By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

What can be said about the general appearance of this monkey? The horribly coarse and wrinkled skin, the vulgar and immeasurably wide mouth, the flat nostrils in an almost nonexistent nose, the scant, ugly hairs form­ing a semblance of a beard at once bristly and sparse. Yet, amid all this deformity, there is a certain resemblance that makes one think of man … a terrible resemblance accen­tuated by the eyes. What eyes! At times, they seem pensive and full of a melancholic expression. Yet observing them at other moments, they seem empty, dull, and lacking all significance.

Thus is the animal kingdom. In it God placed admirable species in which man could see the wisdom, the grace, and the goodness of Him Who created it. Yet, at the same time in beings like this one, it allows us to very clearly see all the coarseness of irrational nature. By the former animals we are elevated to God. By the latter, the coarse ones, we sense our natural dignity better; we fully understand the hierar­chy that Our Lord placed in the universe. And, loving our own superiority and the holy inequality of creation, we are also elevated toward the Creator.

Perhaps we never perceive the abyss that separates us from the animal world better than when, among all its species, we contemplate precisely those that most resemble us!

The animals that God made for man’s com­panionship are precisely those whose natural coarseness is veiled by beautiful or even splendid appearances: birds with brilliant feathers or harmonious warbles, cats with elegant airs and silky coats, dogs with noble bear­ings or imposing aspects, charming little terriers, and fish that gracefully display their fins in the placidity of their aquariums. These are elements of beauty, distrac­tion, and repose in our everyday existence. Since God respects the nobility of man, He cloaks the natural coarseness of every nonspiritual being destined for man’s companionship with these magnificent appearances. Clearly these creatures are like the flowers of the animal kingdom—destined for our homes as are the flowers of the plant kingdom.

According to the standards of good tradition, there are ways ordained for man to appreciate the beautiful flowers and live with the attractive animals without exceeding proper limits by bestowing an affection or conceding an intimacy to these creatures that should be accorded only to humans.Animals, then, can have their place in a well-formed Christian sensibility, but within proper limits. Thus, just as there are plants that serve to adorn the life of man while others have a rudeness incompatible for this end, so also with animals. A lady does not demean herself by looking at a flower, breathing its perfume and using it as an adornment. But she would demean herself if she would do the same with a cauliflower or, perhaps even worse, a simple cabbage.

For the same reason, man, for whom the company of a dog is so fitting, was not made to kiss the muzzles of dogs as he would kiss his wife or daughter. He also was not made for intimacy with monkeys, mice, wild boars, and giraffes. All the inferiority of animal nature, so obvious in these beings, is incompatible with this indiscriminate min­gling with man.Man degrades himself when he puts aside his natural repugnance and becomes intimate with these creatures, whose animal crudeness is not veiled by any outward ap­pearances. Ignoring this repugnance, man dulls the sense of his own superiority and, so to speak, accepts and assumes the inferiority of the beast.

This disposition of spirit is very frequent in an age like ours wherein all egalitarianism, even the most degrading, finds a sympathetic climate.

One should not take the bread of the children, warns Our Lord, and cast it to the dogs (cf. Mark 7:27) nor cast pearls before swine (cf. Matt. 7:6).

This is what one does who, through foolish, and profoundly egalitarian, sentimentality grants to animals the affection and intimacy that the order of Providence reserved for relationships between human beings.

Ambiences, Customs and Civilizations, “Catolicismo” No. 81 – September 1957

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The Battle of Fontenoy, 11th May 1745, painted by Horace Vernet.

The Battle of Fontenoy, 11th May 1745, painted by Horace Vernet.

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 king put the issue before him, asking his opinion. The Marshal was indignant and said:

— Your Majesty, who was the coward who gave you this counsel? If we were having this conversation prior to the battle’s start, that is what my advise would have been too, but it is too late now, and besides our situation is not desperate.

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Jacques Necker, Galerie de l’ancienne cour (Maestricht: J. E. Dufour, 1787), Vol. 3, 104. (Nobility.org translation.)

 

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 440

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The Kindness of Louis XVI painted by Philibert-Louis Debucourt. In February 1784, near Versailles, Louis XVI visited a poor peasant family. Moved by their plight, he gave them the purse he had on him. His act of kindness became quickly known by all.

During Lent we recall the duties of every Christian to apply themselves more fervently to almsgiving. In pre-revolutionary France it was for the King and the Queen to give an example to everyone else in this regard. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette took this duty seriously and throughout their reign did what they could to help the needy.
At the fireworks celebrating the marriage of the young prince and princess in May 1774, there was a stampede in which many people were killed. Louis and Antoinette gave all of their private spending money for a year to relieve the suffering of the victims and their families. They became very popular with the common people as a result, which was reflected in the adulation with which they were received when the Dauphin took his wife to Paris on her first “official” visit in June 1773. Marie-Antoinette’s reputation for sweetness and mercy became even more entrenched in 1774, when as the new Queen she asked that the people be relieved of a tax called “The Queen’s belt,” customary at the beginning of each reign. “Belts are no longer worn,” she said. It was only the onslaught of revolutionary propaganda that would eventually destroy her reputation.

Louis XVI often visited the poor in their homes and villages, distributing alms from his own purse. During the difficult winter of 1776, the King oversaw the distribution of firewood among the peasants. Louis was responsible for many humanitarian reforms. He went incognito to hospitals, prisons, and factories so as to gain first-hand knowledge of the conditions in which the people lived and worked.

