Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

Challenging American Myths about Equality

November 2, 2026

Mr. Michael Whitcraft

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click to order your copy today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thomas Paine Painting by Laurent Dabos

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

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

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

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

He wrote:

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

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thus, Pierre van den Berge wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The American TFP Headquarters built by Philip Henry Glatfelter.

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

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

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

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

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

To Be Continued….

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Purgatory in Painting

November 2, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Institution Of All Souls’ Day

November 2, 2026

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

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

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

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

St Odilio, Painting by Francesco Andreani

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

The Monastery of Cluny, France – Entrance to the Abbey

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

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

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

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

November 2, 2026

Blessed John Bodey

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

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

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

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

Bede Camm (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 3 – Patron of Buckingham

November 2, 2026

St. Rumwold of Buckingham

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

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

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

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November 3 – The patron of the hunt

November 2, 2026

St. Hubert

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

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

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

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

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

St. Lambertus

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

St Hubert of Liège is consecrated bishop by Pope Sergius

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

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

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

C.F. WEMYSS BROWN (1913 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 2, 2026

Bl. Frances d’Amboise

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

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

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

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

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

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

Benedict Zimmerman (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 2, 2026

St. Charles Borromeo

Painting of young Saint Charles Borromeo by Wolfgang Sauber

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

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

October 29, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

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

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

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

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

1936 children’s Communist Army.

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

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

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

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

Ambience Customs & Civilization, No. 60 ― December 1955

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

October 29, 2026

Saint Sigebert

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

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

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

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

St. Felix of Burgundy

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

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

G. Roger Hudleston (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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October 29 – One of the Martyrs of Douai

October 29, 2026

Blessed Edward Waterson

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

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

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

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

Edwin Burton (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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

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October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 29, 2026

St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity.

Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain of the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself with taking part in those impious abominations, cast away his military belt at the head of his company, declaring aloud that he was a soldier of Jesus Christ, the eternal King. He also threw down his arms and the vine-branch, which was the mark of his post of centurion; for the Roman officers were forbid to strike a soldier with any instrument except a vine-branch, which the centurions usually carried in their hands. The soldiers informed Anastasius Fortunatus, prefect of the legion, by whose order Marcellus was committed to prison. When the festival was over, this judge ordered Marcellus to be brought before him, and asked him what he meant by his late proceedings. Marcellus said, “When you celebrated the emperor’s festival on the 12th before the calends of August, (the day on which Maximian had been declared Cæsar,) I said aloud that I was a Christian, and could serve no other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Fortunatus told him that it was not in his power to connive at his rashness, and that he was obliged to lay his case before the emperor Maximian and Constantius Cæsar. Spain was immediately subject to Constantius, who was at that time Cæsar, and most favourable to the Christians. But Marcellus was sent under a strong guard to Aurelian Agricolaus, vicar to the prefect of the prætorium, who was then at Tangier, in Africa. Agricolaus asked him whether he had really done as the judge’s letter set forth: and upon his confessing the fact, the vicar passed sentence of death upon him for desertion and impiety, as he called his action. St. Marcellus was forthwith led to execution and beheaded, on the 30th of October. His relics were afterwards translated from Tangier to Leon in Spain, and are kept in a rich shrine in the chief parish church in that city, of which he is the titular saint.

Altar with statue and reliquary of Marcellus in the church of San Marcelo in León.

Cassian, the secretary or notary of the court, refused to write the sentence which the vicar pronounced against the martyr, and threw his pencil and table-book on the ground. Agricolaus, rising in a rage from his seat, asked him why he behaved in that manner? “Because,” said Cassian, “the sentence which you have dictated is unjust.” He was immediately hurried to prison, and examined again about a month after. The firmness with which he defended his former answer procured him the crown of martyrdom. He was beheaded on the 3rd of December. These two martyrs are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on their respective days.

(From the authentic acts of his martyrdom in Baronius and Surius, and most correctly in Ruinart, who has published with them the short acts of St. Cassian, p. 312, Tillem. t. 4, p. 575.)

The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler, 1866. Volume X: October.

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October 30 – Patroness of the Teutonic Knights

October 29, 2026

St. Dorothea of Montau, recluse, born at Montau, 6 February, 1347, died at Marienwerder, 25 June, 1394.

