Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

July 9 – At the center of the controversy, when the Pope deposed King John of England

July 9, 2026

Stephen Langton

Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury, b. in the latter half of the twelfth century; d. at Slindon Manor, Sussex, July 9, 1228. Although the roll of English churchmen has few names more illustrious, Langton’s fame is hardly equal to his achievements. Even among his own countrymen too few have an adequate knowledge of his merits and of his great services to his country and to the Catholic Church, although his labors were concerned with the two things specially dear to Englishmen, the Bible and the British Constitution. Little though they may think it, every one who reads the Bible or enjoys the benefit of civic freedom owes a deep debt of gratitude to this Catholic cardinal. If men may be measured by the magnitude of the work they accomplish, it may be safely said that Langton was the greatest Englishman who ever sat in the chair of St. Augustine. For Anselm was not an Englishman, and his triumphs were won in fields of thought and politics of less interest to Englishmen. Some churchmen, again, have been great as writers and thinkers, others as statesmen solicitous for the welfare of the whole people, and others as zealous pastors of their flock. It was Langton’s lot to win distinction in all three capacities, as scholar, statesman, and archbishop.

Closeup of Cardinal Stephen Langton statue on the Canterbury Pulpit at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Photo by Tim Evanson.

The Scholar.—The literary activity of Langton belongs to the earlier part of his life, and it is as a scholar that he first appears in history. Of his boyhood we have no details, both the date and place of his birth being matters of inference and conjecture. From the circumstances attending his election to the primatial See of Canterbury it is evident that he was an Englishman. His name itself is clearly taken from some English town, but it is not certain which of the several places so-called had the honor of giving its name to the family of the cardinal, though Mark Pattison confidently asserts that he “is known by the surname of Langton from the place of his birth, Langton near Spilsby in Lincolnshire” (op. cit. in bibliography). His father was Henry de Langton; his brother Simon de Langton—presumably his junior, seeing that he survived the archbishop twenty years—was Archdeacon of Canterbury, and took an active part in the ecclesiastical and political struggles of the time. There does not seem to be any evidence of kinship between the archbishop and John Langton, Bishop of Chichester in the following century. Stephen’s birth may be fixed approximately by the known dates of his election (1205) and his death (1228). For, since he was already famous as a scholar and had become cardinal before the former date, he can hardly have been then a mere youth, while the fact that he lived for another twenty years and more, and was engaged in active work until his death, would seem to show that he was yet in the prime of life when he was elected archbishop. His birth, therefore, could not fall very much before or after 1160 or 1170. On the same grounds it may be gathered that Langton went to the University of Paris at an early age, for it was his fame as a teacher of theology that led Innocent III to summon him to Rome and create him cardinal. This act of the great pope and the store he set by Langton’s learning may remind us how one of his predecessors wished in like manner to avail himself of the services of the Venerable Bede—another great Englishman, with whom Langton had much in common in the character of his learning and in his indefatigable industry as a commentator on Holy Scripture. Thus Pattison naturally mentions the name of Bede in his graphic description of Langton as “that great prelate, who, during a twenty-three years occupation of the See of Canterbury, acted in public a most prominent part in national affairs, and in the cloister produced more works for the instruction of his flock, than any who, before or since him, have been seated in that `Papal chair of the North ‘—who was the soul of that powerful confederacy who took the crown from the head of the successor of the Conqueror,—and yet, next to Bede, the most voluminous and original commentator on the Scripture this country has produced—and who has transmitted to us an enduring memorial of himself in three most different institutions, which after the lapse of six centuries are still in force and value among us—Magna Charta, the division of the Bible into chapters, and those constitutions which open the series, and form the basis, of that Canon Law which is still binding in our Ecclesiastical Courts” (ibid.).

Statue of Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, from the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral. Photo by Ealdgyth.

In this passage Pattison has incidentally touched on the chief and most enduring result of Langton’s industrious scholarship, the division of the Bible into chapters—or, in the quaint words of an old chronicler (Trevisa’s translation of Higden’s “Polychronicon”), “he toted the Bible at Parys and marked the chapitres”. This statement has been confirmed by recent researches of Denifle (see Kaulen, “Einleitung in d. Heil. Schrift”), which prove clearly that the division of the Sacred Text into chapters owes its origin to Stephen Langton. The importance of this work may be sufficiently gauged by its widespread adoption, for this division into chapters has not only passed from the Vulgate to all modern vernacular versions of the Bible, but has been applied with obvious advantage to the Greek New Testament and to the Septuagint. It is indeed one of the few cases in which Latin scholarship has affected the Eastern Churches. Yet more remarkable is it that the division has also been adopted by the Jews themselves, and that the hand of the English cardinal should leave its mark on the pages of the Talmud. While not abandoning their own system of division, the Jews saw the advantage of the Langtonian chapters, which are constantly used for purposes of reference even in purely Rabbinical literature, as may be seen in the Warsaw editions of the Talmud Babli and Midrash Rabba. The value of this change is practically illustrated in Ceriani’s facsimile edition of the Milanese Codex Syro-Peschitto, where the divisions wanting in the text are marked in the margin by the editor. The division into chapters has sometimes been ascribed to Cardinal Hugh of St-Cher, but his task was to subdivide Langton’s chapters into seven parts marked by the first seven letters of the alphabet. This method, used by old commentators and still surviving in our liturgical books, has for general purposes been superseded by the division into verses which we owe to Robert Estienne.

Although few of Langton’s original writings or commentaries on Holy Writ are known to students of the present day, Lingard is hardly warranted in stating bluntly that “his writings have perished”. Many of his voluminous works still happily survive in manuscripts, the number of which indicates the popularity his writings once enjoyed. Some of his letters have been printed by D’Achery in his “Spicilegium”; his tractate on the translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury is published by Dr. Giles in the second volume of his valuable edition of the life and letters of the blessed martyr, and, though slight, is sufficient to give the reader some notion of Langton’s Latin style. For the rest, it should be remembered that, though his commentaries are no longer read, the Biblical student of the present day still benefits by them at least indirectly, since here, as in other fields of sacred science, the scholars of each age build on the work left by those who went before them, and commentaries that were once in the hands of all must have had some influence on the later works by which they were eventually superseded.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, sometimes called the “Golden Sequence,” is a sequence prescribed in the Roman Liturgy for the Masses of Pentecost and its octave, exclusive of the following Sunday. It is believed that Cardinal Stephen Langton is the author.

The Statesman.—If Stephen Langton had spent the rest of his days in Rome, his great services as a scholar would give us good reason to regard him with reverence, and we might have doubted whether the studious cardinal were likely to accomplish much in the world of action and ecclesiastical administration. It was undoubtedly a severe ordeal to pass from a life of study to the anxious responsibilities of a primatial see and that struggle with kings and princes which was too often the lot of bishops in those days. Called to fill the See of Canterbury while the memory of Anselm’s banishment and Becket’s martyrdom was yet fresh in men’s minds, Langton’s case was at the outset worse than that of his two great predecessors, for, however much they had later to suffer, they were at least allowed to begin with some semblance of peace and of royal favor. Appointed to the see in the midst of a strenuous struggle and in direct opposition to the king’s wishes, Langton had to begin his episcopate with a long period of banishment. This quarrel, in full force before Langton’s name was suggested, has been graphically told by Lingard, following in the wake of Roger de Wendover and other old chroniclers. A dispute had arisen as to the right to elect the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was claimed both by the monks of the cathedral chapter and by the bishops of the province. On the death of Archbishop Hubert Walter in 1205, some of the younger monks attempted to steal a march on the opposite party by the nocturnal and surreptitious election of Reginald, their sub-prior, who was forthwith sent to Rome to seek confirmation at the hands of Innocent III. It appears to have been their original plan that the proceedings should be kept secret until the candidate’s arrival in Rome. Certainly there was little likelihood that the king would have suffered him to go free if the object of the journey had been known. His vanity, however, induced Reginald, when safe out of John’s dominions, to lay aside all disguise and assume the style of archbishop elect. The angry king lost no time in compelling the monks at Canterbury to hold another election and to place on the archiepiscopal throne his own favorite and prime minister, John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich.

Stained glass window in St Mary’s parish church, Staines, Middlesex (now Surrey). Photo by John Salmon.

A new delegation was then dispatched to Rome to ask the confirmation of this second election, and the pope had to decide between the claims of the rival candidates. On different but equally satisfactory grounds he rejected both elections. The first was void by reason of its irregular and surreptitious character, while, even apart from the pressure which robbed the second election of the necessary freedom, it was irregular because the first had not yet been annulled in a regular and canonical manner. On the question at issue between the monks and the bishops he decided in favor of the former, as the evidence showed that the right of election had belonged to them from Saxon times. And, as the field was now clear for a fresh election, he directed the monks then in Rome to choose a new archbishop, and recommended Langton as one well worthy of this office. This choice was duly made and confirmed by the pope, who made it known to the king in a letter warmly praising the merits of the new archbishop, while in a Bull to the prior and monks of Canterbury he called him “Our beloved son, master Stephen de Langton, a man verily endowed with life, fame, knowledge, and doctrine”. But neither the words of Innocent nor the merits of Langton could satisfy the angry king, who wreaked his vengeance on the Church of Canterbury and vowed that Langton should never set foot in his dominions. Thus began the memorable struggle between the worst of English kings and the greatest of the medieval pontiffs. Finding John deaf to reason and remonstrance, Innocent proceeded to take stronger measures, and placed the kingdom under an interdict. It seemed as if even this strong measure would be of no avail, for John remained obstinate for eight years.

At length, when Innocent proceeded to pronounce him excommunicate, and his powerful rival Philip of France was preparing to carry out the sentence of deposition, John, alarmed at the growing disaffection of his own subjects and recognizing that further resistance was unavailing, consented to open negotiations with the archbishop. Langton, who had done his best to guide and govern his flock from his place of banishment, was thus able to land once more in England. The king had in 1209 invited Langton to meet him in England, and had sent him a safe conduct for that purpose. But, as this was addressed not to the Archbishop of Canterbury but to “Stephen Langton, cardinal of the Roman see”, the archbishop firmly refused to accept it. Another invitation in 1210 proved equally ineffectual, but, when John at length yielded in his hour of danger and issued letters in due form, Langton lost no time in returning. He landed at Dover in July, 1213, and was met there by the king, who fell at his feet with words of welcome and submission. John had already on May 15, 1213, resigned his kingdom to Pandulph, the pope’s legate, and had received it back as a fief of the Holy See. It might have seemed that the long struggle was now over, and that the archbishop, after his eight years of banishment, could at length enter on a peaceful period of pastoral labor. But it is not likely that Langton himself cherished this illusion. The king’s apparent surrender to the pope had indeed changed the issue, and had gained its object of frustrating the schemes of the French King, since, as a vassal of the Holy See; John could now appeal to the pope for protection. But it still remained to be seen whether John would fulfils his promises, and whether, by ruling with justice, he would conciliate his disaffected subjects. The course he had taken since his submission to Pandulph gave ground for grave misgivings, and events soon showed there was as yet no room for peace.

But the conflict between John and Innocent was now to be succeeded by the momentous struggle between the king and his barons. And, though Langton’s appointment as primate had been the chief issue in the former strife, his part in the constitutional conflict, while not less conspicuous, was more active and commanding, for, in the words of Pattison, he was the “soul of the movement”. This appears from his strong action at the meeting held at St. Paul’s in London on August 25, 1213. “Its ostensible object”, says Lingard “was to ascertain the damages sustained by the outlaws in the late quarrel. But Langton called the barons aside, read to them the charter of Henry, and commented on its provisions. They answered by loud acclamations, and the archbishop, taking advantage of their enthusiasm, administered to them an oath by which they bound themselves to each other to conquer or die in the defense of their liberties.” When the king was going to wreak vengeance on the barons for their disobedience, Langton firmly insisted on their right to a lawful trial, and added that, if John refused them this justice, he would deem it his duty to excommunicate all, except the king himself, who took part in this impious warfare. Such was the archbishop’s vigorous line of action at the outset of the struggle which was brought to a successful issue two years later by the signing of the Great Charter at Runnymede. And, if he was the soul of the movement which led to these results, he may justly be regarded as the real author of the Magna Charta.

