Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

May 21 – The last of his noble lineage, he started a spiritual one

May 21, 2026

St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod

Bishop of Marseilles, and founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, b. at Aix, in Provence, 1 August, 1782; d. at Marseilles 21 May, 1861. De Mazenod was the offspring of a noble family of southern France, and even in his tender years he showed unmistakable evidence of a pious disposition and a high and independent spirit. Sharing the fate of most French noblemen at the time of the Revolution, he passed some years as an exile in Italy, after which he studied for the priesthood, though he was the last representative of his family. On 21 December, 1811, he was ordained priest at Amiens, whither he had gone to escape receiving orders at the hands of Cardinal Maury, who was then governing the archdiocese of Paris against the wishes of the pope. After some years of ecclesiastical labours at Aix, the young priest, bewailing the sad fate of religion resulting among the masses from the French Revolution, gathered together a little band of missionaries to preach in the vernacular and to instruct the rural populations of Provence. He commenced, 25 January, 1816, his Institute which was immediately prolific of much good among the people, and on 17 February, 1826, was solemnly approved by Leo XII under the name of Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Photograph of St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod.

After having aided for some time his uncle, the aged Bishop of Marseilles, in the administration of his diocese, Father De Mazenod was called to Rome and, on 14 October, 1832, consecrated titular Bishop of Icosium, which title he had, in the beginning of 1837, to exchange for that of Bioshop of Marseilles. His episcopate was marked by measures tending to the restoration in all its integrity of ecclesiastical discipline. De Mazenod unceasingly strove to uphold the rights of the Holy See, somewhat obscured in France by the pretensions of the Gallican Church. He favoured the moral teachings of Blessed (now Saint) Alphonsus Liguori, whose theological system he was the first to introduce in France, and whose first life in French he caused to be written by one of his disciples among the Oblates.

Notre-Dame de la Garde is picture behind St. Eugène.

At the same time he watched with a jealous eye over the education of youth, and, in spite of the susceptibilities of the civil power, he never swerved from what he considered the path of justice. In fact, by the apostolic freedom of his public utterances he deserved to be compared to St. Ambrose. He was ever a strong supporter of papal infallibility and a devout advocate of Mary’s immaculate conception, in the solemn definition of which (1854) he took an active part. In spite of his well-known outspokenness, he was made a Peer of the French Empire, and in 1851 Pius IX gave him the pallium.

From 1837 to 1861, he was the bishop of Marseille, in Provence (south-eastern France). During his episcopacy, he commissioned Notre-Dame de la Garde, an ornate Neo-Byzantine basilica on the south side of the old port of Marseille. He inspired local priest Joseph-Marie Timon-David to found the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Marseille in 1852.

From 1837 to 1861, Saint Eugène de Mazenod was the Bishop of Marseille, France. During his episcopacy, he commissioned Notre-Dame de la Garde, an ornate Neo-Byzantine basilica on the south side of the old port of Marseille. He had Fr. Joseph-Marie Timon-David to found the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Marseille in 1852.

Meanwhile he continued as Superior General of the religious family he had founded and whose fortunes will be found described in the article on the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Such was the esteem in which he was held at Rome that the pope had marked him out as one of the cardinals he was to create when death claimed him at the ripe age of almost seventy-nine.

Cooke, Sketches of the Life of Mgr de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles (London and Dublin, 1879); Rambert, Vie de Mgr D. J. E. De Mazenod (Tours, 1883); Ricard, Mgr de Mazenod, évêque de Marseille (Paris, n. d.).

A. G. Morice (Catholic Encyclopedia)

He was beatified on October 19, 1975, and canonized on December 3, 1995.

{ 0 comments }

De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 21, 2026

The next day, upon which De Soto was hoping to see the chief, a large company of Indians came, fully armed and in war-paint, with the purpose of attacking the Christians. But when they saw that the Governor had drawn up his army in line of battle, they remained a cross-bow shot away for half an hour, discussing the situation. They did not like the look of the men in iron and on horseback….

Hernando de Soto

De Soto wished above everything else to avoid fight…. He wished to make friends with the Indians. As it seemed difficult to do that, he advanced slowly, by short stages, turning a little to the north to avoid the natives, and to find a good approach to the Great River. They reached it on May 21^st [1541], a Saturday.

There has been a good deal of discussion as to the exact spot at which De Soto looked first with astonished eyes upon that volume of water….

Discovery of the Mississippi by William H. Powell. Hernando De Soto seeing the Mississippi River for the first time. This painting hangs in the US Capitol rotunda. Edited by Nobility.org.

What is infinitely more important than establishing—if it can be established—the exact location of the discovery is a vivid realization of the valor and hardihood of the pioneers who had persisted in advancing through the wilderness, in the face of furious opposition, and after having endured, within four months, the successive disasters of Mabilla and Chicaça. To the loyalty, fortitude and courage of the Spanish army admiration is due; but there are no words to be said of its commander, the brain, the heart, and the unfaltering will of the expedition.

Theodore Maynard, De Soto and the Conquistadores (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1930), pp. 228-230.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 179

Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —

One of the tactics of the promoters of the Cultural Revolution is to silence, smear, despise, and destroy our heroes.
These subversives understand the importance of History, Tradition, heroic role models, great leaders, and the good influence they can exert over hearts and minds. Thus, they labor to completely discredit the memory of these great figures from our nation’s past.
Nobility.org strives to do the opposite, calling attention to the good example of these great men and women who stood out like beacons in the course of History. They deserve our respect, gratitude, admiration and emulation.

{ 1 comment }

May 22 – St. Rita of Cascia

May 21, 2026

St. Rita of Cascia

Saint Rita’s birthplace at Roccaporena, near Spoleto, Italy.

Born at Rocca Porena in the Diocese of Spoleto, 1386; died at the Augustinian convent of Cascia, 1456. Feast, 22 May. Represented as holding roses, or roses and figs, and sometimes with a wound in her forehead.

According to the “Life” (Acta SS., May, V, 224) written at the time of her beatification by the Augustinian, Jacob Carelicci, from two older biographies, she was the daughter of parents advanced in years and distinguished for charity which merited them the surname of “Peacemakers of Jesus Christ”. Rita’s great desire was to become a nun, but, in obedience to the will of her parents, she, at the age of twelve, married a man extremely cruel and ill-tempered. For eighteen years she was a model wife and mother. When her husband was murdered she tried in vain to dissuade her twin sons from attempting to take revenge; she appealed to Heaven to prevent such a crime on their part, and they were taken away by death, reconciled to God. She applied for admission to the Augustinian convent at Cascia, but, being a widow, was refused. By continued entreaties, and, as is related, by Divine intervention, she gained admission, received the habit of the order and in due time her profession. As a religious she was an example for all, excelled in mortifications, and was widely known for the efficacy of her prayers.

Saint Rita’s incorrupt body at her tomb at Cascia.

Urban VIII, in 1637, permitted her Mass and Office. On account of the many miracles reported to have been wrought at her intercession she received in Spain the title of La Santa de los impossibiles. She was solemnly canonized 24 May, 1900.

The National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia in the South Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1907 by the Augustinian Friars. The shrine has a first class relic of St. Rita, along with her habit. Photo by Beyond My Ken. Click on the photo to be directed to the shrine.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 22 – Hanged for Publishing

May 21, 2026

Blessed James Duckett

Martyr, b. at Gilfortrigs in the parish of Skelsmergh in Westmoreland, England, date uncertain, of an ancient family of that county; d. 9 April, 1601.

He was a bookseller and publisher in London. His godfather was the well-known martyr James Leybourbe of Skelsmergh. He seems, however, to have been brought up a Protestant, for he was converted while an apprentice in London by reading a Catholic book lent him by a friend. Before he could be received into the Church, he was twice imprisoned for not attending the Protestant service, and was obliged to compound for his apprenticeship and leave his master. He was finally reconciled by a venerable priest named Weekes who was imprisoned in the Gatehouse at Westminster.

A prison cell at Newgate

After two or three years he married a Catholic widow, but out of his twelve years of married life, no less than nine were spent in prison, owing to his zeal in propagating Catholic literature and his wonderful constancy in his new-found faith. His last apprehension was brought about by Peter Bullock, a bookbinder, who betrayed him in order to obtain his own release from prison. His house was searched on 4 March, 1601, Catholic books were found there, and Duckett was at once thrown into Newgate. At his trial, Bullock testified that he had bound various Catholic books for Duckett, which the martyr acknowledged to be true.

Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England

The jury found him not guilty, but Judge Popham at once stood up and bade them consider well what they did, for Duckett had had bound for him Bristowe’s “motives”, a controversial work peculiarly odious to Anglicans on account of its learning and cogency. The jury thereupon reversed its verdict and brought in the prisoner guilty of felony.

At the same time three priests, Page, Tichborne, and Watkinson were condemned to death. Bullock did not save himself by his treachery, for he was conveyed in the same cart as Duckett to Tyburn, where both were executed, 19 April, 1601.

A sketch of one of the many hangings at the Newgate prison.

There is an account, written by his son, the Prior of the English Carthusians at Nieuport (Flanders) of James Duckett’s martyrdom. On the way to Tyburn he was given a cup of wine; he drank, and desired his wife to drink to Peter Bullock, and freely to forgive him. At the gallows, his last thoughts were for his betrayer. He kissed him and implored him to die in the Catholic Faith.

He was beatified in 1929.

(Catholic Encyclopedia)

Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —

Blessed James Puckett was a commoner. Could a king ennoble the family of a martyr like Blessed James Puckett? If he did, would the king be acting well?
Maybe so, maybe not. In some way though, Blessed Puckett deserves to be honored. Only a very noble heart can drink to the health of the person who betrayed him, and encourage the wife he is about to leave behind as a widow to do the same, urging her all the while to forgive the traitor for the love of God.

{ 1 comment }

May 23 – Appointed bishop to replace a corrupt one, then imprisoned for defending the King’s legitimate wife

May 21, 2026

St. Ivo of Chartres

(YVO, YVES).