Cell of St. Dorothea of Montau in Kwidzyn. Photo by Marcin N

At the age of seventeen she married the sword-cutler Albrecht of Danzig, a hot-tempered man, whose nature underwent a change through her humility and gentleness. Both made frequent pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln, and they intended (1390) to visit Rome also; but Albrecht was prevented by illness and remained at home where he died, while Dorothea journeyed to Rome alone. Of their nine children all died, except one daughter who joined the Benedictines. In the summer of 1391 Dorothea moved to Marienwerder, and on 2 May, 1393, with the permission of the chapter and of the Teutonic Order, established a hermitage near the cathedral.

She led a very austere life. Numerous visitors sought her advice and consolation, and she had wonderful visions and revelations. Her confessor, the deacon John of Marienwerder, a learned theologian, wrote down her communications and composed a Latin biography in seven books, “Septililium”, besides a German life in four books. She was never canonized, but the people honoured her as the guardian of the country of the Teutonic Knights and Patroness of Prussia.” Her feast is celebrated on 25 June, in some places on 30 October. The church at Marienwerder is now in the hands of the Lutherans; her relics cannot be found.

Gabriel Meier. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

The Baptismal font of St. Doroethea. Photo by Polimerek

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October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 29, 2026

St. Wolfgang

Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period of Germany with the undying splendour of their acts and services. St. Wolfgang sprang from a family of Swabian counts of Pfullingen (Mon. Germ. His.: Script., X, 53). When seven years old he had an ecclesiastic as tutor at home; later he attended the celebrated monastic school on the Reichenau. Here he formed a strong friendship with Henry, brother of Bishop Poppo of Würzburg, whom he followed to Würzburg in order to attend at the cathedral school there the lectures of the noted Italian grammarian, Stephen of Novara. After Henry was made Archbishop of Trier in 956, he called his friend to Trier, where Wolfgang became a teacher in the cathedral school, and also laboured for the reform of the archdiocese, notwithstanding the enmity with which his efforts were met. Wolfgang’s residence at Trier greatly influenced his monastic and ascetic tendencies, as here he came into connection with the great reformatory monastery of the tenth century, St. Maximin of Trier, where he made the acquaintance of Ramwold, the teacher of St. Adalbert of Prague. After the death (964) of Archbishop Henry of Trier, Wolfgang entered the Order of St. Benedict in the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln, Switzerland, and was ordained priest by St. Ulrich in 968.

Statue of St. Wolfgang in the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht.

After their defeat in the battle of the Lechfeld (955), a victory gained with the aid of St. Ulrich, the heathen Magyars settled in ancient Pannonia. As long as they were not converted to Christianity they remained a constant menace to the empire. At the request of St. Ulrich, who clearly saw the danger, and at the desire of the Emperor Otto the Great, St. Wolfgang, according to the abbey annals, was “sent to Magyars” as the most suitable man to evangelize them. He was followed by other missionaries sent by Bishop Piligrim of Nassau, under whose jurisdiction the new missionary region came. After the death of Bishop Michael of Ratisbon (23 September, 972) Bishop Piligrim obtained from the emperor the appointment of Wolfgang as Bishop of Ratisbon (Christmas, 972). Wolfgang’s services in this new position were of the highest importance, not only for the diocese, but also for the cause of civilization. As Bishop of Ratisbon, Wolfgang became the tutor of Emperor St. Henry II, who learned from him the principles which governed his saintly and energetic life. Poppe, son of Margrave Luitpold, Archbishop of Trier (1016), and Tagino, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1004-1012), also had him as their teacher.

St. Wolfgang deserves credit for his disciplinary labours in his diocese. His main work in this respect was connected with the ancient and celebrated Abbey of St. Emmeram which he reformed by granting it once more abbots of its own, thus withdrawing it from the control of the bishops of Ratisbon, who for many years had been abbots in commendam, a condition of affairs that had been far from beneficial to the abbey and monastic life. In the Benedictine monk Ramwold, whom St. Wolfgang called from St. Maximin at Trier, St. Emmeram received a capable abbot (975). The saint also reformed the convents of Obermunster and Niedermunster at Ratisbon, chiefly by giving them as an example the convent of St. Paul, Mittelmunster, at Ratisbon, which he had founded in 983. He also co-operated in the reform of the ancient and celebrated Benedictine Abbey of Altach (Nieder-altach), which had been founded by the Agilolf dynasty, and which from that time took on new life. He showed genuine episcopal generosity in the liberal manner with which he met the views of the Emperor Otto II regarding the intended reduction in size of his diocese for the benefit of the new Diocese of Prague (975), to which St. Adalbert was appointed first bishop. As prince of the empire he performed his duties towards the emperor and the empire with the utmost scrupulousness and, like St. Ulrich, was one of the mainstays of the Ottonian policies. He took part in the various imperial Diets, and, in the autumn of 978, accompanied the Emperor Otto II on his campaign to Paris, and took part in the great Diet of Verona in June, 983.

Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut parish church ( Upper Austria ). Saint Wolfgang´s chapel: Fresco at the ceiling – Saint Wolfgang making the devil build a church.

St. Wolfgang withdrew as a hermit to a solitary spot, now the Lake of St. Wolfgang, apparently on account of a political dispute, but probably in the course of a journey of inspection to the monastery of Mendsee which was under the direction of the bishops of Ratisbon. He was discovered by a hunter and brought back to Ratisbon. While travelling on the Danube to Pöchlarn in Lower Austria, he fell ill at the village of Pupping, which is between Efferding and the market town of Aschach near Linz, and at his request was carried into the chapel of St. Othmar at Pupping, where he died.

His body was taken up the Danube by his friends Count Aribo of Andechs and Archbishop Hartwich of Salzburg to Ratisbon, and was solemnly buried in the crypt of St. Emmeram. Many miracles were performed at his grave; in 1052 he was canonized. Soon after his death many churches chose him as their patron saint, and various towns were named after him. In Christian art he has been especially honoured by the great medieval Tyrolese painter, Michael Pacher (1430-1498), who created an imperishable memorial of him, the high altar of St. Wolfgang. In the panel pictures which are now exhibited in the Old Pinakothek at Munich are depicted in an artistic manner the chief events in the saint’s life. The oldest portrait of St. Wolfgang is a miniature, painted about the year 1100 in the celebrated Evangeliary of St. Emmeram, now in the library of the castle cathedral at Cracow. A fine modern picture by Schwind is in the Schak Gallery at Munich. This painting represents the legend of Wolfgang forcing the devil to help him to build a church. In other paintings he is generally depicted in episcopal dress, an axe in the right hand and the crozier in the left, or as a hermit in the wilderness being discovered by a hunter. The axe refers to an event in the life of the saint. After having selected a solitary spot in the wilderness, he prayed and then threw his axe into the thicket; the spot on which the axe fell he regarded as the place where God intended he should build his cell. This axe is still shown in the little market town of St. Wolfgang which sprang up on the spot of the old cell.

Inside the Baroque house contains the cell of St. Wolfgang, inshrined in Sankt Wolfgang Church in Salzkammergut.

At the request of the Abbey of St. Emmeram, the life of St. Wolfgang was written by Othlo, a Benedictine monk of St. Emmeram about 1050. This life is especially important for the early medieval history both of the Church and of civilization in Bavaria and Austria, and it forms the basis of all later accounts of the saint. The oldest and best manuscript of this “Life” is in the library of the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln in Switzerland (MS. No. 322), and has been printed with critical notes in “Mon. Germ. His.: Script.”, IV, 524-542. It has also been printed in, “Acta SS.”:, II November, (Brussels, 1894), 529-537; “Acta SS. O. S. Ben.”, V, 812-833; and in P.L., CXLVI, 395-422.

Der hl. Wolfgang, Bischof von Regensburg, hist. Festschrift z. jahr. Gedachtnisse seines Todes, ed., in connection with numerous historical scholars, by MEHLER (Ratisbon, 1894), among the chief collaborators on this work being BRAUNMULLER, RINGHOLZ (of Einsiedeln), and DANNERBAUER; KOLBE, Die Verdienste des Bischofs Wolfgang v. R. um das Bildungswesen Suddeutschlands. Beitrag z. Gesch. der Padogogik des X und XI Jahrhunderis (Breslau, 1894); WATTENBACH, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, I (Berlin, 1904), 449-452; DETZEL, Christl. Iknographie, II (Freiburg, 1896), 683; POTTHAST, Bibl. medii aevi, II (Berlin, 1896), 1641.

ULRICH SCHMID

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Luther Thought He Was Divine!