Plaster maquette of Stephen Langton by w:John Thomas (sculptor). One of 17 maquettes for life-sized bronzes representing the signatories of the Magna Carta. The bronzes decorate the walls of the Lords Chamber at Westminster Palace, London. As of 2013 this plaster maquette is in the Canterbury Heritage Museum, and the rest are unavailable to the public in Westgate Towers, Canterbury. Photo by Linda Spashett Storye book.

It is important to observe that in this constitutional conflict Langton was laboring for the liberties of England and seeking to check the royal tyranny, which was the chief danger to the Catholic Church in that country, and which in a later age was to be one of the main factors in bringing about the separation between England and the Holy See. In this war he was a bishop fighting for the Church, as well as an English man fighting for the liberty of his country. It must, however, be remembered that many issues were involved in the struggle. There were dangers of excess on either side. Nobles as well as kings have been guilty of oppression and injustice, and the common people often suffer more from many tyrants than from one. Bearing this in mind, we can understand how some may have regarded the struggle from a different standpoint. The pope, naturally more in sympathy with authority than with those in apparent rebellion against it, bound moreover by duty and interest to care for the rights of his vassal, and assailed with reports from the king’s side and misrepresentations of the archbishop, might clearly be expected to take a different course from Langton. Thus we find him remonstrating with the primate and the barons, declaring the confederacy void, annulling the Great Charter, and bidding the archbishop excommunicate the disturbers of the kingdom. When Langton, though consenting to one general issue of the sentence, refused to repeat the excommunication—partly on the ground that it was issued under a misapprehension, and partly because he wished first to see the pope himself—he was rebuked and suspended from his office. This sentence came to him on his way to Rome to attend the Fourth Lateran Council, and it was confirmed by the pope himself on November 4, 1215. In the following spring Langton was absolved, but was required to remain in Rome until peace was restored. This gave him a brief rest after all his struggles, and in 1218, when both Innocent and John were dead and all parties in England were united under Henry III, he returned to his see.

The Archbishop.—After his return from Rome in 1218 Langton devoted the closing ten years of his episcopate to peaceful and fruitful pastoral labor. It might be thought that there was little scope here for any great achievements comparable to his earlier work as a scholar and a statesman, and that there would be little to distinguish his life in this time of peace from that of other Catholic prelates. One who had already labored and suffered so much might well have been pardoned for leaving to younger and more fortunate successors any large works of reform. Yet he has left his mark on the history of Canterbury See by his code of forty-two canons published in a provincial synod. To quote the emphatic words of a recent biographer. “On Sunday, April 17, 1222, Stephen opened a church council at Osney which is to the ecclesiastical history of England what the assembly at Runnymede is to her secular history” (Norgate, loc. cit. infra).

W. H. Kent (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 9 – St. Veronica Giuliani

July 9, 2026

St. Veronica Giuliani

Born at Mercatello in the Duchy of Urbino, Italy, 1660; died at Città di Castello, 9 July, 1727. Her parents, Francesco Giuliana and Benedetta Mancini, were both of gentle birth. In baptism she was named Ursula, and showed marvelous signs of sanctity. When but eighteen months old she uttered her first words to upbraid a shopman who was serving a false measure of oil, saying distinctly: “Do justice, God sees you.” At the age of three years she began to be favoured with Divine communications, and to show great compassion for the poor. She would set apart a portion of her food for them, and even part with her clothes when she met a poor child scantily clad. These traits and a great love for the Cross developed as she grew older. When others did not readily join in her religious practices she was inclined to be dictatorial. In her sixteenth year this imperfection of character was brought home to her in a vision in which she saw her own heart as a heart of steel. In her writings she confesses that she took a certain pleasure in the more stately circumstances which her family adopted when her father was appointed superintendent of finance at Piacenza. But this did not in any way affect her early-formed resolution to dedicate herself to religion, although her father urged her to marry and procured for her several suitors as soon as she became of marriageable age. Owing to her father’s opposition to her desire to enter a convent, Veronica fell ill and only recovered when he gave his consent.

Painting of Saint Veronica Giuliani indicating the places she received the stigmata.

In 1677 she was received into the convent of the Capuchin Poor Clares in Città di Castello, taking the name of Veronica in memory of the Passion. At the conclusion of the ceremony of her reception the bishop said to the abbess: “I commend this new daughter to your special care, for she will one day be a great saint.” She became absolutely submissive to the will of her directors, though her novitiate was marked by extraordinary interior trials and temptations to return to the world. At her profession in 1678 she conceived a great desire to suffer in union with our Saviour crucified for the conversion of sinners. About this time she had a vision of Christ bearing His cross and henceforth suffered an acute physical pain in her heart. After her death the figure of the cross was found impressed upon her heart. In 1693 she entered upon a new phase in her spiritual life, when she had a vision of the chalice symbolizing the Divine Passion which was to be re-enacted in her own soul. At first she shrank from accepting it and only be great effort eventually submitted. She then began to endure intense spiritual suffering. In 1694 she received the impression of the Crown of Thorns, the wounds being visible and the pain permanent. By order of the bishop she submitted to medical treatment, but obtained no relief. Yet, although she lived in this supernaturally mystical life, she was a practical woman of affairs. For thirty-four years she was novice-mistress, and guided the novices with great prudence. It is noticeable that she would not allow them to read mystical books. In 1716 she was elected abbess and whilst holding that office enlarged the convent and had a good system of water-pipes laid down, the convent hitherto having been without a proper water supply. She was canonized by Gregory XVI in 1839. She is usually represented crowned with thorns and embracing the Cross.

The remains of St. Veronica Giuliani. Her body remained incorrupt for many years until it was destroyed by the floodwaters of the Tiber River. Her bones remained. Her heart is incorrupt and is kept in a separate reliquary. Other relics of St. Veronica are located in the convent’s museum.

FATHER CUTHBERT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 10 – Charlemagne Was Stricken for His Rudeness to Her

July 9, 2026

St. Amalberga

St. Amalburga of Temse

A virgin, very much revered in Belgium, who is said to have been sought in marriage by Charles, afterwards Charlemagne.

Continually repulsed, Charles finally attempted to carry her off by force, but though he broke her arm in the struggle he was unable to move her from the altar before which she had prostrated herself. The royal lover was forced to abandon his suit, and left her in peace.

St. Amelberga

Many miracles are attributed to her, among others the cure of Charles, who was stricken with illness because of the rudeness with which he had treated the Saint. She died 10 July, in her thirty-first year, five years after Charles had ascended the throne.

Acta SS., III, July.

T.J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Nobility.org Editorial comment: —

Suffering defeat was not frequent with Charlemagne, but defeat he had at the hands of this virgin. She had given herself to the King of Kings, and would be loyal to Him regardless of whatever royal magnificence Charlemagne had to offer.
No earthly prestige or amount of gold could overcome her loyalty and fidelity.

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July 10 – Seven Holy Noble Brethren

July 9, 2026

Saints, martyred in Rome, in 150. According to legend, they were the sons of Saint Felicitas, and suffered martyrdom under Emperor Antoninus. Januarius, Felix, and Philip were scourged to death; Silvanus was thrown over a precipice; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were beheaded. Feast, Roman Calendar, 10 July.

St. Felicitas, Martyr

St. Felicitas with her Seven Sons. Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)

The earliest list of the Roman feasts of martyrs, known as the “Depositio Martyrum” and dating from the time of Pope Liberius, i.e. about the middle of the fourth century (Ruinart, Acta sincera, Ratisbon, p. 631), mentions seven martyrs whose feast was kept on 10 July. Their remains had been deposited in four different catacombs, viz. in three cemeteries on the Via Salaria and in one on the Via Appia. Two of the martyrs, Felix and Philip, reposed in the catacomb of Priscilla; Martial, Vitalis and Alexander, in the Coemeterium Jordanorum; Silanus (or Silvanus) in the catacomb of Maximus, and Januarius in that of Prætextatus. To the name of Silanus is added the statement that his body was stolen by the Novatians (hunc Silanum martyrem Novatiani furati sunt).

In the Acts of these martyrs, that certainly existed in the sixth century, since Gregory the Great refers to them in his “Homiliæ super Evangelia” (Lib. I, hom. iii, in P.L., LXXVI, 1087), it is stated that all seven were sons of Felicitas, a noble Roman lady. According to these Acts Felicitas and her seven sons were imprisoned because of their Christian Faith, at the instigation of pagan priests, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus. Before the prefect Publius they adhered firmly to their religion, and were delivered over to four judges, who condemned them to various modes of death. The division of the martyrs among four judges corresponds to the four places of their burial. St. Felicitas herself was buried in the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria, beside Silanus.

Martyrdom of St. Felicitas’s seven sons, painting by Francesco Coghetti.

These Acts were regarded as genuine by Ruinart (op. cit., 72-74), and even distinguished modern archæologists have considered them, though not in their present form corresponding entirely to the original, yet in substance based on genuine contemporary records. Recent investigations of Führer, however (see below), have shown this opinion to be hardly tenable. The earliest recension of these Acts, edited by Ruinart, does not antedate the sixth century, and appears to be based not on a Roman, but on a Greek original. Moreover, apart from the present form of the Acts, various details have been called in question. Thus, if Felicitas were really the mother of the seven martyrs honoured on 10 July, it is strange that her name does not appear in the well-known fourth-century Roman calendar. Her feast is first mentioned in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”, but on a different day (23 Nov.). It is, however, historically certain that she, as well as the seven martyrs called her sons in the Acts suffered for the Christian Faith. From a very early date her feast was solemnly celebrated in the Roman Church on 23 November, for on that day Gregory the Great delivered a homily in the basilica that rose above her tomb. Her body then rested in the catacomb of Maximus; in that cemetery on the Via Salaria all Roman itineraries, or guides to the burial-places of martyrs, locate her burial-place, specifying that her tomb was in a church above this catacomb (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 176-77), and that the body of her son Silanus was also there. The crypt where Felicitas was laid to rest was later enlarged into a subterranean chapel, and was rediscovered in 1885. A seventh-century fresco is yet visible on the rear wall of this chapel, representing in a group Felicitas and her seven sons, and overhead the figure of Christ bestowing upon them the eternal crown.

Certain historical references to St. Felicitas and her sons antedate the aforesaid Acts, e.g. a fifth-century sermon of St. Peter Chrysologus (Sermo cxxxiv, in P.L., LII, 565) and a metrical epitaph either written by Pope Damasus (d. 384) or composed shortly after his time and suggested by his poem in praise of the martyr:

Discite quid meriti præstet pro rege feriri; Femina non timuit gladium, cum natis obivit, Confessa Christum meruit per sæcula nomen.

Fresco by Paris Noggia of Saint Felicity, who having witnessed the death of her seven sons, during the persecution of Diocletian, is about to be put death as the Emperor watches.

[Learn how meritorious it is to die for the King (Christ). This woman feared not the sword, but perished with her sons. She confessed Christ and merited an eternal renown.—Ihm, Damasi Epigrammata (Leipzig, 1895), p. 45.] We possess, therefore, confirmation for an ancient Roman tradition, independent of the Acts, to the effect that the Felicitas who reposed in the catacomb of Maximus, and whose feast the Roman Church commemorated 23 Nov., suffered martyrdom with her sons; it does not record, however, any details concerning these sons. It may be recalled that the tomb of St. Silanus, one of the seven martyrs (10 July), adjoined that of St. Felicitas and was likewise honoured; it is quite possible, therefore, that tradition soon identified the sons of St. Felicitas with the seven martyrs, and that this formed the basis for the extant Acts. The tomb of St. Januarius in the catacomb of Prætextatus belongs to the end of the second century, to which period, therefore, the martyrdoms must belong, probably under Marcus Aurelius.