One of the most notable bishops of France at the time of the Investiture struggles and the most important canonist before Gratian in the Occident, born of a noble family about 1040; died in 1116.

From the neighbourhood of Beauvais, his native country, he went for his studies first to Paris and thence to the Abbey of Bee in Normandy, at the same time as Anselm of Canterbury, to attend the lectures given by Lanfranc. About 1080 he became, at the desire of his bishop, prior of the canons of St-Quentin at Beauvais. He was then one of the best teachers in France, and so prepared himself to infuse a new life into the celebrated schools of Chartres, of which city he was appointed bishop in 1090, his predecessor, Geoffroy, having been deposed for simony. His episcopal government, at first opposed by the tenants of Geoffroy, ranged over a period of twenty-five years. No man, perhaps, is better portrayed in his writing than is Ivo in his letters and sermons; in both he appears as a man always faithful to his duties, high-minded, full of zeal and piety, sound in his judgments, a keen jurist, straight-forward, mindful of others’ rights, devoted to the papacy and to his country, at the same time openly disapproving of what he considered wrong. This explains why he has been sometimes quoted as a patron of Gallican Liberties and looked upon by Flaccus Illyricus as one of the “witnesses to the truth” in his “Catalogus”. Very often Ivo was consulted on theological, liturgical, political, and especially canonical matters. Of his life little more is known than may be gathered from his letters. As bishop he strongly opposed Philip the First, who wished to desert Bertha, his legitimate wife, and marry Bertrade of Anjou (1092); his opposition gained him a prison cell. In the Investiture struggle then raging in France, and especially in Germany, Ivo represented the moderate party. Though he died too early to witness the final triumph of his ideas with the Concordat of Worms (1122), his endeavours and his doctrines may be said to have paved the way for an agreement satisfactory to both sides. His views on the subject are fully expressed in several of his letters, especially those of the years 1099, 1106, and 1111 (Epistolae, lx, clxxxix, ccxxxii, ccxxxvi, ccxxxvii, etc.); these letters are still of interest as to the question of the relationship between Church and State, the efficacy of sacraments administered by heretics, the sin of simony, etc.

Works

The printed works of Ivo of Chartres may be arranged into three categories; canonical writings, letters, and sermons.

Canonical writings

For the canonical works cf. CANONS, COLLECTIONS OF ANCIENT, sub-title Collection of Yvo of Chartres. Suffice it to mention here the “Decretum” in seventeen books and the “Panormia” in eight books, the latter being undoubtedly the work of Ivo himself, with material taken from the former. Both of these were composed before 1096, but the “Panormia” enjoyed a far greater success than the “Decretum”; we immediately find it at Durham and elsewhere in England, at Naumburg in Germany, etc. One of the improvements of this collection on the works of Burchard of Worms (d. 1025) consists in this: that Ivo gives a far greater number of canons, adding to those of Burchard canons taken from Italian sources. As may be easily seen, theology and canon law are not yet precisely marked off from one another”—a defect which holds also for previous collections; the chapters on the Trinity, Incarnation, and especially the sacraments are worth seeing in this connection. But the most important feature of Ivo’s work is perhaps his preface, “Prologus”, which give new rules for solving the old problem of the discrepancies occurring in the texts of the Fathers and the councils.

Letters

The letters of Ivo, 288 in number (Merlet has added 40 more), from which we gather nearly all that we know of his life, are in the edition of Migne together with those of his correspondents. Many are of a special interest as to the political and religious questions of the time; not a few are answers to difficulties referring to moral, liturgical, or canonical matters; some discuss problems of dogmatics. The popularity of these letters was very great, as may be gathered from the fact that they appear in the catalogues of many monastic libraries; numerous manuscripts are still extant.

Sermons

The twenty-five sermons are sometimes treatises on liturgical, dogmatic, or moral questions and bear witness to the great piety and science of Bishop Ivo. The “Micrologus” which has been attributed to him belongs to Bernold of Constance. Other works, such as the “Tripartita” (collection of canons), “Commentary on the Psalms”, etc., are still unprinted.

Influence of writings

The influence of Ivo’s works may be seen in the writings of nearly all the theologians and canonists of his day and for some time afterwards: Alger of Liege and Hugh of St. Victor, not to mention others, depend largely on the materials put together in the “Decretum” and “Panormia”; and Hugh has also borrowed from Ivo’s sermons on Holy orders, dedication of churches, etc. The connection of ideas between the “Prologus” and the scheme of Abelard’s “Sic et Non” or Gratian’s “Concordantia” is obvious. The saint’s feast is kept, since 1570, on 20 May; it is not known when he was canonized.

Ivo’s works are found in P.L., CLXI, Decretum and Panormia: CLXII, Letters and Sermons in Mon. Germ. His.: Lites Imperatorum et Pontificum, II, 640-57; MERLET, Lettres de Saint Ives eveque de Chartres (1885); FOURNIER, Les collections canoniques attribuees a Yves de Chartres in Bibliotheque de l’Ecole des Chartres (1896 et 1897); IDEM, Yves de Chartres et le Droit canonique in Revuedes Questions Historiques (1898); Histoire litteraire de la France, X, 102-47.

J. de Ghellinck (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 23 – Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

May 21, 2026

Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet

Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet

Missionary among the North American Indians, born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium, 30 Jan., 1801; died at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., 23 May, 1873. He emigrated to the United States in 1821 through a desire for missionary labours, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Whitemarsh, Maryland. In 1823, however, at the suggestion of the United States Government a new Jesuit establishment was determined on and located at Florissant near St. Louis, Missouri, for work among the Indians. De Smet was among the pioneers and thus became one of the founders of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus.

His first missionary tour among the red men was in 1838 when he founded St. Joseph’s Mission at Council Bluffs for the Pottawatomies. At this time also he visited the Sioux to arrange a peace between them and the Pottawatomies, the first of his peace missions. What may be called his life work did not begin, however, until 1840 when he set out for the Flathead country in the Far North-west. As early as 1831, some Rocky Mountain Indians, influenced by Iroquois descendants of converts of one hundred and fifty years before, had made a trip to St. Louis begging for a “black-robe”. Their request could not be complied with at the time. Curiously enough, the incident excited Protestant missionary enterprise, owing to the wide dissemination of a mythical speech of one of the delegation expressing the disappointment of the Indians at not finding the Bible in St. Louis. Four Indian delegations in succession were dispatched from the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis to beg for “black-robes” and the last one, in 1839, composed of some Iroquois who dwelt among the Flatheads and Nez Percês, was successful. Father De Smet was assigned to the task and found his life-work.

He set out for the Rocky Mountain country in 1840 and his reception by the Flatheads and the Pend d’Oreilles was an augury of the great power over the red men which was to characterize his career. Having imparted instruction, surveyed the field, and promised a permanent mission he returned to St. Louis; he visited the Crows, Gros Ventres, and other tribes on his way back, travelling in all 4814 miles. In the following year he returned to the Flatheads with Father Nicholas Point and established St. Mary’s Mission on the Bitterroot river, some thirty miles south of Missoula, visiting also the Coeur-d’Alênes. Realizing the magnitude of the task before him, De Smet went to Europe in 1843 to solicit funds and workers, and in 1844 with new labourers for the missions, among them being six Sisters of Notre-Dame de Namur, he returned, rounding Cape Horn and casting anchor in the mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria. Two days after, De Smet went by canoe to Fort Vancouver to confer with Bishop Blanchet, and on his return founded St. Ignatius Mission among the Kalispels of the Bay, who dwelt on Clark’s Fork of the Columbia river, forty miles above its mouth.

Father De Smet Monument at Lake Desmet between Buffalo and Sheridan Wyoming. Lake Desmet, pictured behind the monument, is a 3600 acre natural lake. Fr. De Smet, after whom the lake is named, described the lake in a letter dated August 24, 1851: “On the 23rd we left Tongue River. For ten hours we marched over mountain and valley, following the course of one of its tributaries, making, however, only about twenty-five miles. On the day following we crossed a chain of lofty mountains to attain the Lower Piney Fork, nearly twenty miles distant. We arrived quite unexpectedly on the borders of a lovely little lake about six miles long, and my traveling companions gave it my name. There our hunters killed several wild ducks.”

As the Blackfeet were a constant menace to other Indians for whom De Smet was labouring, he determined to influence them personally. This he accomplished in 1846 in the Yellowstone valley, where after a battle with the Crows, the Blackfeet respectfully listened to the “black-robe”. He accompanied them to Fort Lewis in their own country where he induced them to conclude peace with the other Indians to whom they were hostile, and he left Father Point to found a mission among this formidable tribe. His return to St. Louis after an absence of three years and six months marks the end of his residence among the Indians, not from his own choice but by the arrangement of his religious superiors who deputed him to other work at St. Louis University. He coadjutors in his mission labours, Fathers Point, Mangarini, Nobili, Ravalli, De Bos, Adrian and Christian Hoecken, Joset and others, made De Smet’s foundations permanent by dwelling among the converted tribes.

De Smet was now to enter upon a new phase of his career. Thus far his life might be called a private one, though crowded with stirring dangers from man and beast, from mountain and flood, and marked by the successful establishment of numerous stations over the Rocky Mountain region. But his almost inexplicable and seemingly instantaneous ascendancy over every tribe with which he came in contact, and his writings which had made him famous in both hemispheres, caused the United States Government to look to him for help in its difficulties with the red men, and to invest him with a public character. Henceforth he was to aid the Indians by pleading their cause before European nations and by becoming their intermediary at Washington. In 1851 owing to the influx of whites into California and Oregon, the Indians had grown restless and hostile. A general congress of tribes was determined on, and was held in the Creek Valley near Fort Laramie, and the Government requested De Smet’s presence as pacificator. He made the long journey and his presence soothed the ten thousand Indians at the council and brought about a satisfactory understanding.

Father De Smet with the Indian delegation that accompanied him to Washington, DC.

