Challenging American Myths about Equality: Part Two

November 5, 2026

Continued From Part One

First of all, to enforce such a situation is nearly impossible and would require dictatorial government power. Nevertheless, steps in its direction have been pushed on more than one occasion in America. In fact, bills promoting a 100% estate tax have been brought to the floor of the US House of Representatives for debate on more than one occasion. This would mean that when you die, everything you have goes to the state so that your children cannot benefit from what you have earned in your lifetime.

Sarita Kenedy East, 1889–1961. At the time of her husband and brother’s death, Sarita Kenedy East and her sister-in-law were in charge of 400,000-acre ranch in La Parra, Texas. In 1952 she received the Ecclesia et Pontifice medal and membership in the Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem from Pope Pius XII for her service to the Church. She was also named an honorary member of the Franciscans and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. She bequeathed La Parra ranch headquarters and 10,000 acres of land to the Oblate Fathers and 13,000 acres to the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Right off the bat, I can think of two problems with this idea. The first is that it is unjust because it contradicts God’s designs for the family. The second is that it prevents the formation of true elites and thus encumbers much of the good that they are able to do for society.

Let’s look more closely at each of these issues. The first is that denying a privileged status to the children of an elite is fundamentally unjust. Why do I say this? At first glance, a meritocracy seems to be the height of justice, since each individual gets the benefits he personally deserves and nothing more.

However, this way of thinking profoundly denies the dynamics of the human family as God instituted it. If we look at nature, we see that most, if not all of the animals, do not constitute families in the way that humans do. For example, after a certain amount of time a mother dog no longer recognizes the scent of her pups. When this happens, she separates from them completely and they become just like any other dog to her.

We can see this same pattern with other animals as well. Once Snow Leopards, also known as ghost cats, reach maturity, they live completely solitary lives for the rest of their days, each one with a territory of at least 40 square miles where no other snow leopard is allowed outside of mating season.

Even those animals that form into packs or herds should be more likened symbolically to living in a society, but not a real family.

However, when God instituted the human family, He did so in such a way, that strong bonds are naturally formed between all its members that will last at least throughout this earthly life and perhaps persist into eternity as well. Unlike dogs, human mothers never stop recognizing their children.

Because of these bonds, one of the primary drives of the human family is to work for the well-being of all its members. I remember Dr. Plinio once said that the human family is the only institution wherein the divine precept of “love thy neighbor” is easy to practice.

Thus, it is not surprising that one of the primary desires of every good father is to leave his children in a better situation than the one in which he entered the world. In light of this, he has a right to dispose of his possessions during his life and after his death to make this desire a reality. To deny a father this right is the height of injustice.

We can see that it is also unjust if society does not favor the children of a father who has sacrificed himself for the common good of society, thus depriving his family of many goods they would have otherwise had. The greater the service the father has rendered and the more he sacrificed for this service, the more acute is the obligation of society towards his children and the greater the injustice if these benefits are withheld.

This obligation comes from the virtue of gratitude, whereby one owes retribution for the favors he has received. In fact, St. Thomas says that to truly practice the virtue of gratitude, one must give back more than he has received. He justifies this in the Summa, saying:

“Gratitude regards the favor received according the intention of the benefactor; who seems be deserving of praise, chiefly for having conferred the favor gratis without being bound to do so. Wherefore the beneficiary is under a moral obligation to bestow something gratis in return. Now he does not seem to bestow something gratis, unless he exceeds the quantity of the favor received: because so long as he repays less or an equivalent, he would seem to do nothing gratis, but only to return what he has received. Therefore gratitude always inclines, as far as possible, to pay back something more.” (Summa part 2 of part 2 question 106)

I know that is a little complicated, but the idea is that since the benefactor gave more than he was obliged to give, in giving back to him, we should follow his example and return to him more than what we are strictly obliged to give him.

The Attentive Nurse by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.

In justice, this gratitude must extend to the benefactor’s children as well, since they make up part of the indissoluble unit which is the family. Dr. Plinio once likened this to a dedicated nurse who devoted her life to care for a wealthy sick man. That man is obliged to give a proportional recompense to the nurse’s son for the services rendered to him. Since truly great men can be compared to the nurses of society, who maintain and even restore its health and vivacity, society owes a similar debt to his children.

So, we have seen that very strong bonds are formed between the members of a family. These bonds are so strong, they cause family members to identify with one another to an extraordinary degree. This is why they even share a last name. In addition to a name, many goods that the family has are, to a certain degree, shared by all of its members. In other words, there are certain goods of the family to which every member has a collective right.

One such good is the honors that are gained by any member of the family. In some way, these become collective property of the entire family. That is why if one of our father’s had won a Nobel prize, we would have a share in that honor as being the son of a Nobel laureate.

This is pretty obvious. What is especially noteworthy about this, is that this type of honor persists throughout generations. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have the honor of having His Imperial and Royal Highness, Prince Bertrand with us at this conference. The fact that His Highness is a direct descendant of St. Louis IX, together with several other saints and extraordinary men it should be added, is a personal distinction and honor for Prince Bertrand.

Similarly, but to a much lesser degree, if one of us were a descendant of George Washington or General Patton, that would be an honor for us which would be recognized even by the public. Just meeting a descendant of George Washington or General Patton would be something that would at least provide material for conversation.

This fact, that God intended the glory and honor of great men to pass on to their descendants is even biblical. In the book of Ecclesiasticus we read:

“Rich men in virtue, studying beautifulness: living at peace in their houses. All these have gained glory in their generations, and were praised in their days. They that were born of them have left a name behind them, that their praises might be related: … But these were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed:

“Good things continue with their seed, Their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath stood in the covenants. And their children for their sakes remain forever: their seed and their glory shall not be forsaken.”

In this, we catch a beautiful glimpse at the mysterious bonds of heredity. A purely materialistic man would see in heredity nothing beyond the transmission of genes from one generation to the next. Such a notion is not Catholic because it denies the union of body and soul.

Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, Prince Imperial of Brazil

While it is true that the qualities of a father do not always pass on to his son, most of the time they do. Just as there are many fools who have been born of wise men, it is undeniable that many social and even spiritual characteristics are transmitted throughout generations. In fact, this is the norm and when this does not happen, it is the exception. The fruit normally doesn’t fall far from the tree.

A Young man from a poor family triumphantly shows his diploma to his patroness.

F. Georg Waldmüller (1861). Belvedere Art Collections, Vienna, Austria.

This was observed by sociologist Paul Mott who wrote: “The most obvious fact about mobility in our society is that the son is very likely to have the same occupational position as his father, or to be one rank above or below him. Movement from one extreme of the occupational status to the other is very unlikely.”

A good example of this is a prominent French family of woodcutters called the Pinons. They were a family that produced the best woodcutters in France for centuries. In fact, they had been in the business of woodcutting for longer than France had been a nation, for when Rome conquered Gaul they had helped clear out the forest for the invasion.

As you can imagine, throughout the centuries, they acquired a lot of fame in the woodcutting industry. In fact, they became known as the best woodcutters in all of France. They became so renown that each year, the King of France would send a special birthday message to the family’s Patriarch.

One year, King Louis XIV decided that it was time to move this family up a notch in the social scale of France, so when he sent his yearly birthday greetings, he offered to grant the patriarch a noble title.

Very beautifully, Maitre Pinon turned him down and sent the king the following message. He said: “Thank you Your Majesty, but I must decline your generous offer, for I would rather be the greatest of the woodcutters in France than the least of her nobles.”

It’s a beautiful story, but for our purposes it proves the value of heredity. This family had consistently produced excellent woodcutters for some 1800 years. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is no coincidence. There was clearly something hereditary in the Pinons that was highly conducive to form excellence in their field.

Was it something genetic? Was it a special act of divine providence? Was it the action of a guardian angel of their family? Was it something in the way they raised their children? Was it in the water they drank? Or was it a combination of all this and more?

I do not really know and I do not know if it is entirely knowable. However, we see this hereditary aspect alive in family lineages all throughout history. General MacArthur was the fifth generation of generals in his family. Similarly, Generals Robert E Lee and George Patton descended from a line of generals.

Prince Bertrand traces His royal lineage to Hugh Capet who was king of the Franks from 987-996. However, even Hugh’s father was a powerful duke who had descended from Charlemagne’s son Pepin. In other words, His Highness’ family has produced excellent leaders for well over a millennium. Once again, this is no coincidence.

In fact, this notion of heredity has led to innumerable dynasties throughout history. Hence, we see families of doctors, families of lawyers, families of soldiers and workmen. When this happens, these families tend to perfect their common profession is a special way.

Pope Pius XII spoke of the reality and importance of heredity in society in His Allocution to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on January 5, 1941. This is a long quote, so you will have to bear with me a bit, but it is so beautiful that I did not want to cut anything out of it. His Holiness stated:

“The nature of this great and mysterious thing that is heredity – the passing on through a bloodline, perpetuated from generation to generation, of a rich ensemble of material and spiritual assets, the continuity of a single physical and moral type from father to son, the tradition that unites members of one same family across the centuries – the true nature of this heredity can undoubtedly be distorted by materialistic theories. But, one can, and must also, consider this reality enormously important in the fullness of its human and supernatural truth…

“Yet of greater import still is spiritual heredity, which is transmitted not so much through these mysterious bonds of material generation as by the permanent action of that privileged environment that is the family, with the slow and profound formation of souls in the atmosphere of a hearth rich in high intellectual, moral, and especially Christian traditions, with the mutual influence of those dwelling under one same roof, an influence whose beneficial effects endure well beyond the years of childhood and youth, all the way to the end of a long life, in those elect souls who are able to meld within themselves the treasures of a precious heredity with the addition of their own merits and experiences.

“Such is the most prized patrimony of all, which, illuminated by a solid faith and enlivened by a strong and loyal practice of Christian life in all its demands, will raise, refine, and enrich the souls of your children.”

Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, founder of the du Pont business dynasty. The Du Ponts have been one of this country’s richest families since the mid-19th century, when they founded their fortune in the gunpowder business.

This then, is the first reason that meritocracy is erroneous. It is unjust because it denies the evident designs that God, in His Providence, has for the formation of lineages through heredity.

The other problem with meritocracy that we will be discussing is that it prevents the formation of true elites and thus bars the development of their role in society. To understand this, we must spend some time discussing what, exactly, is the role of elites in society.

One of the, or perhaps the greatest role that elites fulfill in society is to acquire and embody the greatest qualities of their people. They do this by developing the Catholic virtues to an eminent degree. Dr. Plinio lists the virtues in which the elites must especially shine. These include: honor, abnegation, courage, magnanimity, respect and honesty.

The elites must embody these virtues to a very high degree and then project them throughout society in their actions and ways of being. Thus, their role is to be a beacon and model of virtue that stands out and provides society with role models to be emulated.

In describing the aristocracy, the American Appendix to the book Nobility affirms that elites synthesize and augment everything good about their communities.

I quote: “In effect, every city or region has what could be called a collective personality or a “common soul” that, in a certain sense, is worth more than the collective sum of its individual personalities. This “common soul” is a synthesis of the perfections towards which its individuals, families, and classes tend. It is the collective product of their march towards perfection.

“The aristocrat best expresses this “common soul.” By elevating himself to a standard above the community, he becomes its embodiment. For this reason, he has the mission of representing its particular spirit. The superior task of the aristocrat is to conserve that spirit, elevate it, and make it progress. Thus his vocation is towards the common good.”

This is why the elite of society give definition to the best of what a people have to offer and, through their example and efforts, raise society to a higher level. They provide all society with an upward thrust. In the speech Dr. Plinio gave for the launching of the Nobility book in the United States, he described this role in the following words:

“To uplift mankind requires painful effort which most of humanity resists. This vast ascension must be accomplished on a national, regional and even family level. Its motivation are those individuals or small groups specially endowed in nature and grace, with such a desire to improve themselves and their surroundings, that they become the driving forces of individual improvement and social progress. In a word, they are the yeast, society the dough.”

Well, the formation of such a group of individuals is no easy task. In fact, it is so difficult that cannot occur in one generation. That sort of excellence is the product of generations of refinement of a family in which each successive generation has the substance to raise the family’s level one degree higher. Only after many generations of this ascensional march can the true elite appear in all his glory.

There is a common saying that you can take the boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the boy. In fact, you can take the country out of the boy, it just takes many lifetimes to do it.

Again, we know this instinctively. Conversion works the same way. Individuals can convert from paganism to Catholicism and become wonderful people who personally can even become saints. However, the formation of a truly Catholic soul takes generations.

St. José de Anchieta preaching in Brazil.

There is a striking example of this in the life of St. Joseph of Anchieta, the great apostle of Brazil. One day, he came across an Indian woman he had converted. She was sitting alone in the city and was very downcast. Desirous to lift her mood, St. Joseph approached her and asked what was wrong. She responded that, while sitting there she became very hungry and was filled with the desire to grab one of the town’s children, cut off his arm and eat it. She now realized how wrong this was and so she was discouraged.

This was a good Catholic woman who was praying and frequenting the sacraments. While there was nothing sinful about her demented desire in itself, we can see that the savage roots of paganism went deep into her soul and these roots were not automatically extricated by the waters of Baptism. Being Catholic, her soul still needed a few centuries of Catholic culture before all the horrors of paganism would be weeded out. That is why it is said that a man’s education begins 500 years before he is born.

This, then, is the last problem with meritocracy that we will discuss. Since a meritocracy demands that everyone begins life with the same status, it makes the formation of true elites impossible, because the formation of a true elite takes generations of excellence and privilege. If one were to remove the privileged status of the children of great men, this slow refinement process would always be limited to a single generation and would never bear the fruits that are possible to it.

The last myth we will discuss is that elites may have had an important role in the past, but their time has come and gone. We live in the 21st Century and the type of society that is led by elites is simply no longer possible.

I would respond that one of the greatest things missing from our society is solid leadership. That is why true elites are timelier than ever. I once read a definition of aristocracy that I think says it all. It said aristocracy is leadership by the best. If there has ever been a time in the history of humanity in which we have needed the best among us to lead, it is now.

To Be Continued….

Part One

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

November 5, 2026

St. Elizabeth

(God is an oath—Ex., vi, 23)

Visitation of Our Lady and St. Elizabeth by Bl. Fra Angelico

Visitation of Our Lady and St. Elizabeth by Bl. Fra Angelico

Zachary’s wife and John the Baptist’s mother, was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke, i, 5), and, at the same time, Mary’s kinswoman (Luke, i, 36), although what their actual relationship was, is unknown. St. Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) explains that Sobe and Anna their mothers were sisters, and that Sobe had married a “son of Levi”. Whether this indication, probably gathered from some apocryphal writings, and later on adopted by the compilers of the Greek Menologium, is correct, cannot be ascertained. Elizabeth, like Zachary, was “just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame” (Luke, i, 6).

The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Elizabeth with Our Lord and St. John the Baptist.

She had been deprived, however, of the blessings of motherhood until, at an advanced age, a son was promised her by the Angel Gabriel (Luke, i, 8-20). When, five months later, Elizabeth was visited in her home by the Virgin Mary, not only was her son sanctified in her womb, but she herself was enlightened from on high to salute her cousin as “the mother of my Lord” (Luke, i, 43).

The Visitation; Cuzco, Peru 1700s.

According to some modern critics, we should even attribute to her the canticle “Magnificat”. After the birth and circumcision of John the Baptist, the Gospels do not mention Elizabeth any more. Her feast is celebrated on September 8 by the Greeks, and November 5 in the Latin Church.

CHARLES L. SOUVAY (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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

November 5, 2026

Maria Feodorovna, wife of Paul I, Tsarina of all the Russias

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

Painting by Galaktionov S. F. of the Smolny Institute in 1823.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Tsarina Maria is justly celebrated for building the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens in 1806-08. Impoverished members of the Russian nobility sent their young daughters to this imperial finishing school which prepared them for the arduous life and responsibilities of a noblewoman, be it at court, be it elsewhere.

The last graduates of the Smolny Institute before the Revolution of 1917.

While the normal academic disciplines were not neglected, the Smolny Institute specialized in developing the social graces and cultural talents of the young ladies entrusted to its charge.

Tsarina Maria’s patronage of the Smolny Institute was a most wise and beneficent initiative and it gave rise to similar institutions for young girls of the nobility throughout the Russian Empire, for example, the Institute for Noble Ladies in Kiev, Ukraine.

For over 100 years, the young ladies graduating from the halls of the Smolny Institute contributed in no small measure to the brilliance, influence and glory of the Russian nobility within the Empire and throughout European high society. This noble influence endured until the atheistic and egalitarian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Tsarina Maria died in Pavlosk, Russia, on November 5, 1828.

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

November 5, 2026

St. Leonard of Limousin

Saint LeonardNothing absolutely certain is known of his history, as his earliest “Life”, written in the eleventh century, has no historical value whatever. According to this extraordinary legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family of the time of King Clovis, and St. Remy of Reims was his godfather. After having secured from the king the release of a great number of prisoners, and refused episcopal honours which Clovis offered him, he entered a monastery at Micy near Orleans. Later he went to Aquitaine and there preached the Gospel. Having obtained, through prayer, a safe delivery for the Queen of the Franks in her confinement, he received as a gift from the king a domain at Noblac, near Limoges, where he founded a monastery. The veneration of this saint is as widely known as his history is obscure and uncertain.

St. Leonard of NoblacIt is true that there is no trace of it before the eleventh century, but from that time it spread everywhere, and little by little churches were dedicated to him, not only in France, but in all Western Europe, especially in England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, more particularly in Bavaria, and also in Bohemia, Poland, and other countries. Pilgrims, among them kings, princes, and high dignitaries of the Church, flocked to Noblac (now St. Leonard). Numerous miracles are attributed to him, and in one small town alone, Inchenhofen, Bavaria, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, there are records of about 4000 favours granted through his intercession. The saint wrought the delivery of captives, women in confinement, those possessed of an evil spirit, people and beasts afflicted with diseases. At the end of the eleventh century his name had already become renowned among the Crusaders captured by the Mussulmans. He is generally represented holding chains in his hands. His feast day is celebrated on 6 November.

PONCELET in Acta SS., November, III, 139-209; see also CHEVALIER, Bio-Bibl., s.v.

A. Poncelet (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 5, 2026

Born     December 29, 1811, in Aitona, Lleida, Spain
Died     20 March 1872, in Tarragona, Spain
Beatified     April 24, 1988
Feast     November 7

Bl. Palau

Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching for adult persons—at Barcelona. In 1860-61, he also founded a mixed Congregation of Third Order of Discalced Carmelites, both Brothers and Sisters, in Balearic Islands. He preached popular missions and spread veneration of Our Lady wherever he went. Francisco Palau understood the beauty of the Church. What had been a confusing oscillation from solitude to service and back to solitude again made sense for him when he recognised that the real Church is the congregation of humans in the whole Christ. God and neighbours together, is his Beloved.

Early life

He was born on December 29, 1811 in Aytona, Lerida, Spain. He was 7th of the nine children of Jose Palau and Maria Antonia Quer. He was baptized on the same day according to the family tradition and the custom in the country.

The year he was born was a year of hunger and life became harder because of the French invasion has reached the village of Aytona. They were a humble family who worked in the farm. After a day’s labor, they used to gather together to pray the rosary.

They were actively involved in the parish life. His father and all of his siblings, including himself, were members of the choir and fervent in the reception of the sacraments.

He studied at the town school and through the help of his sister Rosa, he pursued higher education.

At 14, he decided to become a priest. He frequented the seminary classes first, as a day pupil.

At Lerida, he finally entered the diocesan seminary on October 1828. For four years, he was granted a “Porcionista” scholarship which means he was a full scholar with free board and lodging.