If St. Felicitas did not suffer martyrdom on the same occasion we have no means of determining the time of her death. In an ancient Roman edifice near the ruins of the Baths of Titus there stood in early medieval times a chapel in honour of St. Felicitas. A faded painting in this chapel represents her with her sons just as in the above-mentioned fresco in her crypt.

Santa Susanna in Rome

RUINART, Acta sincera martyrum (Ratisbon, 1859), 72-74; Acta SS., July, III, 5-18; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, I, 429-30; ALLARD, Histoire des persécutions (2nd ed., Paris, 1892), I, 345- 68; AUBÉ, Histoire des persécutions de l’Eglise jusqu’=85 la fin des Antonins (Paris, 1845), 345 sq., 439 sqq.; DOULCET, Essai sur les rapports de l’Eglise chrétienne avec l’Etat romain pendant les trois premiers siècles (Paris, 1883), 187-217; DUFOURCQ, Gesta Martyrum romains (Paris, 1900), I, 223-24; DE ROSSI, Bullettino di archeol. crist. (1884-85), 149-84; FöHRER, Ein Beitrag zur Lösung der Felicitasfrage (Freising, 1890); IDEM, Zur Felicitasfrage (Leipzig, 1894); KöNSTLE, Hagiographische Studien über die Passio Felicitatis cum VII filiis (Paderborn, 1894); MARUCCHI, La catacombe romane (Rome, 1903), 388-400.

J.P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Nobility.org Editorial comment: —

Like St. Cecilia and many others, St. Felicitas and her seven sons share in the glory of the Roman Christian nobility that embraced martyrdom, shedding their blood, rather than renouncing the Catholic faith and their baptismal vows.
In martyrdom, these Roman nobles led by example. By faithfully following themselves in the footsteps of the Redeemer, they showed other Christians that neither life nor money are our supreme values. In baptism we acquire a special bond with Our Lord and this bond of faith is our greatest supernatural good. It is more precious than life, our greatest natural good.

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July 11 – Worthy descendant of St. Elizabeth

July 9, 2026

Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode

Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode.

A Belgian prelate and statesman, born at Brussels, 1820; died at Rome, 1874. The son of Félix de Mérode-Westerloo who held successively the portfolios of foreign affairs, war, and finances under King Leopold, and of Rosalie de Grammont, he was allied to the best names of France, — Lafayette, Montmorency, Clemont-Tonnerre, etc.; the Mérode family claimed saints like Elizabeth of Hungary, founders like Werner who endowed the monastery of Schwartzenbroch, and a long line of captains from that Raymond-Bérenger who took the cross at St. Bernard’s call, to Frédéric, Xavier’s grandfather, who gave his life for the autonomy of Belgium. Bereft of his mother at the age of three, Xavier was brought up at Villersexel, in Franche-Comté, by his aunt Philippine de Grammont, attended for a time the Jesuit College of Namur, then entered the Collège de Juilly presided over by de Salinis, whence he passed (1839) to the Military Academy of Brussels. Graduating with the rank of second lieutenant, after a short service at the armoury of Liège, he joined (1844) as foreign attaché the staff of Maréchal Bugeaud in Algeria, taking a brilliant part in the most daring engagements and winning the cross of the Légion d’honneur. In 1847, he abruptly resigned the military career and went to study for the priesthood in Rome, where he was ordained (1849). Assigned, after his ordination, as chaplain to the French garrison of Viterbo, he was being pressed by his family to return to Belgium when Pius IX, with a view to attach him permanently to his court, made him cameriere segreto (1850), an office which entailed the direction of the Roman prisons. The excellent work done by de mérode for the material, moral, and religious betterment of the penitentiary system in Rome is described by Lefebvre (Des établissements charitables de Rome, p. 245.) and Maguire (Rome, Its Ruler and Institutions, p. 238); de Rayneval, the French envoy at Rome, praised it in an official report to his government (see “Daily News “, 18 March, 1848); Joachim Pecci, Archbishop of Perugia, wanted the young cameriere to inaugurate similar work in his metropolis, and the Piedmontese, despite their bias against everything papal, found nothing to change in the regulations introduced by de Mérode. In 1860, when it became evident that the insincere policy of Napoleon III was a poor safeguard against the greed of Piedmont, de Mérode, much against the views of the Roman Prelature, headed by Cardinal Antonelli, persuaded Pius IX to form a papal army and succeeded in enlisting the services of Lamoricière (q. v.) as commander-in-chief and was himself appointed minister of war. The task assumed by de Mérode and Lamoricière was difficult and well-nigh impossible; yet,the disasters of Castelfidardo and Ancona were due, not to the incompetence of the chiefs, nor solely to the heterogeneous nature of the recruits and the lack of proper supplies, but to the treachery of the Piedmontese who, while feigning to curb the Garibaldian bands, led them to the assault of the Papal States.

The ensuing years of comparative quiet de Mérode spent in various public works; the building at his own expense of the campo pretoriano outside the Porta Pia, the clearing of the approaches of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the opening of streets in the new section of Rome, the sanitation of the old quarters by the Tiber, etc. His impetuous temperament and progressive views made him enemies among the old traditional Roman element just as the vehemence with which he branded the French Emperor’s duplicity turned against him the heads of the French army of occupation. Lamoricière’s death (19 Sept., 1865) became the signal of open hostility. Pius IX was forced to discharge his minister whose continuance in office, it was freely asserted, meant the withdrawal of the French troops. Reduced to a simple cameriere, de Mérode was not forgotten by Pius IX on Hohenlohe’s promotion to the cardinalate, he was given the vacant place of papal almoner and (22 June, 1866) consecrated titular Archbishop of Melitene. His new duties were to distribute the papal alms and to confirm children in danger of death and he acquitted himself with a liberality and zeal that won him the love of the poor and afflicted. At the Vatican Council, he showed the influence exercised over him by his brother-in-law, de Montalembert, and sided with the minority that deemed the definition of papal infallibility inopportune and even dangerous, but submitted the day the dogma was defined. After the capture of Rome by the Piedmontese (20 Sept., 1870) he followed his master into the retirement of the Vatican, leaving it only to fight the Piedmontese government’s pretensions on the campo pretoriano or to share de Rossi’s work in the excavations of Tor Marancino which resulted in the discovery of the Basilica of St. Petronilla. It is there he welcomed (14 June, 1874) the pilgrims from the United States and his last public utterances were for them. Speaking of his kinsman Lafayette, he regretted his defection from the purity of the Catholic Faith, but remarked that the country which the great general had so loyally served was yielding precious elements for the upbuilding of the Church; then, pointing to a Damasian inscription recently found, “Credite per Damasum possit quid gloria Christi”, he added with pathos that the edifying spectacle of American loyalty to Pius IX justified him in saying, “Credite per Pium possit quid gloria Christi”. He died of acute pneumonia in the arms of Pius IX, only a few months before the Consistory in which he was to have been made a cardinal. His remains were laid to rest in the Flemish Cemetery near the Vatican, amid a vast concourse of people, the poor he had so generously assisted mingling with the prelates, ambassadors, and princes. De Mérode, in spite of his faults, will be remembered as a model of unswerving loyalty to the Holy See. Such was his popularity that when Don Margotti, in “l’Unità Cattolica”, suggested in his behalf a world-wide tribute of prayers, the subscriber’s names filled a large album published at Turin, 1875.

LAMY, Monseigneur de Mérode (Louvain, 1874); BESSON, F. F. X. de Mérode, sa vie et ses œuvres (Paris, 1886); LE POITEVIN, Mgr. de Mérode in Les Contemporains (Paris, s. d.); VEUILLOT, Célébrités Catholigues Contemporains; FLORNOY, Lamoricière (Paris, 1904).

J. F. SOLLIER (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 11 – The noble saint who fled the world, but the world ran after him

July 9, 2026

Saint Benedict of Nursia

Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of Saint Gregory’s “Dialogues”. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number…

July 12 – Irish-American Aristocrat Physician

July 9, 2026

William James MacNeven

Distinguished Irish-American physician and medical educator, b. at Ballynahowna, near Aughrim, Co. Galway, Ireland, 21 March, 1763; d. at New York, 12 July, 1841. His ancestors were driven by Cromwell from the North of Ireland where they held large possessions to the wilds of Connaught. William James MacNeven was the eldest of four sons. At the age of twelve he was sent by his uncle Baron MacNeven, to receive his education abroad, for the penal laws rendered education impossible for Catholics in Ireland. This Baron MacNeven was William O’Kelly MacNeven, an Irish exile physician, who for his medical skill in her service had been created an Austrian noble by the Empress Maria Theresa. Young MacNeven made his collegiate studies at Prague. His medical studies were made at Vienna where he was a favourite pupil of the distinguished professor Pestel and took his degree in 1784. The same year he returned to Dublin to practise. A brilliant career opened before him in medicine, but he became involved in the revolutionary disturbances of the time with such men as Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Thomas Addis Emmet, and his brother Robert. He was arrested in March, 1798, and confined in Kilmainham Jail, and afterwards in Fort George, Scotland, until 1802, when he was liberated and exiled. In 1803, he was in Paris seeking an interview with Bonaparte in order to obtain French troops for Ireland. Disappointed in his mission, Dr. MacNeven came to America, landing at New York on 4 July, 1805.

In 1807, Dr. MacNeven delivered a course of lectures on clinical medicine in the recently established College of Physicians and Surgeons. Here in 1808, he received the appointment of professor of midwifery. In 1810, at the reorganization of the school, he became the professor of chemistry, and in 1816 was appointed in addition to the chair of materia medica. In 1826 with six of his colleagues, he resigned his professorship because of a misunderstanding with the New York Board of Regents, and accepted the chair of materia medica in Rutgers Medical College, a branch of the New Jersey institution of that name, established in New York as a rival to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. The school at once became popular because of its faculty, but after four years was closed by legislative enactment on account of interstate difficulties. The attempt to create a school independent of the regents resulted in a reorganization of the University of the State of New York. Dr. MacNeven’s best known contribution to science is his “Exposition of the Atomic Theory” (New York, 1820), which was reprinted in the French “Annales de Chimie”. In 1821 he published with emendations an edition of Brande’s “Chemistry” (New York, 1829). Some of his purely literary works, his “Rambles through Switzerland” (Dublin, 1803), his “Pieces of Irish History” (New York, 1807), and his numerous political tracts attracted wide attention. He was co-editor for many years of the “New York Medical and Philosophical Journal”.

FRANCIS, Life of MacNeven in GROSS, Lives of Eminent American Physicians (Philadelphia, 1861); GILMAN in New York Medical Gazette (1841), 65; BYRNE, Memoirs of Miles Byrne (Paris, 1863); MADDEN, Lives of the United Irishmen, series ii, vol. II (London, 1842-46); FITZPATRICK, Secret Service under Pitt (London, 1892-93).

JAMES J. WALSH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 12 – Thomas Tunstall

July 9, 2026

Ven. Thomas Tunstall

Thurland Castle, Tunstall. Photograph taken 20 Oct 1893 © Reproduced by permission of Historic England Archive ref: BL12442.

