Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

September 21 – Pope Conon

September 21, 2026

Pope Conon

Date of birth unknown; died, after a long illness, 21 September, 687.

The son, seemingly, of an officer in the Thracesian troop, he was educated in Sicily and ordained priest at Rome. His age, venerable appearance, and simple character caused the clergy and soldiery of Rome, who were in disagreement, to put aside their respective candidates and to elect him as pope. He was consecrated (21 October, 686) after notice of his election had been sent to the Exarch of Ravenna, or after it had been confirmed by him. He received the Irish missionaries, St. Kilian and his companions, consecrated Kilian bishop, and commissioned him and the others to preach the Faith in Franconia. (Vita S. Kiliani, in Canisius, Lect. Antiquæ, III, 175-180.) He was in favour with the savage Emperor Justinian II who informed him that he had recovered the Acts of the Sixth General Council, by which, he wrote, it was his intention to abide. Justinian also remitted certain taxes and dues owing to the imperial exchequer from several papal patrimonies.

Acta SS., 8 July, II, 612 sq.; DUCHESNE ed., Liber Pontificalis, I, 368 sq.; MANN, Lives of the Popes, I, pt. II, 72 sq.

Horace K. Mann (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 21 – Victim of intrigue

September 21, 2026

Gabriel Malagrida

A Jesuit missionary to Brazil, born 18 September or 6 December, 1689, at Menaggio, in Italy; died 21 September, 1761, at Lisbon. He entered the Jesuit order at Genoa in 1711. He set out from Lisbon in 1721 and arrived on the Island of Maranhào towards the end of the same year. Thence he proceeded to Brazil, where for twenty-eight years he underwent numerous hardships in the Christianization of the natives. In 1749 he was sent to Lisbon, where he was received with great honours by the aged King John V. In 1751 he returned to Brazil, but was recalled to Lisbon in 1753 upon the request of the queen dowager, Marianna of Austria, mother of Joseph, who had succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, John V.

The great influence which he exerted at the Court of Lisbon was a thorn in the side of Pombal, the prime minister. By intrigues and calumnies he induced the young king, Joseph I, to banish Malagrida to Setubal (November, 1756) and to remove all the Jesuits from the Court. An attempt upon the life of the royal chamberlain, Teixeira, during which the king was accidentally wounded, was amplified by Pombal into a conspiracy headed by Malagrida and other Jesuits. Without proof, Malagrida was declared guilty of high treason, but, being a priest, he could not be executed without the consent of the Inquisition. Meanwhile the officials of the Inquisition, who were friendly towards Malagrida, were replaced by tools of Pombal, who condemned him as a heretic and visionary, whereupon he was strangled at an auto-da-fé, and his body burnt. The accusation of heresy is based on two visionary treatises which he is said to have written while in prison. His authorship of these treatises has never been proved, and they contain such ridiculous statements that, if he wrote them, he must previously have lost his reason in the horrors of his two and a half years’ imprisonment. That he was not guilty of any conspiracy against the king is admitted even by the enemies of the Jesuits. A monument in his honour was erected in 1887 in the parochial church of Menaggio.

The execution of Fr. Gabriel Malagrida.

Mury, Histoire de Gabriel Malagrida (Paris, 1884; 2nd ed., Strasburg, 1899; Ger. trans., Salzburg, 1890); Un monumento al P. Malagrida in La Civilità Cattolica, IX, series XIII (Rome, 1888), 30-43, 414-30, 658-79; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, V (Brussels, 1894), 394-95; Butina, Vida de Malagrida (Barcelona, 1886).

MICHAEL OTT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 22 – He especially sought out impoverished nobles who shrank from asking alms

September 21, 2026

St. Thomas of Villanova

Saint Thomas of Villanova

Educator, philanthropist, born at Fuentellana, Spain, 1488; died at Valencia, 8 September, 1555. Son of Aloazo Tomas Garcia and Lucia Martínez Castellanos, the saint was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Friday his father was wont to give in alms all the meal he earned at the mill, besides his usual daily dole of bread. On great feast-days he added wood, wine, and money; while to poor farmers he loaned money and seed. On the death of her husband, Lucia continued the usual alms, and supplied indigent maidens in the neighbourhood with clothing and money. When sixteen tears old, Thomas entered the University of Alcalá, where, after proceeding master of arts and licentiate in theology, he filled the chair (1514) of arts, logic, and philosophy. Among his auditors were the famed scholars Ferdinand de Encina and Dominic Soto. With Alcala, however, ended his university associations, he having declined the chair of natural philosophy at Salamanca, where he joined the Augustinians in 1516, his vows following a year later, and his ordination to priesthood the year after; his first Mass was celebrated at Christmas, 1518. At Salamanca Convent Thomas was given the class of scholastic theology because of his attachment for books, chiefly the Lombard and St. Thomas, and his exemplary life. Preaching in the pulpits of Spain was soon added to his duties, among other places at Valencia, the field of his later trials, and Valladolid, seat of the imperial Court and residence of the Emperor Charles V when on his visits to the Low Countries. In this last-named city St. Thomas was named by the emperor his court preacher, and one of his councillors of state. Rarely, however, did the saint pay visits of ceremony to the then master of Europe, though his written correspondence with Charles, who held his opinions in high esteem, was voluminous. Towards the close of his life, while at Valencia, he had all the emperor’s letters destroyed; his own letters to the emperor, however, are now stored at Simancas.

