Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

A Spanish General Testifies to Saint José de Anchieta’s Spiritual Majesty

March 23, 2023

The force of Anchieta’s personality in influencing strangers is well illustrated by his contact with a Spanish General, Diogo Flores Valdéz. In March, 1582, the Provincial was in Rio [de Janeiro] when a fleet of sixteen sails appeared unexpectedly in the bay. The inhabitants of Rio were naturally alarmed at the sight of so many strange ships, for just the year before three British ships had threatened Espírito Santo. Fearing that enemies were about to attack, citizens, including the members of the Society [of Jesus], who hastened to hide the holy relics, began to hide their treasures. Anchieta viewed the ships from a window, and assured his companions that friends, not enemies, had sailed into the bay. . . . It was the fleet of Diogo Flores Valdéz, whom Philip II had sent on a voyage to the Straits of Magellan . . . .

Valdéz remained in Rio most of the winter. . . .

St. José de Anchieta

Some time after the arrival of the fleet, Anchieta sent one of his priests to the General to ask him to release an Englishman who was interned in Rio. At first the General, clearly annoyed, refused the request. The priest then apologized and explained that he had been sent by his Provincial, Anchieta. At the mention of the Apostle’s name the General’s attitude changed and he said to the amazed priest, “Do at once whatever Anchieta wishes, because God does not want me to fail to grant his request. The first time I saw the padre, nothing seemed more miserable and abject, but after I observed him well, and heard him speak, never in the presence of any king did I feel so insignificant as I did before him.”

Helen G. Dominian, Apostle of Brazil: The Biography of Padre José de Anchieta, S.J. (1534–1597) (New York: Exposition Press, 1958), 267–68.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 871

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Relationship of Aseity and Impurity

March 23, 2023

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

In the famous and never sufficiently discussed subject of chastity, a great number of souls practice impurity because, as children, they did not have the courage to oppose the dominant opinion and affirm that impurity is evil. The principle thus dies in their souls and they end up surrendering themselves to impurity. This is a lack of aseity. If they had had the courage to defend good position, they would have had the courage to practice virtue.

A prayerful protest in front of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania abortion facility.

The great art of revolutionary forces is precisely to exploit the movements of the soul—comprised of passions and defects—and then gradually to lead the person to perdition. With this method, souls surrender lazily.

The people carried signs against Planned Parenthood in front of their offices on 7th Ave., New York City.

The foundation of this method is a lack of aseity. The surrender to a collective whole, caused by pride and laziness, leads the followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ to a state of conformity with a world opposed to what He came to teach. He came to bring the sword and fire, not a false peace.

If we want to deepen our counter-revolutionary formation, we should make a special effort to practice our aseity. It is a wholly different aspect of spiritual life to be fostered. It is of the utmost importance, especially for our days in which, more than ever before, this tyranny of the masses is overwhelming.

Men with real opinions will find it hard to persevere, not so much because of persecution, fear, etc., but because of the factor of collective pressure which no man will be able to escape; because the great sins, the great errors, the great blunders are made when aseity gives in and this collective pressure triumphs. Therefore, this is a concept that might add something new to the reasons for our spiritual problems.

The Christian Institution of the Family: A Dynamic Force to Regenerate Society, by Tradition, Family, Property Association. Pgs. 60-61.

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Louis XVI Gives a Marriage Dowry to 100 Poor French Girls

March 16, 2023

The arrival of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at church and greeted by the Archbishop of Paris.. Photo from the Waddesdon Manor (Rothschild Foundation)

On February 9th, 1779 (in the narrative of Louise de Grandpré, to whom the study of Notre Dame has been a veritable passion), a large crowd pressed towards the cathedral; the ground was strewed with fresh grass and flowers and leaves; the pillars were decorated with many coloured banners. In the choir the vestments of the saints were displayed: the burning 36tapers lit up the interior with a dazzling brightness: the organ filled the church with joyful harmony, and the bells rang out with all their might. The whole court was present, the King himself assisting at the ceremony, and the galleries were full to overflowing of ladies of distinction in the gayest of dresses.

Queen Marie Antoinette of France and her husband King Louis XVI of France with their daughter Princess Marie Therese Charlotte.

Then slowly, through the door of St. Anne, entered a hundred young girls dressed in white, covered with long veils and with orange blossom on their heads. These were the hundred poor girls whom Louis XVI. had dowered in memory of the birth of Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, afterwards Duchess of Angoulême, and it was his wish to assist personally at their wedding and to seal their marriage licences with his sword, which was ornamented on the handle or pommel with the “fleur de lys”.

Through the door of the Virgin entered at the same time one hundred young men, having each a sprig of orange blossom in his button-hole. The two rows advanced together with measured steps, preceded by two Swiss, who struck the pavement heavily with their halberds. They advanced as far as the chancel rails, where each young man gave his hand to a young girl, his fiancée, and marched slowly before the King, bowing to him and receiving a bow in return. They were then married by the Archbishop in person.

A wanderer in Paris by Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall), 1868-1938. Chapter III, Pgs. 35-36.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 870

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Laziness, Pride, and Public Opinion

March 16, 2023

“which an individual does not want to make the effort to enter into conflict with everyone else”

The capital sin of laziness is the cause of every lack of aseity. It produces a kind of softness by which an individual does not want to make the effort to enter into conflict with everyone else. Much to the contrary, a noble spirit, an individual with aseity, ascertains the truth and rejects the lies of the masses. “I perceive the truth,” he declares, “and I cannot stand your false statements. I will proclaim the truth, whatever the consequences. I will do what must be done. I stand against everything and everyone, no matter what may happen!”