…beloved Children, forget not that charity is due even yesterday’s enemy who today languishes in poverty, you will show that you have done your “bene agere” by Saint Paul…

The King and Queen were patrons of the Maison Philanthropique, a society founded by Louis XVI which helped the aged, blind and widows. The Queen taught her daughter Madame Royale to wait upon peasant children, to sacrifice her Christmas gifts so as to buy fuel and blankets for the destitute, and to bring baskets of food to the sick. Marie-Antoinette took her children with her on her charitable visits. According to Maxime de la Rocheterie:

Sometimes they went to the Gobelins; and the president of the district coming on one occasion to compliment her, she said, “Monsieur you have many destitute but the moments which we spend in relieving them are very precious to us.” Sometimes she went to the free Maternity Society which she had founded, where she had authorized the Sisters to distribute sixteen hundred livres for food and fuel every month and twelve hundred for blankets and clothing, without counting the baby outfits which were given to three hundred mothers. At other times she went to the School of Design also founded by her to which she sent one day twelve hundred livres saved with great effort that the rewards might not be diminished nor the dear scholars suffer through her own distress. Again she placed in the house of Mademoiselle O’Kennedy four daughters of disabled soldiers, orphans, for whom she said, “I made the endowment.”

The Queen adopted three poor children to be raised with her own, as well overseeing the upbringing of several needy children, whose education she paid for, while caring for their families. She established a home for unwed mothers, the “Maternity Society,” mentioned above. She brought several peasant families to live on her farm at Trianon, building cottages for them. There was food for the hungry distributed every day at Versailles, at the King’s command. During the famine of 1787-88, the royal family sold much of their flatware to buy grain for the people, and themselves ate the cheap barley bread in order to be able to give more to the hungry.

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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 lowest. After the death of his father in 1712, he was sent to the celebrated “Dame Alice’s School”, at Fernyhalgh, in Lancashire. From thence while still young he was transferred to the English College at Douai, where he went through the full course, and was ordained priest in 1735. He had already gained a reputation for extraordinary diligence and regularity, and was asked to remain at the college as professor, first of philosophy, later on of theology. During his years at Douai, he devoted himself to what became the great work of his life, “The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints”. His mastery of ancient and modern languages fitted him specially for a task which involved such wide reading, while his unremitting industry and steady perseverance enabled him to overcome all obstacles. He also assisted Dr. Challoner, by preparing matter for the latter’s “Memoirs of Missionary Priests”, the standard work on the martyrs of the reign of Elizabeth and later. Butler’s notes are still preserved at Oscott College.

Fr. Alban Butler

In 1745 Alban Butler was chosen to accompany the Earl of Shrewsbury and his two brothers, James and Thomas Talbot, both afterwards bishops, on a tour through Europe. On his return he acted as mission priest in various parts of the Midland District, to which he belonged by origin. Though ever seeking leisure for study, we are told that he was precise in the discharge of all his duties, and his time was always at the disposal of the poor or others who had a claim upon him. We next find him acting as chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk, whose nephew (and heir presumptive), the Hon. Edward Howard, he accompanied to Paris as tutor. During his residence there, Butler at length completed his work on the “Lives of the Saints”, on which he had been engaged nearly thirty years. It contains biographies of more than 1,600 saints arranged in order of date; and is a monument of work and research. It was published anonymously, in London, in 1756-59, nominally in four, really in seven octavo volumes. This was the only edition which appeared during the author’s lifetime; but there have been many others since, and the work has been translated into Italian and French.

The Lives of the Saints

In 1766 the presidency of the English College at St-Omer, in France, falling vacant by the elevation of Thomas Talbot to the episcopate, Alban Butler was appointed to succeed his former pupil, no doubt that he might be placed where he would have greater facilities for study. The college had formerly belonged to the Jesuits, but had been handed over to the secular clergy by the French Government when the Society of Jesus was banished from France. The Douai authorities accepted the college in order to save it from being confiscated, with the intention of restoring it to its owners should circumstances ever permit. The Jesuits, however, resented their action, and under these circumstances, Alban Butler hesitated about accepting the postion offered him; but we are told by his nephew and biographer, Charles Butler, that having taken counsel of the Bishops of Amiens and Boulogne, he was advised that he could accept the post with a safe conscience. A few years later the general suppression of the Society of Jesus throughout the world put an end to any doubt on the matter. Butler found, however, that his hopes of leading a studious life were doomed to disappointment, for his reputation by this time was such that no less than four bishops of neighbouring dioceses, Arras, Boulogne, St-Omer, and Ypres, continually sought his advice, and invested him with faculties as vicar-general. Thus during the concluding years of his life he had to devote himself to active work more than at any previous time. He was buried in the parish church of St-Denis almost opposite to the English College at St- Omer. Since the Revolution, all traces of his tomb have disappeared. His works include: “Letters to a Gentleman on Bower’s Lives of the Popes” (1754); “Lives of the Saints” (1756-59; many times republished); “Life of Mary of the Holy Cross” (1767). After his death Bishop Challoner published “The Movable Feasts and Fasts”; and Charles Butler edited: “Travels” (1791), “Meditations” (1791) and, “Life of Sir Tobie Matthews” (1795).
BUTLER, Life; COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog.; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.; KIRK, Biog. Collections, MS.

BERNARD WARD (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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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 in bed very early on Palm Sunday, 1595, at the house of his fellow-martyr, Thomas Watkinson, at Menthorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire, someone having seen palms being gathered the night before, and having informed John Gates of Howden, the nearest justice of the peace. Watkinson, an old Catholic yeoman who lived a solitary life, is described by the treacherous priest John Cecil as a clerk, so it is possible he was in minor orders.

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.

Both, though naturally timorous, met their deaths with great fortitude. Thorpe, condemned as a traitor merely for being a priest, was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Watkinson, condemned as a felon merely for harbouring priests, was only hanged. He was offered his life if he would go to church.

CHALLONER, Missionary Priests, I, no. 86; POLLEN, English Martyrs, 1584-1603 (London, 1908), 200-2; KNOX, Douay Diaries (London, 1878), passim.

John B. Wainewright (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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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.

The Virgin Mary giving the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock.

