From royalcentral.co.uk

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance is a new exhibition opening at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace on Friday, 11 April.  The exhibition includes the Dagmar Necklace, one of Alexandra’s 1863 wedding gifts. Her father, King Frederik VII of Denmark, gave his daughter the necklace when she married the Prince of Wales.

The cross is a replica of a twelfth century cross that was buried in 1212 with Queen Dagmar, and reportedly the cross on the necklace has a fragment of wood from the True Cross, as well as a scrape of silk from King Canute’s grave.

From royalcentral.co.uk

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Margherita of Savoy-Genoa, queen of Italy

Margherita of Savoy-Genoa, Queen Consort of Italy

Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, was born in Turin, on November 20, 1851. On April 21, 1868, when just sixteen years old, she married her first cousin, Umberto, Crown Prince of Italy.
Pizza Margherita was named after her. This is how it happened…

In June 1898, Margherita accompanied her husband, now Umberto I, King of Italy, on a visit to Naples. While there, Raffaele Esposito and Maria Giovanni Brandi, owners of Pizzeria Brandi, a very old pizzeria close to the Royal Palace, were officially invited to come to Court.

One of the rooms inside the Royal Palace. Naples, Italy. Photo by Armando Mancini

One of the rooms inside the Royal Palace. Naples, Italy. Photo by Armando Mancini

Raffaele prepared three pizzas for this unforgettable moment in their family history. The first was a white pizza, with olive oil, cheese and basil and no tomato sauce. The second was topped with cecenielle (a small fish).
It was the third one however, that caught the Queen’s eye, with its blending of red, white, and green, using tomato slices, mozzarella, and basil. Queen Margherita enjoyed it immensely and Raffaele immediately named it Pizza Margherita in her honor.

The next day, the Queen had one of her officials send a thank you note to express her appreciation.

 

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Stephen Theodore Badin

The first Catholic priest ordained within the limits of the original thirteen States of the Union, pioneer missionary of Kentucky, b. at Orléans, France, 17 July, 1768; d. at Cincinnati, Ohio, 21 April, 1853. Educated at Montaigu College, Paris, he entered the Sulpician Seminary of his native city in 1789. He was subdeacon when the seminary was closed by the revolutionary government, in 1791, and sailed from Bordeaux for the American mission in November of the same year, with the Revs. B.J. Flaget and J.B. David, both destined in God’s providence to wear the mitre in Kentucky. They arrived in Philadelphia on the 26th of March, 1792, and were welcomed at Baltimore by Bishop Carroll on the 28th. Stephen T. Badin pursued his theological studies with the Sulpicians and was ordained a priest by Bishop Carroll, 25 May, 1793. His was the first ordination in the United States. After a few months spent at Georgetown to perfect himself in English, Father Badin was appointed to the Mission of Kentucky. He left for that scene of his apostolic labours with Father Barrières, 3 September, 1793, travelled on foot as far as Pittsburgh, and by flat boat down the Ohio, landing at Limestone (Maysville), Ky., where they found twenty Catholic families. They walked sixty-five miles to Lexington, and on the first Sunday of Advent, 1793, Father Badin said his first Mass in Kentucky at the house of Denis McCarthy.

He settled at White Sulphur, Scott County, sixteen miles from Lexington, and for about eighteen months attended this church and neighbouring missions. In April, 1794, his companion, who resided in Bardstown, left for New Orleans, and Father Badin was now alone in the Kentucky mission. For fourteen years he attended to the spiritual wants of the various Catholic settlements, scattered over an extent of more than 120 miles, forming new congregations, building churches, never missing an appointment. To visit his missions regularly he had to live in the saddle, and it is estimated that he rode more than 100,000 miles during his ministry in Kentucky. For many years he was unaided and alone; it was only in July, 1806, that he received permanent help, when the Rev. Charles Nerinckx came to take the larger part of the burden from his shoulders. They lived together at St. Stephen’s, on Pottingers Creek, which was still their headquarters on the arrival, in 1811, of Bishop Flaget, whom Father Badin had suggested and urged as first Bishop of Bardstown. Difficulties about the holding of church property soon arose between the bishop and Father Badin, without, however, interfering with the reverence of the latter for the bishop and the bishop’s friendship for him. Together they went to Baltimore in 1812 to submit the controversy to Archbishop Carroll. It was not settled. They returned to Kentucky in April, 1813, and Father Badin resumed his missionary duties and accompanied his bishop on many pastoral journeys, until 1819. The Rev. J. B. David had been appointed coadjutor in 1817, but persistently refused to accept the honour. Father Badin, believing that this selection would put an end to the controversy about church property, and be for the good of the diocese of which he was the founder, left for France in the spring of 1819. The consecration of Bishop David in September of that year, and unjust suspicions about his disposition of church properties caused him to remain abroad. In 1820 he accepted the parish of Millaney and Marreilly-en-Gault, about forty miles from Orléans. He continued, however, to take the greatest interest in the Kentucky missions, insisted on his loyalty to Bishop Flaget, and helped constantly and generously to secure gifts in money and valuable church-furniture for the missionaries. In 1822 he published in Paris, a “Statement of the Missions in Kentucky”, with the same purpose in view.

Father Badin returned to America in 1828. After a year on the Michigan mission, he went back to Kentucky in 1829. The next year he offered his services to Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati, and took charge of the Pottawottomie Indians at St. Joseph’s River. Miss Campau of Detroit, an expert Indian linguist, acted as interpreter and teacher, until Father Badin left the place in 1836. Having returned to Cincinnati in that year, he wrote for the “Catholic Telegraph” a series of controversial “Letters to an Episcopalian Friend”. In 1837 he went to Bardstown, Ky., was appointed vicar-general, and continued to visit the various missions. In 1841 he removed to Louisville with the bishop’s household. In that year he conveyed a great deal of church property (notably that of Portland, near Louisville) to the bishop, and a farm to the Very Rev. E. Sorin of Notre Dame, Indiana.

On the 25th of May, 1843, Father Badin celebrated the golden jubilee of his priesthood, at Lexington, where he had offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the first time in Kentucky. In September, 1846, he accepted from Bishop Quarter of Chicago the pastorship of the French settlement at Bourbonnais Grove, Kankakee County, Illinois. In the winter of 1848 he was again in Kentucky, and Bishop-Coadjutor Spalding welcomed him to the episcopal household. About two years later he became the guest of Archbishop Purcell at Cincinnati, and eventually died at the archbishop’s residence. His body lay undisturbed in the cathedral crypt for over fifty years. In 1904 Archbishop Elder permitted its removal to the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Father Badin‘s writings are: “Etat des missions du Kentucky” (Paris, 1822), tr. in the “U.S. Cath. Miscellany” for December, 1824, and in the “Catholic World”, September, 1875; “Carmen Sacrum”, a Latin poem composed on the arrival of Bishop Flaget in Kentucky, June, 1811, translated into English by Colonel Theodore O’Hara of Frankfort, Ky., author of the “Bivouac of the Dead”; “Epicedium”, Latin poem composed on the occasion of the death of Col. Joe Davis at the Battle of Tippecanoe, 7 November, 1811, translated by Doctor Michell of New York (Louisville, 1844); “Sanctissimæ Trinitatis Laudes et Invocatio” (Louisville, 1843), also the original text and tr. in Webb’s “The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky” (Louisville, 1844); “Letters to an Episcopalian Friend”—-three controversial articles on the Church and the Eucharist (published in the “Catholic Telegraph” of Cincinnati, 1836).

SPALDING, Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky (Louisville, 1844); IDEM, Life of Bishop Flaget (Louisville, 1852); Life of Rev. Chas. Nerinckx (Cincinnati, 1880); WEBB, Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky (Louisville, 1884).