This attitude requires nobility and greatness of soul. The individual must love truth to such a point that to remain silent when it is denied becomes unbearable. If he is too lazy to fight (not only against others, but especially against himself), he will be too lazy to define himself as he faces those things. He will do everything incompletely. He will not define himself outwardly or inwardly and will roll into the abyss of that lack of aseity, subjecting himself to the dominating masses.

Traditional Marriage, Pro-Life, Protesting Socialist Health Care Mandates and various Blasphemous plays and “art work”. Rosary Rallies across this country….this is our Crusade.

Thus is born the spirit of the mass. The capital vice of laziness (always linked to pride) presides over this spirit. The individual who does not understand that life has no meaning if he does not serve the cause of the Church, good, and truth searches for the pleasure of life. He is motivated by pride. He considers life with the following rationale: “Life was granted to me to enjoy and I do not have to be so faithful to truth or good when they prevent me from enjoying life.” Later, when he must fight, he feels too lazy to engage in it. The result of the combination of pride and laziness is the moral devastation of our society today.

The Christian Institution of the Family: A Dynamic Force to Regenerate Society, by Tradition, Family, Property Association. Pgs. 59-60.

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March 16 – Sylvester Norris

March 13, 2023

Sylvester Norris

(Alias SMITH, NEWTON).

Bridewell Palace was built as a residence of Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. 1556 part of it had become a jail known as Bridewell Prison.

Controversial writer and English missionary priest; b. 1570 or 1572 in Somersetshire; d. 16 March, 1630. After receiving minor orders at Reims in 1590, he went to the English College, Rome, where he completed his studies and was ordained priest. In May, 1596, he was sent on the English mission, and his energetic character is revealed by the fact that he was one of the appellant clergy in 1600. In the prosecutions following upon the Gunpowder Plot, he was committed to Bridewell Gaol. From his prison he addressed a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, dated 1 Dee., 1605, in which he protests his innocence, and in proof of his loyalty promises to repair to Rome, and labor that the pope shall bind all the Catholics of England to be just, true, and loyal subjects, and that hostages shall be sent “for the afferminge of those things”. He was thereupon banished along with forty-six other priests (1606), went to Rome, and entered the Society of Jesus. He was for some time employed in the Jesuit colleges on the Continent, but in 1611 returned to the English mission, and in 1621 was made superior of the Hampshire district, where he died.

He wrote: “An Antidote, or Treatise of Thirty Controversies; With a large Discourse of the Church” (1622); “An Appendix to the Antidote” (1621); “The Pseudo-Scripturist” (1623); “A true report of the Private Colloquy between M. Smith, alias Norrice, and M. Walker” (1624); “The Christian Vow”; “Discourse proving that a man who believeth in the Trinity, the Incarnation, etc., and yet believeth not all other inferior Articles, cannot be saved” (1625).

SOMMERVOGEL. Bibl. de la C. de J., V (1808 09); FOLEY, Records of the English Province, S.J., VI, 184; III, 301; OLIVER, Collections towards Illustrating the Biography of S.J., s. v., GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., V, s. v.

James Bridge (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 16 – St. Jean de Brébeuf

March 13, 2023

Jean de Brébeuf

St. Jean de Brébeuf

Jesuit missionary, born at Condé-sur-Vire in Normandy, 25 March, 1593; died in Canada, near Georgian Bay, 16 March, 1649. His desire was to become a lay brother, but he finally entered the Society of Jesus as a scholastic, 8 November, 1617. According to Ragueneau it was 5 October. Though of unusual physical strength, his health gave way completely when he was twenty-eight, which interfered with his studies and permitted only what was strictly necessary, so that he never acquired any extensive theological knowledge. On 19 June, 1625, he arrived in Quebec, with the Recollect, Joseph de la Roche d’ Aillon, and in spite of the threat which the Calvinist captain of the ship made to carry him back to France, he remained in the colony. He overcame the dislike of the colonists for Jesuits and secured a site for a residence on the St. Charles, the exact location of a former landing of Jacques Cartier. He immediately took up his abode in the Indian wigwams, and has left us an account of his five months’ experience there in the dead of winter. In the spring he set out with the Indians on a journey to Lake Huron in a canoe, during the course of which his life was in constant danger. With him was Father de Noüe, and they established their first mission near Georgian Bay, at Ihonatiria, but after a short time his companion was recalled, and he was left alone.

Brébeuf met with no success. He was summoned to Quebec because of the danger of extinction to which the entire colony was then exposed, and arrived there after an absence of two years, 17 July, 1628. On 19 July, 1629, Champlain surrendered to the English, and the missionaries returned to France. Four years afterwards the colony was restored to France, and on 23 March, 1633, Brébeuf again set out for Canada. While in France he had pronounced his solemn vows as spiritual coadjutor. As soon as he arrived, viz., May, 1633, he attempted to return to Lake Huron. The Indians refused to take him, but during the following year he succeeded in reaching his old mission along with Father Daniel. It meant a journey of thirty days and constant danger of death. The next sixteen years of uninterrupted labours among these savages were a continual series of privations and sufferings which he used to say were only roses in comparison with what the end was to be. The details may be found in the “Jesuit Relations”.

In 1640 he set out with Father Chaumonot to evangelize the Neutres, a tribe that lived north of Lake Erie, but after a winter of incredible hardship the missionaries returned unsuccessful. In l642 he was sent down to Quebec, where he was given the care of the Indians in the Reservation at Sillery. About the time the war was at its height between the Hurons and the Iroquois, Jogues and Bressani had been captured in an effort to reach the Huron country, and Brébeuf was appointed to make a third attempt. He succeeded. With him on this journey were Chabanel and Garreau, both of whom were afterwards murdered. They reached St. Mary’s on the Wye, which was the central station of the Huron Mission. By 1647 the Iroquois had made peace with the French, but kept up their war with the Hurons, and in 1648 fresh disasters befell the work of the missionaries – their establishments were burned and the missionaries slaughtered. On 16 March, 1649, the enemy attacked St. Louis and seized Brébeuf and Lallemant, who could have escaped but rejected the offer made to them and remained with their flock. The two priests were dragged to St. Ignace, which the Iroquois had already captured.