It is said that when twelve years old he began to live as a hermit in the hollow trunk of an oak, and later to have become an itinerant preacher until he entered the Carmelite Order which had just come to England. According to the same tradition he went as a Carmelite to Rome, and from there to Mt. Carmel, where he spent several years. All that is historically certain is that in 1247 he was elected the sixth general of the Carmelites, as successor to Alan, at the first chapter held at Aylesford, England. Notwithstanding his great age he showed remarkable energy as general and did much for the benefit of the order, so that he is justly regarded as the most celebrated of its generals. During his occupancy of the office the order became widely spread in southern and western Europe, especially in England; above all, he was able to found houses in the university cities of that era, as in 1248 at Cambridge, in 1253 at Oxford, in 1260 at Paris and Bologna. This action was of the greatest importance both for the growth of the institution and for the training of its younger members. Simon was also able to gain at least the temporary approbation of Innocent IV for the altered rule of the order which had been adapted to European conditions. Nevertheless the order was greatly oppressed, and it was still struggling everywhere to secure admission, either to obtain the consent of the secular clergy, or the toleration of other orders. In these difficulties, as Guilelmus de Sanvico (shortly after 1291) relates, the monks prayed to their patroness the Blessed Virgin. “And the Virgin Mary revealed to their prior that they were to apply fearlessly to Pope Innocent, for they would receive from him an effective remedy for these difficulties”. The prior followed the counsel of the Virgin, and the order received a Bull or letter of protection from Innocent IV against these molestations. It is an historical fact that Innocent IV issued this papal letter for the Carmelites under date of 13 January, 1252, at Perugia.

Our Lady giving the Scapular to St. Simon Stock. Side altar in Brazil.

Later Carmelite writers give more details of such a vision and revelation. Johannes Grossi wrote his “Viridarium” about 1430, and he relates that the Mother of God appeared to Simon Stock with the scapular of the order in her hand. This scapular she gave him with the words: “Hoc erit tibi et cunctis Carmelitis privilegium, in hoc habitu moriens salvabitur” (This shall be the privilege for you and for all the Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall be saved). On account of this great privilege many distinguished Englishmen, such as King Edward II, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and many others of the nobility secretly wore (clam portaverunt) the Carmelite scapular under their clothing and died with it on.

Stained glass window of Carmelite Saints at Basílica Nossa Senhora do Carmo. Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in São Paulo, Brazil.

In Grossi’s narrative, however, the scapular of the order must be taken to mean the habit of the Carmelites and not as the small Carmelite scapular. As was the custom in medieval times among the other orders, the Carmelites gave their habit or at least their scapular to their benefactors and friends of high rank, that these might have a share in the privilege apparently connected with their habit or scapular by the Blessed Virgin. It is possible that the Carmelites themselves at that period wore their scapular at night in a smaller form just as they did at a later date and at the present time: namely, in about the form of the scapular for the present third order. If this is so they could give laymen their scapular in this form. At a later date, probably not until the sixteenth century, instead of the scapular of the order the small scapular was given as a token of the scapular brotherhood. Today the brotherhood regards this as its chief privilege, and one it owes to St. Simon Stock, that anyone who dies wearing the scapular is not eternally lost. In this way the chief privilege and entire history of the little Carmelite scapular is connected with the name of St. Simon Stock.

An Image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel holding the Brown Scapular.

There is no difficulty in granting that Grossi’s narrative, related above, and the Carmelite tradition are worthy of belief, even though they have not the full value of historical proof (see SCAPULAR). That Simon himself was distinguished by special veneration of and love for the Virgin is shown by the antiphonies “Flos Carmeli” and “Ave Stella Matutina”, which he wrote, and which have been adopted in the breviary of the Calced Carmelites. Besides these antiphonies other works have been incorrectly attributed to him. The first biographical accounts of Simon belong to the year 1430, but these are not entirely reliable. However, he was not at this time publicly venerated as a saint; it was not until 1435 that his feast was put in the choral books of the monastery at Bordeaux. It was introduced before 1458 into Ireland and, probably at the same time, into England; by a decree of the General Chapter of 1564 its celebration was commanded for the entire order.
JOSEPH HILGERS (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Saint Andrew Bobola

Saint Andrew Bobola earned the name "Hunter of Souls" due to his tireless zeal and missionary travels.

Saint Andrew Bobola earned the name “Hunter of Souls” due to his tireless zeal and missionary travels.

Martyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; died at Janów, 16 May, 1657. Having entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Wilno (1611), he was ordained in 1622, and appointed preacher in the Church of St. Casimir, Wilno. After making his solemn vows, 2 June, 1630, he was made superior at Bobruisk, where he wrought wonders by his preaching and distinguished himself by his devotion during an epidemic of the plague.
In 1636 he began his work in the Lithuanian missions. During this period Poland was being ravaged by Cossacks, Russians, and Tatars, and the Catholic Faith was made the object of the concerted attacks of Protestants and schismatics. The Jesuits, in particular, had much to endure. Bobola’s success in converting schismatics drew upon him the rage of those in high authority, and the adherents of the Greek Pope decided to centralize their forces in Polesia.

St. Andrew Bobola in stained glass, Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Reading, Pennsylvania

St. Andrew Bobola in stained glass, Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Reading, Pennsylvania

A Catholic nobleman of this province offered the Jesuits a house at Pinsk, and here Father Bobola was stationed. The schismatics vainly endeavored in every manner to hinder him in the exercise of his apostolic duties, extending their persecutions to attacks upon his person.

On 16 May, 1657, he was seized by two Cossacks and severely beaten. Then tying him to their saddles, they dragged him to Janów where he was subjected to incredible tortures. After having been burned, half strangled, and partly flayed alive, he was released from suffering by a sabre stroke. (cfr. 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Bishop Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J.

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 the Bishop first met Mother Agnes (Martin) when they began a lasting friendship. Bishop Crimont knew of St. Therese’s devotion to the missions while she was living and he placed the entire Alaskan mission under her protection five years prior to her canonization.