In 1832, he formally relinquished his scholarship to enter postulant at the Discalced Carmelites convent of Lérida.

Discalced Carmelite

He entered Barcelona Carmel on October 23, 1832 as a novice. On November 14, 1832, he was given his habit and took the religious name “Fr. Francisco of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph”. Francisco professed solemnly on November 15, 1833—it was a time when religious persecution was beginning in Spain. He was aware of the situation but courageous, and he never retracted his option. He continued his studies of theology in the Convent of San Jose in Barcelona.

On July 25, 1835, convents and monasteries in Barcelona were vandalized and burned. The San Jose Convent was one of those burned down. Looking after others, he helped the ancient friars to get safely out of fire.

Bl. Palau

Apostle and founder

He continued his life of asceticism in his hometown where he alternated solitude and apostolic activities, living in a cave situated 2 km from the village. He was ordained priest in Barbastro, Spain on April 2, 1836.

His first charge was as an Apostolic Missionary because of his great spirituality and apostolic activity in the dioceses of Cataluna and Aragon.

Since the government looked with suspicion on all the priests and clerics, on July 21, 1840, even if he never mingled really in politics,Fr. Palau was obliged to cross the Pyrenees to live in exile in France for eleven years up to April 1851. There he continued to live his solitary life in the castle of Montdesir, Livron, and then in Cantayrac. During his last years staying there, his form of living, shocking for many people, drew the attention of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. To defend himself, he wrote: La Vida Solitaria (The Solitary Life) and El solitario de Cantayrac (The loner).

He returned to Spain on April 13, 1851. He became the spiritual director of the local seminarians in Barcelona. At the same time he organized the School of Virtue in the Parish Church of San Agustin with its weekly Sunday school for adults, (1851–1854), based on the virtues from the Catecismo de las Virtudes (Catechism of Virtues) and with a programme of 52 propositions on the current ideological movements. The liberals in power protested against the school. As a consequence, it was suppressed and Fr. Palau was confined in Ibiza for six years (1854–1860).

Bl. Palau

He remained banished for 6 years. He found an islet, a towering rock, El Vedra, near Ibiza and, needing solitude, he used to retire and pray there seeking God’s will. He established a hermitage in Es Cubells where he enthroned the image of Our Lady of the Virtues, establishing the first Marian sanctuary on the island, and promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary among the islanders.

In 1860–1861, he reorganized the hermits of San Honorato de Randa in Mallorca and initiated the foundation of a Carmelite family – the Congregation – Third Order of Discalced Carmelites of the Congregation of Spain.

He started to write Mis Relaciones Con la Iglesia (My Relations With the Church), a sort of autobiographical journal, partly written in the idyllic solitude of El Vedra, transmitting his experience of the Church conceived as God and neighbors.

He was authorized and nominated Founder and Director of the Carmelite Tertiaries of Spain in 1867. In 1868, he initiated in Barcelona the weekly publication of El Ermitano (The Hermit). He assisted the sick and he practiced exorcism. He even created a project for a religious order exclusively in order to exorcise.

The Tomb of Bl. Palau in the chapel of the Carmelite Missionaries of Tarragona.

The Tomb of Bl. Palau in the chapel of the Carmelite Missionaries of Tarragona.

While fully immersed in his apostolic and foundational work, he was infected as he helped the sick at Calasanz, reaching Tarragona, Spain on March 10, 1872, he died on March 20, 1872 at 60 years of age assisted by the Sisters.

After the Spanish Civil War that ended in 1939, Little Brothers who survived were incorporated into the Teresian Carmel. The sisters are now flourishing in two congregations: Teresian Carmelite Missionaries and Carmelite Missionaries.

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November 7 – Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

November 5, 2026

Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

Bl. Bernardine of FeltreOf the Order of Friars Minor, historian and ascetical writer, b. at Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November, 1503. Blessed Bernardine belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Amici, and sometimes bears the name of Aquilanus on account of his long residence and death in the town of Aquila. He received his early training at Aquila and thence went to Perugia to study canon and civil law. On the 12th of March in the year 1445, he received the Seraphic habit from St. James of the Marches who was then preaching a course of Lenten sermons at Perugia. Subscription11 From the time of his entrance into religion, Bernardine never ceased to advance in religious perfection, and the success which crowned his missionary labours throughout Italy, as well as in Dalmatia and Serigonia, bears witness to the eminent sanctity of his life. Bernardine fulfilled the office of provincial of the province of St. Bernardine and of the province of Dalmatia and Bosnia, and would have been chosen Bishop of Aquila had not his humility forbidden him to accept this dignity. His cult was approved by Leo XII, 26 March, 1828. His feast is kept in the Franciscan Order on the 7th of November. The writings of Blessed Bernardine include several sermons and divers ascetical and historical opuscules; among the latter, the “Chronica Fratrum Minorum Observantiae” deserves special mention. This interesting chronicle was first edited by Leonard Lemmens, O.F.M., from the autograph manuscript, and is prefaced by an interesting life of Blessed Bernardine and a critical estimate of his writings. It may also be mentioned that Bernardine is the author of the first life of his patron, St. Bernardine of Siena.

Leo, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, 1887), IV, 42-44; Lemmens, Chronica Fratrum Minorum Observantiae B. Bernardini Aquilani (Rome, 1905); Wadding, Annales Minorum, XII, 277- 480; Hurter, Nomenclator, IV, 968; Hugh a Pescocostanza, Vita del B. Bernardino da Fossa (Naples, 1872).

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 7 – He Went on Crusade to Atone for His Sins

November 5, 2026

Saint Engelbert of Cologne

Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); born at Berg, about 1185; died near Schwelm, 7 November 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to an abuse of that time, made provost of the churches of Saint George and Saint Severin at Cologne, and of Saint Mary’s at Aachen. In 1199 he was elected provost of the cathedral at Cologne.

Seal of Archbishop Engelbert I

He led a worldly life and in the conflict between Archbishops Adolf and Bruno sided with his cousin Adolf, and waged war for him. He was in consequence excommunicated by the pope together with his cousin and deposed in 1206. After his submission he was reinstated in 1208 and, to atone for his sin, joined the crusade against the Albigenses in 1212. On 29 February 1216, the chapter of the cathedral elected him archbishop by a unanimous vote. In appearance he was tall and handsome. He possessed a penetrating mind and keen discernment, was kind and condescending and loved justice and peace, but he was also ambitious and self willed. His archiepiscopal see had passed through severe struggles and suffered heavily, and he worked strenuously to repair the damage and to restore order. He took care of its possessions and revenues and was on that account compelled to resort to arms. He defeated the Duke of Limburg and the Count of Cleves and defended against them also the countship of Berg, which he had inherited in 1218 on the death of his brother. He restrained the impetuous citizens of Cologne, broke the stubbornness of the nobility, and erected strongholds for the defense of his territories. He did not spare even his own relations when guilty. In this way he gained the universal veneration of his people and increased the number of his vassals from year to year. Although in exterior bearing a sovereign rather than a bishop, for which he was blamed by pious persons, he did not disregard his duties to the Church, but strove to uplift the religious life of his people. The mendicant orders which had been founded shortly before his accession, settled in Cologne during his administration, the Franciscans in 1219, the Dominicans in 1221. He was well disposed towards the monasteries and insisted on strict religious observance in them. Ecclesiastical affairs were regulated in provincial synods. Blameless in his own life, he was a friend of the clergy and a helper of the poor.

Equestrian statue of Engelbert I of Cologne at Schloss Burg in Solingen

In the affairs of the empire Engelbert exerted a strong influence. Emperor Frederick II, who had taken up his residence permanently in Sicily, gave Germany to his son, Henry VII, then still a minor, and in 1221 appointed Engelbert guardian of the king and administrator of the empire. When the young king reached the age of twelve he was crowned at Aachen, 8 May 1222, by Engelbert, who loved him as his own son and honored him as his sovereign. He watched over the king’s education and governed the empire in his name, careful above all to secure peace both within and without the realm. At the Diet of Nordhausen (24 September 1223) he made an important treaty with Denmark; in the rupture between England and France he sided with England and broke off relations with France. The poet Walther von der Vogelweide extols him as “Master of sovereigns”, and “True guardian of the king, thy exalted traits do honor to our emperor; chancellor whose like has never been”.

Engelbert’s devotion to duty, and his obedience to the pope and to the emperor were eventually the cause of his ruin. Many of the nobility feared rather than loved him, and he was obliged to surround himself with a body-guard. The greatest danger threatened him from among his relations. His cousin, count Frederick of Isenberg, the secular administrator for the nuns of Essen, had grievously oppressed that abbey. Honorius III and the emperor urged Engelbert to protect the nuns in their rights. Frederick wished to forestall the archbishop, and his wife incited him to murder. Even his two brothers, the Bishops of Münster and Osnabrück, were suspected as privy to the matter. Engelbert was warned, commended himself to the protection of Divine Providence, and amid tears made a confession of his whole life to the Bishop of Minden. On 7 November 1225, as he was journeying from Soest to Schwelm to consecrate a church, he was attacked on a dark evening by Frederick and his associates in a narrow defile, was wounded in the thigh, torn from his horse and killed. His body was covered with forty-seven wounds. It was placed on a dung-cart and brought to Cologne on the fourth day. King Henry wept bitterly over the remains, put the murderer under the ban of the empire, and saw him broken on the wheel a year later at Cologne. He died contrite, having acknowledged and confessed his guilt. His associates also perished miserably within a short time. The crime, moreover, was disastrous for the German Empire, for the young king had now lost his best adviser and soon met a very sad fate, to the misfortune of his house and country.