The Martyrdom of Fathers Brébeuf and Lalemant, painted by Joseph Légaré.

On entering the village, they were met with a shower of stones, cruelly beaten with clubs, and then tied to posts to be burned to death. Brébeuf is said to have kissed the stake to which he was bound. The fire was lighted under them, and their bodies slashed with knives. Brébeuf had scalding water poured on his head in mockery of baptism, a collar of red-hot tomahawk-heads placed around his neck, a red-hot iron thrust down his throat, and when he expired his heart was cut out and eaten. Through all the torture he never uttered a groan. The Iroquois withdrew when they had finished their work. The remains of the victims were gathered up subsequently, and the head of Brébeuf is still kept as a relic at the Hôtel-Dieu, Quebec.

His memory is cherished in Canada more than that of all the other early missionaries. Although their names appear with his in letters of gold on the grand staircase of the public buildings, there is a vacant niche on the façade, with his name under it, awaiting his statue. His heroic virtues, manifested in such a remarkable degree at every stage of his missionary career, his almost incomprehensible endurance of privations and suffering, and the conviction that the reason of his death was not his association with the Hurons, but hatred of Christianity, has set on foot a movement for his canonization as a saint and martyr. An ecclesiastical court sat in 1904 for an entire year to examine his life and virtues and the cause of his death, and the result of the inquiry was forwarded to Rome.

T.J. CAMPELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

[Note: He was canonized by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930]

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March 16 – François de Crépieul

March 13, 2023

François de Crépieul

Tadoussac, Canada. From Samuel de Champlain’s diagram

Jesuit missionary in Canada and vicar Apostolic for the Montagnais Indians; b. at Arras, France, 16 March, 1638; d. at Quebec in 1702. As a youth he studied in the Jesuit college of his native town and in that of Douai, becoming a member of the order at Tournay in 1659. He continued his studies at Lille and Douai, taught at Lille and Cambrai, and in 1670 sailed for Canada. Upon the completion of his theological studies in the college of Quebec, he was assigned in October, 1671, to the Tadousac region, where, with untiring devotion and great success he toiled among the Montagnais and Algonquin tribes for twenty-eight years. Writing to his brethren he tells them that the life of a Montagnais missionary is a tedious and prolonged martyrdom, and that his journeys and the cabins of the savages are truly schools of patience, penance, and resignation. For the benefit of his fellow missionaries Crépieul wrote a series of instructions embodying the results of his long service among the Indians, which are interesting and practical. These observations are given in the sixty-third volume of Thwaites’ “Relations”. In 1696 or 1697 he was appointed vicar Apostolic for the Montagnais and, on the discontinuance of the mission a few years later, repaired to Quebec, where he spent the rest of his life. Dablon, Superior of all the missions in Canada, styles him “a veritable apostle”.

ROCHEMONTEIX, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1895-96), a most interesting account of this devoted and successful missionary; THWAITES, Relations, LVI, 301. 302; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibl. de la c. de J., II, 1652, I; PILLING, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages (Washington, 1891), 98, 99.

EDWARD P. SPILLANE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 16 – Edmund O’Donnell

March 13, 2023

Hung, Drawn and Quartered. This barbaric form of execution, popular during the reign of Elizabeth I, where they are hanged till they are almost dead, cut down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire.

The first Jesuit executed by the English government; b. at Limerick in 1542, executed at Cork, 16 March, 1575. His family had held the highest civic offices in Limerick since the thirteenth century, and he was closely related to Father David Woulfe, Pope Pius IV’s legate in Ireland. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rome, 11 September, 1561, but, developing symptoms of Phthisis, was removed to Flanders. In 1564 he returned to Limerick and taught, with a secular priest and a layman, in the school which Woulfe established with connivance of the civic authorities. The school was dispersed in October, 1565, by soldiers sent by Sir Thomas Cusack, and, for a short time, they taught at Kilmallock. In a few months they returned to Limerick, and were not molested again until 1568, when Brady, Protestant Bishop of Meath, visited the city as royal commissioner and made diligent search for them. O’Donnell was ordered to quit the country under pain of death and withdrew to Lisbon, where he was again a student in 1572. Venturing back to Limerick in 1574 he was apprehended soon after landing, and thrown into prison. Rejecting all inducements to embrace Protestantism he was removed to Cork, tried for returning after banishment, denying the royal supremacy, and carrying letters for James Fitzmaurice. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

He has been called McDonnell, MacDonald, Donnelly, and MacDonough and Donagh. Father Edmund Hogan, S.J., Historiographer of the Irish province, found him recorded as Edmundus Daniell in the Society’s archives, and so the name usually appears in Limerick records, though as Dannel and O’Dannel. Copinger and Bruodin give the name as O’Donell (O’Donellus). The archives and a contemporary letter from Fitzmaurice confirm Bruodin’s positive assertion that he suffered in 1575, not in 1580 as generally stated.

Murphy, Our Martyrs (Dublin, 1896); Hogan, Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century (London, 1895); Rothe, Analecta Nova et Mira, ed. Moran (Dublin, 1884); Hogan, Ibernia Ignatiana (Dublin, 1880).