While Bishop Crimont was in Rome for St. Therese’s canonization on May 17, 1925, the Sacred Congregation decreed St. Therese the Queen and Patroness of Alaska, a title the Bishop had offered her five years earlier. From this time on his devotion to the Little Flower became one of the great influences of his life. Beginning with the reading of “Histoire d’un Ame,” many things contributed to feed the devotion: blessings obtained by himself, miracles told by others, important favors received by Father Ruppert.

Situated on 46 acres, the Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux overlooks the Lynn Canal in Juneau, Alaska. The first mass was held in 1941. Photo by gillfoto.

After the visit to Lisieux, the Bishop distributed many relics of the Little Flower and did much to spread devotion to her. Application of a relic to a Sister Superior of Douglas brought immediate cure of a serious illness. An insane woman in Juneau when shown a picture of the Little Flower fell asleep the first time in over a week. Her cure was also immediate and permanent.

Dogsled Apostles by A. H. Savege

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 592

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Malta, Senglea with Gardjola tower

On the morning of August 18th 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 assault on the bastion of St. Michael. Piali, meanwhile, held back his troops from Birgu according to plan. Mustapha waited anxiously to see if the Grand Master was to be lured into sending some of his garrison across the bridge to reinforce hard-pressed Senglea.

The Grand Harbour

Jean Parisot de la Valette

La Valette clearly expected some trick, and was not to be caught. At last, having failed to draw off the Christians as he had hoped, Mustapha gave his engineers the order to spring the mine under Castile.

Although La Valette had known that the Turks were mining towards his walls he had been unable to discover the exact position. The blow, when it fell, was not unexpected but it was none-the-less devastating in its effect. With a gigantic rumbling crash the mine went up, and a great section of the main wall of the bastion fell with it. The dust cloud was still spilling outwards into the ditch, when Piali’s troops poured forward en masse.

For a moment panic ensued among the defenders. The wounded staggered back from the breach and in the general confusion it seemed as if the position was surely lost. Hardly had the smoke cleared away, than the first wave of Turks were over the ditch and had gained a foothold. Their banners were planted on the torn and tottering rampart. Their spearhead began to drive forward into the very town itself. The bell of the Conventual Church was rung—a pre-arranged signal that the enemy was within the fortifications. A Chaplain of the Order, Brother Guillaume, seeing the Turkish standards waving over Castile rushed to the Grand Master.

Fort St. Angelo

“All is lost,” he cried. “We must retreat to St. Angelo.” It was a moment when a flicker of indecision would have spelled ruin. La Valette, who was in his command post in the small square of Birgu, did not hesitate. “…This intrepid old man, placing only a light morion on his head and without waiting to put on even his cuirass, rushed boldly to meet the infidels.” Seizing a pike from a soldier standing nearby, he called on his staff to follow him and led the way towards the bastion of Castille.

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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.

St. Eric IX of Sweden

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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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)

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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.Pope John I

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.

pope st john IIf 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)

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Landgrave Ernest of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg

Ernst of Hesse-Rheinfels, landgrave, b. December 9, 1623, at Cassel; d. May 12, 1693, at Cologne. He was the sixth son of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, after whose resignation of the government in 1627 to his son Wilhelm V, Ernst and his brother Hermann respectively founded the collateral lines of Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Rotenburg. He figures prominently in the religious history of his country on account of the controversial literature called forth by his conversion to the Catholic Faith. Under the strict discipline of his mother his instruction in the principles of the Reformed Church received the utmost attention. After considerable travel he chose, in 1641, the military career. In 1642 he entered the Hessian army, proving himself an able commander of the Hessian troops who fought on the side of Sweden during the Thirty Years’ War. While visiting the Hessian General Geyso, who was in prison at Gesecke, he was himself arrested and taken prisoner to Paderborn. His social intercourse here with the royal army chaplain laid the foundation of his conversion. After the Peace of Westphalia he took up the government of his portion of Hesse. His desire to establish a collateral line independent of Cassel brought him in 1650 to Vienna, where his conversion to the Catholic Church was effected by the Augustinian Alfons Staimos. Before his formal reception into the Church, he returned to Rheinfels and challenged the Hessian theologians, George Calixtus of Helmstadt, Crocius of Marburg, and Haberkorn of Giessen, to a public disputation on certain points of doctrine, with the Capuchin Valerian Magnus. After the disputation the landgrave made a formal profession of the Catholic Faith and gave the reasons for his conversion in the work: “Conversionis ad fidem Catholicam motiva S. et C. Principis ac Dom. Ernesti Hassiae Landgravii” (Cologne, 1652). This work gave rise to a long and bitter controversy in which he himself took an active part, defending fearlessly in various writings against his opponents the course he had taken. His character as a prince is best described by himself in “Pourtraict ou description de la vie du Prince Ernest” (1669).
JOSEPH SCHROEDER (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Enemond Massé

One of the first Jesuits sent to New France; born at Lyons, 1574; died at Sillery, 12 May, 1646. He went to Acadia with Father Biard, and when it was found impossible to effect any good there, they established a new mission at the present Bar Harbor, Maine, which was soon after destroyed by the English — Massé being set adrift on the sea in an open boat. He succeeded in reaching a French ship and returned to France. In 1625 he again set sail for Canada, and remained there until the fall of Quebec. He returned a third time in 1632, but, as he was in advanced in age, he no longer laboured among the savages, but lived mostly at Sillery, which he built as a reservation for the converted Indians. A monument has recently been erected to his honour at this place on the site of the old Jesuit Church which stood on the bank of the St. Lawrence a short distance above Quebec.