Martyred at Norwich, 13 July, 1616. He was descended from the Tunstalls of Thurland, an ancient Lancashire family who afterwards settled in Yorkshire. In the Douay Diaries he is called by the alias of Helmes and is described as Carleolensis, that is, born within the ancient Diocese of Carlisle. He took the College oath at Douay on 24 May, 1607; received minor orders at Arras, 13 June, 1609, and the subdiaconate at Douay on 24 June following. The diary does not record his ordination to the diaconate or priesthood, but he left the college as a priest on 17 August, 1610. On reaching England he was almost immediately apprehended and spent four or five years in various prisons till he succeeded in escaping from Wisbech Castle. He made his way to a friend’s house near Lynn, where is was recaptured and committed to Norwich Gaol. At the next assizes he was tried and condemned (12 July, 1616). The saintliness of his demeanor on the scaffold produced a profound impression on the people. There is a contemporary portrait of the martyr at Stonyhurst, showing him as a man still young with abundant black hair and dark moustache.

CHALLONER, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, II (London, 1742); Third Douay Diary, X, XI (Catholic Record Society, London, 1911); FOLEY, Records Eng. Prov. S.J., XII (London, 1879).

Edwin Burton (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Astonishing adult literacy rates in France before the 1789 French Revolution

July 9, 2026

Daniel Roche a French social and cultural historian.

From studying signatures of wills Daniel Roche has discovered astonishing figures of adult literacy in the capital at the end of the old regime [France, before the French Revolution of 1789]. In Montmartre, for example, where 40 percent of the testators belonged to the artisan or salaried classes, 74 percent of men and 64 percent of women could sign their names.

Map of France before the French Revolution, drawn by Rigobert Bonne in 1771.

In the rue Saint-Honoré—a fashionable street, but one where a third of the residents belonged to the common people—literacy rates stood at 93 percent. In the artisanal rue Saint-Denis, 86 percent of men and 73 percent of women made out and signed their own contracts of marriage.

[D]omestic servants, who also came from the countryside, were virtually all literate, able to read their contracts of employment. The ‘little schools’ promoted by the Catholic missions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had evidently done their wok well. Around 1780, according to Roche, 35 percent of all wills made by the popular classes contained some books as did 40 percent of those in the shopkeeping and petty trades.

Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), p. 180.

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Rekindling the Crusading Spirit

July 6, 2026

Written by Michael Whitcraft
On a recent trip to Fatima, I stopped to spend a night in the city of Obidos, Portugal. As I stood atop the walls of that medieval city, I felt almost as though I were breathing history…but not just any history. I was filling my lungs with a Catholic combative history.
With each arrow loop I passed, my mind’s eye could see a twelth century Portuguese knight, bedecked with armor, ready to risk life and limb to defend Christian civilization against hordes of Muslim invaders. I could hear the alarm bell calling the peasants from the fields to seek shelter behind the walls on which I stood.

Standing on the castle bulwark with these reflections rekindled in me a crusading spirit.

As my mind drifted back and forth across a threshold of 900 years, I compared the society I envisioned to our own. The stark contrast overwhelmed me. Medieval Christian man possessed a vision of the Church that has been all but lost in our days.

Unlike modern man who sees the Church and asks: “What is in it for me?” he saw the Faith and asked: “How can I serve?” Thus, he was willing to make any sacrifice and oppose any enemy in defense of the Faith.

While these reflections passed through my mind, I remembered a lecture Brazilian TFP founder, Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, once gave on the crusading spirit. In it he logically developed the theory that true adoration of God can only exist when one has the spirit of a crusader.

Original Sin and Self-seeking Friendship
Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira’s reasoning was very clear. After Original Sin, man’s tendency is to befriend only those who are pleasing to him, and furthermore to seek a personal advantage in such relationships.

The resulting friendship is based on self-love, not love of others. Thus, it cannot be considered true friendship.

Coupled with this self-seeking tendency, fallen man has a loathing of sacrifice. This tendency is so strong that it requires a tremendous effort to overcome.

Therefore, true adoration can only exist when one is willing to stand up for God and defend Him, even at the risk of losing his life. This willingness is the very definition of the crusading spirit.

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed
However, to develop true friendship both of these tendencies must be surmounted. Thus, true friendship only exists when one is willing to sacrifice himself for his friend without seeking personal advantage. The more one is willing to sacrifice for his friend, the deeper and truer that friendship is.

Our Lord stated this on the night before His Passion, saying: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Thus, the greatest love one can attain is one by which he is willing to sacrifice everything for his friend.

Additionally, friendship is tested when a friend is threatened. Then one’s willingness to sacrifice is proven. That is why many veterans attest that the greatest friends of their lives were made during war. The daily sacrifice a soldier is expected to make for his friends, seals a bond that is almost unbreakable.

Adoration and the Crusading Spirit
Applying these principles to God, we are not called simply to be His friend. We are obliged to adore Him. If simple friendship cannot exist without a selfless spirit of sacrifice, adoration definitely cannot exist without it. Therefore, true adoration can only exist when one is willing to stand up for God and defend Him, even at the risk of losing his life. This willingness is the very definition of the crusading spirit.

With each arrow loop I passed, my mind’s eye could see a twelth century Portuguese knight, bedecked with armor, ready to risk life and limb to defend Christian civilization against hordes of Muslim invaders. Photo by Urban

Rekindling the Crusading Spirit
As I stood atop the walls of Obidos with these considerations running through my mind, I was able to put my finger on one main difference between the world of the Middle Ages and our own.

Medieval man had the crusading spirit. The Faith and God were of much more importance to him than technological advances or material prosperity. When the Faith called him to travel thousands of miles to a foreign land with little hope of return, without hesitation, he shouted a resounding: “Deus Vult!” (God wills it!)¹

Could it be that the lack of this spirit has contributed, in large part, to the moral decadence of our days? If our society as a whole would stop living selfishly as though God does not exist and adore Him with the abnegated worship that characterized the Crusaders of old, society would undoubtedly be different.

Such reflections, standing on the castle bulwark rekindled in me a crusading spirit. I could only pray that Our Lady rekindle this crusading spirit among Catholics and thus establish the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart on earth.

Footnote

1. This was the response of the people gathered in Clermont, France when Blessed Urban II preached the First Crusade.

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 6, 2026

St. Godelina

Born at Hondeforte-lez-Boulogne, c. 1049; died at Ghistelles, 6 July, 1070.

St. Godelina Painting by Jan Provoost

The youngest of the three children born to Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy, and his wife Ogina, Godelina was accustomed as a child to exercises of piety and was soon distinguished for a solidity of virtue extraordinary for one of her years. The poor flocked from all sides to the young girl, whose desires to satisfy their necessities often involved her in difficulties with her father’s steward and even with her pious father himself.

St. Godelina

By her eighteenth year the fame of her beauty and admirable qualities had spread far and wide through Artois and even into Flanders, and many suitors presented themselves; but, the decision being left with Godelina, she persisted in the resolution she had made of renouncing the world for the cloister. One of the young noblemen, Bertolf of Ghistelles, determined to leave nothing undone, invoked the influence of her father’s suzerain, Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, whose representations proved successful. After the wedding Bertolf and his bride set out for Ghistelles, where, however, Godelina found a bitter and unrelenting enemy in Bertolf’s mother, who induced her son to forsake his wife on the very day of their arrival, and immured Godelina in a narrow cell, with barely enough nourishment to support life. Even this, however, the saint contrived to share with the poor. Under the influence of his mother, Bertolf spread abroad foul calumnies about his bride. After some time Godelina managed to escape to the home of her father, who roused the Bishop of Tournai and Soissons and the Count of Flanders to threaten Bertolf with the terrors of Church and State. Seemingly repentant, he promised to restore his wife to her rightful position, but her return to Ghistelles was the signal for a renewal of persecution in an aggravated form.

Cropped panel from the Life and Miracles of St. Godelina, here showing her being strangled and her body being dumped in the river.
The entire altar panels showing more of St. Godelina’s life is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Medieval Sculpture Hall. The altar panel was originally opened during Mass.

After about a year Bertolf, again feigning sorrow, easily effected a reconciliation, but only to avoid the suspicion of the crime he was mediating. During his absence two of his servants at his direction strangled Godelina causing it to appear that she had died a natural death. Bertolf soon contracted a second marriage, but the daughter born to him was blind from birth. Her miraculous recovery of sight through the intercession of St. Godelina so affected her father that, now truly converted he journeyed to Rome to obtain absolution for his crime, undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and finally entered the monastery of St-Winoc at Bergues, where he expiated his sins by a life of severe penance.

At his desire his daughter erected at Ghistelles a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Godelina, which she entered as a religious. Devotion to St. Godelina dates from 1084, when her body was exhumed by the Bishop of Tournai and Noyon, and her relics, recognized at various times by ecclesiastical authority, are to be found in various cities of Belgium.

F.M. RUDGE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Nobility.org Editorial comment: —

Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira mentioned once that it is wrong to think that there were no sinners in the Middle Ages. Of course there were. There were sinners then, just as there are sinners today.
Not only did the Middle Ages have sinners, it had great ones.
But the difference between the Middle Ages and today, Prof. de Oliveira observed, is that in the Middle Ages one had more than just great sinners. One also had great contritions, great repentances, great conversions, and great penances for lives of sin, and this is what we lack today.

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July 6 – Bl. Thomas Alfield

July 6, 2026

Bl. Thomas Alfield

(AUFIELD, ALPHILDE, HAWFIELD, OFFELDUS; alias BADGER).

Stone marking the site of the Tyburn tree on the traffic island at the junction of Edgware Road, Marble Arch and Oxford Street

Priest, born at Gloucestershire; martyred at Tyburn, 6 July, 1585. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge (1568). He was afterwards converted and came to Douai College in 1576, but the troubles there compelled him to intermit his studies for four years, and he was eventually ordained and sent forth from Reims in 1581. Here he was associated with the celebrated mission of Blessed Edmund Campion and Father Persons, and he persuaded the latter to take as his servant his brother Robert Alfield, then recently converted, but who afterwards became a traitor of note. Thomas seems to have laboured chiefly in the north, where after a time he was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, 2 May, 1582. Here he at first made a “glorious” confession, and even endured torture; but being afterwards sent back to the north, he fell, and went to the Protestant Church. Upon regaining liberty he was deeply penitent for his fall, and returned to Dr. Allen at Reims to gather new resolution. Returning again to England he was induced by the famous seaman John Davis (about March, 1584) to make for him offers — presumably insincere on Davis’s part — of services to Spain. In August of the same year Dr. Allen’s celebrated “True and modest Defence” appeared in answer to Burghley’s “Execution of Justice”. To circulate such books as Allen’s was of the greatest service to the Faith. Alfield undertook the dangerous task with the help of a dyer by the name of Thomas Webley, and of one Crabbe. After some months he was again arrested, and again sent to the Tower, whence he was removed to Newgate and tried. Crabbe renounced the pope and thereby saved his life; the other two were hanged. A reprieve had, for some unknown reason, been granted for Alfield, but it arrived too late.

CHALLONER, Missionary Priests (Edinburgh, 1877); GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s.v. Alfield, Thomas; KNOX, Letters of Cardinal Allen (London, 1882); there are also several references to Alfield in the Record Office, London, many of which are given by SIMPSON in The Rambler, new ser., VII, 420-431.

PATRICK RYAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

[Ed. note: He was beatified in 1929]

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The Duchess of Navailles is unjustly punished by Louis XIV for upholding honor

July 6, 2026

It was about this time that the king appeared to attach himself to Mademoiselle de La Motte-Houdancourt, maid of honor to the queen….

The Duchesse de Navailles, lady of honor to the queen, believed herself obliged, in the discharge of her duties, one of which is the care of the maids of honor, to oppose the king’s sentiments. She spoke to him often as a Christian and an honest woman. At first the king merely showed that he did not like these disagreeable little harangues; on other occasions also he seemed ill-pleased; but this was shown in so civil a manner that she thought she had no reason to fear his anger.

Some time went by in this way; but at last the desire for victory, and the annoyance that opposition causes in the breasts of men, particularly those of sovereigns, made themselves strongly felt in the king’s heart. He let Madame de Navailles know that she was exposing herself to the danger of displeasing him, and he commanded her, through Le Tellier, not to meddle any longer with the behavior of the queen’s maids of honor; and he even had several methods proposed to her of accommodating his wishes under honorable appearances. She answered the minister that it would not be fulfilling her obligations to cease to do her duty; and that so long as the king was pleased to leave her in her office, she should do the functions of it in the best manner possible to her.