Charles McNeill (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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El Cid Gives King Alfonso the Tent of King Yucef

March 9, 2023

Then the Cid sent Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez with a present to King Alfonso. He sent two hundred horses saddled and bridled, each with a sword hanging from the saddle-bow; he also sent the splendid tent which he had taken from the king of Morocco. He gave this present because the king had sent him his wife and daughters when he asked for them, and because of the honor which he had done them. So Alvar and Pero went their way toward Castile, over mountains and rivers; and they asked where the king was, and when they learned he was at Valladolid, they went there.

When they came near that city, they sent to let the king know of their coming, and to ask whether they should go into the city to him, or if he would come out to them, as they were a great company, and they brought a great present that could be seen better outside than within the town. The king sent word that he would come out of the city, and he took his horse and ordered all the noblemen with him to mount likewise. Now the two Infantes of Carrion were there, Diego Gonzalez and Ferrando Gonzalez, the sons of Count Don Gonzalo. And they found the company of the Cid about a mile and a half from the town, and when the king saw them, he blessed himself, for they seemed like a host.

Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile

And Alvar and Pero spurred their horses when they saw the king, and they came to him and alighted, and knelt down and kissed the ground, and kissed both his feet; but he bade them rise and mount their horses, and would not hear them until they were again in their saddles and had taken their places, one at his right hand and the other at his left. And they said: “Sir, the Cid commends himself to you as his liege lord, and thanks you greatly for having sent him with such honor his wife and daughters. And know, Sir, that since they arrived he has won a great victory over the Moors and their King Yucef of Morocco, the Miramamolin, who besieged Valencia with fifty thousand men. The Cid went out against them, and defeated them, and has sent you these two hundred horses from his fifth.”

Then Alvar ordered the horses to be led forward, and they came in this manner. The two hundred horses came first, each one being led by a child, and each having a sword hanging from the saddle on the left side. After them came the pages of all the knights in the company, carrying their spears, and then the company, and after a hundred couple with spears in the rest. When they had all passed by, the king blessed himself again, and he laughed and said that never before had so goodly a present been sent to a king of Spain by his vassal.

Alvar Fanez and the Two Hundred Horses.

Alvar said further, “Sir, the Cid has sent you a tent, the noblest that ever man saw, which he won in this battle.” Then the king gave orders that the tent should be spread, and he alighted and went into it, and he and his people said they had never seen so splendid a tent as this. The king said he had won many tents from the Moors, but never such an one as this. Though all others were pleased, the Count Don Garcia was envious of what the Cid had done; and he and ten of his kinsmen talked together and said that this which the Cid had done was to their shame, for they hated the Cid in their hearts. The king said. “Thanks to God, those horses may do me good service.” And he gave three of them to Alvar and three to Pero, and told them to choose which ones they liked best; he also ordered that food and clothing be given them while they remained, and that they should have new armor when they were ready to return, such as was fit for them to wear before the Cid.

Calvin Dill Wilson, The Story of the Cid: For Young People (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1901), 202–5.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 869

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Aseity and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

March 9, 2023

A truly horrific example of how the masses control people can be found during the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is the perfect model of virtue. He showed this through preaching and performing miracles. The masses who saw and acclaimed Him as king changed on a whim. Many of them acclaimed Him king just to follow the majority, and without any personal conviction. Later they did the same thing when they shouted against Him, clamouring for His death and even insisting upon freeing Barrabas.

Why? They shamefully succumbed to the dominant opinion. This leads to all types of aberrations. It makes the person follow the flow of public opinion, wherever it goes.

He does not have the courage and aseity to stop and reason, “I don’t understand why Our Lord is mistreated. He doesn’t deserve it, so I shall protest against it.”

A curious example of a middle ground between aseity and non-aseity is Nicodemus. He used to speak to Our Lord at night. On one hand, he had an independent opinion. On the other, however, his political interests and a probable lack of independence from the masses made him only speak with Christ at night.

Veronica is a very beautiful example of aseity! She was all alone when she comforted Our Lord while He was persecuted and abandoned by everyone. Mary, His mother, is the perfect natural example of aseity. She practiced aseity to a degree that transcends all comparison. She was not concerned about others’ opinions, but stayed, along with the holy women, with Our Lord until the end. She is in a class all to herself.

The apostles are examples of lack of aseity. Saint Peter, for example, was intimidated by a maidservant who laughed at him. The apostles fled, not just because they feared death, but because they lacked aseity: everyone thinking one way and finding it hard to affirm the opposite.

St. Peter denying Our Lord.

In respect to this, the greatest drama of history, many of the worst ignominies were committed because of this lack of courage to resist one’s misplaced instinct of sociability and to go against the prevailing winds. It is impressive to see how low people can fall when they lack aseity. The fact that very few people had the courage to contradict the opinion of the masses is clearly illustrated in the Gospel.

In the opposite sense, it is most beautiful to see how aseity grew strong after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles. Increasingly, people who speak out and go against the tide start to appear. This is to have true aseity.

The founders of the Christian nations and institutions, as well as those who fought against widespread heresies and error, were all champions of aseity. Those who work for the Revolution are slaves of the kind of delight of being, thinking, and feeling like everyone else. Here we have exposed a nerve, a delicate problem of soul that warrants a very special, methodical, systematic, and gradual practice of aseity.

A religious once told me how a friar of his community noticed that his convent was in decadence. He said he intended to follow along because he could not resist. This is a lack of aseity. He would rather be a coward and follow the others. This is a low and vile deed. One feels like telling him to follow the right path and saying, “Put your foot down, stand up, be a hero, have personality.”

The Christian Institution of the Family: A Dynamic Force to Regenerate Society, by Tradition, Family, Property Association. Pgs. 56-59.

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March 12 – St. Gorgonius

March 9, 2023

The martyrdom of St. Gorgonius and St. Dorotheus, 14th century French manuscript.

