilful tactics and intrepidity, he subdued the tribe of Filtas (1843), and was created lieutenant-general. He next went to Morocco (1844), drove back the Moorish troops at Lalla-Maghnia, and contributed largely to the success of the battle at Isly (1845). Towards the end of that year, he was entrusted with the temporary governorship of Algeria. He then crowned his military career by surrounding Abd-el-Kader, who was compelled to surrender (23 November, 1847). Algeria being pacified, the distinguished soldier thought of retiring from military life and taking an active part in politics.

1837 Siege of Constantine

In 1846, having been elected deputy by the district of Saint-Calais (Sarthe), he had opposed the Guizot cabinet and created a stir by his speeches on Algeria and promotion in the army. On 21 April, 1847, he married Amélie d’Auberville. In February, 1848, he held for a few days the portfolio of war in the Thiers-Barrot cabinet, which he gave up when the Revolution burst out, causing the downfall of Louis Philippe. Having been elected to the Constituent Assembly (April, 1848) by the Department of Sarthe, he fought against the popular insurrection in June. On 28 June he again accepted the portfolio of war and directed all his efforts towards the organization of Algeria. When Louis Napoleon, to whose ambition he was strongly opposed, entered upon the presidency of the French Republic (20 December, 1848), he left the Cabinet and continued, as a deputy or as vice-president of the Assembly, to antagonize the Government. In the Coup d’Etat (2 December, 1852), he was arrested, imprisoned, first at Mazas, then at Ham, and finally expelled from France. His political career had lasted only four years; his exile lasted nine years. This was the most distressing period of his life. He first travelled in England and Germany and then settled in Belgium pining in his enforced idleness, and longing for active occupation. It was then that he came back to the faith of his youth. For many years, without being an infidel, he had neglected his religious duties, and even for a time had gone astray with the Saint-Simonians. Yielding to the entreaties of his friend Charles de Montalembert, the great Catholic orator, he began to study one by one all the articles of the Credo. From that time to the day of his death he lived according to his faith as a devout Catholic.

Battle at Mouzaïa in 1840. May 12, 1840 by the Zouaves and infantrymen of Vincennes under the command of Colonel de La Moriciere.

Battle at Mouzaïa, May 12, 1840 by the Zouaves and infantrymen of Vincennes under the command of Colonel de La Moriciere.

In 1860 his cousin, Mgr. de Mérode, induced him to take command of the papal army. It was a hazardous task. Ignoring the jeopardy of his established military reputation, he went to Rome. It took only one year to convince him that the undertaking was hopeless. His 8000 men were defeated by the 50,000 men of Cialdini at Castelfidardo (18 September, 1860), and Ancona was obliged to surrender. He bore this severe blow to his reputation with Christian resignation. Deeming his services no longer useful to the papal army, he returned to France, and went to live in his château of Chaillon (Maine-et-Loire). A national subscription was collected to present him with a sword of honour, but he emphatically declined to receive it, on the ground that he was only a defeated general. The only distinction he ever accepted, under personal pressure from Pope Pius IX, was the Cross of the Order of Christ.

General Lamoricière

His last years were devoted to pious works. He built a church at his own expense for the poor parish of Loroux-Beconnais, and contributed large sums to an orphanage and a Catholic school which he had founded. He took pleasure in reading religious books, among which the Holy Bible, the “Summa Theologica” of Saint Thomas, and the “History of the Church” by Darras, were his favourites. When the encyclical letter of 8 December, 1864, was published, he read it with delight, being happy to find in it an answer to many questions which distressed him. His death was sudden. His name is now extinct, as he left only daughters, having lost his only son in 1859, but his fame will last forever as that of a gallant soldier and a true Christian.

Oraisons funebres de La Moricière, by PIE (Poitiers, 1865) and DUPANLOUP (Orleans. 1865); KELLER, Le General de La Moricière (2 vols., Paris, 1874); HUGNET, Celebres conversions contemporaines (Paris, 1889); BAUNARD, La foi et ses victoires (Paris, 1892).