T.J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Pope Sylvester II

Reigned 999-1003; also called Gerbert. Born at or near Aurillac, Auvergne, France, about 940-950, of humble parents; died at Rome, 12 May, 1003. Gerbert entered the service of the Church and received his first training in the Monastery of Aurillac. He was then taken by a Spanish count to Spain, where he studied at Barcelona and also under Arabian teachers at Cordova and Seville, giving much attention to mathematics and the natural sciences, in which he made unu Bishop Hatto of Vich, who had been his chief theological instructor, and John XIII recommended him to the Emperor Otto I, who sent him to Reims to the archdeacon Gerannus. There he was soon appointed a teacher in the cathedral school by Archbishop Adalbero. He undertook journeys of considerable length, e.g., to Ravenna, where he held a disputation with Ortricus of Magdeburg before Otto II. In 983 Otto II bestowed on him the abbey of Bobbio, but the abbey was very poor and Gerbert returned to Reims. He again taught the most varied branches with great success, devoted himself zealously to study, and helped raise Hugh Capet to the throne. Adalbero wished Gerbert to be his successor, but when the former died in 988 Arnulph, a natural son of King Lothaire, was raised to the see at the instigation of Hugh Capet. Arnulph was deposed in 991 by a synod held near Reims for alleged treason against the king, and Gerbert was elected his successor. Although Gerbert soon held a provincial synod to condemn those who had injured the property of the Church, and these decisions were confirmed at another synod held at Chela under the presidency of Robert, King of France, there was much opposition to Gerbert’s elevation to the See of Reims. Consequently John XV sent Leo, Abbot of Sts. Boniface and Alexius at Rome, as legate to France. On 2 June, 995, Leo held a synod at Mouson. Gerbert appeared personally to defend himself, but was temporarily suspended from his episcopal office. He sought to show that this decree was unlawful, but a further synod (concilium Causeiense), held on 1 July, 995, at which Gerbert was present, declared Arnulph’s deposition and Gerbert’s elevation illegal and invalid.

Gerbert now went to the court of the youthful Emperor Otto III, whose teacher he became and whom he accompanied to Italy for the coronation. As the Archbishopric of Reims was not restored to Gerbert, he remained in Italy, and in 998 Gregory V appointed him Archbishop of Ravenna. Gerbert attended the Roman synod before which the marital affairs of King Robert of France were laid. When Gregory V died on 18 February, 999, Gerbert was elected his successor through the influence of the emperor, and took the name of Sylvester. He was the first French pope. The new head of the Church administered his high office with great earnestness and a profound sense of responsibility. His discourse upon the episcopal office shows what his view of the chief spiritual pastors of the Church was (“Sermo de informatione episocoporum”, P.L., CXXXIX, 169 sq.). He took energetic measures against the abuses in the life of the clergy caused by simony and concubinage, and was anxious that only capable men of spotless lives should receive the episcopal office. His relations with Otto III were very friendly, and he supported the emperor’s political ideas. Otto gave the pope eight Italian countships, which formerly had belonged to the States of the Church, by a deed of gift the genuineness of which, however, is questioned (Wilmans, “Jahrbucher des deutschen Reiches unten den sachsischen Kaisen”, II, pt. II, 233 sq.). At the same time the emperor declared the Donation of Constantine to be a forgery. During Otto’s residence at Rome in the winter of 1000-1001 Sylvester held a Roman synod on 1 February, 1001, in the presence of the emperor, at which amongst other matters the affairs of the convent of Gandersheim were discussed. A revolt at Rome directed against the emperor forced Otto and the pope to flee. Sylvester was obliged to remain away for several months, during which the city suffered party quarrels. On 27 December he called a second synod at Todi on account of the difficulties at Gandersheim, and shortly after was present at Otto’s death.

Sylvester regulated important ecclesiastical matters in various countries. Soon after his elevation to the papacy he confirmed anew his former opponent Arnulph as Archbishop of Reims, and in the Bull which he sent to him gives clear proof that he had now abandoned his earlier position in regard to the authority of papal decisions concerning the disputed see. The pope established an ecclesiastical metropolitan for Poland at Gnesen, and one for Hungary at Gran. On 27 March, 1000, he granted the title of king to the ruler of Hungary and appointed him papal vicar for his country. He energetically maintained church discipline in the question of the marriage of the French King Robert, and obliged the king to send Bertha away. Sylvester returned to Rome soon after Otto’s death, although the leaders of the different parties of nobles still retained all their power. A little later he died. His epitaph has been preserved. Besides a dogmatic treatise, “De corpore et sanguine Domini”, Sylvester wrote a series of works principally on philosophical, mathematical, and physical subjects; they are to be found in P.L., CXXXIX. He was held in high repute for his learning; the common people regarded his as a magician in league with the devil, and many legends grew up around his name. He is said to have introduced the use of Arabic figures into Western Europe, and to have invented the pendulum clock.

J.P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Joris Karl Huysmans

A French novelist; born in Paris, 5 February, 1848; died 12 May, 1907. He studied at the Lycee Saint-Louis. At the age of twenty, he obtained a post in the Ministry of the Interior and remained there until 1897, except during the Franco-Prussian war, when he served under the flag. His loyal services won him the esteem of his superiors and the cross of the Legion of Honour. For thirty years he carried on the double duties of his administrative position and his literary profession. He was one of the ten founders of the Goncourt Academy, to the presidency of which he was elected in 1900. His first books, which must be mentioned here, belonged to the most realistic school of literature and professed to show all that is most base and vile in humanity. In 1895 he went to spend a week at the Trappist monastery of Issigny and was there deeply impressed by the monastic life. “En Route” (1895) shows the change that then took place in his life. Not long after he made open profession of Catholicism, and, having resigned his post in the Ministry of the Interior, retired to Liguge and took up his abode in a house near the Benedictine monastery. After the expulsion of the monks, he returned to Paris, where he died in 1907. During the last twelve years of his life he fought indefatigably for his faith, whose sincerity is proved by his works. He wrote: “L’Oblat” (1903); “De Tout” (1901); “Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam” (1899); “La Bièvre et Saint Séverin” (1898); “La Cathédrale” (1898); “Les Foules de Lourdes” (1905), a reply to Zola’s famous novel; “Trois Eglises et Trois Primitifs” (1904). He was deeply interested in the religious art of the Middle Ages and displayed a great fondness for mysticism. Both before and after his conversion he was a realist. All his art consisted in rendering clearly details that he had seen and noted down. His pictures of poor people, his sketches of old Paris and particularly of Bièvre, as well as his descriptions of big crowds and scenes at Lourdes, are most vivid and picturesque. Of Dutch origin, he shows in his works the temperament of a great colourist and suggests the paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens. Never did a man have clearer power of vision and never did one take more pleasure in looking and in seeing. One may therefore understand the torture that he felt when during the last days of his life he was afflicted with an affection of the eyes and it became necessary to sew his eyelids shut. In his piety he believed that these eyes, with which he had seen so many beautiful things and through which he had received so much pleasure, were taken from him by way of enforcing penitence.