Reliquary of St. Engelbert

Engelbert, by his martyrdom made amends for his human weaknesses. His body was placed in the old cathedral of Cologne, 24 February 1226, by Cardinal Conrad von Urach. The latter also declared him a martyr; a formal canonization did not take place. In 1618 Archbishop Ferdinand ordered that his feast be celebrated on 7 November and solemnly raised his remains in 1622. In the martyrology Engelbert is commemorated on 7 November, as a martyr. A convent for nuns was erected at the place of his death. By order of Engelbert’s successor, Henry I, Cæsarius of Heisterbach, who possessed good information and a ready pen, wrote in 1226 the life of the saint in two books and added a third about his miracles.

Gabriel Meier (1909 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 5, 2026

St. Willehad

In this mural painting in the city hall of Bremen, Charlemagne and St. Willehad flank the Cathedral of Bremen as it appeared c1532

In this mural painting in the city hall of Bremen, Charlemagne and St. Willehad flank the Cathedral of Bremen as it appeared c1532

Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He cannot, therefore, have been a disciple of St. Boniface, as Baronius states in the Roman Martyrology, for St. Boniface had left England in 718 and had died in 754 (755). Willehad came to Dockum, where St. Boniface had received the crown of martyrdom, and made many conversions. He crossed the Lauwers, but met with little success at Hugmarke (now Humsterland in the Diocese of Münster). He was obliged to leave and went to Trianthe (Drenthe in the Diocese of Utrecht). At first all seemed favourable, but later he made little progress. In 780 he was sent by Charlemagne to Wigmodia near the North Sea, between the Weser and the Elbe. There God’s blessing accompanied his labours, and he built many churches. The insurrection of the Saxons under Widukind in 782 put an end to his work, many of his companions were killed and his churches destroyed.

St. Willehad

Willehad escaped and went to Rome, where he was received by Adrian I. He then retired to the Abbey of Echternach, and applied himself to the task of copying books, among others he transcribed the Epistles of St. Paul. When the insurrection had been suppressed by Charlemagne Willehad returned to Wigmodia and continued his labours. He was consecrated bishop at Worms on 13 July, 787, and fixed his residence at Bremen, where he built a cathedral, dedicated on Sunday 1 Nov., 789, in honour of St. Peter. A few days later, while on a missionary tour, he was attacked with a fever and died. His body, buried at the place of his death, was transferred by his successor St. Willericus to the stone church built by him and placed in a chapel. A feast on 13 July commemorates the date of his consecration. During the Reformation his relics were lost. His feast was neglected and then forgotten; by permission, however, of the Sacred Congregation of Rites it was reintroduced in 1901 in the Dioceses of Munser, Osnabruck, and Paderborn to be observed on a vacant day after 8 November. His life was written by a cleric of Bremen after 838, but perhaps before 860. The account of his miracles was written by St. Ansgar.

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BUTLER, Lives of the Saints; Staunton, A Menology of England; HAUCK, Kirchengesch. Deutschl., II (Leipzig, 1904), 350, etc.; WATTENBACH, Deutsch. Geschichtsqu., I (Berlin, 1904), 296.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Commentaries on Charlemagne and St. Willehad of Bremen

November 5, 2026

by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira

“Saint Willehad, bishop and confessor was the first bishop of Bremen, diocese created by Emperor Charlemagne after his conquests. In the year 788, the 21st  of his reign, Charlemagne gave that see a certificate that read: “In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Charles, by the will of Divine Providence, King.

“With the help of the God of hosts we achieved victory in our wars, and from Him alone we received our glory, and it is from Him that we expect happiness and prosperity in this world and an eternal reward in the next.

“Hail to all the faithful of Christ! Hail to all the Saxons saved from their perfidious obstinacy, those who rebelled against our ancestors and who were for a long time rebellious against us and God, until we conquered them not by our strength, but by the strength of the Cross of the Lord.

“From His mercy did we receive the grace of Baptism, which we brought to them, offering them liberty and releasing them from all tributes they owed us. For the love of the One who gave us the victory, we declared them our subjects.

 “Since they refused that gift and the yoke of our power, they were defeated by our arms and by the Faith. From now on, they are obliged to pay to Our Lord Jesus Christ and His priests a tithe of all their animals, fruits and crops.”

This text does not lend itself to a comment about St. Willehad because it simply says that he was bishop of Bremen and then mentions Charlemagne’s decree establishing the Bremen diocese in the year 788, so we are obliged to comment about the decree.

It seems a bit extravagant to do a Saint of the Day about a decree. If one reads a decree today one finds nothing to make a ‘Saint of the Day’ with. Take, for example, a decree on traffic regulations, or one – like the one here – creating a new tax. What can that have to do with the spiritual life?

What is interesting for us here is to compare the two decrees so that we can see the complete change of ambience from Christian civilization to the civilization of our days.

Here the emperor specifies the ways in which the tribute must be paid to the Church and makes it obligatory.

In this mural painting in the city hall of Bremen, Charlemagne and St. Willehad flank the Cathedral of Bremen as it appeared c1532

It is interesting to note the close relationships between the civil and ecclesiastical powers at that time, the care the civil power took of the ecclesiastical power, and how the former abundantly provided for the maintenance of the clergy, the worship and the Cathedral of Bremen, first of all for the glory of God and then for the Christianization of those semi-pagan peoples.

Another interesting point is how the emperor describes his own role in enacting the tribute. He shows that the Saxons, a pagan people, were conquered by his arms and he has a right of conquest upon them. He had a legitimate right of conquest because the Saxons were very aggressive and continuously invaded the lands of the Franks, whose king was Charlemagne. They also made provocations, carrying out lootings and crimes in cities along the borders, and seeking to impose their pagan religion on the local people.

So Charlemagne went on a crusade in defense of the Catholic religion, invaded their lands and defeated them. He later went overboard by establishing the principle “believe or die” – those who refused to be baptized, were killed. Naturally, the number of baptisms was huge, and so was that of capital executions. On the occasion, there flowed torrents of baptismal water and blood.

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Challenging American Myths about Equality

November 2, 2026

Mr. Michael Whitcraft

Talk given by Mr. Michael Whitcraft at the 2026 National Conference in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. Due to the length of this talk, it will be given here in three parts.

Imperial and Royal Highness, TFP directors, members, supporters and friends, good afternoon. I must say that I am excited about our talk this afternoon. If you are here, the chances are very good that you already know that one of the main cultural and philosophical errors that the TFP fights against is egalitarianism – that is the notion that men and women, children and adults, peasants and elites – in a word all men are equal and, subsequently, must be afforded the same treatment and status.

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. We are not all equal. In fact, no two men are equal. Each one of us is unique. We are different shapes and sizes. We have difference capacities and abilities – different origins and interests. We each have different levels of intelligence, culture and experience.

This should come as no surprise. We see this clearly everyday of our lives every time we interact with others. Since people are different, justice demands that they be treated differently. That’s why it would be wrong for me to treat a lady that same way I treat a gentleman. Similarly, I must treat my peers differently than I treat those of my parents’ generation.

If individually, I must treat different people differently, doesn’t it stand to reason that society should act in a similar way. Shouldn’t the state itself grant different privileges and status to the various classes of people because they are different from one another? On the other hand, since each class is different, shouldn’t the state assign different responsibilities to the different classes?

Affirming this may seem out of step with the current political climate, but it was not always that way. In fact, in 1960 Barry Goldwater published the book Conscience of a Conservative. This book, which is one of the most foundational books of modern American conservatism, did not mince its words with respect to egalitarianism. In it we find this quote:

“[Many aim to establish] an egalitarian society–an objective that does violence both to the charter of the Republic and the laws of Nature. We are all equal in the eyes of God but we are equal in no other respect. Artificial devices for enforcing equality among unequal men must be rejected if we would restore that charter and honor those laws.”

“We are not all equal. In fact, no two men are equal. Each one of us is unique.”
Top row, L to R: St. Joan of Arc, St. Nuno Álvares Pereira, St. Katherine Drexel. Bottom Row: St. Jadwiga of Poland, St. Norbert of Xanten & St. Ivo of Kermartin (also called St. Yves).

This is why throughout all of Christendom, the differences between men have always been recognized and celebrated. Each class in society had responsibilities and privileges enshrined in the laws of the states. For example: In certain areas, in addition to offering the Sacraments, the clergy were expected to educate the people free of charge. This was their responsibility. As a benefit, they were exempt from taxes.

The nobles were expected to police the streets, shoulder the burden of the entire justice system and go to war when it was necessary. In addition to this, in many places they were not allowed to engage in commerce. That was a privilege of the people. Due to this, they were also exempt from taxes.

As fair as this may seem, this idea that different classes should have different burdens and privileges is loathsome to Americans. That is why our government has anti-discrimination laws about literally everything. To contradict this notion is considered the height of injustice and ultimately un-American.

Just for a moment, imagine if a candidate were to run for any office in this country and include in his platform the abolition of universal suffrage. What chances would he have of being elected? How would he be presented by the media?

I think it is safe to say that both the right and the left in this country would ride him out on a rail and his career would be over. And yet, a large percentage of the electorate cannot even articulate the basic platform of the candidates for whom they vote. Everyone knows this. So, does it really make sense to grant every American citizen who is 18 or older the right to vote?

As you can see, we are going to be dealing with some highly controversial issues this afternoon. This is the first reason that I am excited about this topic. The second reason I am excited can be seen in the title of my talk: Challenging American Myths About Equality. So, we will be challenging myths and that is always enjoyable.

Americans love challenging myths. There is something about getting to the bottom of a problem and uncovering the fallacies of what is purported to be common knowledge that is as American as baseball and apple pie. It is no surprise that the television program Mythbusters was so popular for so long.

So, if we think about it, we will be arguing against one of the main tenets of American cultural and political thought, but doing so in the most American way conceivable, by challenging myths, so no matter what I say, at least it shouldn’t be boring.

So, I suggest that we get right into our subject and start tackling myths. The first myth is that egalitarianism is the reason for America’s success as a nation. The reason that this is a myth is because America has never been a truly egalitarian society and elites have been the driving force of our successes since the very beginning.