CAMILLUS P. MAES (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Garcia de Loaisa

Cardinal and Archbishop of Seville, b. in Talavera, Spain, c. 1479; d. at Madrid, 21 April, 1546. His parents were nobles; at a very early age he entered the Dominican convent at Salamanca. Its severe discipline, however, affected his delicate constitution and he was transferred to the convent of St. Paul in Peñafiel where he was professed in 1495. On the completion of his studies in Alcala, and later at St. Gregory’s College, Valladolid, he taught philosophy and theology. About the same time he was appointed regent of studies and for two terms filled the office of rector in St. Gregory’s College. In 1518 he represented his province at the general chapter held at Rome where his accomplishments, his sound judgment, and piety secured for him by unanimous vote the generalship of the order in succession to Cardinal Cajetan. After visiting the Dominican houses in Sicily and other countries he returned to Spain. Here he made the acquaintance of King Charles V who, recognizing in him a man of more than ordinary ability, chose him for his confessor and later, with papal sanction, offered him the See of Osma, for which he was consecrated in 1524. Subsequently he held several offices of considerable political importance. In 1530 Clement VII created him cardinal and transferred him to the See of Siguenza. The following year he was made Archbishop of Seville, and Commissary-General of the Inquisition. G. Haine found, in the royal library at Simancas, Garcia’s letters to Charles V written in the years 1530-32. They contain information of the greatest importance for the history of the Reformation as well as for the religious and political history of Spain during that period. They manifest, moreover, the accomplishments of the author, the honour in which he was held and the unlimited confidence the emperor placed in him. His writings are limited to a few pastoral letters.

JOSEPH SCHROEDER (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Maelrubha

(MA-RUI, MOLROY, ERREW, SUMMARYRUFF, also SAGART-RUADH)


An abbot and martyr, founder of Abercrossan, b. 642; d. 21 April, 722. He was descended from Niall, King of Ireland, on the side of his father Elganach. His mother, Subtan, was a niece of St. Comgall the Great, of Bangor. St. Maelrubha was born in the county of Derry and was educated at Bangor. When he was in his thirtieth year he sailed from Ireland for Scotland, with a following of monks. For two years he travelled about, chiefly in Argyll, and founded about half-a dozen churches then settled at Abercrossan (Applecross), in the west of Ross. Here he built his chief church and monastery in the midst of the Pictish folk, and thence he set out on missionary journeys, westward to the islands Skye and Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shinn, Durness, and Farr. It was on this last journey that he was martyred by Danish vikings, probably at Teampull, about nine miles up Strath-Naver from Farr, where he had built a cell. He was buried close to the River Naver, not far from his cell, and his grave is still marked by “a rough cross-marked stone”. The tradition, in the “Aberdeen Breviary”, that he was killed at Urquhart and buried at Abercrossan is probably a mistake arising from a confusion of Gaelic place-names.

This error had been copied by several later hagiologists, as has also the same writers’ confusion of St. Maelrubha with St. Rufus of Capua. Maelrubha was, after St. Columba, perhaps the most popular saint of the north-west of Scotland. At least twenty-one churches are dedicated to him, and Dean Reeves enumerates about forty forms of his name. His death occurred on 21 April, and his feast has always been kept in Ireland on this day; but in Scotland (probably owing to the confusion with St. Rufus) it was kept on 27 August. On 5 July, 1898, Pope Leo XIII restored his feast for the Church in Scotland, to be kept on 27 August.

Annals of . . . the Four Masters, ed. O’DONOVAN (Dublin, 1856). ad ann, 671, 722: Annals of Ulster, ed, HENNESSY (Dublin, 1887), ad ann. 670, 672, 721; BARRET, Early Scottish Saints in Dublin Review XV (1899), 348-72; BARRET, Calendar of Scottish Saints (Fort Augustus, 1904), 64-7; Biotiotheca Hagiographica Latina. ed. BOLLANDISTS (Brussels, 1900), 771; CAMPBELL, St. Maelrubha in Scottish Historical Review, VI (1909), 442-3; FORBES, Kalendars of Scottish Saints Edinburgh, 1872), 382-4; GAMMACK in Dict. Christ. Biog., s. v. ; MITCHELL, On Various superstitions in the North-West Highlands and Islands in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, IV, 251, PINIUS, De sancto Maelrubio monacho et martyre in Acta SS., Aug., VI, 131-2; REEVES, Saint Maelrubha, his history and churches in Proceedings of the Antiquaries of Scotland, III, 258-96; SCOTT, St. Maelrubha in Scottish Historical Review VI (1909), 260-80.

LESLIE A. ST. L. TOKE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Anselm

St. AnselmArchbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church; born at Aosta a Burgundian town on the confines of Lombardy, died 21 April, 1109.

His father, Gundulf, was a Lombard who had become a citizen of Aosta, and his mother, Ermenberga, came of an old Burgundian family. Like many other saints, Anselm learnt the first lessons of piety from his mother, and at a very early age he was fired with the love of learning. In after life he still cherished the memories of childhood, and his biographer, Eadmer, has preserved some incidents which he had learnt from the saint’s own lips. The child had heard his mother speak of God, Who dwelt on high ruling all things. Living in the mountains, he thought that Heaven must be on their lofty summits. “And while he often revolved these matters in his mind, it chanced that one night he saw in a vision that he must go up to the summit of the mountain and hasten to the court of God, the great King. But before he began to ascend the mountain, he saw in the plain through which he had passed to its foot, women, who were the King’s handmaidens, reaping the corn; but they were doing this very negligently and slothfully. Then, grieving for their sloth, and rebuking them, he bethought him that he would accuse them before their Lord and King. Thereafter, having climbed the mountain he entered the royal court. There he found the King with only his cupbearer. For it seemed that, as it was now Autumn, the King had sent his household to gather the harvest. As the boy entered he was called by the Master, and drawing nigh he sat at his feet. Then with cheery kindliness he was asked who and whence he was and what he was seeking. To these questions he made answer as well as he knew. Then at the Master’s command some moist white bread was brought him by the cupbearer and he feasted thereon in his presence, wherefore when morning came and he brought to mind the things he had seen, as a simpler and innocent child he believed that he had truly been fed in heaven with the bread of the Lord, and this he publicly affirmed in the presence of others “. (Eadmer, Life of St. Anselm, I, i.) Eadmer adds that the boy was beloved by all and made rapid progress in learning. Before he was fifteen he sought admission to a monastery. But the abbot, fearing the father’s displeasure, refused him. The boy then made a strange prayer. He asked for an illness, thinking this would move the monks to yield to his wishes. The illness came but his admission to the monastery was still denied him. None the less he determined to gain his end at some future date. But ere long he was drawn away by the pleasures of youth and lost his first ardour and his love of learning. His love for his mother in some measure restrained him. But on her death it seemed that his anchor was lost, and he was at the mercy of the waves.

Death of St. Anselm's Mother, photo by Thesupermat.

Death of St. Anselm’s Mother, photo by Thesupermat.

At this time his father treated him with great harshness; so much so that he resolved to leave his home. Taking a single companion, he set out on foot to cross Mont Cenis. At one time he was fainting with hunger and was fain to refresh his strength with snow, when the servant found that some bread was still left in the baggage, and Anselm regained strength and continued the journey. After passing nearly three years in Burgundy and France, he came into Normandy and tarried for a while at Avranches before finding his home at the Abbey of Bec, then made illustrious by Lanfranc’s learning. Anselm profited so well by the lessons of this master that he became his most familiar disciple and shared in the work of teaching. After spending some time in this labour, he began to think that his toil would have more merit if he took the monastic habit. But at first he felt some reluctance to enter the Abbey of Bec, where he would be overshadowed by Lanfranc. After a time, however, he saw that it would profit him to remain where he would be surpassed by others. His father was now dead, having ended his days in the monastic habit, and Anselm had some thought of living on his patrimony and relieving the needy. The life of a hermit also presented itself to him as a third alternative. Anxious to act with prudence he first asked the advice of Lanfranc, who referred the matter to the Archbishop of Rouen.  This prelate decided in favour of the monastic life, and Anselm became a monk in the Abbey of Bec. This was in 1060. His life as a simple monk lasted for three years, for in 1063 Lanfranc was appointed Abbot of Caen, and Anselm was elected to succeed him as Prior. There is some doubt as to the date of this appointment. But Canon Poree points out that Anselm, writing at the time of his election as Archbishop (1093), says that he had then lived thirty three years in the monastic habit, three years as a monk without preferment, fifteen as prior, and fifteen as abbot (Letters of Anselm, III, vii). This is confirmed by an entry in the chronicle of the Abbey of Bec, which was compiled not later than 1136. Here it is recorded that Anselm died in 1109, in the forty-ninth year of his monastic life and the seventy sixth of his age, having been three years a simple monk; fifteen, prior; fifteen, abbot; and sixteen archbishop (Poree, Histoire de l’abbaye de Bec, III, 173).