Then the king became angry in good earnest, and told her she ought to fear what he could do against her; and that she had better refrain from disobeying him, out of consideration for her own interests. She replied that she had already considered them, and saw all the evils that the loss of his good graces might cause her; and then, enumerating herself her offices and those of her husband, she told him that the withdrawal of all those benefits could not change the resolution she had made to satisfy the duty of her conscience. She conjured him to seek elsewhere than in the household of the queen the objects of his pleasure and his inclinations, inasmuch as he appeared to have done so already in the person of Mademoiselle de La Vallière.
The king grumbled, and seemed vexed and out of temper; but that evening, or the next day, Madame de Navailles being in the queen’s bedroom, leaning against the silver balustrade, the king came up to her and, offering his hand with a gentle and favorable manner, asked for peace. He did this action not only as a great prince, striving to vanquish himself by triumphing over his weakness, but also as a very honest man who had too much sense to refuse to give his esteem to one who deserved it.
Madame de Navailles acted after this for quite a time without constraint, and the king seemed satisfied. He continued, however, to meet Mademoiselle de La Motte-Houdancourt at the rooms of the Comtesse de Soissons, who fostered this passion in the heart of the king as much as she could. She hated the Duchesse de Navailles…
The king’s heart was filled with the human follies which in youth make the false happiness of many an honorable man. He let himself be gently led by his passions, and chose to satisfy them. He was then at Saint-Germain, and had taken a habit of going to the apartment of the queen’s maids of honor. As the entrance to their chamber was forbidden by the sternness of the lady of honor, he often talked with Mademoiselle de La Motte-Houdancourt through a hole in the partition, which was made of pine boards.

I was at this time in Paris, and had gone to the Val-de-Grâce in attendance on the queen-mother. There I met my friend, Madame de Navailles, and saw her anxiety. She told me of the position in which the king placed her by his eagerness for the girl, and said that she had just consulted a learned and pious man as to her duty in the matter, whose answer had been decisive. He told her she was bound to lose all her establishments rather than fail in her duty by criminal compliance. She seemed to me resolved to follow that advice; but it was not without shedding a great many tears, and feeling the anguish in which these two great alternatives threw her. On her return to Saint-Germain, she learned by her spies that men of good appearance had been seen at night on the gutters and around certain chimneys which from the roof could lead adventurers into the apartment of the maids of honor. The zeal of the Duchesse de Navailles was now so great that, without checking herself, or seeking means to prevent with less scandal the thing she feared, she at once ordered all these passages closed with iron gratings. By this action she preferred her duty to her fortunes, and the fear of offending God was greater in her than the desire to be agreeable to the king, which in the eyes of the people of the great world is the greatest pleasure to be enjoyed at a Court, when it can be done innocently.

It is not amazing that the king was now in good earnest irritated against the Duchesse de Navailles, saying that he only pressed the adventure in order to annoy her, and that her boastful virtue could no longer be borne. But as he had in all things a marvelous power over himself, he did not show at this time all that he felt about the iron gratings, and concealed his vexation under the ridicule and contempt with which he spoke of them. But he did not forget them, and his remembrance brought grievous results on those who had dared to resist him…. He complained to the Duc de Navailles for not restraining his wife from doing what might be disagreeable to him, and blamed him for seeming to approve of her conduct. The queen-mother valued the feelings of both husband and wife, and often told the Duchesse de Navailles to continue to act virtuously, assuring her that some day the king would praise her for it….

Shortly after, the king, followed by the queens and all the Court, went to establish himself at Fontainebleau for part of the summer. It was there that, on a mere word which the Duc de Navailles said to him in speaking of a matter of little consequence relating to the cavalry, the king showed anger to him publicly, and the ruin of himself and wife was determined. They received commands (June, 1664) to give in their resignation of Havre-de-Grâce, of the lieutenancy of the light-horse cavalry, and the office of lady-of-honor.

Memoirs of Madame De Motteville on Anne of Austria and Her Court, trans. Katharine Prescott Wormeley (Boston: Hardy, Pratt & Company, 1902), Vol. III, pp. 277-281, 296-297).

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 7

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July 7 – Prince Abbots

July 6, 2026

Sts. Willibald and Winnebald

(WUNIBALD, WYNNEBALD).

Members of the Order of St. Benedict, brothers, natives probably of Wessex in England, the former, first Bishop of Eichstätt, born on 21 October, 700 (701); died on 7 July, 781 (787); the latter, Abbot of Heidenheim, born in 702; died on 18 (19) December, 761. They were the children of St. Richard, commonly called the King; their mother was a relative of St. Boniface.

Photo in St. Willibald Church in Deining by DALIBRI. The family of Saints: the parents, St. Richard the Pilgrim, St. Wuna and their children, St. Willibald, seated, St. Walburga and St. Winibald on the right.

Willibald entered the Abbey of Waltham in Hampshire at the age of five and was educated by Egwald. He made a pilgrimage to Rome in 722 with his father and brother. Richard died at Lucca and was buried in the Church of St. Frigidian. After an attack of malaria Willibald started from Rome in 724 with two companions on a trip to the Holy Land, passed the winter at Patara, and arrived at Jerusalem on 11 November, 725. He then went to Tyre, to Constantinople, and in 730 arrived at the Abbey of Monte Casino, after having visited the grave of St. Severin of Noricum in Naples. In 740 he was again at Rome, whence he was sent by Gregory III to Germany. There he was welcomed by St. Boniface, who ordained him on 22 July, 741, and assigned him to missionary work at Eichstätt. Possibly the ordination of Willibald was connected with Boniface‘s missionary plans regarding the Slavs. On 21 October, 741 (742), Boniface consecrated him bishop at Sülzenbrücken near Gotha. The Diocese of Eichstätt was formed a few years later. Winnebald had, after the departure of his brother for Palestine, lived in a monastery at Rome.

Photo of St. Willibald at the Eichstätt Cathedral by Mattana.

In 730 he visited England to procure candidates for the religious state and returned the same year. On his third visit to Rome, St. Boniface received a promise that Winnebald would go to Germany. Winnebald arrived in Thuringia on 30 November, 740, and was ordained priest. He took part in the Concilium Germanicum, 21 April, 744 (742), was present at the Synod of Liptine, 1 March, 745 (743), subscribed Pepin’s donation to Fulda, 753; joined the League of Attigny in 762; and subscribed the last will of Remigius, Bishop of Strasburg. With his brother he founded the double monastery of Heidenheim in 752; Winnebald was placed as abbot over the men, and his sister, St. Walburga, governed the female community. Winnebald’s body was found incorrupt eighteen years after his death. His name is mentioned in the Benedictine Martyrology. Willlbald blessed the new church of Heidenheim in 778. His feast occurs in the Roman Martyrology on 7 July, but in England it is observed by concession of Leo XIII on 9 July. A costly reliquary for his remains was completed in 1269.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 7 – The Princess who left court and entered a forest monastery

July 6, 2026

St. Edelburga, Virgin, also called St. Æthelburh of Faremoutiers.

Map of Faremoutiers. The modern village of Faremoutiers grew up around the abbey which was endowed with lands by Saint Fara.

She was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of which she succeeded its foundress St. Fara. After her death her body remained uncorrupt, as Bede testifies. [1]

She is honoured in the Roman, French, and English Martyrologies on this day. [2] In these latter her niece St. Earcongota is named with her. She was daughter to Earconbercht king of Kent, and of St. Sexburga; accompanied St. Edelburga to Faremoutier, and there taking the veil with her, lived a great example of all virtues, and was honoured after her happy death by many miracles, as Bede relates. Hereswide, the wife of king Anna, the mother of many saints, after the death of her husband, retired also into France, and consecrated herself to God in the famous monastery of Cale or Chelles, five leagues from Paris, near the Marne, (founded by St. Clotilda, but chiefly endowed by St. Bathildes,) where she persevered, advancing daily in holy fervour to her happy death.

See the history of the monastery of Chelles in the sixth tome of the late history of the diocess of Paris, by Abbé Lebeuf, and Solier on this day, p. 481, etc.
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Note 1. Bede, b. 3, c. 6.
Note 2. On St. Edelburga, see Solier the Bollandist, ad diem 7 Julij, t. 2, p. 481. She is called in French St. Aubierge. See on her also Du Plessis, Hist. de Meaux.

(from: The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VII: July, p. 43)

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July 7 – Only two cardinals dared to stand with the pope

July 6, 2026

Blessed Pope Benedict XI

(Nicholas Boccasini)

Born at Treviso, Italy, 1240; died at Perugia, 7 July, 1304. He entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. After fourteen years of study, he became lector of theology, which office he filled for several years. In 1296 he was elected Master General of the Order. As at this time hostility to Boniface VIII was becoming more pronounced, the new general issued an ordinance forbidding his subjects to favour in any way the opponents of the reigning pontiff; he also enjoined on them to defend in their sermons, when opportune, the legitimacy of the election of Boniface. This loyalty of Boccasini, which remained unshaken to the end, was recognized by Boniface, who showed him many marks of favour and confidence. Thus with the two cardinal-legates, the Dominican General formed the important embassy, the purpose of which was the concluding of an armistice between Edward I of England and Philip IV of France, then at war with each other. In the year 1298 Boccasini was elevated to the cardinalate; he was afterwards appointed Bishop of Ostia and Dean of the Sacred College. As at that time Hungary was rent by civil war, the cardinal-bishop was sent thither by the Holy See as legate a latere to labour for the restoration of peace. At the time of the return of the legate to Rome, the famous contest of Boniface VIII with Philip the Fair had reached its height. When, in 1303, the enemies of the pope had made themselves masters of the sacred palace, of all the cardinals and prelates only the two Cardinal-Bishops of Ostia and Sabina remained at the side of the venerable Pontiff to defend him from the violence of William of Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna.

Tomb of Pope Benedict XI in San Domenico Church in Perugia, Italy. Photo by ho visto nina volare.

A month after this scene of violence, Boniface having died, Boccasini was unanimously elected Pope, 22 October, taking the name of Benedict XI. The principal event of his pontificate was the restoration of peace with the French court. Immediately after his election Philip sent three ambassadors to the pope bearing the royal letter of congratulation. The king, while professing his obedience and devotion, recommended to the benevolence of the pope the Kingdom and Church of France. Benedict, judging a policy of indulgence to be necessary for the restoration of peace with the French court, absolved Philip and his subjects from the censures they had incurred and restored the king and kingdom to the rights and privileges of which they had been deprived by Boniface. The Colonna cardinals were also absolved from their censures, but not reinstated in their former dignities. This policy of leniency Benedict carried out without compromising the dignity of the Holy See or the memory of Boniface VIII. Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna and those implicated in the outrage of Anagni were declared excommunicated and summoned to appear before the pontifical tribunal. After a brief pontificate of eight months, Benedict died suddenly at Perugia. It was suspected, not altogether without reason, that his sudden death was caused by poisoning through the agency of William of Nogaret. Benedict XI was beatified in the year 1773. His feast is celebrated at Rome and throughout the Dominican Order on the 7th of July. He is the author of a volume of sermons and commentaries on a part of the Gospel of St. Matthew, on the Psalms, the Book of Job, and the Apocalypse.

Ptol. Luc., Hist. Eccl. III, 672; Bernardus Guidonis, Vit. pont. rom., IX, 1010; Script. Ord. Præd., I, 444; Grandjean, Les registres de Benoît XI (Paris, 1883); Funke, Papst Benedikt XI (Münster, 1891); Artaud de Montor, History of the Popes (New York, 1867), I, 481-484; Année Dominicaine, vii, 125-54; 874-77; and the monograph of Ferreton (Treviso, 1904).