Apart from these burdens Thomas held many offices of trust in his order, e.g. as convent prior in various cities, among others at Valladolid in 1544, the very year he was called to the See of Valencia. Moreover, he was twice provincial-prior, first of Andalusia and Castile in 1527, then six years later of Castile alone, whence the first mission band of his brethren was sent across the Atlantic in 1533 to establish houses of their order in Mexico. On 5 Aug., 1544, he received his nomination to the Archbishopric of Valencia, a post that for well-nigh a hundred years had witnessed no bishop in residence, an appointment that was confirmed by Paul III. Previously St. Thomas had declined the See of Granada, offered him by the emperor, while that of Valencia he accepted only through obedience to his superiors. He was consecrated in the church of his order at Valladolid by Juan, Cardinal Tavera de Pardo, Archbishop of Toledo. On his entrance to his see on 1 Jan., 1545, of which he was thirty-second bishop and eighth archbishop, St. Thomas opened his career as legislator and philanthropist, which won for him the titles of “Almsgiver”, “Father of the Poor”, and “Model of Bishops”, given him at his beatification in 1618 by Paul V. During his eleven years of episcopal rule his most noteworthy deeds were as follows: a visitation of his diocese, opened a few weeks after entrance into his see. Among other amendments he inhibited his visitators from accepting any gifts whatever. He then held a synod, the first at Valencia for many years, whereby he sought to do away with a number of abuses, as bloodshed, divorce, concubinage, and many excessive privileges or unreasonable exemptions; he abolished the underground prisons; rebuilt the general hospital at Valencia which had just been destroyed by fire; founded two colleges, one for young ecclesiastics, the other for poor students; laboured for the conversion of the nuevos Cristianos, whose profession of Christianity was largely mere outward show; established a creche near his palace for foundlings and the offspring of indigent parents; had Mass said at early hours for the working-classes; and in brief, by statutes, by preaching, and by example, strove to reform the morals of churchman and layman.

Towards the poor especially his heart was ever alive with pity; to them his palace gate was always open; daily he had a repast for every poor person that applied for help, as many even as four to five hundred thus getting their meals at his hands. In every district of the city he had almoners appointed with orders especially to search out the respectable persons who shrank from asking alms; these he had supplied with money, food, clothing, while as to indigent workmen, poor farmers, and mechanics, he replenished their stock and brought them tools, thus putting them in the way of making a living. His whole life as replete with acts of practical kindness. He spent his spare time chiefly in prayer and study; his table was one of simple fare, with no luxuries. His dress was inexpensive; he mended with his own hands whatever needed repairs. Numberless are the instances of St. Thomas’ supernatural gifts, of his power of healing the sick, of multiplication of food, of redressing grievances, of his ecstasies, of his conversions of sinners. He was taken ill in August, 1555, of angina pectoris, of which he died at the age of 67, at the termination of Mass in his bedroom. His last words were the versicles: “In manus tuas, Domine”, etc.; his remains were entombed at the convent Church of Our Lady of Help of his order outside the city walls, whence later they were brought to the cathedral. The saint was of well-knit frame, of medium height, with dark complexion, brilliant eyes, ruddy cheeks, and Roman nose. He was beatified by Paul V (7 Oct., 1618), who set his feast-day for 18 Sept., and canonized by Alexander VII on 1 Nov., 1658.

Various reasons are given to account for St. Thomas’ non-appearance at the Council of Trent, among them that he was ill, unable to stand the fatigue of travel; that his people would not brook his absence; and that the emperor was unable to do without his aid at home. The writings of St. Thomas, mainly sermons, are replete with practical norms of mystic theology. Some twenty editions have been published, the best and most complete being probably that of Manila, 1882-1884, in 5 tomes.

Edward G. Dohan (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 22 – Saint Emmeram

September 21, 2026

Saint Emmeram

Martydom of Saint Emmeram (Salzburg) from the Cathedral Treasury and Diocese Museum Eichstätt.