PELLISSIER, Mouvement litteraire contemporain (Paris, 1901); A. BRISSON, Portraits intimes, III, IV (Paris, 1901); Revue hebdomadaire (April and May, Paris, 1908); DU BOURG, Huysmans intime (1908); The Messenger (New York).

LOUIS N. DELAMARRE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Charles O’Conor

Charles O’Conor was born in the city of New York, 22 January, 1804; died at Nantucket, Mass., 12 May, 1884. His father, Thomas O’Conor, who came to New York from Ireland in 1801, was “one of the active rebels of 1798”, a devoted Catholic and patriot, less proud of the kingly rule of his family than of the adherence of the O’Conors to their ancient faith and patriotic principles. He married (1803) a daughter of Hugh O’Connor, a fellow countryman, but not a kinsman, who had come to the United States with his family in or about 1790. Of this marriage Charles O’Conor was born.

In 1824, in his native city, he was admitted to the practice of the law. In 1827 he was successful as counsel in the case of a contested election for trustees of St. Peter’s Church in New York. From the year 1828 his rise in his profession was continuous. As early as 1840 an interested observer of men and events Philip Hone, refers in his diary to “an able speech” by this “distinguished member of the New York bar” (Tuckerman, “The Diary of Philip Hone”, New York, 1889, II, 37). In 1843 by the case of Stewart against Lispenard, his professional standing became most securely established. At the June term in this year of the highest court of the State twenty cases were argued. Of these he argued four. In 1846 he had reached “the front ranks of the profession, not only in the City and State of New York, but in the United States” (Clinton, “Extraordinary Cases”, New York, I, 1). Doubtless, to his repute as a jurist should be attributed his nomination by all political parties for the New York State Constitutional Convention of that year. Subsequent to his very early manhood, office-holding could not have attracted him. He once wrote that if elected to office he would accept only, if impelled by “a sense of duty such as might impel the conscripted militia-man” (see “U. S. Catholic Historical Magazine”, New York, 1891-92, IV, 402, and his response to tender in 1872 of the presidential nomination, ibidem, 399). Concerning voting for public officers he expressed himself in a similar manner, such voting being, he contended, “the performance of a duty” and no more a personal right than payment of taxes or submitting to military service, although termed “somewhat inaptly” a franchise (see “Address before the New York Historical Society”, New York, 1877). During the convention “it was the wonder of his colleagues, how in addition to the faithful work performed in committee he could get time for the research that was needed to equip him for the great speeches with which he adorned the debates” (Alexander, “A Political History of the State of New York”, New York, 1906, II, 112). His views, however, were not those of the majority. First of a minority of only six members he voted against approving a new State Constitution of which after it had been in force many years, he stated that it “gave life, vigor and permanency to the trade of politics, with all its attendant malpractice” (see Address, supra).

Notable among cases previous to 1843 in which he was counsel was Jack v. Martin, 12 Wendell 311, and 14 Wendell 507; and during the twenty years following 1843 the Mason will case as well as the Pariah will ease (see Delafield v. Parish, 25 New York Court of Appeals Reports, 9). Probably, the most sensational of his cases during the latter period was the action for divorce brought against the celebrated actor, Edwin Forrest, O’Conor’s vindication of the character of his client Mrs. Forrest, eliciting great professional and popular applause (see Clinton, op. cit., 71, 73, U. S. Catholic Historical Magazine, supra, 428). When in 1865 after the overthrow of the Southern Confederacy, Jefferson Davis was indicted for treason, O’Conor became his counsel. Among O’Conor’s later cases, the trials concerning property formerly of Stephen Jumel (see, for narrative of one of these, Clinton, op. cit., c. XXIX) displayed, as had the Forrest divorce case, his ability in the capacity of trial lawyer and cross-examiner, while one of the cases in which his learning concerning the law of trusts appeared was the case of Manice against Manice, 43 New York Court of Appeals Reports, 303. In 1871, he commenced with enthusiasm as counsel for the State of New York proceedings against William M. Tweed and others, accused of frauds upon the City of New York, declaring that for his professional services he would accept no compensation. In the autumn of 1875 and while these proceedings were uncompleted, he was prostrated by an illness which seemed mortal, an the cardinal archbishop administered the sacraments. Slowly, however, he regained some measure of strength, and, on 7 Feb, 1876, roused by a newspaper report, he left his bedroom to appear in court, unexpected and ghost-like” (according to an eyewitness), that he might save from disaster the prosecution of the cause of the State against Tweed (see Breen, “Thirty Years of New York Politics”, New York, 1899, 545-52). In 1877 he appeared as counsel before the Electoral Commission at the City of Washington. His last years were passed on the Island of Nantucket, where, in 1880, he took up his abode, seeking “quiet and a more genial climate”. But even here he was occasionally induced to participate in the labours of his beloved profession.

When he passed away, many seemed to concur in opinion with Tilden that O’Conor “was the greatest jurist among all the English-speaking race” (Bigelow, “Letters and literary memorials of Samuel J. Tilden”, II, 643).