That may seem like a crazy assertion considering that America was founded on egalitarian principles. In fact, both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution itself ban the granting or accepting of titles of nobility. Common knowledge supposedly excludes the possibility of anything resembling an American nobility of any sort.

Stratford Hall Plantation. The ancestral home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia.

To refute this, Dr. Plinio formed a study commission in the early 90s to show that America is truly an aristocratic nation living within a democratic state. The result was the so-called “American Appendix” of Dr. Plinio’s last book, Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites. This appendix is so comprehensive, that it is longer than the book, itself. My research for this part of my talk is taken exclusively from this work.

Click to order your copy today!

The appendix is very realistic in its outlook. It freely admits that its purpose frontally challenges conventional wisdom. In the introduction, it states:

“The United States is universally considered the republic par excellence, whose very Declaration of Independence consecrated the principle that “all men are created equal.” It is the nation of “self-made men,” where anyone can rise “from rags to riches”; the nation of individual liberties, where authority and hierarchy are viewed with suspicion; the New World where the Old-World elegance of aristocratic ceremony gives way to the unrestrained simplicity of democratic manners; the nation where pragmatism and “common sense” take precedence over aesthetic and spiritual considerations.”

For brevity’s sake, we will refer to this idea as the American Myth, which the American Appendix defines as: “a certain egalitarian and liberal way of perceiving the American spirit, which stems more from ideological preconceptions of Enlightenment and rationalist origin characteristic of certain currents of thought, than from an objective vision of the American situation.”

I know that is a bit of a complicated definition, let me break it down a bit: The American Myth is 1). a certain egalitarian and liberal way of perceiving the American spirit, 2) this stems from ideological preconceptions of Enlightenment and rationalist origin characteristic of certain currents of thought, 3) and not based on an objective vision of the American situation.

In a nutshell, it means that many people, spurred on by Enlightenment and rationalist preconceptions, assume that the United States is much more egalitarian than it truly is. This American Myth has been harmful to the development of the recent history of the entire world because, based largely on this myth, much of the Old World abandoned its ways of being. This myth became a type of model to which nations needed to conform in order to enter modernity.

“…Old World abandoned much of the ceremonial and reverence that had defined its hierarchical past and replaced it with a system that valued efficiency….”

Thus, the Old World abandoned much of the ceremonial and reverence that had defined its hierarchical past and replaced it with a system that valued efficiency and production above all else. This process is very evident in the aftermath of the two World Wars.

However, it has been devastating and insincere. Devastating because ceremonial and reverence are more valuable that efficiency and production. This is obvious because ceremonial and reverence are values that feed man’s soul, whereas efficiency and production are more focused on material and the body. Since, the soul is superior to the body, it stands to reason that we should favor the former over the latter.

Thomas Paine Painting by Laurent Dabos

However, it was also insincere because American egalitarianism has always been grossly exaggerated. It was, as we have said, a myth. So where did this myth come from? It originated in the writings of some of our founding fathers, like Thomas Paine who went so far as to call monarchies evil.

It was bolstered in large part by the Romantic authors of the nineteenth century. Like much of their literature, when writing about their experience of the newly born American republic, they took a good deal of poetic license in their portrayal of the equality that reigned here.

One such writer was Alexis de Tocqueville, whose 1835 book Democracy in America is considered to be the foundational text for an understanding of early American society. An aristocrat, himself, de Tocqueville lamented the destruction of hierarchy, but considered it a foregone conclusion as inevitable as fate.

While lamenting this fact, he came to appreciate the United States where he felt that at least the supposed destruction of hierarchical structures did not degenerate into anarchy or mob rule. Nevertheless, his portrayal of American society is entirely in line with the American Myth.

He wrote:

“In America the aristocratic element has always been feeble from its birth; and if at the present day it is not actually destroyed, it is at any rate so completely disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any degree of influence on the course of affairs. The democratic principle, on the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by legislation, as to have become not only predominant, but all-powerful. No family or corporate authority can be perceived; very often one cannot even discover in it any very lasting individual influence.”

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

De Tocqueville’s vision of America, known as the pluralist school, was the one that dominated scholarship until around the middle of the twentieth century. However, later scholarship has shown just how off tracks this vision was.

Speaking of the pluralist school in 1973, Edward Pessen said: “This charming canvas of a crude but exhilarating social democracy has been largely demolished by modern research.” These researchers point out that, because America was not supposed to have social classes, previous scholars simply assumed that it didn’t, without doing sufficient research to demonstrate the fact. In doing so, they grossly misrepresented the American reality.

This led Vance Packard, writing in 1959, to affirm:

“Until recently, even sociologists had shrunk away from a candid exploration of social class in America. Social classes, they realized, were not supposed to exist. Furthermore, Karl Marx had made class a dirty word. As a result social scientists, until a few years ago, knew more about the social classes of New Guinea than they did about the United States of America.”

Some researchers excuse their colleagues’ poor scholarship by pointing out that, while elites do exist here, they are more hidden in American society. This makes them and their influence harder to detect. Hence Herbert von Borsh wrote:

“To the foreign observer, American life appears at first sight as egalitarian. He sees a colorful, vital, mobile surface, as compared with the old incrustations of European society…Under the surface, then, there unfolds a fascinating patchwork of consciously cultivated group distinctions, involving…deeper forces of separation.”

Other researchers point out something more nefarious at work. These claim that sociologists who affirmed the reality of a highly developed social stratification in the United States faced ridicule and even ostracism. You simply were not allowed to challenge the prevailing ideas.

Larz Anderson House. The Washington, DC residence of Ambassador Larz and Isabel Anderson from 1905 until 1937, the house now serves as the national headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, the nation’s oldest patriotic order.

Thus, in 1985 Peter Cookson and Caroline Hodges Persell wrote: “To propose that American society is almost as class-based as British society pushes one to the fringes of social respectability.”

However, there is a good reason why we can have the certainty that America has never been a classless society. It is because there never has been, nor could there ever be a society that truly did not develop some sort of class system. Modern sociologists are adamant about this fact.

Thus, Pierre van den Berge wrote:

“That all men are created equal may have seemed a self-evident truth to the amiable optimist who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, but it flies in the face of all evidence. That all men should be treated as if they were equal is a rather exotic and recent idea born in Western culture a little over two hundred years ago.

“In the majority of societies for nearly all of human history, inequality has been treated as axiomatic, and human relations have been ordered on the premise that any two people are seldom if ever equal…Egalitarianism may be good rhetoric, but it is bad sociology and, empirically, rank nonsense…”

Echoing this idea, Robert Nisbet says that hierarchy comes from the “functional requirements of the social bond. There is no form of community that is without some form of stratification of function and role. Wherever two or more people associate, there is bound to be some form of hierarchy.”

Summarizing these ideas, I return to Pierre ven den Berge who wrote: “The sociological ‘left-wing’ has argued that stratification is ‘dysfunctional,’ while the ‘right wing’ has held that it is ‘functional,’ meaning ‘good’ for society. Whether good or bad, inequality undeniably exists in all human societies…Other than liking it or disliking it, there is not much we can do about it.”

The Waldorf-Astoria ballroom: a Phi Gamma Delta fraternal function in 1908.

So, there has always been a class system in the United States. This holds true not just for the big cities, but in smaller ones as well. C. Wright Mills writes:

“In every town and small city of America an upper set of families stands above the middle classes and towers over the underlying population of clerks and wage workers. The members of this set possess more than do others of whatever there is locally to possess; they hold the keys to local decision; their names and faces are often printed in the local newspaper, in fact, they own the local newspaper as well as the radio station; they also own the three important local plants and most of the commercial properties on main street; they direct the banks. Mingling closely with one another, they are quite conscious of the fact that they belong to the leading class of the leading families…So it has traditionally been, and so it is today in the small towns of America.”

This is seen right here in the little town of Spring Grove. As many of you know the estate we are currently in was built by the paper magnate Philip Henry Glatfelter. When at the height of his power, he ruled Spring Grove with more power than a feudal lord.

I learned this years ago when speaking with an elderly Spring Grove native. Our conversation revolved around what life had been like in Spring Grove, when he was a boy. At that time, one of his weekly chores was to ride his bike to the Lutheran church in town on Saturday morning, where the minister would give him a copy of the sermon he planned to preach the following day. He would then peddle up to this estate and deliver the sermon to Mr. Glatfelter.

Mr. Glatfelter would read this sermon and modify it in whatever way he saw fit. The boy would then peddle back to the church and return the edited text to the minister before getting on with whatever else he planned to do that Saturday! As I said, Mr. Glatfelter had more power here than any medieval lord, who never would have dreamt of editing his local priest’s sermon before Mass on Sunday.

The American TFP Headquarters built by Philip Henry Glatfelter.

There are countless other examples we could give, however, doing so would make this talk longer than an hour and Mr. Michael Drake would not tolerate that. Suffice it to say that it is difficult to find a hospital or university that does not have a wing donated by (and named after) one or more of that city’s elites.

This is evident at Harvard wherein one of the undergraduate residences is named after the Cabot family, one of Boston’s most elite clans. However, their status is challenged by another family: the Lowells. The residents of Cabot House have immortalized their position in favor of the Cabots with the following rhyme: “Here’s to the town of Boston, The land of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells speak only to Cabots, And the Cabots speak only to God.”

So, with this, we have busted the first myth. American is not a truly egalitarian society. It never has been, because such a society is simply a utopian dream that cannot exist in reality. So, the successes we have had as a nation did not come from our egalitarianism, but rather from the dogged work of elites, who have always dominated the American scene.

The next myth we will tackle is the that the existence of hereditary elites is unjust. This one is very important and widespread. Many do not have a problem with elite status as long as it a status that the individual has earned through his own work. These have a problem with the idea that some people are born into a privileged status.

The type of society these people favor is called a meritocracy. In a meritocracy, the only things that can determine one’s social status are his personal merits—what he has personally earned through the sweat of his own brow.

To Be Continued….