Bishop of Poitiers and missionary to Bavaria, born at Poitiers in the first half of the seventh century; martyred at Ascheim (Bavaria) towards the end of the same century. Of a noble family of Aquitaine, he received a good education and was ordained priest. According to some authors Emmeram occupied the See of Poitiers, but this cannot be verified, for his name does not appear among the Bishops of Poitiers. He probably held the see for a short time, from the death of Dido (date unknown) to the episcopate of Ansoaldus (674). Having heard that the inhabitants of Bavaria were still idolaters, he determined to carry the light of the Faith to them. Ascending the Loire, crossing the Black Forest, and going down the Danube, he reached Ratisbon in a region then governed by the Duke Theodo. For three years he labored in Bavaria, preaching and converting the people, acquiring also a renown for holiness.

He then turned his steps towards Rome, to visit the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul, but after a five days’ journey, at a place now called Kleinhelfendorf, south of Munich, he was set upon by envoys of the Duke of Bavaria who tortured him cruelly. He died shortly afterwards at Ascheim, about fifteen miles distant. The cause of this attack and the circumstances attending his death are not known. According to the legend related by Aribo, Bishop of Freising, the first to write a life of St. Emmeram, Ota, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, who had been seduced by Sigipaldus, an important personage of her father’s court, fearing her father’s wrath, confessed her fault to the bishop. Moved with compassion, he advised her to name himself, whom every one respected, as her seducer, and it was in consequence of this accusation that Theodo ordered him to be followed and put to death. The improbability of the tale, the details of the saint’s martyrdom, which are certainly untrue, and the fantastic account of the prodigies attending his death show that the writer, infected by the pious mania of his time, simply added to the facts imaginary details supposed to redound to the glory of the martyr.

All that is known as to the date of the saint’s death is that it took place on September 22, some time before St. Rupert’s arrival in Bavaria (696). At Kleinhelfendorf, where he was tortured, there stands today a chapel of St. Emmeram, and at Ascheim, where he died, is also a martyr’s chapel built in his honor. His remains were removed to Ratisbon and interred in the church of St. George, from which they were transferred about the middle of the eighth century by Bishop Gawibaldus to a church dedicated to the saint. This church having been destroyed by fire in 1642, the saint’s body was found under the altar in 1645 and was encased in a magnificent reliquary. The relics, which were canonically recognized by Bishop Ignaz de Senestrez in 1833, are exposed for the veneration of the faithful every year on September 22. It is impossible to prove that Emmeram occupied the See of Ratisbon, for the official episcopal list begins with the above-mentioned Gawibaldus, who was consecrated by St. Boniface in 739 and died in 764.

LEON CLUGNET (Catholic Encyclopdia)

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How Reactionary! . . .

September 21, 2026

One of the practices of the so-called Catholic leftism consists in acting as if the matter of social justice and welfare has been addressed for the first time only in our own days, as if the preceding centuries had completely ignored the obligations of justice and charity regarding the poor.

This concept is totally discredited by any serious historical study of our own and every other epoch. But lies have a long life. Consequently, this revolutionary fraud continues to circulate.

The waters of the Regnitz run tranquilly through the noble city of Bamberg, former residence of sovereigns and bishops. The façades of these old four-storied homes, both pleasant and serious, are reflected in the water.

Excellently well-cared for, adorned with cheerful plantings, they reflect an unpretentious, full and stable tenor of living, a strong, intimate and calm family life. In short, everything about them would surely attract contemporary worker‒despite such alluring bourgeois comfort.

These, however, are not the homes of magistrates, professors or public officials. These are the residential homes of fishermen! How this charm, serenity and harmony differ from the vulgarity, squalor and hubbub of so many suburbs in today’s modern Babylon.
We could illustrate so many other similar examples, but to do so would reap little profit. Looking at the picture and reading the commentary, our “leftist Catholic” would not argue. Rather, he would restrict himself to his habitual defense and say: “The man who writes this is just so reactionary.”

Then he would continue to repeat his same old misrepresentation of the past.

Ambience Customs & Civilization, No. 164 ‒ August 1964

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September 23 – Pioneer missionary of the Flatheads