United States Catholic Historical Magazine, IV (New York, 1891-2). 225, 396; FINOTTI, Bibliographia Catholica Americana (New York, 1872) 209, 216; LEWIS, Great American Lawyers, V (Philadelphia, 1908), 83; COUDERT, Addresses, etc. (New York and London, 1905), 198; VEEDER, Legal Masterpieces (St. Paul, 1903). 11, 820; HILL, Decisive Battles of the Law (New York and London), 212, 221, 226-7; JOHNSON, Reports of cases decided by Chief Justice Chase (New York, 1876), 1, 106.

CHARLES W. SLOANE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

On July 28, 1480, an Ottoman fleet arrived at Otranto. The garrison and citizens of Otranto retreated to the Castle of Otranto. On August 11, after a 15-day siege, Gedik Ahmed ordered the final assault. When the walls were breached the Ottomans began fighting their way through the town to the cathedral and citadel. Upon reaching the cathedral, "they found Archbishop Stefano Agricolo, fully vested and crucifix in hand" awaiting them with Count Francesco Largo, the garrison commander and Bishop Stefano Pendinelli. The Archbishop was beheaded before the altar, Count Largo was sawed in half, Bishop Pendinelli was skewered and hacked to pieces by scimitars and their accompanying priests were all murdered." After desecrating the Cathedral, they gathered the women and older children to be sold into Albanian slavery. Boys over fifteen year’s old, small children, and infants, were slain. A total of 12,000 were killed and 5,000 enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine peninsula around the city. Following the city's capture, the Ottomans rounded up all the remaining male citizens. Up to 800 men were told to convert to Islam or be slain. A tailor named Antonio Primaldi is said to have proclaimed "Now it is time for us to fight to save our souls for the Lord. And since he died on the cross for us, it is fitting that we should die for him." To which the captives with him gave a loud cheer. After refusing to convert, they all were led to the Hill of Minerva on August 14 (later renamed the Hill of Martyrs) were they were executed one-by-one. Primaldi was said to have been the first to be beheaded. The Martyrs of Otranto were collectively canonized as Saints on May 12, 2013. Their remains are displayed in the three glass reliquaries in the Otranto Cathedral and in the church of Santa Caterina a Formiello in Naples.

On July 28, 1480, an Ottoman fleet arrived at Otranto and after a 15-day siege, fell to the Muslims. A total of 12,000 were killed and 5,000 enslaved. 800 men were told to convert to Islam or be slain. After refusing to convert, they all were led to the Hill of Minerva to be beheaded one-by-one. The Martyrs of Otranto remains are displayed in the three glass reliquaries in the Otranto Cathedral and in the church of Santa Caterina a Formiello in Naples.

What is unconditionality when it comes to a Crusade?

It consists in having clearly in mind that the Crusade had a supreme end because it aimed at the liberation of all those [Catholics] languishing under the domination of Mohammedan infidels, disturbed in their practice of the true Faith, marrying Muslims and being perverted to a false faith, forbidden to have a Catholic formation and the Catholic spirit. Catholic worship was reduced to such shameful conditions that one does not even know what to say. Above all, the Crusade was aimed at liberating the Holy Sepulcher of Our Lord Jesus Christ occupied by Mohammedans.

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So, putting an end to the infidel’s domination, breaking it apart and crushing it to bits was a supreme goal of kings and peoples of that time.  If this is so, and it is a supreme goal, then one needs to take this to its last consequences, sacrificing everything to fulfill this design. This is unconditionality.

Photo of a dungeon at Seringapatam in India by Kiran Jonnalagadda. Those Catholics who refused to embrace Islam were imprisoned in such dungeons. The imprisonment, torture and murders of 60,000 Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam began on February 24, 1784 and ended on May 4, 1799, with their liberation by the British. Tippu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, had 21 priests arrested with orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 200,000, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned. All of the Churches were raised to the ground.

Photo of a dungeon at Seringapatam in India by Kiran Jonnalagadda. Those Catholics who refused to embrace Islam were imprisoned in such dungeons. The imprisonment, torture and murders of 60,000 Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam began on February 24, 1784 and ended on May 4, 1799, with their liberation by the British. Tippu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, had 21 priests arrested with orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 200,000, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned. All of the Churches were raised to the ground.

One must overcome whatever difficulty, by any means, and make the Crusade triumph. Therefore, sacrificing advantages and privileges inherent to self-love is absolutely fundamental for the Crusade to win.

Ground Zero Mosque Protest on August 22, 2010. Photo by David Shankbone.

Ground Zero Mosque Protest on August 22, 2010. Photo by David Shankbone.

This applies point by point to the struggle of the Counter-Revolution to crush the Revolution. It is a Crusade! A Crusade that has not been waged at the tip of a spear but is just as well-deserving as the Crusades of old, and even more so….

On October 2010 Muslim terrorists murdered 58 Iraqi Catholics while they were attending evening Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baghdad. “Enough! Enough!” shouted this three-year old toddler as he chased one of the Islamic terrorists gunning down the faithful and in response, the Mujahidin turned his gun on the valiant boy and riddled him with bullets.

On October 2010 Muslim terrorists murdered 58 Iraqi Catholics while they were attending evening Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baghdad. “Enough! Enough!” shouted this three-year old toddler as he chased one of the Islamic terrorists gunning down the faithful and in response, the Mujahidin turned his gun on the valiant boy and riddled him with bullets.

This is my law, my sword, and my cross! I will obey. I will obey in such a way that not only our Crusade will never lose ground but it will not lose even a minute on my account. I will go to the very end. And if I die before it reaches the end, I will die thinking of its victory.

Asia Bibi's daughter, Eisham Asiq, with Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.org at the Vatican. Aasiya Noreen, also known as Asia Bibi, is a Catholic would has been imprisoned on false charges. Photo by Olivier LPB.

Asia Bibi’s daughter, Eisham Asiq, with Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.org at the Vatican. Aasiya Noreen, also known as Asia Bibi, is a Catholic would has been falsely imprisoned and charged with death by hanging. Photo by Olivier LPB.