LOUIS N. DELAMARRE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 11 – Prince Eugen of Savoy crushes the Turks at Zenta

September 10, 2026

Prince Eugene of Savoy. Painting by Jacob van Schuppen

Although his men had already done a forced march of over ten hours that day, Eugen gave the order to advance and then galloped ahead to see the scene at first hand. He spotted how, just above the bridge on the near side of the river, the water was shallow with a sandbank leading up to dry land…. He ordered one wing of his army under Guido Starhemberg to deliver a left hook to the enemy and to reach the sandbank, from which they should be able to penetrate the Turkish camp from the river side. This stratagem took the Turks completely by surprise….

Battle of Zenta Painting by Jacques Ignace Parrocel

Meanwhile, the center and right wing under Prince Commercy and Graf Siegbert Heister respectively were ordered to attack. Eugen placed himself in the center so as to be able to gallop wherever he was most needed. The janissaries, assaulted on all sides and confined within a small space, cast their firearms aside and started thrashing about with the sword. But nothing could stop the squeeze of the Imperial pincers. Defense turned to retreat, retreat to rout, rout to slaughter. Some of the janissaries tried to flee across the bridge where they were cut off by Eugen’s left. Others rushed headlong into the river and were drowned….

The Turkish army was annihilated: altogether 20,000 were killed, and more than another 10,000 were drowned. Less than 1,000 reached the safety of the further bank of the river Theiss. The Sultan himself had fled…. The battle only ended at nightfall….

Battle of Zenta 1697, detail of the painting by Ferencz Eisenhut.

The battle of Zenta revealed Eugen’s tactical skill, his capacity for sudden and bold decision, and his ability to inspire his men to exertions far beyond their normal powers of endurance. In terms of history it marked a turning-point in the rise and fall of Turkish power.

Nicholas Henderson, Prince Eugen of Savoy: a Biography (London: Phoenix Press, 2002), pp. 42-43.

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September 11 – Italian army invades the Papal State without a declaration of war

September 10, 2026

The King of Italy sends an ultimatum to Blessed Pope Pius IX

As the French military situation deteriorated [in the Franco-Prussian War], the government in Florence grew bolder. Near the end of August [1870], the Italian cabinet issued a circular letter to all the governments of Europe, in which it declared that the time had come to end the Roman Question. On the one hand, the document declared that it was time to fulfill the “legitimate aspirations” of the Italian people; on the other, that “the independence, the freedom, and the spiritual authority of the Pope,” had to be safeguarded. The greatest threat to Italy, in the cabinet’s opinion, was neither its own perfidy nor the revolutionaries’ violence, but—the Pontifical Zouaves!

Two Papal Zouave brothers

As one Zouave wrote of this remarkable message some years later, “the wolf told the story of the crimes of the lamb!” The circular ended with a list of guarantees to the Pope: in essence that he would retain control of the Eternal city and be independent in his dealings, and that neither he nor the current Papal State would be held to the restrictions on religious institutions and property in the Law of 1866…. Pope Pius’s and his secretary of state Antonelli’s response to this document, as expected, was scathing, but it was apparent that invasion was not far off.

On September 6, Pius IX held a council of cardinals to discuss strategies. Three possible avenues were looked at. The Pope might accept the Italian guarantees, try to carry on the government of the Church as he could, and trust to the government’s honesty; he might leave Rome for Malta, Trieste, or Innsbruck, and carry on in exile; or, he might stay, make an armed protest, withdraw to the Vatican, refuse to recognize the new situation, and hope for better times. The last course was decided upon. Pius would refuse to surrender the city, would make only so much of an armed demonstration as was necessary to show the world that the Italians were guilty of aggression, and would stay in the city so long as he physically could.

Victor Emmanuel, by this stage bothered by his conscience, wrote a long letter to Pius asking him to accept the occupation peacefully. The king mentioned his conscience repeatedly in the note, but the letter was read by a Pontiff who had spent most of his reign suffering from the king’s policies. Pius sent a curt refusal in reply.

Without a declaration of war, on September 11 the Italian army invaded the Papal State.

Pope Pius IX blesses his troops for the last time before the Capture of Rome, April 25, 1870.

Charles A. Coulombe, The Pope’s Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force that Defended the Vatican (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), pp. 151-152.