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Ordination of Templar Jacques de Molay in 1265 at the Beaune commandery. Painted by Marius Granet

Templar Jacques de Molay becomes Grand Master in 1265 at the Beaune commandery. Painted by Marius Granet

On the instruction of the grand commander, the commander of the election and his companion chose two more brothers, and then those four together chose two others, and so on, until their number reached twelve “in honor the twelve Apostles.” Next, these twelve appointed a brother chaplain who “will take the place of Jesus Christ” among them. The college of electors thus assembled was necessarily made up of eight knights and four sergeants. Finally, after everyone had prayed together, and after a sermon from the grand commander, reminding them that in carrying out their office they should have “God alone before their eyes, nor seek any other thing save the honor and the benefit of the house and of the Holy Land,” the electors retired and agreed on the knight who should be elected. Then they came back to the chapter, and after having made all those present swear obedience to the master of the Temple, the commander of the election went and found the man who had been appointed and said to him, “We, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, have elected as our master and now choose you, Brother So-and-so;” then turning to the rest, he said: “Fair lords and brothers, give thanks to God, here is our master.” “And straightaway the brother chaplains are to intone Te Deum laudamus.”

Painting by François Marius Granet of The Chapter of the Order of the Templars held at Paris, April 22, 1147

Painting by François Marius Granet of The Chapter of the Order of the Templars held at Paris, April 22, 1147

That is the normal order of this ceremony…. All the same, this way of electing him, which seems complicated to us, corresponded to the customs obtaining elsewhere at that period. In a number of towns and cities, in fact, the duty of electing the mayor or consul was delegated to electors chosen in advance, with everyone else swearing to act in accordance with their decision.
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Régine Pernoud, The Templars, trans. Henry Taylor (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2009), 42-3.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 513

 

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By Patrick B. Craine – Associate Editor and Canadian Bureau Chief for LifeSiteNews.com

father-thomas-byles

Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told.

It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel.

A 42-year-old English convert, Fr. Byles was on his way to New York to offer the wedding Mass for his brother William. Reports suggest that he was reciting his breviary on the upper deck when the Titanic struck the iceberg in the twilight hours of Sunday, April 14th, 1912.

According to witnesses, as the ship went down the priest helped women and children get into the lifeboats, then heard confessions, gave absolution, and led passengers in reciting the Rosary.

Agnes McCoy, one of the survivors, says that as the great ship sank, Fr. Byles “stood on the deck with Catholics, Protestants and Jews kneeling around him.”

An Illustration Depicting Father Byles Bravely Facing Death As The Titanic Plunged Into The Depths Of The Atlantic Ocean.

An Illustration Depicting Father Byles Bravely Facing Death As The Titanic Plunged Into The Depths Of The Atlantic Ocean.

“Father Byles was saying the rosary and praying for the repose of the souls of those about to perish,” she told the New York Telegram on April 22, 1912, according to the website devoted to his memory, FatherByles.com.
In the words of the priest’s friend Fr. Patrick McKenna, “He twice refused the offer of a place in a boat, saying his duty was to stay on the ship while one soul wanted his ministrations.”

Nearly two weeks after the disaster, The Church Progress in St. Louis, Missouri wrote this moving tribute to the heroic priest:

In almost every line that has been written, and in every sentence that has been spoken, there stands boldly out above every other expression a picture of sublime heroism that will be copied into the pages of history. And well it may, for it is deserving of that honor.

fr-byles

But when it is, mention should be made of one whom pens and tongues have almost forgotten in their accounts of this awful sea tragedy. Among those who safely reached the land again no one seems to have been aware of his presence on the ship, but we may hope that many who meet him in a blissful eternity will praise God that Father Thomas Byles was there to administer absolution unto them.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 548

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Pedralvarez Cabral

(Pedro Alvarez.)

Lithograph of Pedro Álvares Cabral

Lithograph of Pedro Álvares Cabral

A celebrated Portugese navigator, generally called the discoverer of Brazil, born probably around 1460; date of death uncertain. Very little is known concerning the life of Cabral. He was the third son of Fernao Cabral, Governor of Beira and Belmonte, and Isabel de Gouvea, and married Isabel de Castro, the daughter of the distinguished Fernando de Noronha. He must have had an excellent training in navigation and large experience as a seaman, for King Emmanuel of Portugal considered him competent to continue the work of Vasco da Gama, and in the year 1500 placed him in command of a fleet which was to set sail for India. His commission was to establish permanent commercial relations and to introduce Christianity wherever he went, using force of arms when necessary to gain his point. The nature of the undertaking led rich Florentine merchants to contribute to the equipment of the ships, and priests to join the expedition. Among the captains of the fleet, which consisted of thirteen ships with 1,200 men, were Bartolomeu Diaz, Pero Vaz de Caminha, and Nicolao Coelho, the latter the companion of da Gama. Da Gama himself gave the directions necessary for the course of the voyage.

Pedro Álvares Cabral sees the land that would later be known as Brazil for the first time. Painting by Aurélio de Figueiredo.

Pedro Álvares Cabral sees the land that would later be known as Brazil for the first time. Painting by Aurélio de Figueiredo.

The fleet left Lisbon, 9 March, 1500, and following the course laid down, sought to avoid the calms of the coast of Guinea. On leaving the Cape Verde Islands, where Luis Pirez was forced by a storm to return to Lisbon, they sailed in a decidedly southwesterly direction. On 22 April a mountain was visible, to which the name of “Mt. Paschoal” was given; on the 23rd Coelho landed on the coast of Brazil, and on the 25th the entire fleet sailed into the harbor called “Porto Seguro”. Cabral perceived that the new country lay east of the line of demarcation made by Alexander VI, and at once sent Andreas Gonçalvez (according to other authorities Gaspar de Lemos) to Portugal with the important tidings.

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St. Adalbert of Bohemia

Born 939 of a noble Bohemian family; died 997.

Statue of St. Adalbert of Prague. Part of Wenceslas Monument on the Wenceslas Square in Prague. National Museum in the background.

Statue of St. Adalbert of Prague. Part of Wenceslas Monument on the Wenceslas Square in Prague. National Museum in the background.

He assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert (his name had been Wojtech), under whom he studied at Magdeburg. He became Bishop of Prague, whence he was obliged to flee on account of the enmity he had aroused by his efforts to reform the clergy of his diocese. He betook himself to Rome, and when released by Pope John XV from his episcopal obligations, withdrew to a monastery and occupied himself in the most humble duties of the house. Recalled by his people, who received him with great demonstrations of joy, he was nevertheless expelled a second time and returned to Rome.
SubscriptionThe people of Hungary were just then turning towards Christianity. Adalbert went among them as a missionary, and probably baptized King Geysa and his family, and King Stephen. He afterwards evangelized the Poles, and was made Archbishop of Gnesen. But he again relinquished his see, and set out to preach to the idolatrous inhabitants of what is now the Kingdom of Prussia. Success attended his efforts at first, but his imperious manner in commanding them to abandon paganism irritated them, and at the instigation of one of the pagan priests he was killed. This was in the year 997.