M. A. Waldron (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 8 – Archbishops of Baltimore and St. Louis

July 6, 2026

Francis Patrick and Peter Richard Kenrick

Archbishops respectively of Baltimore, Maryland, and of St. Louis, Missouri. They were sons of Thomas Kenrick and his wife Jane, and were born in the older part of the city of Dublin, Ireland, the first-named on 3 December, 1797, and the second on 17 August, 1806. An uncle, Father Richard Kenrick was for several years parish priest of St. Nicholas of Myra in the same city, and he cultivated carefully the quality of piety which he observed at an early age in both children.

I. FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK

Cardinal Francis Patrick Kenrick

Francis Patrick was sent by his uncle to a good classical school, and at the age of eighteen was selected as one of those who were to go to Rome to study for the priesthood. Here he became deeply impressed with the gentle bearing of Pius VII, who had just then been restored to his capital after long imprisonment by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the lesson it taught him bore fruit many years afterwards when he was called on to deal with the onslaughts on Catholics and their Church in the United States in the years of the Nativist and Know-nothing uprisings. His progress in his clerical studies was rapid, his sanctity conspicuous — so much so as to mark him out for early distinction. He confined himself to the study of his class-books, lectures, and the study of the Scriptures, and worked out in his own mind not a few weighty problems. He soon acquired a familiarity with the patristic writings and the Sacred Text that enabled him later on to give the Church in the United States valuable treatises on theological and Biblical literature. He consulted no translations, but took the Hebrew text or the Greek, and pondered on its significance in the light of his own reason and erudition. The rector of Propaganda College Cardinal Litta, had no hesitation in selecting him despite his youth, when a call came from Bishop Flaget for priests for the American field. He was chosen for the chair of theology at Bardstown Seminary, Kentucky. This post he held for nine years at the same time teaching Greek and history in the College of St. Joseph in the same state, and giving in addition professorial help in every educational institution in the state. He also did much valuable work in the missionary field, and engaged in controversy in the public press with some aggressive polemists of the Episcopal and Presbyterian communions. He made many converts at that time, and in 1826-7 had fifty to his credit, as well as a record of twelve hundred confirmations and six thousand communicants. His fame as a preacher was widespread, and his manner most winning.

In 1829 he attended the Provincial Council of Baltimore as theologian to Bishop Flaget, and was appointed secretary to the assembly. There, among the other weighty subjects, had to be considered the distracted state of the Diocese of Philadelphia, then labouring under the troubles begotten of the Hogan schism. Hogan was an excommunicated priest, who persisted in celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments despite the interdict, and had a considerable following in the city. Bishop Conwell had by this time become enfeebled and nearly blind, and Rev. William Matthews of Washington had been appointed vicar-general to assist him. Before the council rose it had named Father Kenrick as coadjutor bishop and forwarded the nomination to the Holy See. It was soon confirmed, Doctor Kenrick’s title being Bishop of Arath in partibus. He was consecrated in Bardstown by Bishop Flaget, assisted by Bishops England, Conwell, David, and Fenwick, on 6 June 1830, being then only thirty-four years old. A quarrel with the trustees of St. Mary’s broke out immediately on his arrival, resulting in an interdict being placed upon the church by the new bishop. This brought the trustees to their senses, and they gave up the contest for the control of the funds — the power by means of which they had been to browbeat the preceding ordinaries. Bishop Kenrick soon obtained the passage of a law to prevent the recurrence of such conflicts, by having the bishop’s name substituted for those of the trustees in all bequests for the Church. His first thought, after this trouble was over, was the erection of a seminary for the training of young men for the priesthood, the humble quarters in which he began the experiment eventually being succeeded by the present seminary of St. Charles Borromeo at Overbrook.

A terrible outbreak of cholera took place in Philadelphia soon after the bishop’s arrival, and he gained the gratitude of the authorities and the people at large for his exertions in the mitigation of the pest. He sent the Sisters of Charity to attend the stricken, and gave the parochial residence of St. Augustine’s as a temporary hospital; the local priests, at the same time, went about fearlessly among the stricken, ministering to their spiritual comforts. For these services he was voted public thanks by the mayor and councils of the city. To the Sisters of Charity was tendered a service of plate by the grateful authorities, but this offer was promptly and politely declined by those ladies. Soon after this episode Bishop Kenrick set about the utilization of the press for the spread of Catholic doctrine. He started the “Catholic Herald” placing the paper under the direction of the Reverend John Hughes, afterwards Archbishop of New York. He also began the erection of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to replace St. Mary’s, which had been so fruitful a source of trouble to him and his predecessor. Graver trouble soon started up in the form of the anti-Catholic Nativist outbreak of 1844. Furious mobs, maddened by inflammatory harangues about the Bible and the public schools, started out in Philadelphia, as in Boston and other cities, to attack churches and convents. They burned St. Augustine’s in Philadelphia and and attacked St. Michael’s and St. John’s, but were driven off by the military. They burned many houses in Kensington, the Catholic district, and killed many unoffending people, but were dispersed at Iength by the soldiery, leaving several of their number dead.

Engraving of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Pennsylvania.

Bishop Kenrick, during this reign of terror, did everything he could to stem the rioting. He ordered the doors of all the churches to be closed and cessation of Divine worship as a protest against the supineness of the authorities, the clergy went about in ordinary civil attire, and the sacred vessels and vestments were taken from the churches to places of security with private families. These prudent measures had the effect of restoring a state of peace to the city. The Diocese of Philadelphia had earlier included Pittsburg in a large part of New Jersey, and in 1843 it was divided, the Rev. Michael O’Connor being consecrated Bishop of Pittsburg in August of that year by Cardinal Fransoni at St. Agatha’s in Rome. This step proved a great relief to Bishop Kenrick, upon whom the care of his vast diocese and its arduous visitations at a period of primitive crudeness in travelling and accommodation, were beginning to leave a deep mark. In 1845 he visited Rome for the first time since his consecration and was received most graciously by the pope.

In August, 1851, Bishop Kenrick was transferred to Baltimore as successor to Archbishop Eccleston, who had just died. Moreover he received from the Holy See the dignity of Apostolic delegate, and in this capacity he convened and presided over the First Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852. One of the results of that important gathering was the establishment of branches of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. It was Archbishop Kenrick also who in 1853 introduced the Forty Hours’ devotion into the United States. In 1854 he was called upon by the Holy Father to collect and forward to him the respective opinions of the American bishops on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The latter part of the same year found him back in Rome as a participant in the ceremonies attendant on the proclamation of that dogma.

A fresh outbreak of anti-Catholic fury took place soon after the archbishop’s return, occasioned by the arrival of Monsignor Bedini as papal nuncio, and the inflammatory and Iying speeches of the ex-priest Alessandro Gavazzi, on the nuncio’s action while in Bologna during the rising against Austria. Many churches and convents were burned as in the previous outbreak, and many lives were lost in New England and Kentucky, in Cincinnati and other cities. But no religious disturbances occurred in Maryland to perturb the archhishop’s closing years. The Civil War, however, soon came to rend his heart, and he died on the morning after the battle of Gettysburg (8 July, 1863), his end being hastened, it was believed, by rumours of the terrible slaughter that went on not far from his residence. When Bishop Kenrick went to Philadelphia in 1830 there were only four churches in the city and one in the suburbs, and ten priests, when he left at in 1857, the diocese contained 94 churches and many religious institutions, and was the home of 101 priests and 46 seminarians, besides numerous religious orders. The chief literary works of Archbishop Kenrick were a new translation of the Bible, with a commentary; a “Moral and Dogmatic Theology”; a “Commentary on the Book of Job”, “The Primacy of Peter”, and letters to the Protestant bishops of the United States on Christian unity.

I. PETER RICHARD KENRICK

Peter Richard had to work closely in the scriveners office of his father after the latter’s death in order to help to maintain his mother and himself, as well as carry on the business, but was enabled by his own industry and his uncle’s help to enter Maynooth College at the age of twenty-one. Previous to his entry he had been tolerably well trained in Latin and other essentials by Father Richard, while his taste for secular literature had been acquired through associations with the unfortunate poet and littérateur, James Clarance Mangan, who had for several years worked beside him as a clerk at the scrivener’s desk. After five years’ assiduous study he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Murray of Dublin, and, on the death of his mother, after a few months of local missionary work, left for the United States on the invitation of his brother and took up work with him in Philadelphia. He was given the post of president of the seminary as well as that of rector of the cathedral and vicar-general of the diocese. This was in the latter part of 1833. During his seven years of missionary work with his brother he produced several works which built up his fame as a theologian, as “Validity of Anglican Ordinations examined” (Philadelphia, 1841), “New Month of Mary”, and “History of the Holy House of Loretto” in 1840 he left for Rome, with the idea of entering the Jesuit Order, but was dissuaded from carrying out his intention by the superior in Rome. Bishop Rosati met the young priest there, and requested the Holy See to give him to the See of St. Louis as his coadjutor, so pleased was he with his character and qualities. The Holy See assented, and both returned from Rome to have the ceremony of consecration performed in the United States. This was done in Philadelphia, Bishop Rosati officiating and the new prelate’s brother and Bishop Lefevre of Detroit assisting, while Bishop England delivered the consecration.

Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick

The new bishop was given the title of Drasa, and had the right of succession in St. Louis. Bishop Rosati died a short time afterwards on a special mission in Haiti, and the care of the diocese devolved upon his young coadjutor at a much earlier period than either could have anticipated. It was no sinecure, for the financial affairs of the Church in St. Louis were in a deplorable condition. There was a very heavy debt on the cathedral, and he found the Catholics of the diocese by no means anxious to remove it. The bishop then saw that he must either resign or get other means of raising funds, and he took the bold course of getting into the real-estate business. He was most successful. A local gentleman named Thornton made a bequest of 300,000 dollars to the Church, others deposited their money with the bishop; he made fortunate investments in real estate; and, when values generally declined on the outbreak of the Civil War, he paid all his depositors in gold. The St. Louis diocese was enormous in extent at that time, as it embraced the whole of the States of Missouri and Arkansas, and half of Illinois, the task of visitation was one of immense toil, but the new bishop did not shrink from it. He had for helper and companion Rev. Thomas Cusack, with whom he had often to ride hundreds of miles on horseback, and sleep at night time in a log cabin or boarded hut. The paucity of churches in the diocese he also found a great drawback, the lack of clergy was another. He soon obtained much help from the Lazarists and Jesuits, as well as from the German population. The Visitation nuns and Sisters of St. Joseph, as well as the Sisters of Charity driven out by fire and flood from other places, came to St. Louis, and soon matters began to look brighter for the bishop. By a brief from Pope Pius IX, the dignity of archhishop was bestowed upon him; and at the Seventh Provincial Council of Baltimore a petition to have five suffragan bishops appointed — namely for St. Paul, Dubuque, Nashville, Chicago, and Milwaukee — was adopted, and was granted by the Holy See. After consecrating many bishops and ordaining many priests, the archbishop went to Baltimore to attend the First Plenary Council, and made a profound impression on the assembly by his logical keenness and his great erudition.