September 21, 2026

Gregorio Mengarini

Pioneer missionary of the Flathead tribe and philologist of their language, b. in Rome, 21 July, 1811; d. at Santa Clara, California, 23 September, 1886. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1828, when barely seventeen, and later served as instructor in grammar, for which his philological bent particularly fitted him, at Rome, Medina, and Reggio. While studying at the Rome College in 1839, a letter of Bishop Rosati of St. Louis, voicing the appeal of the Flatheads for missionary priests, was read out in the refectory, and Mengarini was at once moved to volunteer for the work. Ordained in March, 1840, he sailed with Father Cotling, another volunteer, from Leghorn on 23 July, and after a tedious nine weeks’ voyage landed at Philadelphia. From Baltimore the missionaries found their way to the University of Georgetown, District of Columbia, and a little later to St. Louis, where it was decided Father Cotling should remain. Mengarini was chosen for the distant mission of the upper Missouri, partly on account of his voice and knowledge of music – possessions of no little value in Indian mission work. On 24 April, 1841, Father de Smet, Mengarini, and Point, with the lay brother Specht, Huett, and Classens, and nine other companions, began the long journey by river and overland trail to Fort Hall, Idaho, then a trading post, where they arrived on the feast of the Assumption (15 August) and found a party of Flatheads waiting to conduct them to their final destination. It was nearly a month later when they arrived at the chosen site on St. Mary’s river, Montana, in the Flathead country, and began the foundations of the log mission, the missionaries themselves leading the work of cutting the frozen earth with axes. The church and house were of logs plastered between with clay, and were thatched with weeds, the rooms being partitioned with curtains of deerskin and thin scraped deerskin being used in lieu of glass for the windows. The winter cold was so intense that the buffalo skin robes in which they wrapped themselves at night were frozen stiff and had to be thawed out each morning. To the native of sunny Italy these early winters in Montana mountains were among the most vivid recollections of later years.

The missionaries at once began the study of the language, translating into it simple prayers and hymns. Mengarini composed a Salish grammar which is still the standard for the cognate dialects. He taught the children to sing in Salish hymns of his own composition, and even trained an Indian band for service on feat days. The work progressed until 1849, when in consequence of the inroads of the Blackfeet and the defection and relapse of a large part of the Flathead tribe under a rival claimant for the chieftainship it was decided to close the mission, and Mengarini was summoned to join Father Accolti, the superior of the north-western Jesuit missions, in Oregon. About a year later, on request of Archbishop Alemany of San Francisco for Jesuit workers, he was sent to aid in establishing at Santa Clara the Californian mission which was the nucleus of the present college. In the mean time the repentant Flatheads had sent to Oregon to ask for his return. They were told this was impossible as he was assigned to another station, but on their urgent desire, the Flathead mission was re-established at St. Ignatius in 1851. Mengarini was stationed at Santa Clara for the rest of his life, acting for thirty years as treasurer or vice-president, until a stroke of apoplexy and failing sight caused his retirement from active duties. The hardest trial came when his eyes became too weak to allow him to read Mass. A third stroke of apoplexy ended his life’s work in his seventy-sixth year.

Mengarini’s principal contribution to philology is his “Selish or Flathead Grammar: Grammatica linguæ Selicæ” – published by the Cromoisy Press (New York, 1861) from the third manuscript copy, the first two, laboriously written out by him, having been lost by Indian carelessness or accident. Originally intended solely for the use of the missionaries, it was written in Latin, and he himself always said the first draft was the most correct. He also furnished vocabularies of the cognate Salishan languages – of Shw oyelpi (Colville), S’chitzui (Coeur d’Alene) and Salish proper (Flathead) in Powell’s “Contributions to North American Ethnology”, I (Washington, 1877), and of the Santa Clara dialect of California in Powers’s “Tribes of California”, volume III of the same series, published in the same year. He contributed some linguistic notes in the “Journal of the Anthropological Institute of New York”, I (1871-2). His interesting personal memoir, “The Rocky Mountains”, published in the Woodstock Letters for 1888, was dictated a few months before his death.

In addition to the memoir just mentioned, consult Obituary Notice in Woodstock Letters XVI (Woodstock, Maryland, 1887); SOMMERVOGEL, Bibl. de la C. de J., Bibliogr., V (new ed., Brussels and Paris, 1894); PILING, Bibliography of the Salishan Languages in Bur. Amer. Ethnology (Washington, 1893); SHEA, Catholic Missions (New York, 1864).

JAMES MOONEY (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 23 – He ensured the immunity of non-combatants in warfare

September 21, 2026

St. Adamnan of Ireland, Abbot

St Adamnan

He was the eighth in descent from the great Nial, king of Ireland, and from Conal the Great, ancestor of St. Columbkille. His parents were eminent for their rank and virtue. He was born in the year 626, at Rathboth, (1) now called Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, and embraced a monastic life with great humility and fervour, in the monastery which had been founded there by his kinsman St. Columb. Afterwards following the steps of his holy kinsman, he left Ireland, and retired to the celebrated monastery of Hij, of which he became fifth abbot.