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Also of interest:

Two Feminine Ideals

Athanase de Charette and the Battle of Mentana

An officer of the Pontifical Zouaves defends Congo Catholics and defeats the Arab slave traders

Queen Maria Theresa of Naples dies in the rescue of cholera-stricken Albano

General Juchault de Lamoricière: “Christianity is…the animating principle of civilization”

The Virgin Mary appears to General Gaston de Sonis after his army’s losses at Patay promising that France will survive

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September 12 – Simon de Montfort Crushes the Albigensians at Muret

September 10, 2026

Simon IV de Montfort

At the Battle of Muret on 12 September 1213 the Crusading army of Simon IV de Montfort defeated the Catharist, Aragonese and Catalan forces of Peter II of Aragon, at Muret near Toulouse.

Simon IV de Montfort was the leader of the Albigensian Crusade to destroy the Cathar heresy and incidentally to join the Languedoc to the crown of France. He invaded Toulouse and exiled its count, Raymond VI. Count Raymond sought assistance from his brother-in-law, King Peter II of Aragon, who felt threatened by Montfort’s conquests in Languedoc. He decided to cross the Pyrenees and deal with Montfort at Muret.

Battle of Muret

On 10 September, Peter’s army arrived at Muret, and was joined by a Toulousain militia. He chose to position his army so their right flank was protected by the Saudrune River, and the left protected by a marsh. He left the Toulousain militia to assault the walls of the city.

Simon de Montfort led an army of 870 French Crusaders, along with a small contingent of knights brought by his ally, the viscount of Corbeil. Simon de Montfort’s 870 mailed cavalry included 270 knights, making the small force of exceptional quality. King Peter of Aragon had brought 800 to 1,000 Aragonese cavalry, joined by a militia from Toulouse and armies brought by the counts of Comminges and Foix. King Peter of Aragon’s combined forces possibly numbered 4000 cavalry, with thirty to forty thousand infantry.

Montfort divided his army into three squadrons, and then led them across the Garonne to meet the Aragonese forces. Peter’s ally and brother-in-law, Count Raymond, advised a defensive posture in order to weaken the advancing enemy with bowshot and javelins. Peter rejected this suggestion as unknightly and dishonorable. King Peter rode to the front line, forsaking his royal armour for the plain armour of a common soldier. His army was disorderly and confused. When Montfort’s first squadron charged the field, the Aragonese cavalry was crushed and Peter himself was unhorsed. He cried out, “I am the king!” but was killed regardless. With the realization that their king had been killed, the Aragonese forces broke in panic and fled, pursued by Montfort’s Crusaders.

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September 12 – The Holy Name of the Virgin Mary; in thanksgiving for the victory over the Turks at Vienna

September 10, 2026

The Festival of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary

Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the universal Church as a solemn thanksgiving for the relief of Vienna, when it was besieged by the Turks in 1683.

The Turks had formerly laid siege to Vienna, under Solyman the Magnificent, in 1529, in the reign of Charles V. But after losing sixty thousand men, and lying a month before the place, without making any considerable advances against it, they raised the siege.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

The danger was much more formidable when those infidels made a second attempt upon this bulwark of Germany, in the reign of the Emperor Leopold. Great part of Hungary having taken up arms against that prince, the revolted cities were reduced to his obedience, and the ringleaders, the Counts Nadasti and Serini, with Christopher Frangipani, were beheaded in 1671. Count Serini had in view to make himself sovereign of Hungary, and his son-in-law, Prince Ragotzi of Transylvania. The flame of this rebellion was only covered, not extinguished, by these executions; it soon broke out again, and Emeric, count Tekeli, who had married Ragotzi’s daughter, at the head of thirty thousand good troops, carried all before him; and the better to stand his ground, invited the Turks into Hungary, Cara Mustapha being then Grand Vizier under Sultan Mahomet IV. The opportunity was embraced by the infidels; and on the 2nd of January, 1683, the fatal horse-tails, the usual ensigns of an ensuing war, were seen upon the gates of the seraglio at Adrianople, and the whole Ottoman empire was in motion, to carry fire and sword into the bosom of the German empire.

Kara Mustafa Pasha

The vizier with great expedition marched through Hungary at the head of a mighty army, meeting with no opposition till he came to Raab or Javarin, a small strong town in Lower Hungary, on his road towards Vienna. This place he despised, and leaving it behind him, in the month of July, came within sight of the capital of Austria. At the view of the fire kindled in the camp of the Tartars on both sides of the Danube, the emperor, in the utmost consternation, yielding to the earnest entreaties of his generals, quitted Vienna with his empress, who was six months gone with child, and retreated with the greatest precipitation, without carrying with him either furniture, money, or jewels. The court narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Tartars; the emperor retired first to Lintz, and finding himself not safe there, fled with equal precipitation to Passaw. In this flight the empress and her ladies were obliged to pass a whole night in a forest, where nothing but a truss of straw could be procured, and this not without difficulty, to lay Her Majesty upon. Tekeli joined the Turkish army with forty thousand men, and was master of Buda, and almost all Hungary.