First Vatican Council

The Civil War found him a resolute defender of the Church’s position, when the “Drake Constitution” which proposed a test oath for all ministers of religion, was passed in Missouri. He sent out an order that all his clergy must refuse to take the oath, as its terms were insulting. Some of the clergy were sent to prison for doing so, but the archbishop took their cases from court to court and ultimately succeeded in having the Drake Law declared unconstitutional. At the Vatican Council of December, 1869, he was one of the prelates who were opposed to the definition of the dogma of Papal Infallibility, and voted “non placet” at the preliminary private sitting. He did not attend the session at which the dogma was promulgated, but publicly submitted to the voice of the majority as the authority of the Church, when he learned of the proclamation. For coadjutor bishops he had firstly the Right Reverend P.J. Ryan, and secondly the Right Reverend John J. Kain, who on his death succeeded him. The archbishop’s golden jubilee was celebrated with great distinction in 1891, but he was then in very feeble health. He died on 3 March two years afterwards. His best known work, besides “Anglican Ordinations,” is the “Month of Mary” (Philadelphia, 1843). The growth of the St. Louis province under his rule was described by Archbishop Hennessy at the jubilee celebration in 1891 as “stupendous”. During his episcopate sixteen new Sees were carved out of the original Diocese of St. Louis, viz. Little Rock (1843), Santa Fe and St. Paul (1850); Leavenworth (1851); Alton and Omaha (1857); Green Bay, La Crosse, St. Joseph, and Denver (1868); Kansas City (1880) Davenport (1881) Wichita, Cheyenne, Concordia, and Lincoln (1887).

Kenrick, MS. Diary and Itinerary in Philadelphia Archives and Correspondence in Archives of Baltimore and St. Louis; CLARKE, Lives of Deceased Prelates (New York, 1872); SHEA, Catholic Church in the United States (New York, 1892); O’CONNER, Archbishop Kenrick and His Work (Philadelphia, 1867); SPALDLING, Sketches (Baltimore, 1800); WEBB, Centenary of Catholicism in Kentucky (Louisville, 1884); WALSH, Jubilee Memoir (St. Louis, 1891); VALETTE, Catholicity in Eastern Pennsylvania in Catholic Record (Philadelphia, 1800).

John J. O’Shea (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 8 – Vasco da Gama Prays To Our Lady Before Setting Out For India

July 6, 2026

At Belém they were all kneeling at his side: Paulo da Gama, his brother, with Nicolau Coelho and Gonçalo Nunes, his other captains and their pilots, Pero de Alenquer, João de Coimbra, Pero Escolar, Afonso Gonçalves; and likewise the “secretaries” Diogo Dias, João de Sá and Álvaro de Braga. Bartolomeu Dias was also there, for his caravel was to leave with the fleet on its way to the castle of St. George. Their eyes were fixed on the standard hanging before the altar to receive the protection of the Holy Virgin Mary and her divine son. As they prayed, they laid their pride, their fears and their hopes at the feet of her whose name means in Hebrew “Star of the Sea.”

The departure of Vasco da Gama to India in 1497. Painting by Alfredo Roque Gameiro.

The glass in the windows lightened, and the flames of the candles grew yellow. A religious of the Order of Christ, one of those brought by King Henry from the convent at Tomar to be ever ready to administer the sacraments to departing sailors, mounted the altar and celebrated the divine sacrifice. Gama and all his captains, officers and pilots took Communion….

That July 8, 1497, was a feast consecrated to the Virgin. As the capitão-mor and his companions left the chapel, they paused for a moment, dazzled by the sight of the immense throng which even at that early hour covered the strand….

Painting of Vasco da Gama by António Manuel da Fonseca.

From all the neighboring parishes and nearby convents and monasteries, priests and religious had gathered in great numbers to join those of the Order of Christ and add their prayers to those just uttered before the altar of Our Lady of Belém…. The priests chanted the litany of the saints:

Kyrie, eleison!

Christe, eleison!

Kyrie, eleison!

Christe, audi nos!

Christe, exaudi nos!

“Miserere nobis!” cried the throng, responding to the invocations.

Gilbert Renault, The Caravels of Christ, trans. Richmond Hill (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1959), 157-8.

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July 8 – The Pope who fought the democrats

July 6, 2026

Pope Blessed Eugene III

Bernardo Pignatelli, born in the neighbourhood of Pisa, elected 15 Feb., 1145; d. at Tivoli, 8 July, 1153. On the very day that Pope Lucius II succumbed, either to illness or wounds, the Sacred College, foreseeing that the Roman populace would make a determined effort to force the new pontiff to abdicate his temporal power and swear allegiance to the Senatus Populusque Romanus, hastily buried the deceased pope in the Lateran and withdrew to the remote cloister of St. Cæsarius on the Appian Way. Here, for reasons unascertained, they sought a candidate outside their body, and unanimously chose the Cistercian monk, Bernard of Pisa, abbot of the monastery of Tre Fontane, on the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom. He was enthroned as Eugene III without delay in St. John Lateran, and since residence in the rebellious city was impossible, the pope and his cardinals fled to the country. Their rendezvous was the monastery of Farfa, where Eugene received the episcopal consecration. The city of Viterbo, the hospitable refuge of so many of the afflicted medieval popes, opened its gates to welcome him; and thither he proceeded to await developments. Though powerless in face of the Roman mob, he was assured by embassies from all the European powers that he possessed the sympathy and affectionate homage of the entire Christian world.

Pope Eugene III

Concerning the parentage, birth-place, and even the original name of Eugene, each of his biographers has advanced a different opinion. All that can be affirmed as certain is that he was of the noble family of Pignatelli, and whether he received the name of Bernardo in baptism or only upon entering religion, must remain uncertain. He was educated in Pisa, and after his ordination was made a canon of the cathedral. Later he held the office of vice-dominus or steward of the temporalities of the diocese. In 1130 he came under the magnetic influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux; five years later when the saint returned home from the Synod of Pisa, the vice-dominus accompanied him as a novice. In course of time he was employed by his order on several important affairs; and lastly was sent with a colony of monks to repeople the ancient Abbey of Farfa; but Innocent II placed them instead at the Tre Fontane.

Bernard of Clairvaux

St. Bernard received the intelligence of the elevation of his disciple with astonishment and pleasure, and gave expression to his feelings in a paternal letter addressed to the new pope, in which occurs the famous passage so often quoted by reformers, true and false: “Who will grant me to see, before I die, the Church of God as in the days of old when the Apostles let down their nets for a draught, not of silver and gold, but of souls?” The saint, moreover, proceeded to compose in his few moments of leisure that admirable handbook for popes called “De Consideratione”. Whilst Eugene sojourned at Viterbo, Arnold of Brescia, who had been condemned by the Council of 1139 to exile from Italy, ventured to return at the beginning of the new pontificate and threw himself on the clemency of the pope. Believing in the sincerity of his repentance, Eugene absolved him and enjoined on him as penance fasting and a visit to the tombs of the Apostles. If the veteran demagogue entered Rome in a penitential mood, the sight of democracy based on his own principles soon caused him to revert to his former self. He placed himself at the head of the movement, and his incendiary philippics against the bishops, cardinals, and even the ascetic pontiff who treated him with extreme lenity, worked his hearers into such fury that Rome resembled a city captured by barbarians. The palaces of the cardinals and of such of the nobility as held with the pope were razed to the ground; churches and monasteries were pillaged; St. Peter’s church was turned into an arsenal; and pious pilgrims were plundered and maltreated.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_di_Paolo_La_Procession_de_saint_Gregoire_au_chateau_saint_Ange.jpg

Many Medieval popes fled to Castel Sant’Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian) to escape the fickle Romans

But the storm was too violent to last. Only an idiot could fail to understand that medieval Rome without the pope had no means of subsistence. A strong party was formed in Rome and the vicinity consisting of the principal families and their adherents, in the interests of order and the papacy, and the democrats were induced to listen to words of moderation. A treaty was entered into with Eugene by which the Senate was preserved but subject to the papal sovereignty and swearing allegiance to the supreme pontiff. The senators were to be chosen annually by popular election and in a committee of their body the executive power was lodged. The pope and the senate should have separate courts, and an appeal could be made from the decisions of either court to the other. By virtue of this treaty Eugene made a solemn entry into Rome a few days before Christmas, and was greeted by the fickle populace with boundless enthusiasm. But the dual system of government proved unworkable. The Romans demanded the destruction of Tivoli. This town had been faithful to Eugene during the rebellion of the Romans and merited his protection. He therefore refused to permit it to be destroyed. The Romans growing more and more turbulent, he retired to Castel S. Angelo, thence to Viterbo, and finally crossed the Alps, early in 1146.

St. Bernard preaching the Second Crusade painted by Émile Signol.

Problems lay before the pope of vastly greater importance than the maintenance of order in Rome. The Christian principalities in Palestine and Syria were threatened with extinction. The fall of Edessa (1144) had aroused consternation throughout the West, and already from Viterbo Eugene had addressed a stirring appeal to the chivalry of Europe to hasten to the defence of the Holy Places. St. Bernard was commissioned to preach the Second Crusade, and he acquitted himself of the task with such success that within a couple of years two magnificent armies, commanded by the King of the Romans and the King of France, were on their way to Palestine. That the Second Crusade was a wretched failure cannot be ascribed to the saint or the pope; but it is one of those phenomena so frequently met with in the history of the papacy, that a pope who was made to subdue to a handful of rebellious subjects could hurl all Europe against the Saracens. Eugene spent three busy and fruitful years in France, intent on the propagation of the Faith, the correction of errors and abuses, and the maintenance of discipline. He sent Cardinal Breakspear (afterwards Adrian IV) as legate to Scandinavia; he entered into relations with the Orientals with a view to reunion; he proceeded with vigor against the nascent Manichean heresies. In several synods (Paris, 1147, Trier, 1148), notably in the great Synod of Reims (1148), canons were enacted regarding the dress and conduct of the clergy. To ensure the strict execution of these canons, the bishops who should neglect to enforce them were threatened with suspension. Eugene was inexorable in punishing the unworthy. He deposed the metropolitans of York and Mainz, and for a cause which St. Bernard thought not sufficiently grave, he withdrew the pallium from the Archbishop of Reims. But if the saintly pontiff could at times be severe, this was not his natural disposition.

“Never”, wrote Ven. Peter of Cluny to St. Bernard, “have I found a truer friend, a sincerer brother, a purer father. His ear is ever ready to hear, his tongue is swift and mighty to advise. Nor does he comport himself as one’s superior, but rather as an equal or an inferior… I have never made him a request which he has not either granted, or so refused that I could not reasonably complain.” On the occasion of a visit which he paid to Clairvaux, his former companions discovered to their joy that “he who externally shone in the pontifical robes remained in his heart an observant monk”.

The prolonged sojourn of the pope in France was of great advantage to the French Church in many ways and enhanced the prestige of the papacy. Eugene also encouraged the new intellectual movement to which Peter Lombard had given a strong impulse. With the aid of Cardinal Pullus, his chancellor, who had established the University of Oxford on a lasting basis, he reduced the schools of theology and philosophy to better form. He encouraged Gratian in his herculean task of arranging the Decretals, and we owe to him various useful regulations bearing on academic degrees. In the spring of 1148, the pope returned by easy stages to Italy. On 7 July, he met the Italian bishops at Cremona, promulgated the canons of Reims for Italy, and solemnly excommunicated Arnold of Brescia, who still reigned over the Roman mob. Eugene, having brought with him considerable financial aid, began to gather his vassals and advanced to Viterbo and thence to Tusculum. Here he was visited by King Louis of France, whom he reconciled to his queen, Eleanor. With the assistance of Roger of Sicily, he forced his way into Rome (1149), and celebrated Christmas in the Lateran. His stay was not of long duration. During the next three years the Roman court wandered in exile through the Campagna while both sides looked for the intervention of Conrad of Germany, offering him the imperial crown. Aroused by the earnest exhortations of St. Bernard, Conrad finally decided to descend into Italy and put an end to the anarchy in Rome. Death overtook him in the midst of his preparations on 15 Feb., 1152, leaving the task to his more energetic nephew, Frederick Barbarossa. The envoys of Eugene having concluded with Frederick at Constance, in the spring of 1153, a treaty favorable to the interests of the Church and the empire, the more moderate of the Romans, seeing that the days of democracy were numbered, joined with the nobles in putting down the Arnoldists, and the pontiff was enabled to spend his concluding days in peace.