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Purgatory in Painting

November 2, 2026

I have read in the Dictionary of Education a very amusing anecdote, which may, nevertheless, be cited of what I have said of All Souls’ Day. Certain canons over 1,000 years ago, having had to repair their Church, added to it a chapel dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory. The Sculptor who was charged with the decorations, represented the poor Souls in the midst of flames; but he was so malicious as to place in the very midst of his figures the portrait of a neighboring Abbot. The likeness was so perfect that no one could mistake it; the Superior himself recognized it. He immediately complained to the canons, who summoned the Sculptor and laughingly besought him to deliver that poor Soul from his Purgatory. The artist excused himself under the pretense that he could not touch his work without spoiling it. The complaint is carried before the Archbishop. The prelate inquires of the Sculptor if the likeness is accidental.

“No, my Lord,” says he, “I did it on purpose.”

“Then you must destroy that figure, for it is an outrage on the original.”

“I shall do no such a thing, my Lord, and your Lordship will not ask me to do it, I am sure, when you hear my reasons. Last year, this Reverend Abbot proved in one of his sermons that those who die without having made satisfaction are detained in the flames of Purgatory till they have paid their debts. Now his Procurator has owed me a hundred crowns these two years past, and I am not yet paid. So that is just the reason why I thought myself authorized to place the Abbot in my Purgatory. I assure you, my Lord, I will leave him there forever, unless your Lordship will have the goodness to see me paid.”

The Prelate and all who were present could not help laughing at this singular justification.

The complainant himself could not object to the demand thus made; he acquitted himself with a good grace, and ordered his Procurator to pay the hundred crowns. The Sculptor, on his side, modified the figure in Purgatory, and represented it ascending to Heaven, like a Soul which has fully satisfied the justice of God.

 

The Indian advocate., November 01, 1900, Page 153 & 154.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 568

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The Institution Of All Souls’ Day

November 2, 2026

It was St. Odilo of Cluny who first appointed one day every year to be set aside in a special manner for prayer for the faithful departed.

shipwreckIt happened that a certain religious belonging to France was returning home from Palestine, where he had gone to visit the places consecrated by the foot steps of Our Lord when He was on earth. A tempest arose when crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and he was cast upon a desert island. There dwelt on this island a holy hermit who lived in a cave, conversing continually with God, and leading a life of austerity and penance. He received the stranger thus cast upon his island home with great charity, and when he learned that he was from France he suddenly said to him: “Do you know a certain abbey in France which is governed by a venerable Abbot named Odilo?”

“Yes,” replied the stranger, “I know the Abbey of Cluny, and also the saintly Odilo; but how have you come to know him here in this solitary place?”

Hermit“There is,” replied the hermit, “not far from this cave a deep chasm from which issue terrible flames. In the midst of these flames I have seen millions of souls suffering most agonizing tortures for the faults they committed when on earth. Wicked spirits are there by permission of God to increase their punishment, tormenting them without ceasing, until their expiation is completed. In the midst of the frightful cries that arise from the abyss, I heard the evil spirits complain, in words of the deepest rage and hatred, that many of these souls were snatched from them long before the time fixed for the termination of their punishment, and were led to Heaven in triumph by the prayers and alms of the faithful, and in particular by the prayers and penances of Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, and his religious.”

St Odilio, Painting by Francesco Andreani

St Odilio, Painting by Francesco Andreani

“Wherefore I beg of you, in the name of God,” continued the hermit, “to relate faithfully on your return to France what I have now told you, and to ask these pious and saintly religious, and the venerable Abbot Odilo, to continue their holy prayers and alms and even to augment them, that the happiness of the blessed in Heaven may be increased, and that the evil spirits may be confounded more and more.”

Cluny

The Monastery of Cluny, France – Entrance to the Abbey

On his return to his native country, this religious went to Cluny, and in the presence of Odilo and his community related what the hermit had told him. Then Odilo, to commemorate the event, and to increase in the hearts of those under his charge a greater devotion to the holy souls in Purgatory, appointed November 2 as a day when special prayers and Masses should be offered up for the repose of the faithful departed. This soon spread over the whole Church, and is known by the name of “All Souls Day.”

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The Catechism In Examples Vol. V,  By the Rev. D. Chisholm Pg 145-146

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 490

 

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

November 2, 2026

Blessed John Bodey

Westgate in Winchester, dating from the 13th century and for many years it was used as a local prison.

Martyr, born at Wells, Somerset: 1549; died at Andover, Wilts., 2 November, 1583. He studied at Winchester and New College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1568. In June, 1576, he was deprived, with seven other Fellows, by the Visitor, Horne, Protestant Bishop of Winchester. Next year he went to Douay College to study civil law, returned to England in February, 1578, and probably married. Arrested in 1580, he was kept in iron shackles in Winchester gaol, and was condemned in April, 1583, together with John Slade, a schoolmaster, for maintaining the old religion and denying the Royal Supremacy. There was apparently a feeling that this sentence was unjust and illegal, and they were actually tried and condemned apin at Andover, 19 August, 1583, on the same indictment. Bodey had a controversy with Humphreys, Dean of Winchester, on the Nicene Council, and the martyr’s notes from Eusebius still exist. After his second trial, he wrote from prison to Dr. Humphrey Ely, “We consider that iron for this cause borne on earth shall surmount gold and, precious stones in Heaven. That is our mark, that is our desire. In the mean season we are threatened daily, and do look still when the hurdle shall be brought to the door. I beseech you, for God’s sake, that we want not the good prayers of you all for our strength, our joy, and our perseverance unto the end. . . . From our school of patience the 16th September, 1583.”

At his martyrdom, Bodey kissed the halter, saying, “O blessed chain, the sweetest chain and richest that ever came about any man’s neck”, and when told he died for treason, exclaimed, “You may make the hearing of a blessed Mass treason, or the saying of an Ave Maria treason . . . but I have committed no treason, although, indeed, I suffer the punishment due to treason”. He exhorted the people to obey Elizabeth and died saying, “Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus.” His mother made a great feast upon the occasion of her son’s happy death, to which she invited her neighbours, rejoicing at his death as his marriage by which his soul was happily and eternally espoused to the Lamb.

Account of the trial and execution of John Slade, schoolmaster, and John Body, M.A., by R. B. (London, 1583); Challoner, Memoirs; Sanders, Anglican Schism, ed. Lewis (London, 1877); Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London, 1891); Wainewright, Two English Martyrs: Body and Munden (London, Cath. Truth Soc.); Knox, Douay Diaries (London, 1878); Allen, A true, sincere, and modest defence of English Catholiques (Reims, 1584).

Bede Camm (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 3 – Patron of Buckingham

November 2, 2026

St. Rumwold of Buckingham

His father was king of Northumberland, his mother a daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians. He was born at Sutthun, and baptized by Widerin, a bishop, the holy priest Eadwold being his godfather. He died very young on the 3rd of November and was buried in Sutthun by Eadwold. The year following his remains were translated by Widelin to Brackley in Northamptonshire, and on the third year after his death to Buckingham where his shrine was much resorted to out of devotion. The 28th of August was celebrated at Brackley, probably the day of the translation of his relics.

Subscription4See an abstract of his life in Leland’s Itiner. p. 34, alias 48. Brown-Willis in the history of the county-town of Buckingham, etc.

(The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume XI: November, p. 367)

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November 3 – The patron of the hunt

November 2, 2026

St. Hubert

Statue of St. Hubert at the “Hunting Castle Promnice” which is a shooting lodge in Kobior.

Confessor, thirty-first Bishop of Maastricht, first Bishop of Liège, and Apostle of the Ardennes, born about 656; died at Fura (the modern Tervueren), Brabant, 30 May, 727 or 728. He was honored in the Middle Ages as the patron of huntsmen, and the healer of hydrophobia (rabies). He was the eldest son of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and grandson of Charibert, King of Toulouse, a descendant of the great Pharamond. Bertrand’s wife is variously given as Hugbern, and as Afre, sister of Saint Oda. As a youth, Hubert went to the court of Neustria, where his charming manners and agreeable address won universal esteem, gave him a prominent position among the gay courtiers, and led to his investment with the dignity of “count of the palace”. He was a worldling and a lover of pleasure, his chief passion being for the chase, to which pursuit he devoted nearly all his time.

St. Hubert of Liège offers his services to Pepin of Heristal; the conversion of St Hubert in the background.

The tyrannical conduct of Ebroin caused a general emigration of the nobles and others to the court of Austrasia. Hubert soon followed them and was warmly welcomed by Pepin Heristal, mayor of the palace, who created him almost immediately grand-master of the household. About this time (682) he married Floribanne, daughter of Dagobert, Count of Louvain, and seemed to have given himself entirely up to the ponp and vanities of this world. But a great spiritual revolution was imminent. On Good Friday morn, when the faithful were crowding the churches, Hubert sallied forth to the chase. As he was pursuing a magnificent stag, the animal turned and, as the pious legend narrates, he was astounded at perceiving a crucifix between its antlers, while he heard a voice saying: “Hubert, unless thou turnest to the Lord, and leadest an holy life, thou shalt quickly go down into hell”. Hubert dismounted, prostrated himself and said, “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me do?” He received the answer, “Go and seek Lambert, and he will instruct you.”

Accordingly, he set out immediately for Maastricht, of which place St. Lambert was then bishop. The latter received Hubert kindly, and became his spiritual director. Hubert, losing his wife shortly after this, renounced all his honors and his military rank, and gave up his birthright to the Duchy of Aquitaine to his younger brother Eudon, whom he made guardian of his infant son, Floribert. Having distributed all his personal wealth among the poor, he entered upon his studies for the priesthood, was soon ordained, and shortly afterwards became one of St. Lambert’s chief associates in the administration of his diocese.

St. Lambertus

By the advice of St. Lambert, Hubert made a pilgrimage to Rome and during his absence, the saint was assassinated by the followers of Pepin. At the same hour, this was revealed to the pope in a vision, together with an injunction to appoint Hubert bishop, as being a worthy successor to the see. Hubert was so much possessed with the idea of himself winning the martyr’s crown that he sought it on many occasions, but unsuccessfully.