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 of the Faith, was with his companions, Dorotheus, Peter and several others, subjected to the most frightful torments and finally strangled. Diocletian, determined that their bodies should not receive the extraordinary honours which the early Christians were wont to pay the relics of the martyrs (honours so great as to occasion the charge of idolatry), ordered them to be thrown into the sea. The Christians nevertheless obtained possession of them, and later the body of Gorgonius was carried to Rome, whence in the eighth century it was translated by St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, and enshrined in the monastery of Gorze. Many French churches obtained portions of the saint’s body from Gorze, but in the general pillage of the French Revolution, most of these relics were lost. Our chief sources of information regarding these martyrs are Lactantius and Eusebius. Their feast is kept on 9 Sept.

There are five other martyrs of this name venerated in the Church. The first is venerated at Nice on 10 March; the second, martyred at Antioch, is commemorated on 11 March; the third, martyred at Rome, is honoured at Tours on 11 March; the fourth, martyred at Nicomedia, is reverenced in the East on 12 March; while the fifth is one of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, whose feast is kept 10 March.

Acta SS., XLIII, 328; Analecta Bollandiana, XVIII, 5.

John F. X. Murphy (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Australia is removing the British monarchy from its bank notes

March 2, 2023

According to APNews:

The nation’s central bank said… its new $5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III.

The $5 bill was Australia’s only remaining bank note to still feature an image of the monarch.

… Labor Party is seeking to make Australia a republic with an Australian citizen as head of state instead of the British monarch.

Australians voted in a 1999 referendum proposed by a Labor government to maintain the British monarch as Australia’s head of state.

To read the entire article on APNews, please click here.

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Though Born a Slave, the Ladies Considered Venerable Pierre Toussaint “A Finished Gentleman”

March 2, 2023

Ven. Pierre Toussaint was declared venerable in 1996.

It was a striking trait in his character, that everything in which he engaged was thoroughly done; there was a completeness in his plans, and their execution, which commanded confidence, and which perhaps was one of the causes of the respect which he inspired. This sometimes led ladies to say, that Toussaint “was a finished gentleman.” His moral qualities, however, gave him this distinction; for with the most perfect modesty he knew exactly what was due to others and to himself, while his heart overflowed with that Christian kindness which far surpasses mere worldly politeness. He was observant of all the forms of the Roman Catholic Church; through winter and summer he missed no matin prayers, but his heart was never narrowed by any feeling as to sect or color. He never felt degraded by being a black man, or even a slave; for he considered himself as much the object of Divine protection as any other human being. He understood the responsibility, the greatness, of the part allotted him; that he was to serve God and his fellowmen, and so fulfill the duties of the situation in which he was placed. There was something truly noble and great in the view that he took of his own nature and responsibility. No failure on the part of the master could in his opinion absolve a slave from his duty. His own path was marked out; he considered it a straight one and easy to follow, and he followed it through life. He was born and brought up in St. Domingo at a period which can never return. In the large circle around him there were no speculations upon freedom or human liberty, and on those subjects his mind appears to have been perfectly at rest. When he resided in New York, he still preserved the same tranquil, contented state of mind, yet that he considered emancipation a blessing, he proved, by gradually accumulating a sum sufficient to purchase his sister’s freedom. It was not his own ransom for which he toiled, but Rosalie’s, as has been previously said, for he wished that she might take her station as a matron among the free women of New York. But he does not appear to have entertained any inordinate desire for his own freedom. He was fulfilling his duty in the situation in which his Heavenly Father chose to place him, and that idea gave him peace and serenity. When his mistress on her deathbed presented him his liberty, he most gratefully received it; and we fully believe he would not have suffered any earthly power to wrest it from him.

A typical lady of New York’s high society in the early 19th century.

There are many in the present day who will view this state of mind as degrading, who consider the slave absolved, by his great primary wrong of bondage, from all obligation to the slaveholder. Not such was Toussaint’s idea. He did not ask, like Darwin’s African slave, “Am I not a man and a brother?” but he felt that he was a man and a brother. It was the high conception of his own nature, as derived from eternal justice, that made him serene and self-possessed. He was deeply impressed with the character of Christ; he heard a sermon from Dr. Channing, which he often quoted: “My friends,” said Channing, “Jesus can give you nothing so precious as Himself, as his own mind. May this mind be in you. Do not think that any faith in Him can do you good, if you do not try to be pure and true like Him.” We trust many will recognize the teachings of the Savior in Toussaint’s character.

Hannah Sawyer Lee, Memoir of Pierre Toussaint: Born a Slave in St. Domingo, 2^nd rev. ed. (Sunbury, Penn.: Western Hemisphere Cultural Society, 1992), 46–49.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 868

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Slavery: Public Opinion, Authority, and Aseity

March 2, 2023

The Capture of St. Joan of Arc

With the “planet-satellite” relationship, a person practices virtue in a habitual state of independence that does not clash with obedience. He is independent from the attraction souls feel to accept and conform to the prevailing opinion. He is not one who lets himself be intimidated, mistreated, and dragged along.

Whoever does not practice this legitimate obedience to his aseity becomes a slave of public opinion. Once seduced by the siren song of the masses, he is obliterated and dissolved in their collective spirit. He loses his principles, convictions, independence, and dignity. He is controlled by the masses.

The Christian Institution of the Family: A Dynamic Force to Regenerate Society, by Tradition, Family, Property Association. Pg. 56.