In 1858 he accompanied General Harney as a chaplain in his expedition against the Utah Mormons, at the close of which campaign the Government requested him to accompany the same officer to Oregon and Washington Territories, where, it was feared, an uprising of the Indians would soon take place. Here again his presence had the desired effect, for the Indians loved him and trusted him implicitly. A visit to the Sioux country a the beginning of the Civil War convinced him that a serious situation confronted the Government. The Indians rose in rebellion in August, 1862, and at the request of the government De Smet made a tour of the North-west. When he found that a punitive expedition had been determined on, he refused to lend to it the sanction of his presence. The condition of affairs becoming more critical, the government again appealed to him in 1867 to go to the red men, who were enraged by white men’s perfidy and cruelty, and “endeavour to bring them back to peace and submission, and prevent as far as possible the destruction of property and the murder of the whites.” Accordingly he set out for the Upper Missouri, interviewing thousands of Indians on his way, and receiving delegations from the most hostile tribes, but before the Peace Commission could deal with them, he was obliged to return to St. Louis, where he was taken seriously ill.

In 1868, however, he again started on what Chittenden calls (Life, Letters and Travels of Pierre Jean De Smet, p. 92), “the most important mission of his whole career.” He travelled with the Peace Commissioners for some time, but later determined to penetrate alone into the very camp of the hostile Sioux. General Stanley says (ibid.): “Father De Smet alone of the entire white race could penetrate to these cruel savages and return safe and sound.” The missionary crossed the Bad Lands, and reached the main Sioux camp of some five thousand warriors under the leadership of Sitting Bull. He was received with extraordinary enthusiasm. His counsels were at once agreed to, and representatives sent to meet the Peace Commission. A treaty of peace was signed, 2 July, 1868, by all the chiefs. This result has been looked on as the most remarkable event in the history of the Indian wars. Once again, in 1870, he visited the Indians, to arrange for a mission among the Sioux. In such a crowded life allusion can be made only to the principal events. His strange adventures among the red men his conversions and plantings of missions, his explorations and scientific observations may be studied in detail in his writings. On behalf of the Indians he crossed the ocean nineteen times, visiting popes, kings, and presidents, and traversing almost every European land. By actual calculation he travelled 180,000 miles on his errands of charity.

The crucifix that Fr. De Smet held on his deathbed. There is another ivory crucifix which was found in his room, which is located in the St. Louis, Missouri Collections. http://www.slu.edu/sluma-home/collections/sluma/jesuit-collections/crucifix

His writings are numerous and vivid in descriptive power, rich in anecdote, and form an important contribution to our knowledge of Indian manners, customs, superstitions, and traditions. The general correctness of their geographical observations is testified to by later explorers, though scientific researches have since modified some minor details. Almost childlike in the cheerful bouyancy of his disposition, he preserved this characteristic to the end, though honoured by statesmen and made Chevalier of the Order of Leopold by the King of the Belgians. That he was not wanting in personal courage is evinced by many events in his wonderful career. Though he had frequent narrow escapes from death in his perilous travels, and often took his life in his hands when penetrating among hostile tribes, he never faltered. But his main title to fame is his extraordinary power over the Indians, a power not other man is said to have equalled. To give a list of the Indian tribes with whom he came in contact, and over whom he acquired an ascendancy, would be to enumerate almost all the tribes west of the Mississippi. Even Protestant writers declare him the sincerest friend the Indians ever had. The effects of his work for them were not permanent to the extent which he had planned, solely because the Indians have been swept away or engulfed by the white settlers of the North-west. If circumstances had allowed it, the reductions of Paraguay would have found a counterpart in North America. The archives of St. Louis University contain all the originals of De Smet’s writings known to be extant. Among these is the “Linton Album”, containing his itinerary from 1821 to the year of his death, also specimens of various Indian dialects, legends, poems, etc. The principal works of Father De Smet are: “Letters and Sketches, with a Narrative of a Year’s Residence among the Indian Tribes of the Rocky Mountains” (Philadelphia, 1843), translated into French, German, Dutch, and Italian; “Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845-46” (New York, 1847), translated into French and Flemish; “Voyage au grand désert en 1851” (Brussels, 1853); “Western Missions and Missionaries” (New York, 1863), translated into French; “New Indian Sketches” (New York, 1865).

CHITTENDEN AND RICHARDSON, Life, Letters and Travels of Pierre Jean De Smet, S.J. (New York, 1905). It contains many hitherto unpublished letters and a map of De Smet’s travels; DEYNOODT, P. J. De Smet, missionaire Belge aux Etas-Unis (Brussels, 1878); PALLANDINO, Indian and White in the North-west (Baltimore, 1894); U.S. CATH. HIST. SOC., Hist. Records and Studies (New York, 1907), VII.

WILLIAM H.W. FANNING (cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 3 comments }

May 24 – St. Vincent of Lérins

May 21, 2026

St. Vincent of Lérins

Feast on 24 May, an ecclesiastical writer in Southern Gaul in the fifth century. His work is much better known than his life. Almost all our information concerning him is contained in Gennadius, “De viris illustribus” (lxiv). He entered the monastery of Lérins (today Isle St. Honorat), where under the pseudonym of Peregrinus he wrote his “Commonitorium” (434). He died before 450, and probably shortly after 434. St. Eucherius of Lyons calls him a holy man, conspicuous for eloquence and knowledge; there is no reliable authority for identifying Vincent with Marius Mercator, but it is likely, if not certain, that he is the writer against whom Prosper, St. Augustine’s friend, directs his “Responsiones ad capitula objectionum Vincentianarum”. He was a Semipelagian and so opposed to the doctrine of St. Augustine. It is believed now that he uses against Augustine his great principle: “what all men have at all times and everywhere believed must be regarded as true”. Living in a centre deeply imbued with Semipelagianism, Vincent’s writings show several points of doctrine akin to Casian or to Faustus of Riez, who became Abbot of Lérins at the time Vincent wrote his “Commonitorium”; he uses technical expressions similar to those employed by the Semipelagians against Augustine; but, as Benedict XIV observes, that happened before the controversy was decided by the Church. The “Commonitorium” is Vincent’s only certainly authentic work extant. The “Objectiones Vincentianae” are known to us only through Prosper’s refutation. It seems probable that he collaborated, or at least inspired, the “Objectiones Gallorum”, against which also Prosper writes his book. The work against Photinus, Apollinaris, Nestorius, etc., which he intended to compose (Commonitorium, xvi), has not been discovered, if it was ever written. The “Commonitorium”, destined to help the author’s memory and thus guide him in his belief according to the traditions of the Fathers, was intended to comprise two different commonitoria, the second of which no longer exists, except in the résumé at the end of the first, made by its author; Vincent complains that it had been stolen from him. Neither Gennadius, who wrote about 467-80, nor any known manuscripts, enable us to find any trace of it.

It is difficult to determine in what the second “Commonitorium” precisely differed from the first. The one preserved to us develops (chapters i-ii) a practical rule for distinguishing heresy from true doctrine, namely Holy Writ, and if this does not suffice, the tradition of the Catholic Church. Here is found the famous principle, the source of so much discussion particularly at the time of the Vatican Council, “Magnopere curandum est ut id teneatur quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est”. Should some new doctrine arise in one part of the Church, Donatism for example, then firm adherence must be given to the belief of the Universal Church, and supposing the new doctrine to be of such nature as to contaminate almost the entirety of the latter, as did Arianism, then it is to antiquity one must cling; if even here some error is encountered, one must stand by the general councils and, in default of these, by the consent of those who at diverse times and in different places remained steadfast in the unanimity of the Catholic Faith (iii-iv). Applications of these principles have been made by St. Ambrose and the martyrs, in the struggle with the Donatists and the Arians; and by St. Stephen who fought against rebaptism; St. Paul also taught them (viii-ix). If God allows new doctrines, whether erroneous or heretical, to be taught by distinguished men, as for example Tertullian, Origen, Nestorius, Apollinaris, etc. (x-xix), it is but to test us. The Catholic admits none of these new-fangled doctrines, as we see from I Tim., vi, 20-21 (xx-xxii, xxiv). Not to remove all chance of progress in the faith, but that it may grow after the manner of the grain and the acorn, provided it be in the same sense, eodem sensu ac sententia; here comes the well known passage on dogmatic development. “crescat igitur. . .” (xxiii). The fact that heretics make use of the Bible in no way prevents them from being heretics, since they put it to a use that is bad, in a way worthy of the devil (xxv-xxvi). The Catholic interprets Scripture according to the rules given above (xxvii-xxviii). Then follows a recapitulation of the whole “Commonitorium” (xxix-xxx).

Church and monastery of the Lérins Abbey, on the island of Saint-Honorat, one of the Lérins Islands, close to Cannes, France. Photo by Afernand74

All this is written in a literary style, full of classical expressions, although the line of development is rather familiar and easy, multiplying digressions and always more and more communicative. The two chief ideas which have principally attracted attention in the whole book are those which concern faithfulness to Tradition (iii and xxix) and the progress of Catholic doctrine (xxiii). The first one, called very often the canon of Vincent of Lérins, which Newman considered as more fit to determine what is not then what is the Catholic doctrine, has been frequently involved in controversies. According to its author, this principle ought to decide the value of a new point of doctrine prior o the judgment of the Church. Vincent proposes it as a means of testing a novelty arising anywhere in a point of doctrine. This canon has been variously interpreted; some writers think that its true meaning is not that which answered Vincent’s purpose, when making use of it against Augustine’s ideas. It is hardly deniable that despite the lucidity of its formula, the explanation of the principle and its application to historical facts are not always easy; even theologians such as de San and Franzelin, who are generally in agreement in their views, are here at variance. Vincent clearly shows that his principle is to be understood is a relative and disjunctive sense, and not absolutely and by uniting the three criteria in one: ubique, semper, ab omnibus; antiquity is not to be understood in a relative meaning, but in the sense of a relative consensus of antiquity. When he speaks of the beliefs generally admitted, it is more difficult to settle whether he means beliefs explicitly or implicitly admitted; in the latter case the canon is true and applicable in both senses, affirmative (what is Catholic), and negative or exclusive (what is not Catholic); in the former, the canon is true and applicable in its affirmative bearing; but may it be said to be so in its negative or exclusive bearing, without placing Vincent completely at variance with all he says on the progress of revealed doctrine?