St Hubert of Liège is consecrated bishop by Pope Sergius

He distributed his episcopal revenues among the poor, was diligent in fasting and prayer, and became famous for his eloquence in the pulpit. In 720, in obedience to a vision, Hubert translated St. Lambert’s remains from Maastrict to Liège with great pomp and ceremonial, several neighboring bishops assisting. A church for the relics was built upon the site of the martyrdom, and was made a cathedral the following year, the see being removed from Maastricht to Liege, then only a small village. This laid the foundation of the future greatness of Liege, of which Lambert is honored as patron, and St. Hubert as founder and first bishop.

The exhumation of Saint Hubert in the Church Saint-Pierre at Liège. Painting by Rogier Van der Weyden

Idolatry still lingered in the fastnesses of the forest of Ardennes—in Toxandria, a district stretching from near Tongres to the confluence of the Waal and the Rhine, and in Brabant. At the risk of his life Hubert penetrated the remote lurking places of paganism in his pursuit of souls, and finally brought about the abolishment of the worship of idols in his neighborhood. Between Brussels and Louvain, about twelve leagues from Liège, lies a town called Tervueren, formerly known as Fura. Hither Hubert went for the dedication of a new church. Being apprised of his impending death by a vision, he there preached his valedictory sermon, fell sick almost immediately, and in six days died with the words “Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . ” on his lips. His body was deposited in the collegiate church of St. Peter, Liège. It was solemnly translated in 825 to the Abbey of Amdain (since called St. Hubert’s) near what is now the Luxemburg frontier; but the coffin disappeared in the sixteenth century. Very many miracles are recorded of him in the Acta SS., etc. His feast is kept on 3 November, which was probably the date of the translation. St. Hubert was widely venerated in the Middle Ages, and many military orders were named after him.

C.F. WEMYSS BROWN (1913 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 2, 2026

Bl. Frances d’Amboise

Duchess of Brittany, afterwards Carmelite nun, born 1427; died at Nantes, 4 Nov., 1485.

The daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, she was betrothed when only four years old, to Peter, second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, the marriage being solemnized when she had reached the age of fifteen. The union was, however, not very happy owing to the morose disposition of the husband who occasionally ill-treated his wife; but her gentleness gradually changed his heart, he assisted her in her works of charity and did penance for his former dissolute life.Bl. Frances d'AmboiseAfter his succession to the dukedom in 1450 her wholesome influence made itself felt in wider circles; she also intervened, not always succeessfully, in the never-ending family feuds. The duke died, leaving no legitimate heir, in 1457 after having borne testimony in his last will to the devotedness of his wife.

Blessed Frances D'AmbroiseThe latter consecrated her life to God, but for several years she was unable to consummate the sacrifice by entering a convent. While being educated by her future mother-in-law she had early distinguished herself by almsdeeds and fervent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. During her married life she devoted a large portion of her fortune to the foundation of a convent of Poor Clares at Nantes, which she would have joined had her strength allowed it; she also took part in the preliminaries of the canonization of St. Vincent Ferrer, became a benefactress of the Dominican convent at Nantes, and made the acquaintance of Blessed John Soreth, General of the Carmelites, who in 1452 had established the first community of Carmelite nuns. Some of these, coming from Liège, were received by Frances at Vannes (31 Oct., 1463) where they were entertained at the castle until the convent called “The Three Maries” was habitable. Having provided their dowries she entered the novitiate (25 March, 1468), making her profession the following year. After some time spent as infirmarian she was elected prioress for life (1473), and became by her splendid example the model of a true Carmelite nun, and, in a sense, the foundress of this branch of the order. The convent proving too small she obtained not without litigation, a larger one at Nantes.

Reliquary of Bl. Françoise d'Amboise at the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Nantes, Photo by Selbymay.

Reliquary of Bl. Françoise d’Amboise at the Cathedral Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Nantes, Photo by Selbymay.

She died in a holy ecstasy, and miracles were wrought at her tomb. During the Huguenot wars and the French revolution her body had to be saved twice from profanation. Pius IX beatified her 16 July, 1863.

Benedict Zimmerman (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 2, 2026

St. Charles Borromeo

Painting of young Saint Charles Borromeo by Wolfgang Sauber

Painting of young Saint Charles Borromeo by Wolfgang Sauber

Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died at Milan, 3 November, 1584. His emblem is the word HUMILITAS crowned, which is a portion of the Borromeo shield. He is usually represented in art in his cardinal’s robes, barefoot, carrying the cross as archbishop; a rope round his neck, one hand raised in blessing, thus recalling his work during the plague. His feast is kept on 4 November. His father was Count Giberto Borromeo…

Read more here.

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Two Concepts of Society: A Family of Families or a Concentration Camp

October 29, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

A young peasant woman of Castile solicitously and tenderly gazes at the son she cradles in her arms. In her one sees a certain rusticity typical of peasants, but it is a rusticity where the coarseness implicit in the term ‘rustic’ is, so to speak, imperceptible. Rather, country life has concentrated its best effects in this young woman. Her countenance and bearing express a vigorous fullness of health of both body and soul—a fullness marked with that unique stamp of centuries of Christian tradition. In this peasant, who perhaps can barely read, there is a vigor of mind, a logic, a temperance and a harmonious subjection of matter to the spirit, together with a freshness and delicacy that can only stem from much faith and purity. Her distinct features are energetic; her firm and well-defined eyebrows frame a sharp and penetrating gaze, but her face reveals a serenity and candor that her snow-white headdress seems to enhance with a touch of special radiance.

She is just a simple daughter of the people, but of a great and most Catholic people, a people who harbor treasures of every kind—ethnic, historic, moral, social and religious; and this makes of this humble yet highly dignified daughter of Castile a model fit to inspire the talent of a great painter.

In her all of these treasures are oriented toward motherhood. The most delicate tenderness with which she contemplates her son stands out, as well as a keen awareness of her protective role. One can also see her dedication, which has, so to speak, activated all her virtuosity and her whole capacity for affection. A profound and serious affection, without, however, overindulgence, turned toward the son that God gave to her.

Fortunate child for whose sake Divine Providence disposed marvels of nature and grace in the dedication of a pure mother filled with faith.

1936 children’s Communist Army.

“We are the children of Lenin, we want neither father nor mother!” Making the air vibrate with this miserable chant, these young slaves of the Antichrist parade through the streets of a communist city bearing on their breasts the insignia of their sinister lord: the five-pointed star with the hammer and sickle.

They seem to be children raised not for the civility of everyday life, but for aggression, insult and brutality. One can see that their capacity to hate has been awakened, stimulated and fixed to such a high degree of habitual tension that it has become second nature to them. Their eyes are staring at the photographer’s lens—or at some other point in space—with piercing mistrust and hatred. Their gait reveals a dire intent that seems to give their steps a ferocious cadence. The pedestrians watching the parade seem animated by similar sentiments. One could say that these boys are sons of hatred, singing the hymn of hatred in the city of hatred.

To form sons of anger like these, nothing would be more logical that to deprive them of paternal and maternal love and to inspire in them a monstrous hatred for family life.

Piety or impiety, virtue or amorality, firm and temperate delicacy or diabolical and unrestrained brutality, in final analysis, Catholic civilization or communism—this is the tragic alternative that the man of the twentieth century finds himself facing.

 

Ambience Customs & Civilization, No. 60 ― December 1955

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October 29 – King turned monk, his people begged him to lead them in battle against Penda

October 29, 2026

Saint Sigebert

King and martyr, date of birth unknown; died about 637, was the stepbrother of Earpwald, king of the East Angles.

Map of England and Wales, showing Anglo-Saxon and Celtic kingdoms as of c. 600. The kingdom of East Anglia during the early Saxon period

Map of England and Wales, showing Anglo-Saxon and Celtic kingdoms as of c. 600, showing the kingdom of East Anglia during this time.

During the reign of Redwald he lived an exile in Gaul where he received baptism and became an ardent Christian. Earpwald died about 627, and East Anglia seems to have relapsed into anarchy and heathenism for some three years until Sigebert returned thither, about 631, and became king. He at once set about the conversion of his people, being greatly assisted by St. Felix, who seems to have come over from Gaul with him, and for whom a see was established at Dunwich in Suffolk. Another prominent figure in Sigebert’s revival was the Irish monk, St. Fursey, or Fursa, for whom he built a monastery at Burghcastle in Suffolk. With the aid of St. Felix, Sigebert also established a school for boys on the model of the monastic schools in Gaul, the masters for it are said to have been supplied from Canterbury, The prospects of Christianity now seemed so bright that Sigebert felt justified in carrying out his long-cherished design of retiring to a monastery. He therefore resigned the kingdom to his kinsman, Egric, received the tonsure, and entered a monastery, said to have been Bedrichsworth, which later became Bury St. Edmunds.

St. Felix of Burgundy

St. Felix of Burgundy

Not long after this, however, Penda the pagan King of Mercia, invaded East Anglia, and Egric, finding himself unable to repel the invasion, joined with his subjects in begging Sigebert to lead them, as he had formerly been a most brave warrior. In spite of his great unwillingness, Sigebert was dragged from his cloister and compelled to march at the head of the army; but, to indicate his profession as a monk, he refused absolutely to carry any weapons of war and instead bore only a rod. In the ensuing battle his army was totally defeated, he and Egric both perishing in the fight. In the “Acta Sanctorum” his life is given under date of October 29, but the feast is not now observed even in England.

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Bede, Hist. eccles., ed. Giles (London, 1843), II, xx, III, xviii, also in P. L.; Acta SS., Oct. XII, 892–904; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, I, xcvii; Idem, Gesta pontificum, 147, both in Rolls Series (London, 1870–1887); Liber Eliensis, ed. Stewart, I (London, 1848), i; Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, III (London, 1846), 98; Pits, De illustribus Angliæ script. (Paris, 1619), 108; Stanton, Menology of England and Wales, (London, 1887), 35.