October 29, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

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

Martin Luther burns Pope Leo X’s Papal Bull, Exsurge Domine, which threatened him with excommunication unless he recanted within a sixty day period. Luther refused to recant and responded instead by composing polemical tracts lashing out at the papacy and by publicly burning a copy of the bull on December 10, 1520.

Do they not perceive the danger that is lying in wait for all of us at the end of this road, that is, the formation on a world-wide scale of a sinister supermarket of religions, philosophies, and systems of all sorts, in which truth and error will be broken up in pieces, mixed together in a cacophonous confusion? The only thing missing from the world would be – if we could reach such a point – the whole truth, that is, the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Faith, with neither spot nor wrinkle.

Today I present some facts about Luther that clearly point up the odor that his revolted figure would spread in that supermarket, or rather, that morgue of religions, of philosophies, and of human thought itself. To him belongs, from a certain point of view, the role of being the point of departure in this march toward total confusion.

Portrait of Martin Luther when he was an Augustinian monk.

I have drawn these passages from the magnificent work of Fr. Leonel Franca, S.J., A Igreja, a Reforma, e a Civilização [The Church, the Reformation, and Civilization] (Rio de Janeiro, 1934).

A uniquely characteristic element of Luther’s teaching is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Put more simply, this means that the superabundant merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ, alone and by themselves, without our cooperation, assure the eternal salvation of man, so that one may lead a life of sin in this world with neither remorse of conscience nor fear of God’s justice.

Pope Leo X, "Bulla contra errores Martini et Lutheri sequacium"

Title cover of Pope Leo X’s “Bull against the errors of Luther and his followers.” Excommunication bull of Martin Luther by Pope Leo X.

For Luther, the voice of conscience was not that of grace, but rather that of the Devil!

For this reason, he wrote to a friend that a man vexed by the Devil should occasionally “drink more abundantly, gamble, entertain himself, and even commit some sin out of hatred and spite for the Devil so that we may not give him an opportunity to disturb our consciences with trifles. The whole Decalogue should be erased from our eyes and our souls, from us who are so persecuted and molested by the Devil” (M. Luther, Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, Ed. De Wette [Berlin, 1825-1828]; Franca, pp. 199-200).

Along the same line he also wrote: “God only obliges you to believe and to confess (the faith). In all other things He leaves you free, lord and master to do whatever you will without any danger to your conscience; on the contrary, it is certain that, as far as He is concerned, it makes no difference whether you leave your wife, flee from your lord, or are unfaithful to every obligation. What is it to Him if you do or do not do such things?” (Werke, Weimar ed., XII, pp. 131 ff.; Franca, p. 446).

Luther at the Diet of Worms, by Anton von Werner.

The incitement to sin given in a letter to Melanchton on August 1, 1521, is perhaps even more categorical: “Be a sinner, and sin strongly (esto peccator et pecca fortiter), but believe and rejoice even more firmly in Christ, the conqueror of sin, of death, and of the world. During this life, we have to sin. It is sufficient that, by the mercy of God, we know the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Sin will not separate us from Him, even though we were to commit a thousand murders and a thousand adulteries per day” (Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, II, p. 37; Franca, p. 439).

This doctrine is so bizarre that even Luther himself could scarcely manage to believe in it: “There is no religion in the whole world that teaches this doctrine of justification; I myself, even though I teach it publicly, have a great difficulty in believing it privately” (Werke, XXV, p. 330; Franca, p. 158).

Luther himself recognized the devastating effects of his admittedly insincere preaching: “The Gospel today finds adherents who are convinced that it is nothing but a doctrine that serves to fill their bellies and give free reign to all their impulses” (Werke, XXXIII, p. 2; Franca, p. 440).

And Luther added, regarding his evangelical henchmen, that “they are seven times worse than they were before. After the preaching of our doctrine men have given themselves up to robbery, lying, imposture, debauchery, drunkenness, and every kind of vice. We have expelled one devil (the papacy), and seven worse ones have come in” (Werke, XXVIII, p. 763; Franca, p. 441).

“After we understood that good works are not necessary for justification, I became much more remiss and cold in doing good…and if we could return now to the old state of things and if the doctrine of the necessity of good works to be holy could be revived, our alacrity and promptness in doing good would be different” (Werke, XXVII, p. 443; Franca, p. 443).