Silver coffin of St. Adalbert in Gniezno

Silver coffin of St. Adalbert in Gniezno

His feast is celebrated 23 April, and he is called the Apostle of Prussia. Boleslas I, Prince of Poland, is said to have ransomed his body for an equivalent weight of gold. He is thought to be the author of the war-song, “Boga-Rodzica”, which the Poles used to sing when going to battle.
T.J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Listen to the song of Boga-Rodzica with lyrics.

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St. George

Statue of St. George inside the City Hall, "Saló de Cent", Barcelona.

Statue of St. George inside the City Hall, “Saló de Cent”, Barcelona.

Martyr, patron of England, suffered at or near Lydda, also known as Diospolis, in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. According to the very careful investigation of the whole question recently instituted by Father Delehaye, the Bollandist, in the light of modern sources of information, the above statement sums up all that can safely be affirmed about St. George, despite his early cultus and preeminent renown both in East and West.
Saint George and the dragon

The best known form of the legend of St. George and the Dragon is that made popular by the “Legenda Aurea”, and translated into English by Caxton.

Fountain of Saint George and the Dragon, located at the "Pati dels Tarongers" (Orange trees courtyard) in the Palace of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona. By sculptor Frederic Galcerà Alabart (1926) Photo by Generalitat de Catalunya.

Fountain of Saint George and the Dragon, located at the “Pati dels Tarongers” (Orange trees courtyard) in the Palace of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona. By sculptor Frederic Galcerà Alabart (1926) Photo by Generalitat de Catalunya.

According to this, a terrible dragon had ravaged all the country round a city of Libya, called Selena, making its lair in a marshy swamp. Its breath caused pestilence whenever it approached the town, so the people gave the monster two sheep every day to satisfy its hunger, but, when the sheep failed, a human victim was necessary and lots were drawn to determine the victim. On one occasion the lot fell to the king’s little daughter. The king offered all his wealth to purchase a substitute, but the people had pledged themselves that no substitutes should be allowed, and so the maiden, dressed as a bride, was led to the marsh.  Subscription6.1 There St. George chanced to ride by, and asked the maiden what she did, but she bade him leave her lest he also might perish. The good knight stayed, however, and, when the dragon appeared, St. George, making the sign of the cross, bravely attacked it and transfixed it with his lance. Then asking the maiden for her girdle (an incident in the story which may possibly have something to do with St. George’s selection as patron of the Order of the Garter), he bound it round the neck of the monster, and thereupon the princess was able to lead it like a lamb. They then returned to the city, where St. George bade the people have no fear but only be baptized, after which he cut off the dragon’s head and the townsfolk were all converted. The king would have given George half his kingdom, but the saint replied that he must ride on, bidding the king meanwhile take good care of God’s churches, honor the clergy, and have pity on the poor. The earliest reference to any such episode in art is probably to be found in an old Roman tombstone at Conisborough in Yorkshire, considered to belong to the first half of the twelfth century. Here the princess is depicted as already in the dragon’s clutches, while an abbot stands by and blesses the rescuer.

St. George and the Dragon statuette was commissioned by Duke Wilhelm V. Duke Wilhelm’s son, Maximilian I, had the original ebony base replaced with the present sumptuous pedestal. The entire statuette consists of 2,291 diamonds, 406 rubies, and 209 pearls. At the base, the inscription in gold letters reads: “Maximilian, Count Palatine on the Rhine, Duke of the two Bavarias, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, dedicated this to the great martyr St. George, patron and protector of his house and family.” Well concealed by this lavish decoration is a tiny drawer containing a reliquary of St. George jeweled as elaborately as all the rest. This statue is housed in the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany. The tiny statuette is barely 20″ high from its base to the pearl on the knights helmet.

St. George and the Dragon statuette was commissioned by Duke Wilhelm V. Duke Wilhelm’s son, Maximilian I, had the original ebony base replaced with the present sumptuous pedestal. The entire statuette consists of 2,291 diamonds, 406 rubies, and 209 pearls. At the base, the inscription in gold letters reads: “Maximilian, Count Palatine on the Rhine, Duke of the two Bavarias, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, dedicated this to the great martyr St. George, patron and protector of his house and family.” Well concealed by this lavish decoration is a tiny drawer containing a reliquary of St. George jeweled as elaborately as all the rest. This statue is housed in the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany. The tiny statuette is barely 20″ high from its base to the pearl on the knights helmet.

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By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Conference on April 23th 1955 (*)

A monstrance which was at the National Eucharistic Congress of 1942 in São Paulo, Brazil. On display at the Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo.

Defining concepts:  “world” and “modern”

The theme I was asked to speak about —“The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World”— is rich in ideas. It contains four concepts, each of them important, but very unequal in precision and clarity.

For if it is true that the concept of the “Blessed Sacrament” is precise, if it is true that the concept of “apostolate” is precise, the concept of “world” is already less so, and the most problematic, the trickiest of all, is the concept of “modern.” What do we understand by world? And what should we understand by “modern” world?

The Gospel speaks of the “world.” Our Lord refused to pray for it, but the Apostles received the mission to preach the Gospel to all peoples, and this means to evangelize the whole world. What then does “world” mean?

In common usage, “world” means earth, the planet we live on; it means mankind; and it means a specific society of men in temporal society, which is distinguished, in this sense, from the Church. In another sense, it is a kind of “kingdom of darkness” of the devil. It is not temporal society per se, but evil, the evil of which Satan is the prince. In this sense, Satan is the prince of this world.

The modern world: What does the word “modern” mean? Historians and sociologists are giving a growing importance today to the study of words, even words of everyday usage which express states of soul, thoughts, and ideas. When the complete history of our stormy 20th century is written, a special chapter will have to be dedicated to the study of this seducing, viscous word “modern,” which has various and almost contradictory meanings.

 

First meaning: everything which pertains to today, both the “advanced” and the traditional

In one sense, “modern world” is the world of today, as distinguished from the world of yesterday. Thus, we can say that the modern world does not consist solely of modern things. For the entire past of mankind, to the degree in which it lives on today—and every era lives in part, from its past—forms part of the modern world. And at the same time we see some rays of the super-new and super-atomic era that loom on the horizon, we can contemplate faraway glimmers of the beginnings of civilization, which still shine, still exist, and still live.

The present instant, the modern instant, this instant in which I am speaking to you, is made up of heterogeneous elements, from reviviscences and permanencies to the most remote future —of course the remote future, since the future also makes up somehow the modern world. A man’s outlook on life is not only the panorama before immediately before him, but also the set of perspectives, projects, and possibilities he carries in his soul.

Coat of arms of Vatican City

And so we see the modern world with its many contradictory aspects. How many glorious things remain from this our past — which many consider as the opposite of the word “modern.” We retain, above all, something which is more than the past, more than the present, and more than the future, for it is divine: the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Modernity of the Church – Nearly 2,000 years old, the Church is an old institution. Yet it is the youthful and most promising of the institutions of the modern world. In this civilization, which appears to totter and to be headed to destruction, in this civilization where so much is dying and which nevertheless promises unending youth, stands the Catholic Church, modern in all times. The Church was modern when She was born from the Divine side of Our Lord Jesus Christ; She will be modern again when, in the last moments of history the powers of heaven are disturbed, and terrified man awaits looking up at the heavens for the coming of the Son of Man to judge them in power and majesty. Even then, the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church will still be the most perennial of institutions.

Modernity of traditional things – We can also call “modern” in this sense so many ceremonies and rituals that come to us from the past. Is today’s England not a modern England? Did this modern England not celebrate recently, with magnificent medieval ceremonial, the pomp and pageantry of its traditional monarchy, giving to the world an example of the veneration it has for its past? Even though the British royalty seems to come straight out of the illuminations of a medieval book, is it not modern? And, side by side with so much glory, so much beauty from the past, how much rubbish which, sad to say, still marks, still influences the world today. It is one of the characteristics of the modern world.