In 701 he was employed by Longsech, king of Ireland, on an embassy to Alfred, king of the Northern Saxons, to demand of the latter a reparation of the injuries committed by his subjects on the province of Meath, and carrying off the effects of the inhabitants before the troops of the Irish could arrive to chastise those invaders. Adamnan succeeded happily in this negotiation: he was favourably received by the Saxon monarch, and obtained full satisfaction for all the damages done to his countrymen in the foregoing year. While he continued in England he laid aside the custom of his predecessors, and conformed to the true time of celebrating Easter. Upon his return home, says Bede, (2) he used his utmost endeavours to guide his monks of Hij, and all those who were subject to that monastery, into the road of truth, which he himself walked in, but was not able to prevail. He therefore sailed into Ireland, his native country, and there preached to the natives, and with modest exhortations explained to them the true time for observing Easter: by which means he brought almost the whole island to a conformity with the universal church in that point of discipline. Having remained in Ireland to celebrate that festival according to the canons, he afterwards returned to Hij, and earnestly recommended to his own monks to conform in this particular to the Catholic custom; but did not compass his ends before his death, which happened in 705. However, he left among them a judicious treatise, On the right time of keeping Easter, which disposed them some time after to forsake their erroneous computation.

St Columbkille. A window in St. Columbkille Church in Dubuque, IA.

St. Adamnan wrote the life of St. Columbkille; he also wrote certain canons, and a curious description of the Holy Land, as that country stood in his time. This book furnished Bede with his principal memorials, (l. De Locis Sanctis; and is published by Gretzer, and by Mabillon, t. 4, Act. Ord. St. Benedicti, p. 456). He mentions the tombs of St. Simeon and of St. Joseph at Jerusalem, many relics of the passion of Christ, the impression of the feet of our Saviour on Mount Olivet, covered with a church of a round figure, with a hole open on the top, over the place of the impression of the footsteps; he also mentions grasshoppers in the deserts of the Jordan, which the common people eat, boiled with oil; and a portion of the cross in the Rotunda church in Constantinople, which was exposed on a golden altar on the three last days of Holy Week, when the emperor, court, army, clergy, and others went to that church at different hours, to kiss that sacred wood. (3)

Cathedral of St. Eunan and St Columba

The festival of St. Adamnan is kept with great solemnity in many churches in Ireland, of which he is titular patron, and in the whole diocese of Raphoe, of which he was a native.

Also called St. Eunan’s Cathedral, after St. Adhamhnáin.

Note 1. Rath, in old Irish, signifies a town or military inclosure, and Both, a booth, or cottage: so that Rathboth is a town made up of cottages.
Note 2. Hist. Eccles. l. 5, c. 16.
Note 3. See Mabillon, t. 4. Act. Ord. Bened. p. 456. Bp. Tanner, de Scriptor. p. 5.

You can read the Life of St. Columba by St. Adamnan, Ninth Abbot of that Monastery here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.asp

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September 17 – Viollet-Le-Duc

September 17, 2026

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

Viollet-Le-Duc, Eugène-emmanuel, architect, archeologist, and author, b. in Paris, January 27, 1814; d. at Lausanne, September 17, 1879. He gained a high reputation by his intelligent comprehension of medieval Gothic architecture and by his restorations of structures built in this style. He was a pupil of Leclere; he made long journeys for the purpose of study in Italy and southern France, and in 1840 was appointed inspector of works at Ste-Chapelle in Paris, the present form of which is his work. This was the beginning of his influential labors for the preservation and restoration of early Gothic monuments. Whatever he did showed brilliant ability, knowledge, and taste.

Reliquary of the Nail and Wood of the Holy Cross. Goldsmithing (1862) by Placide Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889) designed by Eugène VIollet-le-Duc.

He superintended the restoration of the Abbey of St-Denis, of the church at Vezelay, and that of Our Lady at Chalons-sur-Marne, of the cathedrals of Paris, Amiens, and Laon. The beautiful sacristy of the cathedral at Paris is his work. In 1853 he was made inspector-general of ancient buildings in France; in 1863 he was made professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His lectures on the development of medieval architecture in France, filled with a noble national feeling, aroused such enmity against him among the Academicians that he was obliged to retire from his position in favor of Taine.

Château de Pierrefonds

Napoleon III placed him in charge of the restoration of the Chateau of Pierrefonds. During the siege of Paris (1870-71) he commanded a corps of engineers, and wrote a “Memoire sur la defense de Paris” (1871). Soon after this he expressed radical opinions in politics, was elected deputy in 1874, and opposed Thiers. As a connoisseur of art he wrote a number of valuable works: “Dictionnaire raisonne de l’architecture francaise du onzieme au seizieme siecle” (10 vols., 1854-69), illustrated by his own sketches; “Essai sur l’architecture militaire au moyen age” (1854); “Dictionnaire du mobilier francais jusqu’a la Renaissance” (6 vols., 1855-75); “Monographie de Notre—Dame de Paris” (1856), written in conjunction with Guillermy; “Description du chateau de Pierre-fonds” (1857); “Description du chateau de Coucy” (1858); “Histoire d’une maison” (1873); “Histoire d’une forteresse” (1874); “Histoire d’un hotel de ville et d’une cathedrale” (4 vols., 1873-78); “Histoire d’un dessinateur” (1879); “Les eglises de Paris” (1883); “La cite de Carcassonne” (1886); “L’art russe” (1877). There are interesting essays in the “Entretiens sur l’architecture” (1858-72).