The “Commonitorium” has been frequently printed and translated. We may quote here the first edition of 1528 by Sichardus and that of Baluze (1663, 1669, 1684, Paris), the latter being the best of the three, accomplished with the help of the four known manuscripts; these have been used again in a new accurate collation by Rauschen, for his edition (“Florilegium patristicum”, V, Bonn, 1906); a school-edition has been given by Julicher (Frieburg, 1895), and by Hurter (Innsbruck, 1880, “SS. Patrum opuscula selecta”, IX) with useful notes.

BARDENHEWER-SHAHAN, Patrology (St. Louis, 1908), 520-2; Kiln, Patrologie, II (1908), 371-5; KOCH, Vincent von Lérins und Gennadius in Texte und Untersuchungen, XXXI, 2 (1907); BUNETIERE, and DE LABRIOLLE, S. Vincent de Lérins; La pensee chretienne (Paris, 1906).

J. de Ghellinck (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 24 – Our Lady Help of Christians, to commemorate the liberation of the Pope from Napoleon’s prison

May 21, 2026

Our Lady Help of Christians, Statue at the Headquarters of the American TFP

This commemoration was introduced in the liturgical calendar by decree of Pope Pius VII on September 16, 1815, in thanksgiving for his happy return to Rome after a long and painful captivity in Savona and France due to Napoleon’s tyrannical power.

By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a prisoner for three years at Savona, and then at Fontainebleau. In January, 1814, after the battle of Leipzig, he was brought back to Savona and set free, 17 March, on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, the Patroness of Savona.

The journey to Rome was a veritable triumphal march. The pontiff, attributing the victory of the Church after so much agony and distress to the Blessed Virgin, visited many of her sanctuaries on the way and crowned her images (e.g. the “Madonna del Monte” at Cesena, “della Misericordia” at Treja, “della Colonne” and “della Tempestà” at Tolentino). The people crowded the streets to catch a glimpse of the venerable pontiff who had so bravely withstood the threats of Napoleon. He entered Rome, 24 May, 1814, and was enthusiastically welcomed. (McCaffrey, “History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Cent.”, 1909, I, 52).

The invocation “Help of the Christians” is very old, having been included in the Litany of Loreto by Pope Saint Pius V in 1571, as a token of gratitude to the Most Holy Virgin, by virtue of Christendom’s’ victory in the famous battle of Lepanto.

* * *

During five years of captivity, Pius VII appealed continuously to Our Lady under the invocation of “Help of Christians”. From 1809 to 1812, the Pontiff remained imprisoned in the Italian city of Savona, then making a vow to crown an image of the Mother of Mercy existing there, should he obtain his freedom.

Château de Fontainebleau Photo taken by Carolus

In 1812, the Pope was taken to Paris, remaining a prisoner in Fontainebleau, where he suffered enormous sufferings and humiliations inflicted by the French tyrant.

But in the course of time, events began providentially to overturn the fortunes of the despot.

In 1814, weakened by losses suffered in several fronts and pressured by public opinion, Napoleon permitted his august prisoner to return to Rome. The Supreme Pontiff took advantage of the journey to honor in a special way the Mother of God, crowning her image in Ancona under the invocation of Queen of All Saints. And, fulfilling the vow that he made when still prisoner in Savona, he adorned the forehead of the image of the Mother of Mercy with a golden frond as he passed by that city.

The journey continued amid glorious manifestations of reverence on the part of the populace in all the localities where Pius VII passed. And on May 24, he made a triumphant entrance in Rome, being received by the population at large.

Pope Pius VII giving his blessing before his departure to Savona. Photo by Benoit Lhoest.

As the carriage that transported the Supreme Pontiff advanced with difficulty amid the crowd along the Flavian way, a group of faithful, under the tumultuous applauses of the people, withdrew the horses and went on to pull the vehicle up to the Vatican Basilica.

Pius VII, attributing this great victory of the Church over the Revolution to the powerful intercession of Mary Most Holy, wanted to show his gratitude by means of establishing a feast day of universal scope dedicated to this beautiful Marian invocation.

* * *

Such invocation took a new turn in the Catholic world due to the action of one of the greatest saints of modern times: Saint John Bosco, founder of the Society of Saint Francis of Sales (Salesians) and of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

The companions of Saint John Bosco noticed that, from 1860, he began to invoke the Most Holy Virgin under the title of Mary Help of Christians, Maria Auxilium Christianorum.

St. John Bosco in 1878

In December of 1862, the Saint made a resolution to build a church dedicated to that invocation. And he declared, on that occasion: “To the Virgin Most Holy whom we desire to honor with the title of ‘Help of Christians’; the times we are in are so sad that we truly need the Most Holy Virgin to help us in preserving and defending the Christian Faith as in Lepanto, as in Vienna, as in Savona and Rome…. and it will be the mother church of our future Society and the center from where all our works will radiate in behalf of the youth”.

Six years after, on May 21, 1868, the magnificent Church of Mary Help of Christians was solemnly consecrated in Turin by the Archbishop of the city. The dream of Saint Bosco became a reality and since then, that devotion spread specially all over the Catholic world owing, in great measure, to the action of the Salesian Congregation.

{ 1 comment }

The Noble Religious Brother

May 21, 2026

During the terrible Commune at Paris in the year 1871 a company of armed Communists entered a house of a community of religious Brothers at Picpus, near that city.

As soon as they entered the house the first person they met was Brother Stanislaus, who was only twenty-six years old, whom they at once seized and brought before their chief.

He began by asking the trembling Brother many questions; but one of the wicked men, thirsting for blood, suddenly put a loaded pistol to his breast, and cried out: “Swear that there is no God, other wise I will kill you.”

The terrible Commune at Paris in the year 1871 in which the revolutionary government held power in Paris between March 18 thur May 28, 1871.

The terrible Commune at Paris in which the murderous Communists held power between March 18 thru May 28, 1871.

The Brother, raising his eyes to Heaven, calmly but firmly answered: I swear that I firmly believe that there is one God, and with my whole heart I love Him.”

This unexpected answer, so like that made by so many of the early martyrs of the Church, for a moment paralyzed the miscreant, who, instead of firing, turned round to his comrades, and in a tone of rage and anger cried out: “Shall I shoot him?”

“Yes, kill him,” they all exclaimed together “kill him!”

Photo of the execution of Archbishop Georges Darboy and five other hostages at La Roquette prison on May 24, 1871.

The man turned to execute their orders, when his eyes met those of his victim, who stood before him calm and heavenly serene in the presence of death. He could not fire; that gentle look disarmed him, and he lowered his pistol, saying in astonishment: “Look! he stands there so calmly to allow himself to be killed. What a madman!”

The Catechism in Examples Vol.3, Pg. 50 & 51 by Rev. D. Chisholm

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 457

{ 0 comments }

On returning from exile, Pope Pius VII is welcomed by the Dukes of Modena

May 21, 2026

Ducal Palace in Modena

The palace of the Archbishop of Modena-Nonantola is located at Corso Duomo, 34, immediately across from the front entrance of the cathedral.

In the entrance corridor of the first floor is a painting recording the visit of Pope Pius VII to Modena in 1815. ¹ The painting shows Pius VII extending his hand to a kneeling Maria Beatrix Victoria of Savoia. Behind Duchess Maria stands her husband Duke Francis IV of Modena.

Pius VII arrived in Modena on May 24, 1815. The following day he celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi in the town together with the Duchess, her husband, and the entire court. He spent at least one night as a guest in the Palazzo Ducale. ²

Pope Pius VII being greeted by the Duchess of Modena. Photo © Noel S. McFerran 2007

The painting is a 1901 copy by S. Grandi of an 1857 original by Geminiano Mundici. The original was probably prepared as part of a cycle of paintings on the glories of the House of Este which King Francis I ordered to decorate some rooms in the Palazzo Ducale. In the Palazzo Ducale there is a large detail of the central portion of the painting, showing just the pope, Mary, and Francis. ³

Portrait of Maria Beatrix Victoria of Savoia, Duchess of Modena. She was also heiress to the Jacobite claims to the thrones of England and Scotland. (1792-1840). Painted by Adeodato Malatesta

Reprinted with the kind permission of Mr. Noel S. McFerran and The Jacobite Heritage

Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —

James II lost the crowns of England and Scotland because of his Catholic Faith. Concerned that the Pope would not have money to support himself in his exile, James II’s grandson, Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, gave Pius VI the Stuart crown jewels when Napoleon’s troops forcibly removed him from Rome and took him to France.
The Jacobite rights were inherited by the Duchess of Modena who as this post explains welcomed Pius VII when he was finally released from imprisonment and allowed to return to Rome.

Notes

¹ The painting is a 1901 copy by S. Grandi of an 1857 original by Geminiano Mundici.

² Bartolomeo Pacca, Relazione del viaggio di Pio Papa VII a Genoa nella primavera dell’anno 1815 e del suo ritorno in Roma (Orvieto: Sperandio Pompei, 1833), 120-121.

³ Cf. a photograph in Albano Biondi, Il Palazzo Ducale di Modena: sette secoli di uno spazio cittadino (Modena: Panini, 1987), 263. The photograph was taken circa 1930. The painting was then located in the same room as Adeodata Malatesta’s “Alfonso III d’Este taking the Franciscan habit”.

(Image of The Visit of Pius VII): © Noel S. McFerran 2007.

{ 0 comments }

May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 18, 2026

Pope St. John I

Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days.