For example, is there anything that comes from a more remote past, is there anything that is closer to man’s pre-history than voodoo? Even though voodoo’s roots sink down to our pre-history—searching for voodoo’s roots, our eyes look over the ocean to Africa—nevertheless, who would dare deny that voodoo and superstitions that date back to our old colonial Brazil are things that from a certain perspective are modern? Just yesterday, returning to São Paulo—perhaps the most modern city in all of South America, the fastest-growing city in the world, a city of cement and sky-scrapers—I was pained seeing a voodoo scene late at night on a busy street corner, with candles burning, and some people waiting around for the results of their presumably ill-intentioned witchcraft. Is this not an aspect of the modern world? Thus, as can be seen, the word “modern” takes on different connotations, which makes it difficult to define.

To be continued

(*) See the original text in Portuguese: “Anais da Semana Eucarística de Campos – 17 a 24 de abril de 1955”, pp. 101 a 113, A EUCARISTIA E O APOSTOLADO NO MUNDO MODERNO, na Sessão Solene da Semana Eucarística de Campos (Rio de Janeiro).

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Lent passed, and Holy Week came. That year, the love of Christ inflamed the holy King’s heart more than ever. At times he would spend the whole night in contemplation of the sorrows that Our Lord suffered to redeem us; he slept so little that his nobles, worried, reached the point of telling him that he should take better care of himself and not endanger his health in that way. After all, his last illness was still quite recent.

St. Ferdinand III

The King let them talk, but when they had finished, he replied with a smile: “If I did not watch, how could you sleep in confidence?” And so he continued his long vigils.

The Thursday of the Last Supper dawned. It was the custom in the palace to give daily the same delicacies served at the royal table to all the poor who would appear, and Don Ferdinand would many times serve the meal personally and prepare their plates. This was done with such joy and gracefulness that he would win their hearts. But that Holy Thursday, upon entering the room where the poor waited, he called twelve, one by one, the oldest and most ragged of them all, and made them sit on a long wooden bench, which was close to the wall. Then he ordered a servant, “Gil, go and bring me a washtub with warm water and a towel, the cleanest and whitest you can find.”

The young man went to fetch what had been requested, racking his brain on the way trying to guess what the King wanted them for. The same perplexity was seen on the nobles’ faces. What was he going to do? Ferdinand in the meantime with a joyful countenance talked with the beggars, who were exaggerating with great detail their many sufferings.

King St. Ferdinand III of Castile, feeding the poor. Painting by Antonio Casanova y Estorach at the Museo del Prado.

Gil returned with the washtub and a clean, white towel. The King took off his mantle, his sword belt, and his outercoat; then stood up in his tunic; rolled his sleeves up to the elbow; and took the towel and placed it around his waist. He then took the washbowl and knelt in front of the first old man and began to wash with his royal hands, so clean and beautiful, those repulsive feet that had perhaps never seen any other water than that of the dirty puddles on the street.

The King’s action took all so unaware that the surprise left them speechless and paralyzed. When they recovered, many of them had tears of emotion in their eyes. The poor broke forth in blessings for the most humble King yet known to Christianity. But Ferdinand told them that what should truly astonish them was that God washed away our sins with His Blood. This he said with conviction from the bottom of his heart; in fact, he seemed hardly aware of what he was saying or that he was in his palace hall. For that moment, he forgot he was the King; the whole world had disappeared for him; only a Cenacle remained where His Lord and King Jesus Christ knelt before twelve poor sinners and washed their feet; he seemed to hear the words of that commandment of humble love: “Exemplum dedit vobis, ut et vos ita faciatis.”*

Sr. Maria del Carmen Fernández de Castro Cabeza, The Life of the Very Noble King of Castile and León, Saint Ferdinand III (Mount Kisco, NY: The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, 1987), 196-7.

* “He gave you the example, so go and do likewise.”

 

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 572

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Franz Josef

In 1850, Franz Joseph participated…as emperor in the second of the traditional Habsburg expressions of dynastic piety: the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony, part of the four-day court observance of Easter.

The master of the staff and the court prelates chose twelve poor elderly men, transported them to the Hofburg, and positioned them in the ceremonial hall on a raised dais. There, before an invited audience observing the scene from tribunes, the emperor served the men a symbolic meal and archdukes cleared the dishes.

The Emperor washing the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday

The Emperor washing the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday

As a priest read aloud in Latin the words of the New Testament (John 3:15), “And he began to wash the feet of the disciples,” Franz Joseph knelt and, without rising from his knees, washed the feet of the twelve old men in imitation of Christ.
Finally, the emperor placed a bag of twenty silver coins around the necks of each before the men were led away and returned to their homes in imperial coaches.

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Daniel L. Unowsky, The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism: Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria 1848-1916 (West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 2005), p. 29.

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by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

“If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” (John 4:20).

I dare say that most of us have meditated, though no doubt insufficiently, on the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through our contemplation we have acquired a sense of what He is like. Imagine, however, the indelible impression that would result were we to have the unmerited grace and inestimable joy of seeing our Savior face to face!

Our Lord SufferingThat beatific encounter might recall the sentiments our souls derive from viewing the most sublime sacred images that are the treasures of Christendom. Yet the reality would surely far surpass the God-given talent of the most inspired artist to capture with his brush or of the most gifted sculptor to immortalize with his chisel.

Let us contemplate Christ without literary embellishment or melodramatics. Let us consider the lines of His face, the expression of His eyes, the resonance of His voice, the elegance of His bearing, in sum, everything that could give us a better idea of His Person. In short, let us use our divine gift of reason to guide our inner vision with the light of truth so that we need not grope in the dark.

We shall begin by reflecting on this insight of Saint John: “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” The premise that underlies this question is that man was created not only to know, love, and serve God but to help his fellow man do the same. Since man is made in the image and likeness of God, it follows that by studying man we should come to a better understanding of our Creator. Of course, Our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely and, therefore, not principally a man. Being the God-Man, He is principally God. Nevertheless, He is a man in the full sense of the word and, therefore, by studying man we can come to a better understanding of Christ, the perfect Man. And as Our Lord reminds us, “He that seeth Me seeth the Father also” (John 14:9).

Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

Accordingly, we shall analyze man and from our research draw a few principles that will convey something of the adorable Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the process, we will see how our assessment corresponds with Holy Scripture. Thus our meditation is of a philosophical order tested by the Divine Word–a proper and logical approach to our mission.

The make-up of man

To analyze man’s moral and psychological physiognomy, we must take into account his manner of thinking, his moral quality, and his daily life. Reflecting on a man from these perspectives, we will be able to form an idea of his person.

To determine a man’s mode of thought, we must consider his profession, since men generally exercise a profession suited to their mentality. Indeed, the relationship between a man and his profession is akin to marriage.

Stained glass window of Anna and the High Priest with Our Lord. Photo taken at St Oswalds Church, Grasmere, England by john.purvis.

Stained glass window of Anna and the High Priest with Our Lord. Photo taken at St. Oswalds Church, Grasmere, England by john.purvis.

Before a man embarks on a career, he has the basic aptitude and qualities it requires. Later, through practicing his profession, these skills are developed and refined.Thus a soldier, a diplomat, a doctor, and a priest, in discharging the duties demanded by their calling, acquire characteristics that distinguish them from others of different vocations. By reflecting the characteristics of his profession, the practitioner becomes exceptional, so distinct, in fact, that by discovering his profession we can determine his cast of mind.