A drawing by Viollet-le-Duc of one of the two doors of Rouen Cathedral, the Calende door.

Viollet-Le-Duc is exact, clear, and often brilliant in his writings, just as in his practical works. Drawings of his preserved at the Trocadero, and which have appeared in print, are a treasure-house of suggestive designs. The exact knowledge of medieval architecture acquired by life-long experience would not alone have brought him such far-reaching influence. What is best both in his works and in his theories is the profound comprehension of the spirit of the medieval master-builders. He not only grasped the historical forms, but the comprehended also their meaning, and knew how to evolve the organic structure from its inward spirit. The task involved in the structure, its suitable execution with an independent use of the traditional forms) were of more importance to him than the style itself.

Armor drawing by Viollet-le-Duc.

Consequently he did not follow exclusively the Gothic style, however highly he valued in Gothic architecture the development of the forms from the object in view and the material used in construction, and the logical consecutiveness of the parts. He knew how to impart to his pupils and to co-workers a keen sense of perception, that was not satisfied with the mere external imitation of what was ancient. Among the important architects who imitated him closely were Boswillald and Paul Abadie, the architect of the Church of the Heart of Jesus at Montmartre. It must be acknowledged that in the revival of medieval architecture a dubious principle gained the mastery. Although the best followers of the great restorer of architecture believed with him that the architect ought not to be permitted to be a mere imitator, still the way was not made sufficiently clear for an independent development of architecture according to the needs, and in harmony with the feelings, of the present era.

G. Gietmann (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 17 – Greatly venerated even during her life

September 17, 2026

St. Hildegard

Born at Böckelheim on the Nahe, 1098; died on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, 1179; feast 17 September. The family name is unknown of this great seeress and prophetess, called the Sibyl of the Rhine. The early biographers give the first names of her parents as Hildebert and Mechtildis (or Mathilda), speak of their nobility and riches, but give no particulars of their lives. Later writers call the saint Hildegard of Böckelheim, of Rupertsberg, or of Bingen. Legends would make her a Countess of Spanheim. J. May (Katholik. XXXVII, 143) shows from letters and other documents that she probably belonged to the illustrious family of Stein, whose descendants are the present Princes of Salm. Her father was a soldier in the service of Meginhard, Count of Spanheim. Hildegard was a weak and sickly child, and in consequence received but little education at home. Her parents, though much engaged in worldly pursuits, had a religious disposition…

September 17 – Noble calm in all controversy, even when correcting the pope

September 17, 2026

St. Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine

(Also, “Bellarmino”).

A distinguished Jesuit theologian, writer, and cardinal, born at Montepulciano, 4 October, 1542; died 17 September, 1621.

His father was Vincenzo Bellarmino, his mother Cinthia Cervini, sister of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, afterwards Pope Marcellus II. He was brought up at the newly founded Jesuit college in his native town, and entered the Society of Jesus on 20 September, 1560, being admitted to his first vows on the following day. The next three years he spent in studying philosophy at the Roman College, after which he taught the humanities first at Florence, then at Mondovi. In 1567 he began his theology at Padua, but in 1569 was sent to…

September 18 – The first time US Congress went to Mass

September 17, 2026

Phillippe-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Tronson Du Coudray

Soldier, born at Reims, France, 8 September, 1738; died at Philadelphia, U.S.A., 11 September, 1777. He was educated for the army and showed great merit as an engineer. He was adjutant general of artillery and considered one of the best military experts in France when, in 1776, he volunteered to go to America to assist the colonists in their revolt against England. Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin, the American agents, promised him a commission as major-general with command of the artillery. This stipulation gave great offence to the officers already attached to the army when he arrived from France, in May, 1777, with twenty-nine other officers and twelve sergeants of artillery. Several of the more prominent threatened to resign. As a compromise he was made inspector-general 11 August, 1777, with the rank of major-general, and assigned to command the works along the Delaware. On 11 Sept., 1777, he was drowned while crossing the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia, the horse on which he was seated becoming frightened and dragging him overboard.

His grave is here within the burial yard of Saint Mary’s Catholic Church.

Congress gave him an official funeral and attended his requiem Mass, 18 Sept., 1777, in St. Mary’s church. This was one of the four occasions on which Congress was officially present at Mass during the Revolution, the others being the requiem on 8 May, 1780, for Don Juan de Miralles, the agent of the Spanish Government, and the Te Deums on 4 July, 1779, and 4 November, 1781, all being celebrated at St. Mary’s, Philadelphia. Du Coudray was buried in St. Mary’s churchyard, but the grave is now unknown.