Why Croissants are baked in the form of a crescent

September 10, 2026

Painting of John III Sobieski by Daniel Schultz

In 1683 the Turks invaded Hungary, and, completely overrunning the country, reached Vienna, to which they laid siege, for the second time in its history. Incidentally, they nearly succeeded in capturing it. During the siege, bakers’ apprentices were at work one night in underground bakehouses, preparing the bread for next day’s consumption. The lads heard a rhythmic “thump, thump, thump,” and were much puzzled by it. Two of the apprentices, guessed that the Turks were driving a mine, and ran off to the Commandant of Vienna with their news. They told the principal engineer officer of their discovery, accompanied them back to the underground bakehouse, and determined that the boys were right. Having got the direction from the sound, the Austrians drove a second tunnel, and exploded a powerful counter-mine. Great numbers of Turks were killed, and the siege was temporarily raised.

King John III Sobieski sending a message of Victory to the Pope after the Battle of Vienna, painting by Jan Matejko.

On September 12, 1683, John Sobieski, King of Poland, utterly routed the Turks, drove them back into their own country, and Vienna was saved. As a reward for the intelligence shown by the baker-boys, there were granted the privilege of making and selling a rich kind of roll in the shape of the Turkish emblem, the crescent. These rolls became enormously popular amongst the Viennese, who called them Kipfeln. When Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI of France, she missed her Kipfel, and sent to Vienna for an Austrian baker to teach his Paris confreres the art of making them. These rolls, which retained their original shape, became as popular in Paris as they had been in Vienna, and were known as Croissants, and that is the reason why one of the rolls which are brought you with your morning coffee in Paris will be baked in the form of a crescent.

Click here for a recipe

The Vanished Pomps of Yesterday, by Lord Frederic Hamilton. (Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., Garden City: 1934) Pg. 56-57.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 661

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The Crusading Bagel

September 10, 2026

Several nations claim the bagel as their own, but none of the accounts on the origins of this tasty roll are as epic as the Polish.

The Poles tell us that the bagel was invented by a grateful Jewish baker in a rescued and half-destroyed Vienna. He wanted to honor King John Sobieski of Poland and his crushing victory over the Turks outside the city walls. On September 12, 1683, at about 5pm, the Polish king and his 16-year old son charged down the slopes of the Kahlen Berg (bare hill) above Vienna at the head of 18,000 horsemen, 3,000 of which were the legendary “winged hussars.”

Turkish war tents turned into Mass vestments after 1683 victory in Vienna

September 10, 2026

The spoils of war from King Jan Sobieski’s great victory on September 12, 1683, against the 150,000 Muslim Turks outside Vienna were immense, but perhaps none received a better fate than the war tents. They were brought back to Poland, where loving and pious hands turned some of them into rich Mass vestments, as can […]

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September 13 – He had a mouth of gold

September 10, 2026

St. John Chrysostom (Chrysostomos, “golden-mouthed” so called on account of his eloquence). Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, c. 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, 407. John — whose surname “Chrysostom” occurs for the first time in the “Constitution” of Pope Vigilius (cf. P.L., LX, 217) in the year 553 — is […]

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Hereditary Transmission of Qualities and Merit as Family Patrimony

September 7, 2026

As we have seen, the hereditary transmission of status through the family has been studied and verified by many sociologists. In addition to status, qualities can also be transmitted by the family. Each generation transmits to the next its moral and cultural values. This transmission of qualities within a family throughout generations is affirmed by […]

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September 7 – Milkos Zrinyi

September 7, 2026

Milkos Zrinyi Count, a Hungarian soldier, born in 1518, killed at Sziget, near the Brave, Sept. 7, 1566. When only 12 years old, Charles V. gave him a gold chain for his conduct during the siege of Vienna. He afterward became ban of Croatia, and at the siege of Sziget with 8,000 men he resisted […]

