Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

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.

(The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October, p. 292)

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The Hummingbird

October 26, 2026

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Catolicismo, No. 707, November 2009(*)

Photo of a Tufted Coquette Hummingbird by Steve Garvie.

ONCE as I was sitting in the small porch of a farmhouse, a hummingbird suddenly stopped in the air and began sucking nectar from the flowers of climbing ivy. He ‘kissed’ each flower in turn.

The hummingbird’s flight was similar to an arrow’s trajectory — so inflexible and straight — but as it sucked with its small pointed beak it would shake. It would begin with a series of small movements, then flying around the flower suck all its honey.

Photo of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird by ArmadniGeneral.

As it flapped its wings, every vibration seemed to be new. One would say it was like a musical instrument playing different music characteristic of the hummingbird’s style. I pondered that it has rules of its own — unknown to me — and wondered when it would interrupt that movement.

Photo of a Ruby-topaz hummingbird by Ysmad.

Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the hummingbird would leave that flower with such complete abandonment that it would seem as if it had never existed, and without the slightest hesitation move on to another. The hummingbird is the very image of decisiveness: when it is time to choose, it does not hesitate; when it is time for sucking, it does it in earnest; when it is time to leave, it stops and rejects.

A Costa’s hummingbird.

The bird abandons the flower without any nostalgia, but also without bitterness. One has the impression that, having extracted the last drop of nectar, the bird is released and flies somewhere else like a rocket. All this is done with such lightness, delicacy, and distinction that it could be called a dance. In fact it is much more than a dance: it is flight.

Possibly the next time each one sees a hummingbird fly, this description will serve as a sort of slow motion film.

Photo of a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in flight by John Kees.

It is enchanting to observe two very beautiful examples of movement in the animal world: a walking lion and a flying hummingbird. How different they are! How many beings God created to entertain us!

The blue and green hummingbird is a precious jewel that God created for man to look at, though never to hold, and to feel the charm of a fleeting thing that passes quickly by. In this valley of tears, the hummingbird aptly represents our hope and desire for Heaven. Divine Providence created in this land of exile several fleeting beings. They are excellent beings which would cease to be excellent if they were not fleeting; for that is how they show us some beautiful aspects of Heaven.

Photo of a Violet-capped Woodnymph Hummingbird by Dario Sanches.

Being a place of exile, this Earth cannot offer us heavenly impressions in a stable manner. However God had mercy on us and sent some fireflies from celestial paradise who, with their flickering light, give us glimpses of heavenly bliss.

Photo of a Booted Racket-tail hummingbird by Joseph C Boone.

True Repose

Nothing is more difficult for modern-day man than to rest — especially to rest well.

Painting by Friedrich Prölß

Some think films, theater, and other similar entertainments are excellent ways of resting. Nonetheless, repose means, above all, to relax one’s spirit. All modern entertainment tends to constantly stimulate excitement. Modern day man no longer knows how to entertain himself without excitement. Now, it is impossible to reconcile repose with excitement and this is why people become worn out before their time, as they are in constant electrifying contact with our restless civilization.

One cannot consider as repose forms of entertainment that wear us out, instead of restoring our energy; that excite, instead of relaxing; that agitate, instead of calming.

Madame de Lamballe reading to Marie Antoinette and her daughter, Marie Thérèse Charlotte. Painting by Joseph Caraud

In an environment where even homes have been invaded by exhausting and agitated music, the reading of a nice, relaxing book gives us an agreeable sensation like leaving a stuffy room to breathe the fresh country air.

(*) Excerpts from the lecture given on October 26, 1980.