All these insanities make it understandable how Luther reached a frenzy of satanic pride, saying of himself: “Does this Luther not appear to you to be eccentric? As far as I am concerned, I think he is God. Otherwise, how could his writings or his name have the power to transform beggars into lords, asses into doctors (of learning), falsifiers into saints, slime into pearls!” (Werke, Ed. Wittenberg, 1551, IV, pp. 378; Franca, p. 190).

October 1517, Luther posted the ninety-five theses, which he had composed in Latin, on the door of the church in Wittenberg.

October 1517, Luther nailed his ninety-five theses, to the door of the Church in Wittenberg.

At other times, Luther’s opinion of himself was much more objective: “I am a man exposed to and involved in society, debauchery, carnal movements, in negligence and other disturbances, to which are added those of my own office” (Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, I, p. 232; Franca, p. 232).

Excommunicated in Worms in 1521, Luther gave himself up to idleness and sloth. On July 13 of that year he wrote to Melanchton: “I find myself here insensate and hardened, established in idleness. Oh, woe! Praying little, and ceasing to moan for the Church of God, because my untamed flesh burns in great flames. In short, I, who ought to have the fervor of the spirit, have the fervor of the flesh, of licentiousness, sloth, idleness, and somnolence” (Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, II, p. 22; Franca, p. 198).

Portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the Younger.

In a sermon preached in 1532: “As for me I confess, and many others could undoubtedly make an equal confession, that I am careless of discipline and zeal. I am much more negligent now than under the papacy; no one has ardor for the Gospel now like that you used to see” (Saemtiliche Werke, XVII , p. 353; Franca, p. 441).

What, then, can be found in common between this morality and that of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church?

__________

This article originally appeared in Folha de São Paulo on January 10, 1984.

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November 1 – Warrior bishop

October 29, 2026

St. Genesius (of Lyons)

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

Chelles Abbey

He succeeded St. Chamond (Annemundus) in the See of Lyons, and was consecrated in 657 or 658. His name is found for the first time as bishop in a signature of 6 Sept., 664, attached to a charter drawn up by Bertefred, bishop of Amiens, for the Abbey of Corbie. On 26 June, 667, he subscribed another charter framed by Drauscius, Bishop of Soissons, for a convent of the Blessed Virgin founded by Ebroin, mayor of the palace, and his wife Leutrude. In the conflict between Ebroin and St.Leger (Leodegarius), Bishop of Autun, Genesius (675-76) took the part of the bishop and was in consequence attacked by an armed band sent by Ebroin to expel him from Lyons; but Genesius collected a force and successfully defended his city. In September, 677, he assisted at an assembly held at Maslay. He was succeeded at Lyons by Landebertus. His body remained in the church of St. Nicetius till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when it was transferred to Chelles Abbey.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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All Saints Day: How many saints were noble?

October 29, 2026

All Saint’s Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity?

by Plinio Correa de Oliveira

The current misunderstanding of nobility and the analogous traditional elites results largely from the adroit but biased propaganda spread against them by the French Revolution. Such propaganda, continuously disseminated throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by ideological and political currents spawned by the French Revolution, has been challenged by serious historiography with growing efficacy. This propaganda, however, still clings to life in certain sectors of opinion. It is relevant, therefore, to say something about this…

The Knight Rejoices in the Fight

October 26, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

You can imagine: in the deserts of the ancient times, the deserts of Arabia, Egypt, etc., before the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, two or three hundred years after Jesus Christ, the anchorites would go to the desert to flee the temptations of Roman and Greek cities, which were very corrupt.

The Torment of Saint Anthony by Michelangelo

The anchorite would come to a cave and settle there. And they had horrific temptations. They would fight and defeat them in a brilliant manner, they would maintain their chastity, etc. They are saints, and sometimes great saints.

Now, how is this different from a knight? How is this different from the spirit of chivalry? These great saints of the past would fight for purity, for example, but they could fight for some other good thing, such as for example, a dogma. They would fight thinking how beautiful and noble purity is, how true such and such dogma is, etc. So, out of love for the dogma they would bear the burden of combat. This is very beautiful and very well.

Philippe de Villiers de l’Isle Adam takes possession of the island of Malta, 26 October 1530 by René Théodore Berthon.

The knight has a slightly different thing. He does not “bear” the burden of combat. The knight finds combat beautiful as such! And he rejoices to be fighting because when the fight is for the Church, when the fight is in defense of the good, it is intrinsically holy and good. So one should rejoice in fighting, and have courage.