GRIFFEN, Catholics and the American Revolution (Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, 1907); Cyclopedia of Am. Biog., s. v.; SHEA, Hist. of Cath. Ch. in U. S. (New York, 1889-92); HEITMAN, Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army (Washington, 1893).

THOMAS F. MEEHAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 19 – She begged to ransom Christian captives

September 17, 2026

Blessed Mary de Cervellione

(or De Cervello)

Popularly styled “de Socos” (of Help) Saint, born about 1230 at Barcelona; died there 19 September, 1290. She was a daughter of a Spanish nobleman named William de Cervellon. One day she heard a sermon preached by Blessed Bernard de Corbarie, the superior of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Ransom at Barcelona, and was so deeply affected by his pleading for the Christian slaves and captives in the hands of the Turks that she resolved to do all in her power for their alleviation. In 1265 she joined a little community of pious women who lived near the monastery of the Mercedarians and spent their lives in prayer and good works under the direction of Blessed Bernard de Corbarie. They obtained permission to constitute a Third Order of Our Lady of Ransom (de Mercede) and to wear the habit of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Ransom. In addition to the usual vows of tertiaries, they promised to pray for the Christian slaves. Mary was unanimously elected the first superior. On account of her great charity towards the needy she began to be called Maria de Socos (Mary of Help) a name under which she is still venerated in Catalonia. Her cult, which began immediately after her death, was approved by Innocent XII in 1692. She is invoked especially against shipwreck and is generally represented with a ship in her hand.

La Mercè Basilica, in Barcelona, where her incorrupt body reposes on the right side of the altar.

Acta SS., September, VII, 152-171; DUNBAR, Dictionary of Saintly Women, II (London, 1905), 56-7; ULATE, Vita Cathalauniœ virginis Mariœ de Cervellon (Madrid, 1712); AYALA, Vida de s. Maria del Socos de la orden de N. S. de las Mercedes (Salamanca, 1695); CORBERA, Vida y hechos maravillo sas de d. Maria de Cerveilon, clamado Maria Socos (Barcelona, 1639): a Life written by her contemporary JOHN DE LAES is printed in Acta SS., loc. cit.

MICHAEL OTT

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September 19 – The Pope asks Princess Mary to marry James II of England

September 17, 2026

Mary of Modena in her court dress in 1680, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

Another voice, the most august of all, was now to break silence. The arguments of Kings, Cardinals, Ambassadors, and of her own family had failed to shake the purpose or convince the mind of the young Princess. Moved by a desire to benefit the Catholics of England, and as much perhaps by the solicitations of the Courts of England and France as by the prompting of his own conviction, Clement X writes a brief to Mary Beatrice, the only instance, we believe, of a Sovereign Pontiff directly addressing a Princess of fifteen years of age. It is, of course, in Latin, but that, as we know, presented no difficulty to her.

James II of England, painted by Peter Lely

It is addressed:—

Dilectae in Christo filiae Nobili Puellae Mariae Principesse Estensi. Clemens P.P.X.

“Dear daughter in Christ, noble Damsel, greeting etc. Since the design of the Duke of York to contract alliance with your Nobility reached our ears, We return thanks to the Father of Mercies who, knowing our solicitude for His Glory, is preparing for us, in the Kingdom of England an ample harvest of joy. Considering, in effect, the influence of your virtues, We easily conceived a firm hope that an end might come to the persecution still smoldering in that kingdom and that the orthodox faith, reinstated by you in a place of honor might recover the splendor and security of former days, an effect which no exterior power could accomplish and which might become due to the victory of your piety, the inheritance of your eminently religious family. You can therefore easily understand, dear daughter in Christ, the anxiety which filled Us when We were informed of your repugnance for marriage. For although we understood that it arose from a desire, most laudable in itself, to embrace religious discipline, reflecting that in the present occasion it opposes itself to the progress of religion, we were nevertheless sincerely grieved.

Pope Clement X

We therefore, fulfilling the duties of Our charge, earnestly exhort you by these presents to place before your eyes the great profit which may accrue to the Catholic faith in the above-named kingdom through your marriage, and that inflamed with zeal for the good which may result, you may open to yourself a vaster field of merit than that of the virginal cloister. In order that the special customs and manner of praying, contrary to our ritual, of the populations among whom you are going may be no impediment to your decision, We shall take care that so great an affair be treated in such manner that no obstacle may arise to hinder the exercise of your illustrious piety. Expecting, from the truly filial observance you owe Us, this great consolation, We send your Nobility, from the depth of our heart, our Apostolic Benediction.

“Given at Rome XIX [19^th] September MDCLXXIII [1673] the fourth year of Our Pontificate.”

Martin Haile, Queen Mary of Modena, Her Life and Letters (London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1905), pp. 20-21.