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September 7 – The Outrage of Anagni

September 7, 2026

It had been the practice to speak of the spiritual and temporal powers in terms of pope and emperor, and it was long before it was realized, at least on the papal side, that the civil power, defeated as emperor, had returned to the attack with more aggressive vigour as the Monarchy and the State. […]

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September 7 – Grandson of Queen St. Clotilda

September 7, 2026

St. Cloud, Confessor A.D. 560. St. Cloud, called in Latin Chlodoardus, is the first and most illustrious saint among the princes of the royal family of the first race in France. He was son of Chlodomir, king of Orleans, the eldest son of St. Clotilda, and was born in 522. He was scarcely three years […]

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Nobility of Blood Is a Powerful Stimulus for the Practice of Virtue

September 7, 2026

From the magnificent sermon of Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), Archbishop of Milan, on the feast of Our Lady, September 8, 1584: “The beginning of the Holy Gospel written by Saint Matthew, which was proclaimed to you from this place a short while ago by Holy Mother Church, inspires us above all to examine attentively the […]

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September 8 – He added the Agnus Dei to the Mass

September 7, 2026

Pope St. Sergius I (Reigned 687-701), date of birth unknown; consecrated probably on 15 Dec., 687; died 8 Sept., 701. While Pope Conon lay dying, the archdeacon Pascal offered the exarch a large sum to bring about his election as his successor. Through the exarch’s influence the archdeacon was accordingly elected by a number of […]

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September 8 – The Blessed Virgin Mary descended from King David

September 7, 2026

As we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us recall her Davidic ancestry. St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, “because he was of the house and family of David”. As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist […]

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September 9 – Wife of a dissolute husband

September 7, 2026

Blessed Seraphina Sforza Born at Urbino about 1434; died at Pesaro, 8 September, 1478. Her parents were Guido Antonio of Montefeltro, Count of Urbino, and Cattarina Colonna. She was brought up at Rome by her maternal uncle, Martin V. In 1448 Seraphina married Alexander Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. Ten years afterwards her husband gave himself […]

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September 9 – St. Omer

September 7, 2026

St. Omer Born of a distinguished family towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, at Guldendal, Switzerland; died c. 670. After the death of his mother, he, with his father, entered the monastery of Luxeuil in the Diocese of Besançon probably about 615. Under the direction of Saint Eustachius, […]

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‘The Good Maharaja’: How an Indian Prince Saved Hundreds of Polish Children During WWII

September 3, 2026

h/t: theepochtimes.com The Polish …children… were malnourished and disease-ridden as a result of their internment in Soviet camps. But while governments, bureaucrats, and agencies debated, disputed, and dragged their feet, one man had pity and took action. The Maharaja of Nawanagar, Digvijaysinhji, took matters into his own hands and, without waiting for British or Indian […]

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September 3 – Her Only Crime Was Her Attachment To The Queen

September 3, 2026

Amidst all the terrible scenes which occurred at these awful September massacres¹, none are so shocking as the murder of the Princess de Lamballe. Her sincere attachment to Marie Antoinette was her only crime. She had played no political part in the agitations of those times, and she was known to the people only by […]

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September 3 – St. Hereswitha

September 3, 2026

St. Hereswitha (HAERESVID, HERESWYDE). Daughter of Hereric and Beorhtswith and sister of St. Hilda of Whitby. She was the wife of Aethelhere, King of East Anglia, to whom she bore two sons, Aldwulf and Alfwold. By the “Liber Eliensis” she is stated to have been the wife of King Anna, the leder brother of King […]

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September 3 – All the principles of Catholicism can be found in his life

September 3, 2026

Pope St. Gregory I (“the Great”) Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604. Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church. To him we […]

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September 4 – Pope Saint Boniface I

September 3, 2026

Pope Saint Boniface I Elected 28 December, 418, he died at Rome, 4 September, 422. Little is known of his life antecedent to his election. The “Liber Pontificalis” calls him a Roman, and the son of the presbyter Jocundus. He is believed to have been ordained by Pope Damasus I (366-384) and to have served […]

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September 4 – She foretold the speedy death of the emperor

September 3, 2026

St. Rose of Viterbo (also Rosalia, and in Sicily affectionately nicknamed La Santuzza) Virgin, born at Viterbo, 1235; died 6 March, 1252. The chronology of her life must always remain uncertain, as the Acts of her canonization, the chief historical sources, record no dates. Those given above are accepted by the best authorities. Born of […]