We know nothing of the matter of his administration, for his Bullarium contains only the two letters addressed to an Archbishop Zacharias and to the bishops of Italy respectively, and it is very certain that both are apocryphal.

We possess information — though unfortunately very vague — only about his journey to Constantinople, a journey which appears to have had results of great importance, and which was the cause of his death. The Emperor Justin, in his zeal for orthodoxy, had issued in 523 a severe decree against the Arians, compelling them, among other things, to surrender to the Catholics the churches which they occupied. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths and of Italy, the ardent defender of Arianism, keenly resented these measures directed against his coreligionists in the Orient, and was moreover highly displeased at seeing the progress of a mutual understanding between the Latin and Greek Churches, such as might favour certain secret dealings between the Roman senators and the Byzantine Court, aiming at the re-establishment of the imperial authority in Italy. To bring pressure to bear upon the emperor, and force him to moderate his policy of repression in regard to the heretics, Theodoric sent to him early in 525 an embassy composed of Roman senators, of which he obliged the pope to assume the direction, and imposed on the latter the task of securing a withdrawal of the Edict of 523 and — if we are to believe “Anonymous Valesianus” — of even urging the emperor to facilitate the return to Arianism of the Arians who had been converted.

There has been much discussion as to the part played by John I in this affair. The sources which enable us to study the subject are far from explicit and may be reduced to four in number: “Anonymous Valesianus”, already cited; the “Liber Pontificalis”; Gregory of Tours’s “Liber in gloria martyrum”; and the “Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiæ Ravennatis”. But it is beyond question that the pope could only counsel Justin to use gentleness and discretion towards the Arians; his position as head of the Church prevented his inviting the emperor to favour heresy. That this analysis of the situation is correct is evident from the reception which the pope was accorded in the East — a reception which certainly would not have been kindly, had the Roman ambassadors opposed the emperor and this Catholic subjects in their struggle waged against the Arian sect. The inhabitants of Constantinople went out in throngs to meet John. The Emperor Justin on meeting him prostrated himself, and, some time afterwards, he had himself crowned by the pope. All the patriarchs of the East made haste to manifest their communion in the Faith with the supreme pontiff; only Timothy of Alexandria, who had shown himself hostile to the Council of Chalcedon, held aloof. Finally, the pope, exercising his right of precedence over Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople, solemnly officiated at St. Sophia in the Latin Rite on Easter Day, 19 April, 526. Immediately afterwards he made his way back to the West.

If this brilliant reception of John I by the emperor, the clergy, and the faithful of the Orient proves that he had not been wanting in his task as supreme pastor of the Church, the strongly contrasting behaviour of Theodoric towards him on his return is no less evident proof. This monarch, enraged at seeing the national party reviving in Italy, had just stained his hands with the murder of Boethius, the great philosopher, and of Symmachus his father-in-law. He was exasperated against the pope, whose embassy had obtained a success very different from that which he, Theodoric, desired and whom, moreover, he suspected of favouring the defenders of the ancient liberty of Rome. As soon as John, returning from the East, had landed in Italy, Theodoric caused him to be arrested and incarcerated at Ravenna. Worn out by the fatigues of the journey, and subjected to severe privations, John soon died in prison.

His body was transported to Rome and buried in the Basilica of St. Peter. In his epitaph there is no allusion to his historical role. The Latin Church has placed him among its martyrs, and commemorates him on 27 May, the ninth lesson in the Roman Breviary for that date being consecrated to him.

Léon Clugnet (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

The Great Siege of Malta, May 18–September 11, 1565, was won because of one man: Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette

May 18, 2026

On the morning of August 18^th the excessively heavy bombardment of Senglea warned them that an attack was imminent. It was not slow to develop. The moment that the rumble of the guns died down, the Iayalars and Janissaries were seen streaming forward across the no-man’s-land to the south. The attack developed in the same way as on previous occasions, with a mass…

May 18 – St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

May 18, 2026

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

Eric [1] was descended of a most illustrious Swedish family: in his youth he laid a solid foundation of virtue and learning, and took to wife Christina, daughter of Ingo IV, king of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smercher in 1141, he was, purely for his extraordinary virtues and qualifications, placed on the throne by the election of the states, according to the ancient laws of that kingdom. His first care in that exalted and dangerous station was to watch over his own soul. He treated his body with great severity, fasting and watching much, in order to keep his domestic enemy in due subjection to the spirit, and to fit himself for the holy exercises of heavenly contemplation and prayer, which were his chief delight.

He was truly the father and the servant of all his people. With indefatigable application he himself administered to them justice, especially to the poor, to whose complaints his ears were always open, and whose grievances and oppressions he took care himself to redress. He often visited in person the poor who were sick, and relieved them with bountiful alms. Content with his own patrimony, he levied no taxes. He built churches, and by wholesome laws restrained the brutish and savage vices of his subjects.

The frequent inroads of the idolatrous Finlanders upon his territories obliged him to take the field against them. He vanquished them in a great battle; but after his victory he wept bitterly at the sight of the dead bodies of his enemies which covered the field, because they had been slain unbaptized. When he had subdued Finland, he sent St. Henry, bishop of Upsal, to preach the faith of Christ to that savage infidel nation, of which he may be styled the apostle. Among the subjects of this good king were certain sons of Belial, who made his piety the subject of their ridicule, being mostly obstinate idolaters. Magnus, son of the king of Denmark, blinded by ambitious views to the crown of Sweden, put himself at the head of these impious malecontents, and engaged them in a conspiracy to take away the life of their sovereign. The holy king was hearing mass on the day after the feast of the ascension, when news was brought him that the rebels were in arms, and on the march against him. He calmly answered: “Let us at least finish the sacrifice; the remainder of the festival I shall keep elsewhere.” After mass he recommended his soul to God, made the sign of the cross, and, to spare the blood of the citizens, who were ready to defend his life at the expense of their own, marched out alone before his guards. The conspirators rushed upon him, beat him down from his horse, and struck off his head with a thousand indignities in derision of his religion. His death happened on the 18th of May, 1151.

God honoured his tomb with many miracles. It remains to this day at Upsal undefaced. St. Eric was honoured as chief patron of the kingdom of Sweden till the change of religion in the sixteenth century. He ordered the ancient laws and constitutions of the kingdom to be collected into one volume, which bears the title of King Eric’s Law, or the Code of Uppland, highly respected in Sweden: it was confirmed in the thirteenth century by the learned king Magnus Ladulas, who compiled and published in 1285 another code under the title of Gardsrætte.

Casket of Eric the Saint in Uppsala Cathedral. Photograph taken by Mark A. Wilson (Department of Geology, The College of Wooster).

All power and authority among men is derived from God, as Christ declared to Pilate, 2 and as the wise man often repeats. Whence St. Paul teaches us, that “he who resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.” 3 On no men doth he confer the least degree of jurisdiction but with the most severe injunction and obligation, that they employ it according to his will, and in the first place for the advancement of his divine honour. Hence every father, master of a family, magistrate, or king, is accountable to God for those under his charge, and will be condemned as a traitor on the last day, if he employ not all the means in his power that God may be known, praised, and faithfully served by them. This is the primary obligation of those whom God hath vested with authority. In the faithful discharge of this trust the glorious St. Eric laid down his life.

Note 1. Eric, Erric, and Henry, are in the northern nations the same name, which in the Teutonic language signifies rich lord. St. Eric was the ninth of that name among the kings of Sweden.
Note 2. John xix.
Note 3. Rom xiii. 2.

See Israelis Erlandi liber de vitâ et miraculis S. Erici Regis, ex editione et cum notis Joan. Schefferi, in 8vo. Holmiæ, 1675; and Henschenius, t. 4, Maij, p. 186.

(from: The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume V: May, pp. 350-351)

{ 0 comments }

May 19 – Patron of lawyers

May 18, 2026

St. Ives

(St. Yves)

St Ivo giving to the poor

St. Ives, born at Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, 17 October, 1253; died at Louannee, 19 May, 1303, was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ives was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 to study canon law. On his return to Brittany having received minor orders he was appointed “official”, or ecclesiastical judge, of the archdeanery of Rennes (1280); meanwhile he studied Scripture, and there are strong reasons for holding that he joined the Franciscan Tertiaries sometime later at Guingamp. He was soon invited by the Bishop of Tréguier to become his “official”, and accepted the offer (1284). He displayed great zeal and rectitude in the discharge of his duty and did not hesitate to resist the unjust taxation of the king, which he considered an encroachment on the rights of the Church; by his charity he gained the title of advocate and patron of the poor. Having been ordained he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez in 1285 and eight years later to Louannee, where he died. He was buried in Tréguier, and was canonized in 1347 by Clement VI, his feast being kept on 19 May. He is the patron of lawyers, though not, it is said, their model, for – “Sanctus Ivo erat Brito, Advocatus et non latro, Res miranda populo.”

Acta SS., May, V, 248; Life by DE LA HAYE (Morlaix, 1623); and by NORBERT (Paris, 1892); DANIEL, Monuments originaux (St-Brieux, 1887); Analecta Bolland., II, 324-40; VIII, 201-3; XVII, 259.

A. A. MacErlean (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

Christopher Columbus Dies But His Glory Remains

May 18, 2026

In May, 1505, [Christopher Columbus] set out for the court of the Catholic King. The glorious Queen Isabella had passed to a better life the previous year. Her death caused the Admiral much grief; for she had always aided and favored him, while the King he always found somewhat reserved and unsympathetic to his projects. This was clearly shown by the reception that His Majesty accorded him. He received him courteously and professed to be restoring all his rights and privileges, but it was his real design to take them all away…. His Highness and the serene Queen had dispatched the Admiral on his voyage of discovery. Now, however, that the Indies were giving signs of that which they were to become, the Catholic King begrudged the Admiral the large share that he had in them by virtue of his capitulations with the Crown. The King wished to regain absolute control over them and dispose as he pleased of the offices that were only the Admiral’s to grant. He therefore proposed to negotiate a new capitulation with the Admiral, but God would not permit it, for at that very time the most serene King Philip I came to the throne of Spain. And even as the Catholic King departed from Valladolid to receive him, the Admiral, who was much afflicted by the gout and by grief at seeing himself fallen from his high estate, as well as by other ills, yielded up his soul to God on the Day of the Ascension, May 20, 1506, in the city of Valladolid….