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October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 26, 2026

Sts. Edesius and Frumentius

Icon of St. Frumentius

Tyrian Greeks of the fourth century, probably brothers, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; the latter a saint and first Bishop of Axum, styled the Apostle of Abyssinia, d. about 383. When still mere boys they accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Abyssinia. When their ship stopped at one of the harbors of the Red Sea, people of the neighborhood massacred the whole crew, with the exception of Edesius and Frumentius, who were taken as slaves to the King of Axum. This occurred about 316. The two boys soon gained the favor of the king, who raised them to positions of trust and shortly before his death gave them their liberty. The widowed queen, however, prevailed upon them to remain at the court and assist her in the education of the young prince Erazanes and in the administration of the kingdom during the prince’s minority. They remained and (especially Frumentius) used their influence to spread Christianity. First they encouraged the Christian merchants, who were temporarily in the country, to practice their faith openly by meeting at places of public worship; later they also converted some of the natives. When the prince came of age Edesius returned to his friends and relatives at Tyre and was ordained priest, but did not return to Abyssinia. Frumentius, on the other hand, who was eager for the conversion of Abyssinia, accompanied Edesius as far as Alexandria, where he requested St. Athanasius to send a bishop and some priests to Abyssinia. St. Athanasius considered Frumentius himself the most suitable person for bishop and consecrated him in 328, according to others between 340-46. Frumentius returned to Abyssinia, erected his episcopal see at Axum, baptized King Aeizanas, who had meanwhile succeeded to the throne, built many churches, and spread the Christian Faith throughout Abyssinia. The people called him Abuna (Our Father) or Abba Salama (Father of Peace), titles still given to the head of the Abyssinian Church. In 365 Emperor Constantius addressed a letter to King Aeizanas and his brother Saizanas in which he vainly requested them to substitute the Arian bishop Theophilus for Frumentius (Athanasius, “Apol. ad Constantium” in P.G., XXV, 631). The Latins celebrate the feast of Frumentius on October 27, the Greeks on November 30, and the Copts on December 18. Abyssinian tradition credits him with the first Ethiopian translation of the New Testament.

MICHAEL OTT (Catholic Encylopedia)

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October 27 – This Christian King Invaded Arabia

October 26, 2026

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor

St. Elesbaan, from an Ethiopian Psalter

The Axumite Ethiopians, whose dominions were extended from the western coast of the Red Sea, very far on the continent, were in the sixth century a powerful and flourishing nation. St. Elesbaan their king, during the reign of Justin the Elder, in all his actions and designs had no other desire than to procure in all things the happiness of his people, and the divine glory. The mildness and prudence of his government was a sensible proof how great a blessing a people enjoy in a king who is free from inordinate passions and selfish views, to gratify which princes so often become tyrants. This good king, however, was obliged to engage in a war. But his motives were justice and religion; and the exaltation of both was the fruit of his victory.

The Homerite Arabians dwelt upon the eastern coast at the bottom of the Red Sea, in Arabia Felix, and were either a part of the Sabæans, or their neighbours. This nation was full of Jews; and Dunaan or Danaan, a Jew who had usurped the sovereignty, persecuted the Christians. St. Gregentius, who was an Arabian by birth, and archbishop of Taphar, the metropolis of this country, was banished by him in 520. St. Aretas, the governor of the city Neogran, was beheaded, with four companions, for his constancy in the faith. His wife Duma, and daughters, also suffered death for the same glorious cause, and are honoured as martyrs on the 24th of October, in the Roman, and in other Western, as well as in the Eastern and Muscovite calendars. (1)

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, at the command of the Emperor Justin, lead an army against Dunaan.

The Emperor Justin the Elder, whose protection the persecuted Christians had implored, engaged St. Elesbaan to transport his forces into Arabia, and drive away the usurper. The zealous prince complied with this just desire, and having by the divine blessing defeated the tyrant, made use of his victory with great clemency and moderation, re-established religion, recalled St. Gregentius, and repaired the vineyard, which a furious wild beast had laid waste. He rebuilt the church at Taphar; and, by laying the first stone, would be himself the first architect. He placed on the throne Abraamius, a pious Christian, who governed by the counsels of St. Gregentius. That holy prelate had a famous conference with the Jews,(2) and wrote a book against vices,(3) extant in Greek in the Imperial library at Vienna. St. Gregentius died on the 19th of December, in 552.