G. Roger Hudleston (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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October 29 – One of the Martyrs of Douai

October 29, 2026

Blessed Edward Waterson

Born at London; martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7 January 1594 (1593 old style). A romantic episode marks this martyr’s early career, for as a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants, and attracted the attention of a wealthy Turk, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would embrace Moslemism. Rejecting the offer with horror, Edward Waterson returned westward through Italy and, coming to Rome, was there reconciled to the Catholic Church by Richard Smith, afterwards Bishop of Chalcedon. The Pilgrim-book of the English College records his stay there, 29 November-11 December, 1588. He then went to Reims to study for the priesthood, arriving there 24 January, 1589. He received the tonsure and minor orders on 18 August, 1590, subdiaconate on 21 September, 1591, diaconate on 24 February, 1592, and the priesthood 11 March following.

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

On 24 June he returned to England, with such zeal for the missions that he declared to his companions that if he might have the Kingdom of France to stay there till the next midsummer he would rather choose to go to England. Though he was not learned, his humility, sprit of penance, and other virtues caused him to be reagarded as a patern. Captured at midsummer, 1593, he was cruelly treated in prison till his execution. Incidents occurred at the martyrdom of a miraculous nature. The horses were unable to drag the hurdle to the scaffold and the ladder was mysteriously agitated by invisible means, till the martyr signed it with the cross.

CHALLONER, Missionary Priests (London, 1781-2); POLLEN, English Martyrs 1584-1603 in C.R.S., V (London, 1908); FOLEY, Diary and Pilgrim Book of English College, Rome (London, 1880); Douay Diaries (London, 1878); HOLTBY, Account of Three Martyrs in MORRIS, Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, series III (London, 1877).

Edwin Burton (Catholic Encyclopedia)

[Nobility.org note: He was beatified in 1929.]

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October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 29, 2026

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

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October 30 – Patroness of the Teutonic Knights

October 29, 2026

St. Dorothea of Montau, recluse, born at Montau, 6 February, 1347, died at Marienwerder, 25 June, 1394. At the age of seventeen she married the sword-cutler Albrecht of Danzig, a hot-tempered man, whose nature underwent a change through her humility and gentleness. Both made frequent pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln, and they intended (1390) […]

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October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 29, 2026

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

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Luther Thought He Was Divine!

October 29, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira I do not understand how men of the Church today, including some of the most cultured, learned, and illustrious, mythicize the figure of Luther, the heresiarch, in their zeal to favor an ecumenical rapprochement directly with Protestantism and indirectly with all the religions, schools of philosophy, and so forth. Do […]

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November 1 – Warrior bishop

October 29, 2026

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

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All Saints Day: How many saints were noble?

October 29, 2026

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

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The Knight Rejoices in the Fight

October 26, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira You can imagine: in the deserts of the ancient times, the deserts of Arabia, Egypt, etc., before the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, two or three hundred years after Jesus Christ, the anchorites would go to the desert to flee the temptations of Roman and Greek cities, […]

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October 26 – Laid to rest next to St. Peter

October 26, 2026

Pope Saint Evaristus Date of birth unknown; died about 107. In the Liberian Catalogue his name is given as Aristus. In papal catalogues of the second century used by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, he appears as the fourth successor of St. Peter, immediately after St. Clement. The same lists allow him eight years of reign, covering […]

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October 26 – Their black magic could not withstand the sign of the cross

October 26, 2026

Sts. Lucian and Marcian Lucian and Marcian living in the darkness of idolatry applied themselves to the vain study of the black art; but were converted to the faith by finding their charms lose their power upon a Christian virgin, and the evil spirits defeated by the sign of the cross. Their eyes being thus […]

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The Hummingbird

October 26, 2026

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.  Catolicismo, No. 707, November 2009(*) ONCE as I was sitting in the small porch of a farmhouse, a hummingbird suddenly stopped in the air and began sucking nectar from the flowers of climbing ivy. He ‘kissed’ each flower in turn. The hummingbird’s flight was similar to an arrow’s trajectory — […]

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October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 26, 2026

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

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October 27 – This Christian King Invaded Arabia

October 26, 2026

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor The Axumite Ethiopians, whose dominions were extended from the western coast of the Red Sea, very far on the continent, were in the sixth century a powerful and flourishing nation. St. Elesbaan their king, during the reign of Justin the Elder, in all his actions and designs had no […]

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October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 26, 2026

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor By Jeremias Wells An American Knight When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas […]

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October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 26, 2026

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

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October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 22, 2026

St. Wendelin of Trier Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. […]

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October 23 – The amazing story of San Juan Capistrano and the Siege of Belgrade

October 22, 2026

St. John of Capistrano Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456. His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his […]

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October 23 – Made eunuch because he was prince

October 22, 2026

St. Ignatius of Constantinople Born about 799; died 23 October, 877; son of Emperor Michael I and Procopia. His name, originally Nicetas, was changed at the age of fourteen to Ignatius. Leo the Armenian having deposed the Emperor Michael (813), made Ignatius a eunuch and incarcerated him in a monastery, that he might not become […]

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October 23 – Gentle Birth, But Not Gentle Death

October 22, 2026

Blessed Thomas Thwing Martyr. Born at Heworth Hall, near York, in 1635; suffered at York, 23 Oct., 1680. His father was George Thwing, Esq., of Kilton Castle and Heworth, nephew of Venerable Edward Thwing; his mother was Anne, sister of the venerable confessor Sir Thomas Gasciogne, of Barnbrow Hall. Educated at Douai, he was sent […]

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October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 22, 2026

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

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October 25 – The original hood

October 22, 2026

Hugh Capet King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty, born about the middle of the tenth century; died about 996, probably 24 October. He was the second son of Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, and Hedwig, sister of Otto I, German Emperor, and was about ten years old when he inherited from his […]

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October 25 – Memorial of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

October 22, 2026

February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest? May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first May 22 – Queen’s Confessor                June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first August 30 – She smuggled a priest out of prison

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October 25 – Crispin and Crispian and the baron of Renty

October 22, 2026

Martyrs of the Early Church who were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October, 285 or 286. It is stated that they were brothers, but the fact has not been positively proved. The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries […]

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October 19 – Founding Fathers

October 19, 2026

St. Isaac Jogues French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at […]

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October 19 – This Earl was found guilty of praying, and starved to death in the Tower

October 19, 2026

 Saint Philip Howard Martyr, Earl of Arundel; born at Arundel House, London, 28 June 1557, died in the Tower of London, 19 October, 1595. He was the grandson of Henry, Earl of Surrey, the poet, executed by Henry VIII in 1547, and son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk executed by Elizabeth 1572. Philip II of […]

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October 20 – Emperor Marcian

October 19, 2026

Marcian (Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457. He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan […]

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The Catholic Knight Who Stopped Slavery in West Africa

October 19, 2026

By Joanna Bogle The Catholic cemetery at Mortlake in South West London has an agreeably rural feel, and is worth a visit: it’s about 20 minutes from Waterloo on the line going down to Richmond, and a short walk from the station. It is chiefly famous for the large stone, tent-shaped tomb of the 19th-century […]

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October 21 – In battle they called him “The Hammer”

October 19, 2026

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only […]

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October 21 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 19, 2026

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

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Colonel José de Escandón is ennobled for establishing settlers in South Texas

October 19, 2026

[D]on José [de Escandón] lost little time in acting but did not sacrifice effectiveness to haste. Working with his lieutenants to conduct a publicity campaign along the frontier, he and his officers had little difficulty recruiting potential settlers….Among those recruited as settlers in the new province were ranchers who already owned large herds of livestock […]

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October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula, the “Little Bear”

October 19, 2026

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

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Book Launching, 33 Years Ago in Milan, October 15, 1993

October 15, 2026

Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility   Pius XII: Great Goals and Immense Means to Bring About the Restoration of the Christian Social Order   Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   One of the most important results of the First World War, though not the […]

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October 15 – Interior Castle

October 15, 2026

St. Teresa of Avila Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582. The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda by his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when the saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa […]

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October 16 – Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 15, 2026

Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians: A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Habsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make up the fabric of the most interesting […]

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An Act Of Kindness – Never To Be Forgotten

October 15, 2026

But her best-known deed, and the one which made the greatest sensation, was that which is known as the incident of Achères. It was at Fontainebleau, during the hunt again, on Oct 16, 1773. The deer, being at bay, took refuge in a small enclosure of the village of Achères.  Finding no issue thence, and […]

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The Guillotine and Its Servants

October 15, 2026

By Gustave Lenotre* “The scaffold had become a part of the people’s life, and a certain number of Parisians, were extremely entertained by the new plaything. Someone conceived the idea of beheading, in the porches of the old basilica of Notre-Dame, all the stone Saints that adorned the church-fronts. The whiteness of the broken stone […]

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October 16 – Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 15, 2026

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. […]

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October 16 – St. Bercharius

October 15, 2026

St. Bercharius (BERERUS). Abbot of Hautvillers in Champagne, b. 636; d. 28 March, 696. Descended from a distinguished Aquitanian family, he received his instruction from St. Nivard (Nivo), Archbishop of Reims, under whose charge he advaneed rapidly in virtue and learning. Believing himself called to the sacred ministry, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil under […]

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October 17 – The Battle of Cholet

October 15, 2026

The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d’Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; […]

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Amidst the Revolution, the women of Paris acclaim Marie Antoinette as their Queen

October 15, 2026

The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She took away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du-Pin, to whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted “pro tempore,” came and gave orders […]

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Be Faithful to Your Duty and Fight, But Never Surrender the City

October 15, 2026

The victory of the Carizmians delivered up the greater part of Palestine to the most redoubtable enemies of the Christian colonies. The Egyptians took possession of Jerusalem, Tiberias, and the cities ceded to the Franks by the prince of Damascus. The hordes of Carismia ravaged all the banks of the Jordan, with the territories of […]

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