King to Victim

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… and on Holy Thursday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the most Serene Queen performed the ceremony of feet-washing, thus – Her Majesty being accompanied by the Right Reverend Legate and by the Council, entered a large hall, at the head of which was my Lord Bishop of Ely as Dean (come Decano) of the Queen’s chaplains, with the choristers of her Majesty’s chapel. Around this hall on either side there were seated on certain benches, with their feet on stools, many poor women, to the number of forty and one, such being the number of the years of the most Serene Queen. Then one of the menials of the Court having washed the right foot of each of these poor persons, and this function being also next performed by the Under Almoner, and also by the Grand Almoner, who is the Bishop of Chichester, her Majesty next commenced the ceremony in the following manner.

Queen Mary I

At the entrance of the hall there was a great number of the chief dames and noble ladies of the court, and they prepared themselves by putting on a long linen apron which reached the ground, and round their necks they placed a towel, the two ends of which remained pendant at full length on either side, each of them carrying a silver ewer, and they had flowers in their hands, the Queen also being arrayed in like manner. Her Majesty knelt down on both her knees before the first of the poor women, and taking in the left hand the woman’s right foot, she washed it with her own right hand, drying it very thoroughly with the towel which hung at her neck, and having signed it with the cross she kissed the foot so fervently that it seemed as if she were embracing something very previous. She did the like by all and each of the other poor women, one by one, each of the ladies her attendants giving her in turn their basin and ewer and towel, and I vow to you that in all her movements and gestures, and by her manner, she seemed to act thus not merely out of ceremony, but from great feeling, and devotion. Amongst these demonstrations there was this one remarkable, that in washing the feet she went the whole length of that long hall, from one end to the other, ever on her knees.

Queen Mary I painted by Hans Eworth

Having finished and risen on her feet, she went back to the head of the hall, and commenced giving in turn to each of the poor women a large wooden platter, with enough food for four persons, filled with great pieces of salted fish, and two large loaves, and thus she went a second time distributing these alms.
She next returned a third time, to begin again, giving to each of the women a wooden bowl filled with wine, or rather, I think hippocras; after which, for the fourth time, she returned and gave to each of those poor people a piece of cloth of royal mixture for clothing (un pezzo di panno mischio di reale per vestire).

Queen Mary I of England painting by Artist English School

Then returning for the fifth time she gave to each a pair of shoes and stockings; for the sixth time she gave to each a leathern purse, containing forty-one pennies, according to the number of her own years, and which in value may amount to rather more than half an Italian golden crown; finally, going back for the seventh time, she distributed all the aprons and towels which had been carried by those dames and noble ladies, in number forty-one, giving each with her own hand.

Painting of Queen Mary I by Antonis Mor

Her Majesty then quitted the hall to take off the gown which she had worn, and half an hour afterwards she returned, being preceded by an attendant carrying the said gown, and thus she went twice round the hall, examining very closely all the poor women one by one, and then returning for the third time, she gave the said gown to the one who was in fact the poorest and most aged of them all; and this gown was of the finest purple cloth, lined with martens’ fur, and with sleeves so long and wide that they reached the ground.
During this ceremony the choristers chanted the Miserere, with certain other psalms, reciting at each verse the words –
In diebus illis mulier quæ erat in civitate peccatrix.

Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating, to English Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice: and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, Vol. 6, Part 1, Pg. 434 – 435.

The above story of [Queen Mary I’s] Maundy of 1556 is given in part of a letter dated 3 May 1556. It was written by Marco Antonio Faitta, the Secretary to Cardinal Reginald Pole (then the Papal legate in England and, what was to be, its last Roman Catholic Primate), to Dr. Ippolite Chizzola, a Doctor of Divinity, in Venice.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 166

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King Philip II of Spain washed the feet of the poor every Holy Thursday. Painting by a follower of Alonso Sanchez Coello.

In February, he returned to Castile, arriving in time to observe Holy Week at San Lorenzo, and to wash the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday “with his usual great tenderness and humility.” On Good Friday he adored the wood of the True Cross and pardoned several men who had been condemned to death, bowing down to adore “the sacred wood where our Redemption was accomplished, and begging the King of Kings Who placed Himself there for our good, to pardon him his sins, as he forgave those deaths.” Then he confessed. On Easter Sunday he received Holy Communion with great devotion, and gained the plenary indulgence granted by Pope Gregory XIII. He then went back to Madrid to attend to his ordinary business.

 (…)

 

Maundy Thursday Royal washing of beggars feet

So Elizabeth continued, every Maundy Thursday, to wash the feet of beggars, as her sister had done. It was symbolic of that shriveling of the Catholic spirit under the outer husk of the new political Church of England that she disdained to touch the feet of the poor wretches until they had first been scrubbed with hot water and soap and well sprinkled with sweet-smelling herbs by yeomen of the laundry. Philip II continued to abase himself before the common human clay, as Christ had done. So long as Spain had kings, there would be such reminders of the unchanging truth of Christianity. The kings of England would end by not washing the feet at all, dolling out a few coins instead. It was only an imaginary Christianity, a travesty, that Elizabeth clung to, half-despisingly.


William Thomas Walsh, Philip II (Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp.  615, 295.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 165

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Queen Mary I praying before blessing the rings in the tray on her left. The illustration dates to her reign.

Queen Mary I praying before blessing the rings in the tray on her left. The illustration dates to her reign.

On [Good] Friday morning the offertory was performed according to custom in the Church of the Franciscan Friars, which is contiguous to the palace. After the Passion, the Queen came down from her oratory for the adoration of the Cross, accompanied by my lord the right reverend Legate, and kneeling at a short distance from the Cross moved towards It on her knees, praying before It thrice, and then she drew nigh and kissed It, performing this act with such devotion as greatly to edify all those who were present.

Her Majesty next gave her benediction to the rings, the mode of doing so being as follows: An inclosure (un riparo) was formed for her Majesty to the right of the high altar by means of four benches placed so as to form a square, into the center of which she again came down from her oratory, and placing herself on her knees within this inclosure, two large covered basins were brought to her, filled with rings of gold and silver, one of these basins containing rings of her own, whilst the other held those of private individuals (particolari), labelled with their owners’ names. On their being uncovered she commenced reciting a certain prayer and psalms, and then taking them in her two hands (pigliandoli a mano per mano), she passed them again and again from one hand to the other, saying another prayer, which commenced thus:—

Sanctifica, Domine, annulos istos.”

Credit: Science Museum, London – Metal ring, English, 1308-1558. Rings such as this one were traditionally blessed by the sovereign on Good Friday.

This being terminated, her Majesty went to bless the scrofulous, but she chose to perform this act privately in a gallery, where there were not above 20 persons; and an altar being raised there she knelt and recited the confession, on the conclusion of which her Majesty turned towards my Right Reverend Lord the Legate, who gave her absolution; whereupon a priest read from the Gospel according to St. Mark, and on his coming to the words— “Super ægros manus imponet et bene habebunt,” she caused one of those infirm women to be brought to her, and kneeling the whole time she commenced pressing, with her hands in the form of a cross, on the spot where the sore was, with such compassion and devotion as to be a marvel, and whilst she continued doing this to a man and to three women, the priest kept ever repeating these words:

Super ægros manus imponet et bene habebunt.”

Then on terminating the Gospel, after the words—

In principio erat verbum,”

and on coming to the following, namely,—

Erat lux vera quæ illuminat omnem hominem in hunc mundum,”

Queen Mary I pressing the coins to the sick.

Queen Mary I pressing the coins to the sick.

then the Queen made the sick people again approach her, and taking a golden coin called an angel, she touched the place where the evil showed itself, and signed it with this coin in the form of the cross; and having done this, she passed a ribbon through a hole which had been pierced in the coin, and placed one of these round the neck of each of the patients, making them promise never to part with that coin, which was hallowed, save in case of extreme need; and then, having washed her hands, the towel being presented to her by my Lord the Right Reverend the Legate, she returned to her oratory.