Baillet tells us, that St. Elesbaan resigned his crown soon after his return into his own dominions: but Nonnus, in his Legation(4) testifies in 527, several years after this war, that Elesbaan then resided at Axuma, a very great city, capital of Ethiopia.

Map of the empire of St. Elesbaan. Photo by Yom

At length, this good king, leaving his dominions to a son who was heir of his zeal and piety no less than of his kingdom, sent his royal diadem to Jerusalem, put on sackcloth, and retired secretly in the night out of the palace and city to a holy monastery situated on a solitary mountain, where he took the monastic habit, and shut himself up in a cell for the remaining part of his life. He carried nothing with him out of the palace but a mat to lie on, and a cup to drink out of. His food was only bread, with which he sometimes took a few dry herbs; he never drank any thing but water. He would not allow himself the least distinction above the last among his brethren, and was the first in every duty of his new state. No seculars ever had access to him, and his whole employment consisted in the exercises of penance, the contemplation of heavenly things, and conversing with God, by whom he was at length called, by a happy death, to reign eternally with Christ. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology.

Note 1. Their Acts are published in Greek by Lambecius, (Biblioth. Vindob. t. 5, p. 130, 132, et t. 8. p. 254, 260, 262,) and in Latin by Baronius Lipoman and Surius. Baillet suspects them because taken from Metaphrastes. But Falconius rightly judges that Metaphrastes gave them genuine, p. 23, which is shown by Jos. Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t. 1. p. 358, 364 et seq.) who gives us the original Syriac history of the Homerite martyrs, written by Simeon, bishop of Arsamopolis, in Persia, in a letter to Simeon, abbot of Gabula.
The Syriac historians, produced by Jos. Assemani, as Simeon, bishop of Beth-Arsamen, etc. agree in this history perfectly with the Greeks, viz. Sim. Metaphrastes, in Surius, (t. 5, p. 943.) Theophanes, Cedrenus, Procopius, Evagrius, etc. Likewise the modern historians of Abyssinia, who were Portuguese missionaries in that country, viz. Francisco Alvares, chaplain to the Portuguese ambassador in 1540, who printed that year the first and most faithful history of Abyssinia, and of his embassy; F. Bermudes, patriarch, wrote the second in 1565, but mixing many fables deserves credit only in things to which he was eye-witness; F. Peter Nais gave a third in 1627; F. Alphonso Mendez, patriarch of Ethiopia, wrote also a Latin history of that country. F. Lopo wrote another more at length, which Le Grand translated into French, adding several curious dissertations and notes, Paris, 1738. F. Balthasar Tellez compiled from these a new and more complete history of Ethiopia, in which he sets off the zeal of the Jesuits. From these and other helps Ludolph has compiled his history of Ethiopia, with a dictionary and grammar of that language.
Note 2. The Acts which we have of this conference have been interpolated.
Note 3. Lambec. in Bibl. Vindob. Cod. Theolog. 306. n. 33. p. 171.
Note 4. Ap. Phot. Cod. 3

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

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October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 26, 2026

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor

By Jeremias Wells

colonel-john-ripley

An American Knight

When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a debt of gratitude is a moral debt required by virtue. In recent decades, the American view of moral justice has been sadly lacking.

Civil society has not always been so callous. Ever since the rise of Christian culture, Christendom has held its warrior-knights in high esteem. Not only that, they were a basic, creative force that molded Western civilization, as a study of the Crusades will attest. A knight of the Middle Ages went to war in a spirit of self-immolation for the glorification of the Church or the common good of temporal society.

October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 26, 2026

Saint Alfred the Great

In this incomparable prince were united the saint, the soldier, and the statesman in a most eminent degree. Sir Henry Spelman (Conc. Brit.) gives us his character in a rapture. “O, Alfred,” says he, “the wonder and astonishment of all ages! If we reflect on his piety and religion, it would seem that he had always lived in a cloister; if on his warlike exploits, that he had never been out of camps; if on his learning and writings, that he had spent his whole life in a college; if on his wholesome laws and wise administration, that these had been his whole study and employment.”