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March 2 – William Maxwell

February 27, 2023

William Maxwell

de Medina, John Baptist; William, 5th Earl of Nithsdale; Traquair Charitable Trust; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/william-5th-earl-of-nithsdale-208716

Fifth Earl of Nithsdale (Lord Nithsdale signed as Nithsdaill) and fourteenth Lord Maxwell, b. in 1676; d. at Rome, 2 March, 1744. He succeeded his father at the early age of seven. His mother, a daughter of the House of Douglas, a clever energetic woman, educated him in sentiments of devotion to the Catholic faith and of loyalty to the House of Stuart, for which his family was famous. When he was about twenty-three, Lord Nithsdale visited the French Court to do homage to King James, and there met and wooed Lady Winifred Herbert, youngest daughter of William, first Marquis of Powis. The marriage contract is dated 2 March, 1699. The young couple resided chiefly at Terregles, in Dumfriesshire, and here probably their five children were born. Until I715 no special event marked their lives, but in that year Lord Nithsdale’s principles led him to join the rising in favour of Prince James Stuart, and he shared in the disasters which attended the royal cause, being taken prisoner at Preston and sent to the Tower. In deep anxiety Lady Nithsdale hastened to London and there made every effort on behalf of her husband, including a personal appeal to George I, but no sort of hope was held out to her. She, therefore, with true heroism, planned and carried out his escape on the eve of the day fixed for his execution. Lord Nithsdale had prepared himself for death like a good Catholic and loyal servant of his king, as his “Dying Speech” and farewell letter to his family attest. After his escape he fled in disguise to France. He and Lady Nithsdale spent their last years in great poverty, in Rome, in attendance on their exiled king.

M. M. Maxwell Scott (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 2 – Ercole Gonzaga

February 27, 2023

(Hercules.)

Cardinal; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the Son of the Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo renounced in his favour the See of Mantua; in 1527 his mother Isabella brought him back from Rome the insignia of the cardinalate. Notwithstanding his youth, he showed great zeal for church reform, especially in his own diocese; and in this he received help and encouragement from his friend Cardinal Giberti, Bishop of Verona. His mode of life was stainless and a manuscript work of his, “Vitae Christianae institutio”, bears witness to his piety. He published a Latin catechism for the use of the priests of his diocese and built the diocesan seminary, thus carrying out reforms urged by the Council of Trent, as his friends Contarini, Gilberti, Caraffa, and other bishops had done or were doing, even before the council had assembled. His charity was unbounded, and many young men of talent and genius had their university expenses paid by him.

Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga presides over the session of the Council of Trent in Santa Maria Maggiore. Photo by Sailko. Painting by Elia Naurizio.

The popes employed him on many embassies, e.g. to Charles V in 1530. Because of his prudence and his business-like methods, he was a favourite with the popes, with Charles V, and Ferdinand I, and with the Kings of France, Francis I and Henry II. From 1540 to 1556 he was guardian to the young sons of his brother Federico II who had died, and in their name he governed the Duchy of Mantua. The elder of the boys, Francesco died in 1550 and was succeeded by his brother Guglielmo. In the conclave of 1559 it was thought he would certainly be made pope; but the cardinals would not choose as pope a scion of a ruling house. In 1561 Pius VI named him legate to the Council of Trent, for which he had from the beginning laboured by every means at his command, moral and material. In its early stages, owing to the fact that not a few considered he was in favour of Communion under both kinds, he met with many difficulties, and interested motives were attributed to him. Nothing but the express wish of the pope could have persuaded him to remain at his post, and the energy he displayed was unwearied. He contracted fever at Trent, where he died, attended by Father Lainez. His benefactions to the Jesuit college at Mantua and to the Monte di Pieta were very great, and his letters are invaluable to the historian of that period.

U. BENIGNI (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 2 – Duc de Saint-Simon

February 27, 2023

Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon

Born 16 January, 1675; died in Paris, 2 March, 1755. Having quitted the military service in 1702, he lived thereafter at the Court, becoming the friend of the Ducs de Chevreuse and de Beauvilliers, who, with Fenelon, were interested in the education of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV. At the death of Louis XIV, he was named a member of the council of regency of the young king, Louis XV, and in 1721 was sent as ambassador to Madrid. When the Duke of Bourbon became minister, December, 1723, Saint-Simon went into retirement. It was principally between 1740 and 1746 that he wrote his celebrated “Memoirs”. As a history of the reign of Louis XIV they are an extremely precious document. The edition with commentary by Boislisle, and of which twenty-two volumes have already appeared (1911), is an incomparable monument of learning. Saint-Simon aired his hatreds, which were bitter and numerous; he was an adversary of equality, which he described as “leprosy”; he dreamt of a kind of chamber of dukes and peers which would control and paralyze royal despotism, and allow the States-General to assemble every five years to present the humble remonstrances of the people.

Château de la Ferté-Vidame where Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon lived. Painting is at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Whatever the historical value of the “Memoirs” may be, they are, by their sparkling wit, one of the most original monuments of French literature; and the “Parallele des trots premiers rois Bourbons”, written by Saint-Simon in 1746, the year in which he finished the record of the reign of Louis XIV, is an admirable piece of history. On all religious questions he should be read with great precaution. Very hostile to the Jesuits, and favorable to the Jansenists, he contributed greatly to the creation of legends concerning personages such as Mme de Maintenon and Michel Le Tellier. These legends had a long existence. The reproach, historically false, of having instigated the violent measures of persecutions against the Jansenists, which he hurled against Le Tellier, was all the more strange coming from his pen, since Saint-Simon himself, on the day following the death of Louis XIV, was one of the most rabid in demanding of the regent severe measures against Le Tellier and other Jesuits. Father Bliard has shown how much care is necessary in judging Saint-Simon’s assertions regarding the religious questions of his day. The historian Emile Bourgeois, who can not be charged with prejudice in favor of religion, wrote in his turn, in 1905: “History has given up the habit, too hastily acquired, of pinning her faith to the word of Saint-Simon.” And Bourgeois proved how inaccurate were the statements of Saint-Simon by showing what use the latter made in his “Memoirs” of documents of the diplomatist Torcy.