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September 5 – The Iroquois clamoured for his return

September 3, 2026

Pierre de Lauzon A noted missionary of New France in the eighteenth century, born at Poitiers, 26 September, 1687; died at Quebec, 5 September, 1742. Though sometimes mentioned as Jean, in his official acts he invariably signed Pierre. He joined the Jesuits at Limoges, 24 November, 1703, and after ordination was sent to Canada in […]

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September 5 – Unashamed to beg alms even from his noble family

September 3, 2026

St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor, First Patriarch of Venice Bishop and first Patriarch of Venice, born in 1381, and died 8 January, 1456. He was a descendant of the Giustiniani, a Venetian patrician family which numbered several saints among its members. Lawrence’s pious mother sowed the seeds of a devout religious life in the […]

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September 6 – Blessed Thomas Tsuji

September 3, 2026

Born to the Japanese nobility in Sonogi on the island of Kyushu about the year 1571. Educated by Jesuits at Arima, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1587. He traveled all over Japan and became known for his eloquent, persuasive preaching. After the publication of an edict banning Catholic priests, he followed eighty of […]

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August 31 – Unborn

August 31, 2026

St. Raymond Nonnatus (Not-Born) (In Spanish SAN RAMON). Born 1200 or 1204 at Portello in the Diocese of Urgel in Catalonia; died at Cardona, 31 August, 1240. His feast is celebrated on 31 August. He is pictured in the habit of his order surrounded by ransomed slaves, with a padlock on his lips. He was […]

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September 1 – Gideon the Judge

August 31, 2026

Gideon or Gedeon (Hebrew “hewer”), also called JEROBAAL (Judges, vi, 32; vii, 1; etc.), and JERUBESHETH (II Kings, xi, 21, in the Hebrew text). Gideon was one of the Greater Judges of Israel. He belonged to the tribe of Manasses, and to the family of Abiezer (Judges, vi, 34). Gideon’s father was Joas, and lived […]

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September 1 – St. Giles

August 31, 2026

(Latin Ægidius.) An Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where […]

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September 2 – 3: The September Martyrs of the French Revolution, Blessed John du Lau and Companions

August 31, 2026

Martyrs of September (Also known as: Martyrs of Paris or Martyrs of Carmes) In 1790, the revolutionary government of France enacted a law denying Papal authority over the Church in France. The French clergy were required to swear an oath to uphold this law and submit to the Republic. Many priests and religious took the […]

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Commentaries on how Don Alonso Peres de Guzman sacrificed his own son rather than surrender to the Muslims

August 31, 2026

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In September 1292, Yacub Ben Yussuf, King of Morocco, took over the stronghold of Tarifa. Infant Dom João, brother of Sancho IV the brave, king of Castile and Leon, in fact made a pact with Yacub that enabled him to conquer Tarifa, defended by Alonso Perez de Guzman. Rather than surrender, […]

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How Marie Antoinette gave prestige to the potato – and a potato recipe from the French royal court

August 31, 2026

As already noted in a previous post, the potato was one of the plants brought to the Old World after Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas. While the potato is used extensively throughout Europe today–German average potato consumption is 150 lbs per person per year–in its first years, the potato struggled for acceptance. In France, wheat […]

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Sweden’s Royal Family Welcomes Ukrainian Children at the Royal Palace

August 27, 2026

h/t: newmyroyals.com For two weeks, children from Ukraine who have been injured in the war have been visiting Sweden for rest and recuperation. On August 25, 2026, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Madeleine welcomed the children to a cake party at the Royal Palace. The children, aged between 10 and 18, have all […]

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Work As Diversion and Work As Heroism

August 27, 2026

Completely relaxed physiognomies. Smiles on every face. Appearances that express a high degree of physical and psychological well-being. Their subdued, solid-colored clothing reinforces this impression. And what are these young people doing? If they were all gathered for tea around a table in a ‘cozy’ salon, their way of being would be no different. But […]

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August 27 – “Conform I would not, for it was against my conscience”

August 27, 2026

Saint David Lewis, alias Charles Baker (Recté, according to his own entry in the English College David Henry Lewis). An English Jesuit martyr, born in Monmouthshire in 1616; died at Usk, 27 August, 1679. His father, Morgan Lewis, was a lax Catholic, afterwards converted; his mother, Margaret Pritchard, was a very devout Catholic. David was […]