Photo of the tomb of Christopher Columbus at the cathedral of Seville, Spain, by Paul Hermans.

[His body was afterwards borne to Seville and buried in the principal cathedral of that city with funereal pomp. By order of the Catholic King, over his tomb was placed an epitaph in the Spanish language that read:

TO CASTILE AND LEÓN

COLUMBUS GAVE A NEW WORLD

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 599

{ 0 comments }

May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 18, 2026

St. Bernardine of Siena

Friar Minor, missionary, and reformer, often called the “Apostle of Italy”, b. of the noble family of Albizeschi at Massa, a Sienese town of which his father was then governor, 8 September, 1380; d. at Aquila in the Abruzzi, 20 May, 1444. Left an orphan at six Bernardine was brought up with great care by his pious aunts. His youth was blameless and engaging. In 1397 after a course of civil and canon law, he joined the Confraternity of Our Lady attached to the great hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. Three years later, when the pestilence revisited Siena, he came forth from the life of seclusion and prayer he had embraced, to minister to the plague-stricken, and, assisted by ten companions, took upon himself for four…

May 20 – Mentor of the Duke of Ferrara

May 18, 2026

Blessed Colomba of Rieti

Born at Rieti in Umbria, Italy, 1467; died at Perugia, 1501. Blessed Colomba of Rieti is always called after her birthplace, though she actually spent the greater part of her life away from it. Her celebrity is based — as it was even in her lifetime — mainly on two things: the highly miraculous nature of her career from its very beginning, and her intense devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She was one amongst a number of saintly Dominican women who seem to have been expressly raised up by God in protest against, and as a sharp contrast to, the irreligion and immorality prevalent in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These women, nearly all of the Third Order, had an intense devotion to St. Catherine of Siena, and made it their aim to imitate her as nearly as possible. Many seculars, men as well as women, shared this devotion, amongst these being Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara, who had a deep admiration for Colomba and for some other holy Dominican religious, her contemporaries, the most notable of whom were Blessed Osanna of Mantua and Blessed Lucy of Narni. For the latter Ercole’s veneration was so great that he never rested until he had got her to come with some of her nuns to live in Ferrara, where he built her a convent and where she died after many troubles. She began when quite a girl to practise austere penances and to subsist almost entirely on the supernatural food of the Holy Eucharist, and continued this for the greater part of her life. At nineteen she joined the Dominican Tertiaries, of whom there were many in town, though still living at home; and she soon won the veneration of her fellow townspeople by her personal holiness as well as by some miracles that she worked. But Colomba was not destined to remain in Rieti. In 1488 she left home and went to Perugia, where the inhabitants received her as a saint, and in the course of time built her the convent of St. Catherine, in which she assembled all the Third Order Dominicanesses, who desired her as superior in spite of her youth. In 1494, when a terrible plague was raging in Perugia, she offered herself as victim for the city. The plague was stayed, but Colomba herself was struck down by the scourge. She recovered only to save her sanctity severly tried by widely spread calumnies, which reached Rome, whence a commssion was sent to examine into her life. She was treated for some time as an imposter, and desposed from her office of prioress; but finally her innocence triumphed. In 1495 Alexander VI, having heard of Colomba’s holiness and miracles from his son the Cardinal Caesar Borgia, who had been living in Perugia, went himself to the city and saw her. She is said to have gone into ecstasy at his feet, and also to have boldy told him of all personal sins. The pope was fully satisfied of her great sanctity and set the seal of approval on her mode of life. In the year of 1499 she was consulted by authorities who were examining into the manner, concerning the stigmata of Blessed Lucy of Narni, and spoke warmly in favour of their being genuine, and of her admiration for Blessed Lucy’s holiness. Her relics are still venerated at Perugia, and her feast is kept by her order on 20 May.

F.M. CAPES (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 20 – King of the East Angles

May 18, 2026

St. Ethelbert

Date of birth unknown; died 794.

King of the East Angles, was, according to the “Speculum Historiale” of Richard of Cirencester (who died about 1401), the son of King Ethelred and Leofrana, a lady of Mercia. Brought up in piety, he was a man of singular humility. Urged to marry, he declared his preference for a life of celibacy, but at length consented to woo Altrida (Alfrida), daughter of Offa, King of the Mercians. Leofrana foreboded evil and tried to dissuade Ethelbert; but in spite of an earthquake, an eclipse of the sun, and a warning vision, he proceeded from Bury St. Edmunds to Villa Australis, where Offa resided. On his arrival Altrida expressed her admiration for Ethelbert, declaring that Offa ought to accept him as suzerain. Cynethryth, the queen-mother, urged by hatred of Ethelbert, so poisoned Offa’s mind against him, that he accepted the offer of a certain Grimbert to murder their guest. Ethelbert, having come for an interview with Offa, was bound and beheaded by Grimbert. The body was buried ignominiously, but, revealing itself by a heavenly light, was translated to the cathedral at Hereford, where many miracles attested Ethelbert’s sanctity. The head was enshrined at Westminster Abbey.

The “Chronicon” of John Brompton (fl. 1437) adds a few particulars: the body with the head was first buried on the banks of the Lugg. On the third night the saint commanded one Brithfrid, a nobelman, to convey his relics to Stratus-way. During the journey the head fell out of the cart and healed a man who had been blind for eleven years. Finally the body was entombed at Fernley, the present Hereford. According to Brompton, Altrida became a recluse at Croyland. Offa repented of his sin (Matthew of Paris represents Offa as ignorant of the plot till after Ethelbert’s murder), gave much land to the martyr, “which the church of Hereford holds to the present day”, founded St. Albans and other monasteries, and made his historic pilgrimage to Rome.

St. Ethelbert, King of Kent & second brother of St. Albert

St. Ethelbert figures largely in the Missal, Breviary, and Hymnal of the Use of Hereford. His feast is on 20 May. Thirteen English churches, besides Hereford cathedral, are dedicated in honour of Ethelbert; and one of the gateways of Norwich cathedral bears his name.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno 792; RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER, Speculum Historiale, in R. S., I, 262 sqq; Chronicle of BROMPTON, in TWYSDEN, 748 sqq; Acta SS., May, V, 271; Bibl. Hag. Lat., 394; BREWER, Opera Girald. Cambren., III, 407, V, pp. xlv and 407; WHARTON, Anglia Sacra, II, p. xxii; HARDY, Catalogue of Materials, I, 495; STUBBS in Dict. Of Christian Biography, II, 215; CHEVALIER, Repertoire, I, 1365; HUNT in Dict. Nat. Biog., XVIII, 17; STANTON, Menology.

PATRICK RYAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 19 – He saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events

May 18, 2026

Jan Dlugosz

(Lat. LONGINUS).

An eminent medieval Polish historian, b. at Brzeznica, 1415; d. 19 May, 1480, at Cracow. He was one of the twelve sons born to John and Beata. He received his primary education in Nowy Korczyn, then entered the Academy of Cracow, where he studied literature and philosophy. He was ordained priest in 1440, and appointed secretary of Cardinal Zbigniew Olesnicki, Bishop of Cracow. Later he became a prelate of the cathedral and preceptor for the children of the Polish King, Casimir IV, Jagielonczyk. He was employed as the ambassador of the Polish king to different foreign countries, and especially to Bohemia and Hungary, where he settled political disturbances. His ecclesiastical superiors sent him as their representative to Pope Eugenius IV, and as delegate to the Council of Basle. He decline the Archbishopric of Prague, but shortly before his death was appointed Archbishop of Lemberg. Dlugosz expended his great income for religious and philantrophic purposes; he founded both churches and monasteries, also burses for the maintenance of poor scholars.

The most beautiful church which he founded, and beneath which he was buried, is in Cracow, and is called Na Skalce (meaning, “Upon Rock”, as the church was built on an enormous rock). As a Polish historian he outranks all who preceded him. He was not content to repeat the statements made by other chroniclers, but examined for himself the oldest Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Ruthenian, and German documents, to understand which thoroughly he studied, in his old age, several foreign languages. His works offer abundant and reliable material not only for Polish, but also for general, history.

Dlugosz paid less attention to beauty of style than to veracity of statement, and wrote in a philosophic manner, as one who saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events. His great history of Poland (Historia Polonica in twelve volumes) was composed by order of his friend and master Cardinal Olesnicki. The works of Dlugosz were first published incompletely in 1614, and fully in 1711. The best edition is that in fourteen volumes by Carl Mecherzynski: “Joannis Dlugosz Senioris Canonici Cracoviensis Opera Omnia” (Cracow, 1863-87). It includes his heraldic work “Banderia Prutenorum”, also his “Life of St. Stanislaus”, “Life of St. Kinga”, lives of many Polish bishops (Sees of Wroclaw, Poznan, Plock, Cracow, etc.), “Liber beneficiorum diœcesis Cracoviensis”, “Lites ac rec gestæ inter Polonos ordinemque Cruciferorum”, “Annales seu cronicæ incliti regni Poloniæ”.

John Godrycz (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 19 – Fr. Marquette

May 18, 2026

Jacques Marquette, S.J.