Having been present myself in person at all these ceremonies, her Majesty struck me as affording a great and rare example of goodness, performing all those acts with such humility and love of religion, offering up her prayers to God with so great devotion and affection, and enduring for so long a while and so patiently so much fatigue; and seeing thus, that the more her Majesty advances in the rule of this kingdom, so does she daily afford fresh and greater opportunities for commending her extreme piety, I dare assert that there never was a queen in Christendom of greater goodness than this one, whom I pray God long to save and prosper, for the glory of His Divine Honor, and for the edification and exaltation of His Holy Church, not less than for the consolation and salvation of the people of this island.

Queen Mary I

I will not omit telling you that on Holy Thursday alms were distributed here in the Court to a great amount, to upwards of 3,000 persons; and this reminds me that my Right Reverend Lord the Legate, having sent in advance to Canterbury to make great provision for his entry, which subsequently, for certain reasons, the Queen refused on any account to permit, his Right Reverend Lordship then caused all his provisions to be distributed amongst the poor, 2,000 of whom were reckoned, and these alms were taken to their houses; nor do I include herein the alms given to many other poor people, who had flocked to Canterbury from the neighborhood; all which causes the indigent population there (quel povero popolo) now to await his Right Reverend Lordship with greater anxiety than ever.

London, 3rd May 1556.

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Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating, to English Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice: and in Other Libraries of Northern Italy, Vol. 6, Part 1, Pg. 435 – 437.

The above story of [Queen Mary I’s] Good Friday of 1556 is given in part of a letter dated 3 May 1556. It was written by Marco Antonio Faitta, the Secretary to Cardinal Reginald Pole (then the Papal legate in England and, what was to be, its last Roman Catholic Primate), to Dr. Ippolite Chizzola, a Doctor of Divinity, in Venice.

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Baldwin the Second, Emperor of Constantinople, having come to France to solicit the king’s aid against the Greeks, who were besieging that imperial city, thought he would gain the heart of King Louis by making him a present of the Holy Crown of Thorns.

He was not mistaken: the king assisted with money and troops, and the precious relic was withdrawn from the hands of the Venetians, and was brought to France. S. Louis went to receive it, five leagues from Sens followed by his whole court and all his clergy; he accompanied it to Paris, with sentiments of compunction and humility, whereof his whole exterior presented sensible marks.

King St. Louis IX of France holding the Crown of Thorns. Statue outside Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Paris.

He himself bore the Holy Crown from the Church of S. Antoine-des-Champs, in one of the suburbs of Paris, to that of Notre Dame; it was afterwards deposited in the Chapel of S. Nicholas, attached to his palace. Having also received a fragment of the true cross, which the Venetians had obtained from the King of Jerusalem, he caused the Chapel of St. Nicholas to be taken down, and built in the same place as the Holy Chapel (la Sainte Chapelle). He there placed the pious relics of our Redeemer’s Passion, enshrined in gold and precious stones. Every year, on Good Friday, he went thither, clad in his royal robes, the crown on his head, and exposed with his own hands the True Cross to the veneration of the people.

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Stories From The Catechist by Very Rev. Canon G.E. Howe, Pg. 41-42 #140.

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Contemplating Christ in the Perfection of His Person – Part 2

April 17, 2025

Part 1 by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Man of Sorrows Just as a fruit exudes its sweetest nectar and displays its most beautiful color when it is ripe, so does Our Lord express His full grandeur in suffering. In suffering, we see human misery most clearly. Crushed by suffering, man groans, moans, cries, flees, weeps, […]

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Easter in Imperial Russia: the Royal Doors

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A king, a queen, and England’s Easter dilemma

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When Finan died, leaving Bishop Coman—like himself, Irish by birth and a monk of Iona—as his successor at Lindisfarne, the dispute became at once open and general. Wilfrid had succeeded in sowing agitation and uncertainty in all minds; and the Northumbrians had come so far as to ask themselves whether the religion which had been […]

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Sublime Civilizations

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The Jewel Fabergé Eggs – Video

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Video:   Nobility.org Editorial Comment: — Created in the years immediately preceding the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Fabergé eggs will always serve as a reminder of Russia’s imperial splendor and the bloody, egalitarian, and unnatural revolution that destroyed it.

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April 14 – She suffered for the moral corruption and decay of her time

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April 14 – St. Peter Gonzalez (aka St. Elmo)

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St. Peter Gonzalez Popularly known as St. Elmo, b. in 1190 at Astorga, Spain; d. 15 April, 1246, at Tuy. He was educated by his uncle, Bishop of Astorga, who gave him when very young a canonry. Later he entered the Dominican Order and became a renowned preacher; crowds gathered to hear him and numberless […]

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April 14 – Apostle of the Detroit Hurons

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Jean Baptiste Marchand Second principal in order of succession of the Sulpician College of Montreal and missionary of the Detroit Hurons at Sandwich, Ont.; b. at Verchères, Que., 25 Feb. 1760, son of Louis Marchand and Marguerite de Niverville; d. at Sandwich, 14 Apr., 1825. Marchand was ordained 11 March, 1786, affiliated to the Sulpician […]

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April 15 – The Notkers of St. Gall

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Notker.—Among the various monks of St. Gall who bore this name, the following are the most important: (1) Notker Balbulus (Stammerer), Blessed, monk and author, b. about 840, at Jonswil, canton of St. Gall (Switzerland); d. 912. Of a distinguished family, he received his education with Tuotilo, originator of tropes, at St. Gall’s, from Iso […]

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The nations will form new constellations

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As regards France, I am like a Jew in relation to the Chosen People. I love the Temple, I love the ruins of the Temple, and if these ruins were to turn to dust, I would love the dust that came from these ruins. I have the impression that France will continue to be key […]

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A Democratic Constitution Should Assume and Protect the Values of the Christian Faith, Without Which It Will Not Be Able to Survive

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[previous] In view of the peculiar circumstances of our day, it is opportune to quote a judicious analysis of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [Nobility.org: and presently, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI], in an interview to the newspaper El Mercurio of Santiago, Chile (June 12, 1988): […]

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Martyred in the name of Equality

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Just a few of the many martyrs during the French Revolution († 1792-1799) 16 April 1794 in Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire (France) Pierre Delépine layperson of the diocese of Angers born: 24 May 1732 in Marigné, Maine-et-Loire (France) Jean Ménard layperson of the diocese of Angers; married born: 16 November 1736 in Andigné, Maine-et-Loire (France) Renée Bourgeais […]

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“Whereas the interest in and tendency toward maximum productivity continue to be dominant and absolute, private property has ceased to be a projection of the individual, a kind of necessary support of his individuality in the world of things, to become – this is something Christians especially should keep in mind – a negative conditioner […]

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April 10 – Pope Gregory XIII

April 10, 2025

Pope Gregory XIII (UGO BUONCOMPAGNI). Born at Bologna, 7 Jan., 1502; died at Rome, 10 April, 1585. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Bologna, from which he was graduated at an early age as doctor of canon and of civil law. Later, he taught jurisprudence at the same university, and had among his pupils […]

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April 11 – St. Guthlac

April 10, 2025

St. Guthlac Hermit; born about 673; died at Croyland, England, 11 April, 714. Our authority for the life of St. Guthlac is the monk Felix (of what monastery is not known), who in his dedication of the “Life” to King Æthelbald, Guthlac’s friend, assures him that whatever he has written, he had derived immediately from […]

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April 11 – James Burns, of Burns and Oates

April 10, 2025

James Burns Publisher and author, b. near Montrose, Forfarshire, Scotland, 1808; d. in London, 11 April, 1871. During the last half of the nineteenth century his work in the cause of Catholic literature and Catholic church music contributed much to the rapid advancement of the Church in Great Britain and to the many conversions that […]

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April 11 – His donations helped build the first California missions

April 10, 2025

Juan Caballero y Ocio Born at Querétaro, Mexico, 4 May, 1644; died there 11 April, 1707. A priest remarkable for lavish gifts to the Church and for charity. While still a layman he was a mayor of his native city. After taking Holy Orders he held several high offices. He gave large sums of money […]