October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 22, 2026

St. Wendelin of Trier

Statue of St. Wendelin

Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. On his way back he settled as a hermit in Westricht in the Diocese of Trier. When a great landowner blamed him for his idle life he entered this lord’s service as a herdsman. Later a miracle obliged this lord to allow him to return to his solitude. Wendelin then established a company of hermits from which sprang the Benedictine Abbey of Tholey. He was consecrated abbot about 597, according to the later legends. Tholey was apparently founded as a collegiate body about 630.

It is difficult to say how far the later biographers are trustworthy. Wendelin was buried in his cell, and a chapel was built over the grave. The small town of St. Wendel grew up nearby. The saint’s intercession was powerful in times of pestilence and contagious diseases among cattle. When in 1320 a pestilence was checked through the intercession of the saint, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier had the chapel rebuilt. Baldwin’s successor, Boemund II, built the present beautiful Gothic church, dedicated in 1360 and to which the saint’s relics were transferred; since 1506 they have rested in a stone sarcophagus. Wendelin is the patron saint of country people and herdsmen and is still venerated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He is represented in art as a youth, or as a bearded man, with a shepherd’s bag and a book in one hand and a shepherd’s crook in the other; about him feed lambs, cattle, and swine, while a crown and a shield are placed at his feet. St. Wendelin is not mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, but his feast is observed in the Diocese of Trier on 22 October.

The exposed relics of St. Wendelin, Wendelin celebrating the 650th Anniversary of the consecration of the Basilica of St. Wendel Wendelinus.

The exposed relics of St. Wendelin at Wendalinusbasilika St. Wendel during the 650th Anniversary of the consecration of the Basilica.

Acta SS., October, IX, 342-51; MOHR, Die Heiligen der Diozese Trier (Trier, 1892); LESKER, St. Wendelinus (Donauworth, 1898); ZURCHER, St. Wendelinus-Buch (Menzingen, 1903).

Klemens Löffler (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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

October 22, 2026

St. John of Capistrano

Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456.

His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his education to his mother. She had him at first instructed at home and then sent him to study law at Perugia, where he achieved great success under the eminent legist, Pietro de Ubaldis.

In 1412 he was appointed governor of Perugia by Ladislaus, King of Naples, who then held that city of the Holy See. As governor he set himself against civic corruption and bribery. War broke out in 1416 between Perugia and the Malatesta. John was sent as ambassador to propose peace to the Malatesta, who however cast him into prison. It was during this imprisonment that…

October 23 – Made eunuch because he was prince

October 22, 2026

St. Ignatius of Constantinople

Born about 799; died 23 October, 877; son of Emperor Michael I and Procopia. His name, originally Nicetas, was changed at the age of fourteen to Ignatius. Leo the Armenian having deposed the Emperor Michael (813), made Ignatius a eunuch and incarcerated him in a monastery, that he might not become a claimant to his father’s throne. While thus immured he voluntarily embraced the religious life, and in time was made an abbot. He was ordained by Basil, Bishop of Paros, on the Hellespont. On the death of Theophilus (841) Theodora became regent, as well as co-sovereign with her son, Michael III, of the Byzantine Empire. In 847, aided by the good will of the empress, Ignatius succeeded to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, vacant by the death of Methodius. The Emperor Michael III was a youthful profligate who found a worthy companion for his debauchery in Bardas, his maternal uncle. At the suggestion of the latter, Michael sought the assistance of Ignatius in an effort to force Theodora to enter a convent, in the hope of securing for himself an undivided authority and a free rein for his profligacy. The patriarch indignantly refused to be a party to such an outrage. Theodora, however, realizing the determination of her son to possess at any cost an undivided rule, voluntarily abdicated. This refusal to participate in his iniquitous schemes, added to a courageous rebuke, which Ignatius had administered to Bardas for having repudiated his wife and maintained incestuous intercourse with his daughter-in-law, determined the Cæsar to bring about the disgrace of the patriarch.