Jesuit missionary and discoverer of the Mississippi River, b. in 1636, at Laon, a town in north central France; d. near Ludington, Michigan, 19 May, 1675. He came of an ancient family distinguished for its civic and military services. At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus, and after twelve years of study and teaching in the Jesuit colleges of France was sent by his superiors (1666) to labour upon the Indian missions in Canada. Arriving at Quebec he was at once signed to Three Rivers on the Saint Lawrence, where he assisted Druillettes and, as preliminary to further work, devoted himself to the study of the Huron language. Such was his talent as a linguist that he learned to converse fluently in six different dialects. Recalled to Quebec in the spring of 1668 he repaired at once to Montreal, where he awaited the flotilla which was to bear him to his first mission in the west. After labouring for eighteen months with Father Dablon at Sault Ste. Marie (the Soo) he was given the more difficult task of instructing the tribes at the mission of the Holy Ghost at La Pointe, on the south-western shore of Lake Superior, near the present city of Ashland. Here we meet for the first time the account of the work of Marquette as told by himself and his first reference to the great river with which his name will be forever associated (Jesuit Relations, LII., 206). To this mission on the bleak bay of a northern lake came the Illinois Indians from their distant wigwams in the south. They brought strange tidings of a mighty river which flowed through their country and so far away to the south that no one knew into what ocean or gulf it emptied. Their own villages numbered eight thousand souls, and other populous tribes lived along the banks of this unknown stream. Would Marquette come and instruct them? Here was a call to which the young and enthusiastic missionary responded without delay. He would find the river, explore the country, and open up fields for other missionaries. The Hurons promised to build him a canoe; he would take with him a Frenchman and a young Illinois from whom he was learning the language. From information given by the visitors Marquette concluded that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of California, and on learning that the Indians along its banks wore glass beads he knew they had intercourse with the Europeans.

Map of St Ignace, MI showing location of Jesuit mission. It was the site of a mission established by Père Jacques Marquette, and the site of his grave in 1677.

So far had he gone in his preparations for the trip that he sent presents to the neighbouring pagan tribes and obtained permission to pass through their country. However, before he could carry out his designs the Hurons were forced to abandon their village at La Pointe on account of a threatened attack of the Dakotas. The missionary embarked with the entire tribe and followed the Indians back to their ancient abode on the north-west shore of the Straits of Mackinac. Here a rude chapel was built and the work of instructing the Indians went on. There is extant a long letter from his pen in which Marquette gives some interesting accounts of the piety and habits of the converted Hurons (Jesuit Relations, LVII, 249). But Marquette was yearning for other conquests among the tribes which inhabited the banks of the Mississippi. He concluded this letter with the joyful information that he had been chosen by his superiors to set out from Mackinac for the exploration which he had so long desired. In the meanwhile accounts of the Mississippi had reached Quebec, and while Marquette was preparing for the voyage and awaiting the season of navigation, Joliet came to join the expedition. On 17 May, 1673, with five other Frenchmen, in two canoes, Marquette and Joliet set forth on their voyage of discovery. Skirting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan and entering Green Bay, pushing up the twisting current of the Fox River, and crossing a short portage, the party reached the Wisconsin. This river, they were told, flowed into the great stream which they were seeking. The report proved true, and on the 17 June their canoes glided out into the broad, swift current of the Mississippi. Marquette drew a map of the country through which they passed and kept a diary of the voyage; this diary with its clear, concise style is one of the most important and interesting documents of American History (Jesuit Relations, LIX, 86, 164). He describes the villages and customs of the different tribes, the topography of the country, the tides of the lakes, the future commercial value of navigable streams the nature and variety of the flowers and trees, birds and animals. Down the river the party sailed, passing the mouth of the muddy Missouri and the Ohio until they reached the mouth of the Arkansas, and learned with certainty from the Indians that the river upon which they were navigating flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.

This was the information which they sought; and fearing danger from the Spaniards if they went further, they turned the prows of their canoes northward. “We considered”, writes Marquette in his diary, “that we would expose ourselves to the risk of losing the fruits of the voyage if we were captured by the Spaniards, who would at least hold us captives; besides we were not prepared to resist the Indian allies of the Europeans, for these savages were expert in the use of fire-arms; lastly we had gathered all the information that could be desired from the expedition. After weighing all these reasons we resolved to return.” On coming to the mouth of the Illinois they left the Mississippi and took what they learned from the Indians was a shorter route. Near the present city of Utica they came to a very large village of the Illinois who requested the missionary to return and instruct them. Reaching Lake Michigan (where Chicago now stands), and paddling along the western shore they came to the mission of Saint Francis Xavier at the head of Green Bay. Here Marquette remained while Joliet went on to Quebec to announce the tidings of the discovery.

The results of this expedition were threefold: (1) it gave to Canada and Europe historical, ethnological, and geographical knowledge hitherto unknown, (2) it opened vast fields for missionary zeal and added impulse to colonization; (3) it determined the policy of France in fortifying the Mississippi and its eastern tributaries, thus placing an effective barrier to the further extension of the English colonies.

Pere Marquette and the Indians at the Mississippi River.

A year later (1675) Marquette started for the village of the Illinois Indians whom he had met on his return voyage, but was overtaken by the cold and forced to spend the winter near the lake (Chicago). The following spring he reached the village and said Mass just opposite to the place later known to history as Starved Rock. Since the missionary’s strength had been exhausted by his labours and travels, he felt that his end was fast approaching; he, therefore, left the Illinois after three weeks, being anxious to pass his remaining days at the mission at Mackinac. Coasting along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, he reached the mouth of a small stream near the present city of Ludington, where he told his two companions, who had been with him throughout his entire trip, to carry him ashore. There he died at the age of thirty-nine. Two years later the Indians carried his bones to the Mission at Mackinac.

In 1887 a bill was passed by the Assembly at Madison, Wisconsin, authorizing the state to place a statue of Marquette in the Hall of Fame at Washington. This statue of Marquette from the chisel of the Italian sculptor, S. Tretanove, is conceded to be one of the most artistic in the Capitol. Bronze replicas of this work have been erected at Marquette, Michigan, and at Mackinac Island. Thus have been verified the prophetic words of Bancroft, who wrote of Marquette: “The people of the West will build his monument.”

THWAITES, Father Marquete (New York, 1904); HEDGES, Father Marquette, Jesuit Missionary and Explorer (New York, 1903); The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (Cleveland, 1904), LII, 207; LVII, 249; LIX, 86, 164, 184; BANCROFT, History of the U.S., III (Boston, 1870), 109; PARKMAN, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (Boston, 1899); 48; SHEA, Discovery and the Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley (New York, 1854). For grave of Marquette, see Catholic World, (XXVI (new York), 267; statues of Marquette, cf. Woodstock Letters (Woodtock, Maryland), VI, 159, 171; XXV, 302, 467; XXVII, 387; De Soto and Marquette, cf. SPALDING, Messenger of the Sacred Heart, XXXV, 669; XXXVIII, 271; SPALDING, U. S. Cath. Historical Records and Studies, III, (New York, 1904), 381.

HENRY S. SPALDING (Catholic Encyclopedia)

{ 0 comments }

May 19 – He Grabbed the Devil By the Nose

May 18, 2026

St. Dunstan of Canterbury Archbishop and confessor, and one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church; born near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church […]

Read the full article →

May 14 – Bl. Gil of Santarem

May 14, 2026

Bl. Gil of Santarem A Portuguese Dominican: b. at Vaozela, diocese of Viseu, about 1185; d. at Santarem, 14 May, 1265. His father, Rodrigo Pelayo Valladaris, was governor of Coimbra and councillor of Sancho I. It was the wish of his parents that Gil should enter the ecclesiastical state, and the king was very lavish […]

Read the full article →

May 14 – When the King Does Not Fulfill His Promises

May 14, 2026

May 14, 1264: Simon de Montfort Defeats King Henry III at Battle of Lewes The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons’ War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Saint’s biographer

May 14, 2026

Alban Butler Historian, b. 10 October, 1710, at Appletree, Northamptonshire, England; d. at St-Omer, France, 15 May, 1773. He shares with the venerable Bishop Challoner the reputation of being one of the two most prominent Catholic students during the first half of the dreary eighteenth century, when the prospects of English Catholics were at their […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Palms on Palm Sunday lead to his cruel martyrdom

May 14, 2026

Ven. Robert Thorpe Priest and martyr, b. in Yorkshire; suffered at York, 15 May, 1591. He reached the English College at Reims 1 March, 1583-4, was ordained deacon in December following, and priest by Cardinal Guise in April, 1585. He was sent on the mission, 9 May, 1585, and laboured in Yorkshire. He was arrested […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Beautiful Princess, Tragic Story

May 14, 2026

St. Dymphna Virgin and martyr. The earliest historical account of the veneration of St. Dymphna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. Under Bishop Guy I of Cambrai (1238-47), Pierre, a canon of the church of Saint Aubert at Cambrai, wrote a “Vita” of the saint, from which we learn that she had been […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – Flos Carmeli

May 14, 2026

St. Simon Stock Born in the County of Kent, England, about 1165; died in the Carmelite monastery at Bordeaux, France, 16 May, 1265. On account of his English birth he is also called Simon Anglus. It is said that when twelve years old he began to live as a hermit in the hollow trunk of […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – St. Honoratus of Amiens

May 14, 2026

Saint Honoratus of Amiens (Honoré, sometimes Honorius, Honortus) (d. May 16, ca. 600) was the seventh bishop of Amiens. His feast day is May 16. He was born in Port-le-Grand (Ponthieu) near Amiens to a noble family. He was said to be virtuous from birth. He was taught by his predecessor in the bishopric of […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – Crusader King and Leper

May 14, 2026

Modern society obsessively avoids suffering, risk and danger. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer heat, prints warnings on coffee cups and advises that that safety glasses should be used while working with hammers.Certainly such precautions have prevented misfortune. However, since heroism and excellence are born from confronting rather than […]

Read the full article →

Queen and Patroness of Alaska

May 14, 2026

Bishop Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J. (1858-1945), Bishop of Alaska, was from France and he knew members of St. Therese of the Child Jesus’ family. He said Mass in the Infirmary where St. Therese had died twenty-eight years before. At the Mass the Little Flower’s three sisters received Communion from the Bishop. Earlier in the summer […]