Therefore, this unconditionality presupposes a very well established hierarchy of values and a great firmness to maintain it. That which is supreme deserves everything; and because of it we will sacrifice everything!
(Excerpt from an Almoço, Wednesday, Mar. 7, 1990 – Nobility.org translation)

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St. Peter de Regalado

(REGALATUS)

Saint Peter de RegaladoA 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 begged to be admitted into the Seraphic Order, which favour was granted him three years afterwards in the convent of his native town. In 1404 he became one of the first disciples of Peter de Villacreces, who in 1397 had introduced into Spain the reform of the Observance of which he became one of the most zealous propagators. In the newly-founded convent at Aguilera Peter found the life of solitude, prayer, and eminent poverty, which had always been the greatest object of his desire. In 1415 he became superior of the convent at Aguilera and, on the death of Peter de Villacreces (1422), also of that at Tribulos or del Abroyo. He observed nine Lents, fasting on bread and water, and was endowed with the gift of miracles and prophecy and of every virtue. When his body was exhumed thirty-six years after his death, at the instance of Isabella the Catholic, it was found incorrupt and placed in a more precious tomb. He was beatified by Innocent XI, 11 March, 1684, and canonized by Benedict XIV, 29 June, 1746. His feast is celebrated 13 May, the day of the translation of his body. In art he is represented with flames bursting from his heart.

CLARY, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis, II (Taunton, 1886), 150-9; DAZA, Excelencias de lao ciudad de Valladolid, con la vida y milagros de s. fray Pedro Regalado etc. (Valladolid, 1627), Lat. tr. in Act. SS., III, March, 850-64; Relatio pro canonizatione, ibid., 864-70; WADDING, Ann. Min., XII, 2-9, 445-74; BERGUIN, St. Pierre Régalat, prêtre de l’ordre des Frères Mineurs de l’Observance, restaurateur de la discipline régulière en Espagne (Périgueux, 1898).

Ferdinand Heckmann (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants.

Bl. ImeldaImelda 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, Imelda had a burning desire to receive Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. On her fifth birthday, she requested this privilege.

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However, Church custom at the time was that a person did not receive his or her First Holy Communion until age 12. Imelda was sorely disappointed but knew the time would come soon enough. She would sometimes exclaim: “Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

Bl. Imelda

As time went by, her desire for the Blessed Sacrament grew, and she loved Christ more than ever. To show this love, she joined a cloistered Dominican community at age nine in Valdipietra, near Bologna . (It was unusual at the time for a girl her age to enter the convent). There it would be easier to wait for her First Communion, in deep prayer and conversation with God.

The Incorrupt body of Bl. Imelda in the Church of San Sigismondo in Bologna, Italy.

The Incorrupt body of Bl. Imelda in the Church of San Sigismondo in Bologna, Italy.

On May 13, the day of the vigil of the Ascension, in 1333, she finally got her wish. As she knelt in prayer the “Light of the Host” was witnessed above her head by the Sacristan, who then fetched the Priest so he could see. After seeing this miracle, the Priest felt he had to give Blessed Imelda her Holy Communion. Immediately after receiving the Holy Eucharist, Imelda fell to the floor and died in complete ecstasy. Her remains are in Bologna, Italy, at the Church of San Sigismondo, beneath the wax effigy of her likeness. There still remains some controversy as to whether Blessed Imelda can be classified as incorrupt. Many argue that contrary to popular belief, she is not truly incorrupt. Many other sources, including the Church of San Sigismondo, steadfastly claim that she is incorrupt.

She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1826.

Bl. Imelda body

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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 Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the “uncrowned King of England”.

Statue of King Henry III on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK.

Statue of King Henry III on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK.

The battle occurred because of the vacillation of King Henry III, who was refusing to honour the terms of the Provisions of Oxford, an agreement he had signed with his barons, led by Montfort, in 1258. The King was encamped at St. Pancras Priory with a force of infantry, but his son, Prince Edward (later King Edward I) commanded the cavalry, at Lewes Castle 500 yards to the north. A night march enabled Montfort’s forces to surprise Prince Edward and take the high ground of the Sussex Downs, overlooking the town of Lewes, in preparation for battle. They wore white crosses as their distinguishing emblem.

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The royalist army, perhaps as much as twice the size of Montfort’s, was led by Edward on the right and the King’s brother Richard of Cornwall on the left, while the King himself commanded the central battalion. The royalist army of the battle lines were five main commanders. The right line was Edward with William de Valance, earl of Pembroke, John de Warenne, earl of Surrey and Sussex. The left line was Richard of Cornwall with his son Henry, being the fourth main commander. The central battalion was king Henry III himself as the fifth main commander.

A statue of Simon de Montfort on the Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower in Leicester, England.

A statue of Simon de Montfort on the Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower in Leicester, England.

Edward gained early success by having led his men out from the castle to meet the enemy, running them down for some 4 miles and killing them without mercy. He had unwisely pursued the enemy’s retreating force to the north, thus sacrificing the chance of overall victory. Meanwhile, Montfort defeated the remainder of the royal army led by the King and Cornwall. On being defeated, Cornwall decided to take refuge in the Priory. He was unable to reach the Priory so he hid in a windmill, where, upon his discovery, he was taunted with cries of “Come down, come down, thou wicked miller!” All three royals were eventually captured, and by imprisoning the King, Montfort became the de facto ruler of England.

The King was forced to sign the so-called Mise of Lewes. Though the document has not survived, it is clear that Henry was forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, while Prince Edward remained hostage to the barons. This put Montfort in a position of ultimate power, which would last until Prince Edward’s escape, and Montfort’s subsequent defeat at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265.

Plan of the Battle of Lewes from The Art of War in the Middle Ages by Sir Charles Oman, 1898.

Plan of the Battle of Lewes from The Art of War in the Middle Ages by Sir Charles Oman, 1898. Click on picture for higher resolution.

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