SAINT-SIMON, Memoires, ed. BOISLISLE (22 vols., Paris 1876-1911); SAINT-SIMON, Ecrits inedits, ed. FAUGERE (6 vols. Paris, 1880-3); SAINT-SIMON, Lettres et depeches sur l’ambassade d’Espagne, 1721 1722, ed. DRUMONT (Paris, 1880); BASCHET, Le duc de Saint-Simon, son cabinet et ses manuscrits (Paris, 1874); CHERUEL, Saint-Simon considere comme historien de Louis XIV (Paris, 1865); BOISSIER, Saint-Simon (Paris, 1892); BLIARD, Les memoires de Saint-Simon et le Pere Le Tellier (Paris, 1891); BOURGEOIS, La collaboration de Saint-Simon et de Torcy, etude critique sur les Memoires de Saint-Simon in Revue historique, LXXXVII (1905; PILASTRE, Lexique de la langue de Saint-Simon (Paris, 1905).

GEORGES GOYAU

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Dutch Royals to remain tax exempt

February 23, 2023

According to DutchNews.nl,

A motion to make the royal family pay tax will not be carried out because it would require a change in the constitution for which there is not the required majority… King Willem-Alexander, queen Máxima, princess Amalia and princess Beatrix are currently exempt from paying tax, based on article 40 of the constitution. A motion drawn up by political party Denk, which called for the government to put an end to the tax exempt status of the royals, did win majority support against the advice of the prime minister. However, a constitutional change needs a two thirds majority.

To read the entire article on DutchNews.nl, please click here.

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El Cid Defeats King Yusuf and His Moorish Army Outside Valencia

February 23, 2023

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid

Then the Cid assembled his chief captains and knights and people, and said: “Kinsmen and friends and vassals, today has been a good day, but tomorrow shall be a better. Be all armed and ready in the dark of the morning. Then we will to horse, and go out and smite our enemies. But let us take counsel in what manner we may go forth, so as to receive the least hurt; for they are a mighty host, and we can only defeat them by mastery in war.” When Alvar Fanez heard this, he answered: “You have achieved greater things than this. Give me three hundred horse, and we will go out when the first cock crows and put ourselves in ambush in the valley of Albuhera; and when you have opened the battle, we will come out and fall upon them on the other side, and on one side or the other we shall overcome them.” The Cid was well pleased with this advice and said he would follow it.

So he bade them feed their horses in time and sup early, and as soon as it was cock-crow they would assemble.

At cock-crow they all came together, and the Bishop who had pronounced absolution said he craved a boon from the Cid. He said, “Let me have the first wounds in the battle;” and the Cid granted him his boon. Then being all ready they went out through the gate which is called the Gate of the Snake, for the greatest force of the Moors was on that side. Alvar Fanez was already gone out with his company and had formed their ambush. The Cid had four thousand men with whom to attack fifty thousand on that day.

They went through all the narrow places and bad passes, leaving the ambush on the left, and struck to the right hand, so as to get the Moors between them and the town. And the Cid put his armies in good order, and bade Pero Bermudez carry his banner. When the Moors saw all this, they were greatly amazed, and they put on their armor in great haste and came out of their tents.

Then the Cid bade his banner move on, and the Bishop spurred forward with his company, and they fought in such a manner that the two armies were soon mingled together. Many a horse was soon running without a rider, and many a horseman was upon the ground. Terrible was the fighting and slaying; but as the Moors were so many in number they pressed hard upon the Christians and were about to overcome them. The Cid began to encouragge them, shouting for “God and St. James.”

And Alvar Fanez at this time came out of the ambush and fell upon the Moors on the side nearest the sea; and the Moors thought a great army had arrived to help the Cid, and they were dismayed and began to fly. The Cid and his men pursued them, punishing them greatly. It would be impossible to realize all the feats that were done that day, for every man did marvels. The Cid made such havoc among the Moors that the blood ran from his wrist to his elbow; and his good horse Bavieca proved to be a fine mount for him.

In the pursuit, the Cid came up with King Yucef and smote him three times; but the king escaped, for the horse of the Cid passed on so rapidly he could not check him, and when he turned, the king, being on a fleet horse, was far off. The king escaped to the Castle of Guyera, for so far did the Christians follow them, smiting and slaying without mercy. Hardly fifteen thousand of the fifty escaped. Those who were in the ships, when they saw this defeat, set sail and went to Denia.

Then the Cid and his people returned and began to plunder the tents. The spoil was so great that the men knew not what to take and what to leave of the gold and silver and horses and arms. Never had they seen such a tent as that of King Yucef, and it was filled with great riches, and there they found Alvar Salvadores, who had been made prisoner on the day before. The Cid rejoiced greatly to find him alive and well, and had his chains taken off. Then he left Alvar Fanez to look after the spoil while he went into the city. It was a wonderful sight to see the Cid then riding into Valencia; he had taken off his helmet, and his brow was full of great wrinkles, and rode upon Bavieca with his sword still in his hand.

Doña Ximena and her daughters were awaiting him, and great was their joy when they saw him coming. He stopped by them, and said: “Great honor have I won for you while you kept Valencia this day; and goodly spoil have we. Look, with this bloody sword, and a horse covered with sweat—this is the way that we conquer the Moors. Pray God that I may live yet awhile for your sakes, and you shall enter into great honor, and they shall kiss your hands.”

El Cid with Doña Jimena and his two daughters.