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April 12 – Pope St. Julius I

April 10, 2025

(337-352) The immediate successor of Pope Silvester, Arcus, ruled the Roman Church for only a very short period – from 18 January to 7 October, 336 – and after his death the papal chair remained vacant for four months. What occasioned this comparatively long vacancy is unknown. On 6 February, 337, Julius, son of Rustics […]

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April 12 – St. Teresa of the Andes

April 10, 2025

Saint Teresa of the Andes, O.C.D. (July 13, 1900 – April 12, 1920), also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Spanish: Teresa de Jesús de los Andes), was a Chilean nun of the Discalced Carmelite order. She was born Juana Enriqueta Josefina de los Sagrados Corazones Fernández y Solar in Santiago, Chile […]

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April 13 – Two English Martyrs

April 10, 2025

Blessed John Lockwood Priest and martyr, born about 1555; died at York, 13 April, 1642. He was the eldest son of Christopher Lockwood, of Sowerby, Yorkshire, by Clare, eldest daughter of Christopher Lascelles, of Sowerby and Brackenborough Castle, Yorkshire. With the second son, Francis, he arrived at Reims on 4 November, 1579, and was at […]

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April 13 – Paulus Diaconus

April 10, 2025

Paulus Diaconus (also called Casinensis, Levita, and Warnefridi). Historian, born at Friuli about 720; died 13 April, probably 799. He was a descendant of a noble Lombard family, and it is not unlikely that he was educated at the craft of King Rachis at Pavia, under the direction of Flavianus the grammarian. In 763 we […]

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April 13 – Born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and dwarfed

April 10, 2025

Blessed Margaret of Castello (1287–1320) is the patroness of the poor, crippled, and the unwanted. She was born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and a dwarf, into a family of nobles in the castle of Metola, in southeast of Florence. As a child, her parents Parisio and Emilia imprisoned her for 14 years so no one […]

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April 7 – Father of Modern Pedagogy

April 7, 2025

St. John Baptist de la Salle Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, educational reformer, and father of modern pedagogy, was born at Reims, 30 April, 1651, and died at Saint-Yon, Rouen, on Good Friday, 7 April, 1719. The family of de la Salle traces its origin to Johan Salla, who, […]

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April 7 – St. Brenach

April 7, 2025

An Irish missionary in Wales, a contemporary of St. Patrick, and among the earliest of the Irish saints who laboured among the Celts of that country. About the year 418 he travelled to Rome and Brittany, and thence to Milford Haven. He erected various oratories near the rivers Cleddau, Gwain, and Caman, and at the […]

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April 7 – Ven. Edward Oldcorne and his servant

April 7, 2025

Ven. Edward Oldcorne Martyr, b. 1561; d. 1606. His father was a Protestant, and his mother a Catholic. He was educated as a doctor, but later decided to enter the priesthood, went to the English College at Reims, then to Rome, where, after ordination, in 1587, he became a Jesuit. Next year he returned to […]

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April 8 – Together with a noble who escaped the Terror, she founded the Sisters of Notre Dame

April 7, 2025

St. Julie Billiart (Also Julia). Foundress, and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, 1751, at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy, in the Diocese of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France; died 8 April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium. She was […]

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April 8 – Don Bosco’s Prince; nobility of blood joins nobility of spirit

April 7, 2025

Augusto Czartoryski was born on 2 August 1858 in Paris, France, the firstborn son to Prince Ladislaus of Poland and Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the Queen of Spain. The noble Czartoryski Family had been living in exile in France for almost 30 years, in the Lambert Palace. Here, with the hope of restoring unity […]

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April 9 – Mary of Cleophas

April 7, 2025

Mary of Cleophas This title occurs only in John, xix, 25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joseph ( Mark, xv, 40; cf. Matt., xxvii, 56). Some have indeed tried to identify […]

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April 9 – She persuaded her husband the Count to become a monk

April 7, 2025

St. Waudru She was daughter to the princess St. Bertille, elder sister to St. Aldegondes, and wife to Madelgaire, count of Hainault, and one of the principal lords of King Dagobert’s court. After bearing him two sons and two daughters, she induced him to embrace the monastic state at Haumont, near Maubeuge, taking the name […]

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April 3 – English Catholic exile

April 3, 2025

John Martiall (or MARSHALL) Born in Worcestershire 1534, died at Lille, 3 April, 1597. He was one of the six companions associated with Dr. Allen in the foundation of the English College at Douai in 1568. He received his education at Winchester (1545-49) and New College, Oxford (1549-56), at which latter place, after a residence […]

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April 3 – Last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England

April 3, 2025

Thomas Goldwell Bishop of St. Asaph, the last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England; b. probably at the family manor of Goldwell, in the parish of Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent, between 1501 and 1515; d. in Rome, 3 April, 1585. He was a member of a Kentish family of ancient lineage, long seated […]

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April 3 – Pope Honorius IV

April 3, 2025

Pope Honorius IV (Giacomo Savelli) Born at Rome about 1210; died at Rome, 3 April, 1287. He belonged to the rich and influential family of the Savelli and was a grandnephew of Honorius III. Very little is known of his life before he ascended the papal throne. He studied at the University of Paris, during […]

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April 4 – Patron Saint of Transitions

April 3, 2025

St. Isidore of Seville Born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560; died 4 April, 636. Isidore was the son of Severianus and Theodora. His elder brother Leander was his immediate predecessor in the Metropolitan See of Seville; whilst a younger brother St. Fulgentius presided over the Bishopric of Astigi. His sister Florentina was a nun, and […]

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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 3, 2025

St. Vincent Ferrer Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419. He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled […]

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April 5 – St. Æthelburh and the Rose Named After Her

April 3, 2025

Saint Æthelburh (died 647), also known as Ethelburga, Ædilburh and Æthelburga (Old English: Æþelburh), was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. As she was a Christian from Kent, their marriage triggered the initial phase of the conversion of the pagan north of England to Christianity. Æthelburh date of […]

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April 6 – Robert Aston Coffin

April 3, 2025

Robert Aston Coffin An ecclesiastical writer and bishop, b. at Brighton, England, 19 July, 1819; d. at Teignmouth, Devonshire, 6 April, 1885. He received his secondary education at Harrow and in 1837 went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree with honours in 1840. He then prepared himself for the ministry and, […]

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April 6 – Girolamo Francesco Tornielli

April 3, 2025

>Girolamo Francesco Tornielli Italian Jesuit, preacher and writer, b. at Cameri, 1 February, 1693, of a distinguished family from Novara; d. at Bologna, 6 April or 12 May, 1752. He entered the Society in 1710, and manifested oratorical powers; after teaching classics, he entered upon a career of preaching, which lasted for almost twenty years. […]

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April 6 – Persecuted by her own general superior

April 3, 2025

St. Juliana of Liège Nun, b. at Retinnes, near Liège, Belgium, 1193; d. at Fosses, 5 April, 1258. At the age of five she lost her parents and was placed in the convent of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège. She made rapid progress, and read with pleasure the writings of St. Augustine and St. Bernard. She also […]

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April 6 – The “Soul of St. Thomas”

April 3, 2025

John Capreolus A theologian, born towards the end of the fourteenth century, (about 1380), in the diocese of Rodez, France; died in that city 6 April, 1444. He has been called the “Prince of Thomists”, but only scanty details of his personal history are known. He was a Dominican affiliated to the province of Toulouse, […]

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The Era Of Technology and the “Douceur de Vivre”

March 31, 2025

People on the street in a city in our times. Photograph of group of everyday people who are waiting for permission to cross a street in Louisville, US. Groups like these ― people of both sexes of the most varied ages and social conditions, forming larger or smaller agglomerates, gather throughout the contemporary world to […]

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