Read the full article →

Louis XV risks his life for the morale of his troops

May 14, 2026

During the battle of Fontenoy, some officers urged Louis XV to leave the battlefield, thus avoiding unnecessary exposure of his royal person to the dangers. He turned down their advice concerned with the harmful effect his leaving would have on the morale of his troops. Right then, the Marshal de Saxe rode up and the […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Carthusian Martyrs, the Third Group

May 11, 2026

The Third Group The next move was to seize four more monks of community, two being taken to the Carthusian house at Beauvale in Nottinghamshire, while Dom John Rochester and Dom James Walworth were taken to the Charterhouse of St. Michael in Hull in Yorkshire. They were made an “example” of on 11 May 1537, […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 11, 2026

Blessed John Rochester Priest and martyr, born probably at Terling, Essex, England, about 1498; died at York, 11 May, 1537. He was the third son of John Rochester, of Terling, and Grisold, daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. He joined the Carthusians, was a choir monk of the Charterhouse in London, and strenuously opposed the […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Holy Merovingian

May 11, 2026

St. Aldegundis Virgin and abbess (c. 639-684), variously written Adelgundis, Aldegonde, etc. She was closely related to the Merovingian royal family. Her father and mother, afterwards honored as St. Walbert and St. Bertilia, lived in Flanders in the province of Hainault. Aldegundis was urged to marry, but she chose a life of virginity and, leaving […]

Read the full article →

March 12 – St. Gorgonius

May 11, 2026

Martyr, suffered in 304 at Nicomedia during the persecution of Diocletian. Gorgonius held a high position in the household of the emperor, and had often been entrusted with matters of the greatest importance. At the breaking out of the persecution he was consequently among the first to be charged, and, remaining constant in the profession […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – St. Peter de Regalado

May 11, 2026

St. Peter de Regalado (REGALATUS) A Friar Minor and reformer, born at Valladolid, 1390; died at Aguilera, 30 March, 1456. His parents were of noble birth and conspicuous for their wealth and virtue. Having lost his father in his early youth, he was piously educated by his mother. At the age of ten years Peter […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – “Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

May 11, 2026

Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants. Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, the only child of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi. Her parents were devout Catholics and were known for their charity and generosity to the underprivileged of Bologna. As a very young girl, […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – St. John the Silent

May 11, 2026

St. John the Silent (Hesychastes, Silentiarius). Bishop of Colonia, in Armenia, b. at Nicopolis, Armenia, 8 Jan., 452; d. 558. His parents, Encratius and Euphemia, wealthy and honoured, belonged to families that had done great service in the State and had given to it renowned generals and governors, but they were also good Christians, and […]

Read the full article →

May 7 – St. John of Beverley

May 7, 2026

St. John of Beverley Bishop of Hexham and afterwards of York; b. at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire; d. at Beverley, 7 May, 721. In early life he was under the care of Archbishop Theodore, at Canterbury, who supervised his education, and is reputed to have given him the name of John. He […]

Read the full article →

May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 7, 2026

Pope St. Benedict II Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of John. Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself by his knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity. […]

Read the full article →

May 8 – First they took the nobles, then they took the scientists

May 7, 2026

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier Chemist, philosopher, economist; born in Paris, 26 August, 1743; guillotined 8 May, 1794. He was the son of Jean-Antoine Lavoisier, a lawyer of distinction, and Emilie Punctis, who belonged to a rich and influential family, and who died when Antoine-Laurent was five years old. His early years were most carefully guarded by his […]

Read the full article →

May 8 – Matriarch of the Carolingian family

May 7, 2026

Saint Itta (or Itta of Metz) (also Ida, Itte or Iduberga) (592–652) was the wife of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. Her brother was Saint Modoald, bishop of Trier. Her sister was abbess Saint Severa. There is no direct record of their parents, but it has been suggested that she was […]

Read the full article →

May 8 – Patron in War

May 7, 2026

Well known is the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel (a. 494 or 530-40), as related in the Roman Breviary, 8 May, at his renowned sanctuary on Monte Gargano, where his original glory as patron in war was restored to him. To his intercession the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia) attributed their victory over the Greek […]

Read the full article →

May 9 – Isaias, Prophet and Historian, Sawn in Two

May 7, 2026

From the Prophet himself (i, 1; ii, 1) we learn that he was the son of Amos. Owing to the similarity between Latin and Greek forms of this name and that of the Shepherd-Prophet of Thecue, some Fathers mistook the Prophet Amos for the father of Isaias. St. Jerome in the preface to his “Commentary […]

Read the full article →

May 9 – Known personally to the King, he was falsely accused of conspiring to murder him

May 7, 2026

Ven. Thomas Pickering Lay brother and martyr, a member of an old Westmoreland family, born circa 1621; executed at Tyburn, 9 May, 1679. He was sent to the Benedictine monastery of St. Gregory at Douai, where he took vows as a lay brother in 1660. In 1665 he was sent to London, where, as steward […]

Read the full article →

May 10 – His apostolate paved the way for some of the greatest saints of Spain

May 7, 2026

Bl. John of Avila Apostolic preacher of Andalusia and author, b. at Almodóvar del Campo, a small town in the diocese of Toledo, Spain, 6 January, 1500; d. at Montilla, 10 May, 1569. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the University of Salamanca to study law. Conceiving a distaste for jurisprudence he […]

Read the full article →

May 10 – Saint Damien: A Hero Who Died on the Battlefield of Honor

May 7, 2026

Born Joseph de Veuster in Tremelo, Belgium, he took the religious name of Damien when he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There are few places on Earth more beautiful than Hawaii. While this idyllic paradise may be the destination spot for tourists and honeymooners, Joseph de Veuster was eager […]

Read the full article →

May 10 – French or American?

May 7, 2026

Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau Marshal, born at Vendôme, France, 1 July, 1725; died at Thoré, 10 May, 1807. At the age of sixteen he entered the army and in 1745 became an aid to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, subsequently commanding a regiment. He served with distinction in several important battles, notably those […]

Read the full article →

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

May 4, 2026

The Carthusian Martyrs were the monks of the London Charterhouse, the monastery of the Carthusian Order in central London, who were put to death by the English state in a period lasting from the 19 June 1535 till the 20 September 1537. The method of execution was hanging, disembowelling while still alive and then quartering. […]

Read the full article →

May 4 – St. Godard

May 4, 2026

St. Godard (Also spelled GOTHARD, GODEHARD). Bishop of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony; born about the year 960, in a village of Upper Bavaria, near the Abbey of Altaich, in the Diocese of Passau; Nassau; died on 4 May, 1038 canonized by Innocent II in 1131. After a lengthy course of studies he received the Benedictine […]

Read the full article →

May 5 – Arrested for refusing Napoleon a “Te Deum”

May 4, 2026

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli Composer, born at Naples, 4 April, 1752; died at Torre del Greco, 5 May, 1837. Having studied at the Loreto Conservatory under Fenaroli and Speranza, his first opera, “Montesuma”, was given at San Carlo, 13 August, 1781. He then went to Milan, where he remained until 1794, when he took up the […]

Read the full article →

May 5 – St. Hilary of Arles

May 4, 2026

Archbishop, born about 401; died 5 May, 449. The exact place of his birth is not known. All that may be said is that he belonged to a notable family of Northern Gaul, of which in all probability also came St. Honoratus, his predecessor in the See of Arles. Learned and rich, Hilary had everything […]

Read the full article →

May 6 – Saint Francis de Montmorency Laval

May 4, 2026

St. Francis de Montmorency Laval First bishop of Canada, born at Montigny-sur-Avre, 30 April, 1623, of Hughes de Laval and Michelle de Péricard; died at Quebec on 6 May, 1708. He was a scion of an illustrious family, whose ancestor was baptized with Clovis at Reims, and whose motto reads: “Dieu ayde au primer baron […]

Read the full article →

May 6 – Prince, priest, pioneer

May 4, 2026

Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin Prince, priest, and missionary, born at The Hague, Holland, 22 December, 1770; died at Loretto, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 6 May, 1840. He was a scion of one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most illustrious families of Russia. His father, Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (d. 16 March, 1803), Russian ambassador to Holland at the time […]

Read the full article →

April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 30, 2026

Pope Saint Pius V Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was […]

Read the full article →

May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

April 30, 2026

This saint was son of Gondebald, the Arian king of the Burgundians; but embraced the Catholic faith through the instructions of St. Alcimus Avitus, bishop of Vienne. (1) He succeeded to the kingdom of his father in 516, and in the midst of barbarism lived humble, mortified, penitent, devout, and charitable, even on the throne; […]

Read the full article →

May 2 – Two sisters of this medieval princess were also saints

April 30, 2026

St. Mafalda of Portugal In the year 1215, at the age of eleven, Princess Mafalda (i.e. Matilda), daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal, was married to her kinsman King Henry I of Castile, who was like herself a minor. The marriage was annulled the following year on the ground of the consanguinity of the […]

Read the full article →

May 2 – Economist

April 30, 2026

St. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his baptismal name Antoninus (Anthony), which is found in his autographs, in some manuscripts, in printed editions of his works, and in the Bull of canonization, but which has been finally rejected for the diminutive form given […]

Read the full article →

May 2 – St. Athanasius

April 30, 2026

St. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of “Father of Orthodoxy”, by which he has been […]

Read the full article →

May 3 – Finding of the Holy Cross

April 30, 2026

In the year 326 the mother of Constantine, Helena, then about 80 years old, having journeyed to Jerusalem, undertook to rid the Holy Sepulchre of the mound of earth heaped upon and around it, and to destroy the pagan buildings that profaned its site. Some revelations which she had received gave her confidence that she […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Email:

St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod

Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —

St. Rita of Cascia

Blessed James Duckett

St. Vincent of Lérins

Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —

Pope St. John I

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

St. Ives

St. Bernardine of Siena

Blessed Colomba of Rieti

Jan Dlugosz

Jacques Marquette, S.J.

SEARCH

TFP-Related Sites

Links to Nobility Sites

Contact Information

TFP Books

Archives

Privacy Policy