Then the Cid alighted, and the ladies knelt down before him and kissed his hand and wished him long life. Then they entered the palace with him and took their seats upon the benches. “Wife, Doña Ximena,” said the Cid, “these damsels who have served you so well I will give in marriage to my vassals, and to every one of them two hundred marks of silver, that it may be known in Castile what they have got for their services.” They all rose and kissed his hand; and great was the joy in the palace, and what the Cid promised was done.

The Tizona sword.

Alvar Fanez remained in the field taking account of the spoil and writing down what was found, according to their custom, so that none could be carried off unfairly. The tents and arms and precious garments were so many that they cannot be told, and the horses were beyond all reckoning; they ran about the field, and there was no one to take them, and the Moors of that land profited by that victory, for they caught many of the horses. The Cid’s own share of the horses was fifteen hundred good ones. The Cid won in this battle from King Yucef his famous sword Tizona, which name means a firebrand. The Cid gave orders that the tent of the king of Morocco, which was supported by two pillars wrought with gold, should not be touched, for he wished to send it to King Alfonso. The Bishop had his fill of battle that day, as he had desired, fighting with both hands, and no one can tell how many he slew.

King Yucef, who had taken refuge in a castle, when the pursuit was over, and he saw that he could come forth, went to Denia, and returned by ship to Morocco. There he brooded on his defeat, and how he had been conquered by so few, and he had lost so many of his people, and he fell sick and died. But before he died he begged his brother Bucar, on account of the tie between them, that he would revenge him for the dishonor he had received at the hands of the Cid before Valencia; and Bucar promised to do this, and swore upon the Koran, the sacred book of the Mahometans, that he would do this.

Calvin Dill Wilson, The Story of the Cid: For Young People (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1901), 197–202.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 867

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Obedience, Grace, and Free Will

February 23, 2023

No one can force a man to do something good when he does not want to do so. As for forcing someone to do evil, this could be discussed. For example, among certain gangs there are those who are enslaved and are unable to break this relationship. However, it is very different when dealing with good behaviour.

The Church teaches that without the help of grace no one can stably practice the Ten Commandments. This is the point of reference from which we must always consider anything relating to the religious crisis, spiritual life, or any other similar issue.

Imagine the most fascinating Man in history: Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Humanity. He was history’s wisest, most intelligent, most perfect, most elevated, most pleasant, most gentle, and most attractive man—as well as the most terrible in His wrath. Imagine Him using His infinite personal superiority to influence overwhelmingly the least of men for a period of five years.

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. Having fished all day in the Lake of Gennesaret and caught nothing, Our Lord told St. Peter to put his nets out. St. Peter obeys and catches so many fishes that their boats are almost sinking.

Imagine that the two of them were the only ones on earth and Our Lord dedicating Himself exclusively to that man. If Our Lord were to use just His natural superiority, He would not be able to ensure that the man could practice all the commandments stably. Supernatural action must come into play.

No matter how intelligent or how much influence the person has over the other, as soon as he turns his back the other person could easily fall into sin—even grave sin. One sin leading to another, after a year it could very well be that the person would try to kill Our Lord. He would think: “I am going to kill that brute. I am fed up with him! Why? I don’t know, but I am fed up with him!” This could happen because no one can be forced to be good.

Thus within the “planet-satellite” relationship, the planet can only lead a satellite if the satellite wants to be led. The success of the “planet-satellite” relationship is never due to intimidation or personal qualities. A “planet” that thinks he can lead a “satellite” through his great talents has not understood the ABC’s of how talent or the strength of personality works. No intimidation in the world can make a man practice virtue. A defect never leads to virtue; only virtue leads to virtue.

A blind man by Prilidiano Pueyrredón.

Therefore, a “satellite” that practices virtue because of the “planet” is really doing so of his own free will. He uses the planet to help him do what he already has in mind. He willingly obeys because he knows the other person will lead him where he wants to go. Seen in this light, to follow another person is legitimate, good, and upright. It is the way it should be.

Think of a blind man who asks a boy to lead him to church. The blind man obeys the boy because he wants to go to Church and knows the boy will lead him there. The blind man is in charge, not the boy. The boy is only an instrument of the blind man’s act of will to go where he wants. The blind man affirms his sovereignty, not his weakness.

Someone could object: “When an individual recognizes the need for a superior, he affirms his own weakness.” This is true. However, this weakness is not a weakness, but rather part of the order God placed in the universe. Everyone should be guided by a superior. It is not a weakness, but a limitation. It proves the individual is not God. It is an understandable act of humility.

A teacher with her violin class in New York City, 1936.

He who obeys practices aseity because he obeys the superior he has chosen and allows himself to be led because he so wills it. The proof of this is how much effort one must make to allow oneself to be led. It is a sacrifice, and ultimately a person will only be led if he wills it.

In sum, the “planet-satellite” relationship works differently in virtue and in vice. Perfect aseity is found in this relationship because perfect independence and perfect hierarchy coexist together. Finally, the fullness of aseity is based on the acceptance by the “satellite” of the legitimate “planet” and legitimate authority so that it may attain its own goal.

January 19, 2023

(BARNARD.) Archbishop of Vienne, France. Born in 778; died at Vienne, 23 January, 842. His parents, who lived near Lyons and had large possessions, gave him an excellent education, and Bernard in obedience to the paternal wish, married and became a military officer under Charlemagne. After seven years as a soldier the death of his […]

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January 23 – Saint Emerentiana

January 19, 2023

Virgin and martyr, died at Rome in the third century. The old Itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs, after giving the place of burial on the Via Nomentana of St. Agnes, speak of St. Emerentiana. Over the grave of St. Emerentiana a church was built which, according to the Itineraries, was near the […]

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