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August 27 – Never underestimate the prayers of a mother

August 27, 2026

St. Monica Widow; born of Christian parents at Tagaste, North Africa, in 333; died at Ostia, near Rome, in 387. We are told but little of her childhood. She was married early in life to Patritius who held an official position in Tagaste. He was a pagan, though like so many at that period, his […]

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August 28 – Restless Heart

August 27, 2026

St. Augustine of Hippo The great St. Augustine’s life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the “Confessions,” which relate the touching story of his soul, the “Retractations,” which give the history of his mind, and the […]

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August 29 – Passion of St. John the Baptist

August 27, 2026

Part of the Baptist’s ministry was exercised in Perea: Ennon, another scene of his labours, was within the borders of Galilee; both Perea and Galilee made up the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. This prince, a son worthy of his father Herod the Great, had married, likely for political reasons, the daughter of Aretas, king of […]

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August 29 – At the helm during the French Revolution

August 27, 2026

Pope Pius VI (GIOVANNI ANGELICO BRASCHI). Born at Cesena, 27 December, 1717; elected 15 February, 1775; died at Valence, France, 29 Aug., 1799. He was of a noble but impoverished family, and was educated at the Jesuit College of Cesena and studied law at Ferrara. After a diplomatic mission to Naples, he was appointed papal […]

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August 30 – Saved by the cross

August 27, 2026

Blessed Bronislava (or Bronislawa) of Poland Born in 1230 to an important Polish family, her grandfather had founded the Premonstratensian monastery at Zwierzyniec near Cracow where Bronislava’s aunt Gertrude had entered, later becoming prioress at Imbramowice. Bronislava was also a cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth and related to Saint Jacek and Blessed Czeslaw. Bronislava entered the convent at Zwierzyniec at the […]

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August 30 – She smuggled a priest out of prison

August 27, 2026

Saint Margaret Ward Martyr, born at Congleton, Cheshire; executed at Tyburn, London, 30 Aug., 1588. Nothing is known of her early life except that she was of good family and for a time dwelt in the house of a lady of distinction named Whitall then residing in London. Knowing that William Watson, the priest who […]

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August 24 – Chancellor of the court

August 24, 2026

St. Ouen (OWEN; DADON, Latin Audaenus). Archbishop of Rouen, b. at Sancy, near Soissons about 609; d. at Clichy-la-Garenne, near Paris, 24 Aug., 683. His father, Autharius, and his mother, Aiga, belonged to the Gallo-Roman race. Shortly after Ouen’s birth they came to Ussy-sur-Marne, where he spent his childhood, with which tradition connects a series […]

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August 24 – St. María Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament

August 24, 2026

Micaela Desmaisières López de Dicastillo was born in 1809 in Madrid during the War of Independence to Miguel Desmaisières Flores and Bernarda López de Dicastillo Olmeda; her brother was Diego (1806-55). Her father was a high-ranking officer in the armed forces and her mother was an attendant to Queen Maria Luisa de Parma. Her mother […]

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August 24 – Saint Bartholomew’s Day: the real story

August 24, 2026

Saint Bartholomew’s Day This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes. The first point argued was whether or not the massacre had been […]

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August 24 – St. Emilie De Vialar

August 24, 2026

Every child comes into the world with the message that God still loves the world. Emilie De Vialar, Saint and Foundress, was born on September 12, 1797 in a family of noble descent. Her father, Antoine Auguste Jacques, was the son of a renowned High Court Judge. Her mother, Antoinette Emilie de Portal, was the […]

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The True Friends of the People Are Traditionalists

August 24, 2026

The True Friends of the People Are Traditionalists From the apostolic letter Notre charge apostolique, August 25, 1910, of Saint Pius X: Let not the priests be led astray in the maze of contemporary opinions, in the mirage of a false democracy. Let them not borrow from the rhetoric of the worst enemies of […]

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St. Catherine of Genoa

St. Nicholas of Tolentino

St. Finnian of Moville

St. Edward Ambrose Barlow

Blessed Charles Spinola

Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière

The King of Italy sends an ultimatum to Blessed Pope Pius IX

The Festival of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary

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