The appointment of the Patriarch St. Ignatius of Constantinople.

An insignificant revolt, led by a half-witted adventurer, having broken out, Bardas laid the blame at the door of Ignatius, and having convinced the emperor of the truth of his accusation, brought about the banishment of the patriarch to the island of Terebinthus. In his exile he was visited by the emissaries of Bardas, who sought to induce him to resign his patriarchal office. Their mission failing, they loaded him with every kind of indignity. Meanwhile a pseudo-synod, held under the direction of Gregory of Syracuse, an excommunicated bishop, deposed Ignatius from his see. Bardas had selected his successor in the person of Photius, a layman of brilliant parts, and a patron of learning, but thoroughly unscrupulous. He stood high in the favour of the emperor, for whom he acted as first secretary of state. This choice having been approved by the pseudo-synod, in six days Photius ran the gamut of ecclesiastical orders from the lectorate to the episcopate. To intensify the feeling against Ignatius, and thereby strengthen his own position, Photius charged the exiled bishop with further acts of sedition. In 859 another synod was called to further the interests of Photius, by again proclaiming the deposition of Ignatius. But not all the bishops participated in these disgraceful proceedings. Some few, with the courage of their episcopal office, denounced Photius as a usurper of the patriarchal dignity. Convinced that he could enjoy no sense of security in his office without the sanction of the pope, Photius sent an embassy to Rome for the purpose of pleading his cause. These ambassadors represented that Ignatius, worn out with age and disease, had voluntarily retired to a monastery; and that Photius had been chosen by the unanimous election of the bishops. With an affectation of religious zeal, they requested that legates be sent to Constantinople to suppress a recrudescence of Iconoclasm, and to strengthen religious discipline.

Pope Saint Nicholas I

Nicholas I sent the required legates, but with instructions to investigate the retirement of Ignatius and to treat with Photius as with a layman. These instructions were supplemented by a letter to the emperor, condemning the deposition of Ignatius. But the legates proved faithless. Intimidated by threats and quasi-imprisonment, they agreed to decide in favour of Photius. In 861 a synod was convened, and the deposed patriarch cited to appear before it as a simple monk. He was denied the permission to speak with the delegates. Citing the pontifical canons to prove the irregularity of his deposition, he refused to acknowledge the authority of the synod and appealed to the pope. But his pleading was in vain. The prearranged programme was carried through and the venerable patriarch was condemned and degraded. Even after this, the relentless hatred of Bardas pursued him, in the hope of wringing from him the resignation of his office. Finally an order for his death was issued, but he had fled to safety. The legates returning to Rome, merely announced that Ignatius had been canonically deposed and Photius confirmed. The patriarch, however, succeeded in acquainting the pope, through the archimandrite Theognostus, with the unlawful proceedings taken against him. To the imperial secretary, therefore, whom Photius had sent to him to obtain the approval of his acts, the pope declared that he would not confirm the synod that had deposed Ignatius. In a letter addressed to Photius, Nicholas I recognized Ignatius as the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople. At the same time a letter was dispatched to the eastern patriarchs, forbidding them to recognize the usurper. After another unsuccessful effort to obtain papal confirmation, Photius gave vent to his fury in a ludicrous declaration of excommunication against the Roman Pontiff.

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October 9 – Even in his lifetime his reputation was for great holiness and miraculous powers

October 8, 2026

St. John Twenge Canon regular, Prior of St. Mary’s, Bridlington, born near the town, 1319; died at Bridlington, 1379. He was of the Yorkshire family Twenge, which family in Reformation days supplied two priest-martyrs and was also instrumental in establishing the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bar Convent, York. John completed his studies […]

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October 10 – What if you come from a family of bad nobility?

October 8, 2026

St. Francis Borgia (also known as Francisco de Borja y Aragon), born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome […]

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Saint Sigebert

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

Sts. Lucian and Marcian

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor

Saint Alfred the Great

St. John of Capistrano

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