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September 19 – St. Januarius

September 17, 2026

St. Januarius

Martyr, Bishop of Beneventum.

St. Januarius is believed to have suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, c. 305. With regard to the history of his life and martyrdom, we know next to nothing. The various collections of “Acts”, though numerous (cf. Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, n. 4115-4140), are all extremely late and untrustworthy. Bede (c. 733) in his “Martyrologium” has epitomized the so-called “Acta Bononiensia” (see Quentin, “Les Martyrologes historiques”, 76). To this source we may trace the following entry in the present Roman Martyrology, though the reference to the miracle of the liquefaction is an addition of much later date. “At Pozzuoli in Campania [the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his deacon, and Desiderius lector, together with Socius deacon of the church of Misenas, Proculus deacon of Pozzuoli, Eutyches and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the Emperor Diocletian. The body of St. Januarius was brought to Naples, and there honourably interred in the church, where his holy blood is kept unto this day in a phial of glass, which being set near his head becomes liquid and bubbles up as though it were fresh…

September 20 – Bl. Margaret Colona

September 17, 2026

Bl. Margaret Colona

Poor Clare, born in Rome, date uncertain; died there, 20 September, 1284. Her parents died in Rome when she was still a young girl, and she was left to the care of her two brothers, the youngest of whom was raised to the cardinalate by Nicholas III in 1278. Having resolutely refused the proposal of marriage made to her by the chief magistrate of Rome, she retired to a lonely retreat near Palestrina where she passed her time in practices of piety and penance. Her charity towards the poor was unbounded, and was more than once miraculously rewarded. Through the influence of her brother, Cardinal Colonna, Blessed Margaret obtained the canonical erection of a community of Urbanist Poor Clares at Palestrina, of which she most probably became superioress. Seven years before her death she was attacked with a fearful and painful ulcer which till the end of her life she bore with the most sublime and generous resignation. After the death of Blessed Margaret, the community of Palestrina was transferred to the convent of San Silvestro in Capite. The nuns were driven from their cloister by the Italian Government at the time of the suppression; and the monastery has since been used as the central post-office of Rome. The exiled religious found shelter in the convent of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, to which place the body of Blessed Margaret was removed.

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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September 20 – Starved to death for the faith

September 17, 2026

Bl. Thomas Johnson

Newgate cell

Carthusian martyr, died in Newgate gaol, London, 20 September, 1537. On 18 May, 1537, the twenty choir monks and eighteen brothers remaining in the London Charterhouse were required to take the Oath of Supremacy. Of these choir monks Thomas Johnson, Richard Bere, Thomas Green (priests), and John Davy (deacon) refused; and of the brothers Robert Salt, William Greenwood, Thomas Redyng, Thommas Scryven, Walter Pierson, and William Horne. On 29 May all were sent to Newgate, where they were chained standing and with their hands tied behind them to posts in the prison, and so left to die of starvation. However Margaret Clement, who as Margaret Giggs had been brought up in the household of St. Thomas More, bribed the gaoler to let her have access to the prisoners, and disguised herself as a milkmaid and carried in a milk-can full of meat, wherewith she fed them. After the king’s inquiry as to whether they were not already dead, the gaoler was afraid to let her enter again; but she was allowed to go on the roof, and uncovering the tiles, she let down meat in a basket as near as she could to their mouths. However they could get little or nothing from the basket, and as the gaoler feared discovery, even this plan was soon discontinued. Greenwood died first (6 June), then Davy (8 June), Salt ( 9 June), Pierson and Green (10 June), Scryven (15 June), Redyng (16 June).

Newgate Prison door, London

It is probable that then Cromwell interfered and ordered those still living to be given food in order that they might be preserved for execution; for Bere did not die till 9 August, nor Johnson till 20 September. Horne survived, and though he could never be induced to quit his religious habit, was not attainted till 1540, when he was hanged, disembowelled, and quartered at Tyburn (4 August) with the five Praetermissi Robert Bird (layman), Lawrence Cook (Carmelite Prior of Doncaster), Thomas Epson (Benedictine), Giles Heron (layman), and probably with William Bird (Rector of Fittleton and Vicar of Bradford, Wiltshire). All ten Carthusians were beatified by Leo XIII on Dec., 1886. Blessed Richard Bere (Abbot of Glastonbury 1493-1525), and became a Carthusian on Feb., 1523. Blessed Thomas Green has been identified by Dom Bede Camm with Thomas Greenwood (B.A., Oxon, M.A., Cantab, 1511), who became Fellow of St. John’s College Cambridge in 1515 and D.D. in 1532.

John B. Wainewright (Catholic Encyclopedia)

________________________

Also of interest:

August 4 – Carthusian Martyrs: The Lone Survivor

The Carthusian Martyrs – Third and Fourth Groups and the Lone Survivor

June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

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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.

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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