(Excerpt from a Palavrinha of Monday, September 18, 1989.)

(Nobility.org translation.)

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October 26 – Laid to rest next to St. Peter

October 26, 2026

Pope Saint Evaristus

Date of birth unknown; died about 107. In the Liberian Catalogue his name is given as Aristus. In papal catalogues of the second century used by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, he appears as the fourth successor of St. Peter, immediately after St. Clement. The same lists allow him eight years of reign, covering the end of the first and the beginning of the second century (from about 98 or 99 to about 106 or 107). The earliest historical sources offer no authentic data about him. In his “Ecclesiastical History” Eusebius says merely that he succeeded Clement in the episcopate of the Roman Church, which fact was already known from St. Irenaeus. This order of succession is undoubtedly correct. The “Liber Pontificalis” says that Evaristus came of a Hellenic family, and was the son of a Bethlehem Jew. It also attributes to him the allotment of definite churches as tituli to the Roman presbyters, and the division of the city into seven diaconias or deaconries; in this statement, however, the “Liber Pontificalis” arbitrarily refers to the time of Evaristus a later institution of the Roman Church. More trustworthy is the assertion of the “Liber Pontificalis” that he was laid to rest in Vaticano, near the tomb of St. Peter. The martyrdom of Evaristus, though traditional, is not historically proven. His feast occurs October 26 The two decretals ascribed to him by Pseudo-Isidore are forged.

J. P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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

October 26, 2026

Sts. Lucian and Marcian

Icon of St. Marcian

Lucian and Marcian living in the darkness of idolatry applied themselves to the vain study of the black art; but were converted to the faith by finding their charms lose their power upon a Christian virgin, and the evil spirits defeated by the sign of the cross. Their eyes being thus opened they burned their magical books in the middle of the city of Nicomedia and, when they had effaced their crimes by baptism, they distributed their possessions among the poor, and retired together into a close solitude, that by exercising themselves in mortification and prayer, they might subdue their passions, and strengthen in their souls that grace which they had just received, and which could not safely be exposed to dangers, and occasions of temptations in the world till it was fenced by rooted habits of all virtues, and religious exercises. After a considerable time spent in silence they made frequent excursions abroad to preach Christ to the Gentiles, and gain souls to the kingdom of his love. The edicts of Decius against the Christians being published in Bithynia, in 250, they were apprehended and brought before the proconsul Sabinus, who asked Lucian by what authority he presumed to preach Jesus Christ? “Every man,” said the martyr, “does well to endeavour to draw his brother out of a dangerous error.” Marcian likewise highly extolled the power of Christ. The judge commanded them to be hung on the rack and cruelly tortured. The martyrs reproached him, that whilst they worshipped idols they had committed many crimes, and had made open profession of practising art magic without incurring any chastisement; but, when they were become Christians and good citizens they were barbarously punished. The proconsul threatened them with more grievous torments. “We are ready to suffer,” said Marcian, “but we will never renounce the true God, lest we be cast into a fire which will never be quenched.” At this word Sabinus condemned them to be burned alive. They went joyfully to the place of execution, and, singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God, expired amidst the flames. They suffered at Nicomedia in 250, and are honoured in the Martyrologies on the 26th of October. See their genuine acts in Surius, Ruinart, p. 151; Tillemont, t. 3, p. 383, and in the original Chaldaic, probably of Eusebius, in Stephen Assemani’s Acta Martyrum Occid. t. 2, p. 49.

October 12, 2026

If we gauge the issue to its farthest horizon, it encompasses a way of looking at God, a way of the human spirit looking at itself and the reality around it. In other words, it involves a way of looking at the entire universe in its numerous aspects. For if we consider God as a […]

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October 12 – Difficulties in his youth prepared him for later trials

October 12, 2026

St. Wilfrid Bishop of York, son of a Northumbrian thegn, born in 634; died at Oundle in Northamptonshire, 709. He was unhappy at home, through the unkindness of a stepmother, and in his fourteenth year he was sent away to the Court of King Oswy, King of Northumbria. Here he attracted the attention of Queen […]

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St. Rumwold of Buckingham

St. Hubert

Bl. Frances d’Amboise

St. Charles Borromeo

Saint Sigebert

St. Wolfgang

St. Genesius (of Lyons)

All Saint’s Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity?

Sts. Lucian and Marcian

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