Statue of Pope Eugene III in Portugal

Eugene is said to have gained the affection of the people by his affability and generosity. He died at Tivoli, whither he had gone to avoid the summer heats, and was buried in front of the high altar in St. Peters, Rome. St. Bernard followed him to the grave (20 Aug.). “The unassuming but astute pupil of St. Bernard”, says Gregorovius, “had always continued to wear the coarse habit of Clairvaux beneath the purple; the stoic virtues of monasticism accompanied him through his stormy career, and invested him with that power of passive resistance which has always remained the most effectual weapon of the popes.” St. Antoninus pronounces Eugene III “one of the greatest and most afflicted of the popes”. Pius IX by a decree of 28 Dec., 1872, approved the cult which from time immemorial the Pisans have rendered to their countryman, and ordered him to be honored with Mass and Office ritu duplici on the anniversary of his death.

1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

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What Should We Ask from Our Lady on Our 250th Birthday?

July 2, 2026

By John Horvat II

This year, we celebrate the 250th year of our nation’s birth. Over all those years, we have lived, suffered and triumphed together. We have known good times and bad. Overall, we have much to show for our efforts. Never has a more prosperous nation existed in history. It helps that God gave us a richly endowed nation. We have a vast and bountiful land full of natural resources and fertile soil.

He also created us as a practical people. We have many natural skills that help us to exploit this God-given bounty. Our people are industrious, resourceful and organized. Add daring, courage and persistence, and you have a formula for success. We are a generous people willing to share the fruits of our labor with those in need, here and abroad. We have even shed our blood, fighting around the world to defend good causes and to suppress evil and injustice.

More importantly, we are a very religious people. Perhaps we don’t think of ourselves in these terms, but we like religious matters. Those outside America marvel at our appetite for spiritual things. Perhaps our excessive materialism makes us feel our spiritual impoverishment more. Thus, we crave spiritual fulfillment. The topic of God resonates with us.

Despite our many falls and sins, God has blessed America. His Blessed Mother has looked with favor upon us, since through her, we have received so many graces and gifts. All these factors come together to give us reason to celebrate our 250 years. We can present our accomplishments and generosity to Our Lady on the spreadsheet of our good stewardship. We have been given much, and have used it well.

The Other Column

However, another column on our report sheet is not so good. Our time together has not been without its problems. We suffered through the Civil War and the Great Depression. We are shackled today in political and other strife. Individualism has made us lonely. A sexual revolution overturned our morals. The profound crisis inside the Church emptied our churches and suffocated vocations. A culture war now erodes what remains of our wholesome values. A new digital wasteland devastates our souls. Today, we find ourselves in a great crisis, unlike any we have seen before.

As we celebrate our 250th year, we find ourselves a disunited and polarized nation. There is no consensus about what we should do or where we should go. Thus, we must also present these afflictions to Our Lady on this august anniversary. She will not despise these petitions, but in her mercy will “hear and answer us.”

A Child’s Right

The key to being heard and answered is to ask, even if it seems that we do not have the right to do so in light of our many sins and failings. On special occasions like birthdays, we have a certain right to ask our mother for anything. We can invoke this child’s right and ask for everything. We should not limit ourselves to a few requests out of an ungrounded fear that we will disturb her or that our urgent and numerous needs will overwhelm her generosity. Like any mother, she takes delight in aiding those children who are most needy, especially if we present ourselves truly repentant and show her our love. Indeed, when kneeling before the Mother of Mercy, the more we ask, the better.

“A mother delights in answering the requests of her children. How much more does Our Lady delight in answering our prayers?”

Thus, we should ask her to join us in celebrating our joy at reaching this milestone, of being together as one nation, under God, for so many years. We must thank her for so many blessings. However, we must also present the seemingly insurmountable problems we face with childlike simplicity. We must ask her to come urgently to help unite our shattered nation. We must appeal to her wisdom to show us a way out of our affliction.

Invoking this child’s right, we have a window of opportunity to correct and straighten our ways. We must remember that she is not only our mother but the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her power is not figurative but real. She can change things, not just for Catholics, but for the nation as a whole. She can better represent our interests before her Divine Son than we can.

Patriotic Associations of a Hereditary Character

July 2, 2026

The 1986 Hereditary Register of the United States lists 109 hereditary associations, the oldest one founded in 1637 and the most recent one in 1976. Of course, some are more dynamic than others. They are normally described as cultural, historical, preservationist, and the like. From a certain point of view, the most important of these […]

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Our Lineage Greatly Influences Our Actions

July 2, 2026

From the funeral oration for Philippe-Emanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercoeur and Penthièvre, delivered in the metropolitan church of Notre-Dame in Paris on April 27, 1602, by Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop-Prince of Geneva and Doctor of the Church: “It is always God Who grants us salvation; He is its great architect, but He […]

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General Lee’s one rule for students: “Be a gentleman”

July 2, 2026

A new student once asked President Lee for a copy of the rules of Washington College. Lee replied, “Young gentleman, we have no printed rules. We have but one rule here, and it is that every student must be a gentleman.” What did Lee mean when he used the word “gentleman?” Found among his papers […]

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Nobility and Traditional Elites Today

July 2, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Le Nouvel Aperçu, no. 6, July-August 1994, published in French by the TFP Association Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, author of Noblesse et élites traditionnelles dans les allocutions de Pie XII, answers our questions Question: Two hundred years after the French Revolution, do you think that French society still has something to […]

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An Act Of Kindness – Never To Be Forgotten

July 2, 2026

But her best-known deed, and the one which made the greatest sensation, was that which is known as the incident of Achères. It was at Fontainebleau, during the hunt again, on Oct 16, 1773. The deer, being at bay, took refuge in a small enclosure of the village of Achères. Finding no issue thence, and […]

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The unyielding principles of Richard Lee II, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s great-great grandfather

July 2, 2026

Claiming to lead “the people,” Bacon defied the government at Jamestown and demanded reform…. Endangered by their leader’s vacillation, Berkeley’s supporters chose to scatter…. but not Richard. He had the courage of his convictions. Richard believed all social order, including Virginia’s, was imposed by God and should be maintained, no matter the “zealous inclination of […]

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19th C. Washington Societal Etiquette

July 2, 2026

Washingtonian Social Etiquette The wife of the chief-justice, and not the wife of the President, is the first lady in the land, and takes precedence of all others. She holds receptions and receives calls, but she alone is excluded from all duty of returning calls. The life of a lady in society at Washington is […]

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Liberty, Equality, Fraternity—the ambiguous trilogy

July 2, 2026

by Plinio Correa de Oliveira The reader might notice…an apparent contradiction among the pronouncements of the different popes who dealt with the trilogy Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. This impression fades the more the reader bears in mind that, properly considered in themselves—and therefore in the light of Catholic principles—each of these words designates concepts worthy of […]

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What Ever Happened to the Liberty Promised in 1789?

June 29, 2026

In his classic work on the French Revolution, Pierre Gaxotte shows the abysmal difference that exists between the respect shows by the Ancien Regime for the legitimate liberties of the individual and the family and the strong inclination of the modern State to meddle in the intimate lives of its citizens, a tendency which appeared […]

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Local Elites

June 29, 2026

In its first sense, an elite* is a group of fine persons who stand out as individuals from the mass of people constituting a community. Isolated individuals unrelated among themselves, do not constitute an elite. Rather, we speak of an elite only when its constituents interrelate with sufficient vitality and diligence so as to create […]

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Southern aristocracy dazzled ante-bellum Washington

June 29, 2026

With the installation of the aging Buchanan as President and the coming of young Lord Napier as British minister, society in Washington had taken on a brilliant luster. The lovely, cultivated Lady Napier was perhaps the most popular foreign hostess the capital had known, while the President’s niece, Harriet Lane, was as competent as any […]

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The Inequality of Rights and Power Proceeds from the Very Author of Nature

June 29, 2026

The Inequality of Rights and Power Proceeds from the Very Author of Nature From Leo XIII’s encyclical Quod Apostolici muneris, of December 28, 1878: For, indeed, although the socialists, stealing the very Gospel itself with a view to deceive more easily the unwary, have been accustomed to distort it so as to suit their […]

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Requirements for Leadership

June 29, 2026

1) Intellectual requisites of a leader The exercise of authority requires certain qualities. In the first place, the leader must have a clear and firm notion of the objective and the common good of the group he directs. Then he needs a lucid knowledge of the means and procedures to attain this good. These intellectual […]

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The Spiritual Dimension in Everyday Life

June 29, 2026

This same union of material and spiritual dimensions is not limited to highly specialized projects like cathedrals; it can also be seen in products found in everyday life. The spiritual dimension introduced added value, culture, and warmth to the most common things. About such production, Lewis Mumford writes, “No article, even of vulgar daily use, […]

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A Society Without Elites is a Socialist Society

June 29, 2026

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo We are witnessing a surge of popular outrage and even revulsion against an onslaught of ideologically liberal changes affecting the lives of millions of Americans. This outrage is fueled, among other things, by the following: • decisions of activist judges favoring homosexualist or private property-denying socialist agendas and showing complete disregard for […]

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Monarchical Tendencies at the Time of Independence and the Constitution

June 29, 2026

At the beginning of the revolutionary process that effected the independence of the thirteen colonies, the majority of the colonists sought neither separation from England nor a change in the form of government. Almost until the end of the process that led to armed revolt, Americans merely claimed rights and liberties considered common to all […]

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The aristocratic character of hereditary associations

June 29, 2026

The traditional elites in the United States, to preserve their aristocratic character in a world where non-aristocratic habits increasingly prevailed, formed exclusive associations in the intimacy of which they could leisurely display their high bearing and traditional customs. Writing in 1960, social historian Cleveland Amory explained: “In our own day the Aristocrat can best be […]

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Marie Antoinette was a Good Samaritan

June 25, 2026

Marie Antoinette’s heart was ever compassionate. One day as she was riding through the forest of Fontainebleau in her carriage she came across an old man who had been wounded by a buck. His family was with him but had no means to take him home. The queen of France immediately descended from her carriage […]

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June 25 – Servant of God Maria Clotilde of Savoy

June 25, 2026

by Antonio Borrelli Maria Clotilde of Savoy is one of the most striking examples of how to achieve union with Christ while remaining in the world in environments which by their nature lead instead to distraction, pride of power, luxury and a worldly lifestyle, things once usually abundant in the royal and imperial courts of […]

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Two Feminine Ideals

June 25, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira On the right, (above) we have the Servant of God Maria Clotilde of Savoy (1843-1911), outstanding for her birth, her grand personal distinction, as well as for her virtue. She will probably be elevated to the honors of the altars, since the cause of her beatification is already under way. […]

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The “toads”

June 25, 2026

In addressing the question of elites in the United States, we should distinguish between authentic and inauthentic elites. Inauthentic or artificial elites do not have a natural affinity with the best traditions and the deepest yearnings of the American people; indeed, at times, they oppose them. As indicated in the sociological studies previously cited, traditional […]

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June 25 – Simon de Montfort

June 25, 2026

Simon de Montfort An Earl of Leicester, date of birth unknown, died at Toulouse, 25 June, 1218. Simon (IV) de Montfort was descended from the lords of Montfort l’Amaury in Normandy, being the second son of Simon (III), and Amicia, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third Earl of Leicester. Having succeeded his father as Baron […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 25, 2026

St. Anthelm of Belley (1107 – 1178) Prior of the Carthusian Grand Chartreuse and bishop of Belley. He was born near Chambéry in 1107. He would later receive an ecclesiastical benefice in the area of Belley. When he was thirty years old, he resigned from this position to become a Carthusian monk at Portes. Only […]

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June 27- In the East he was always honoured as one of the greatest of the Doctors

June 25, 2026

St. Cyril of Alexandria Doctor of the Church. St. Cyril has his feast in the Western Church on the 28th of January; in the Greek Menaea it is found on the 9th of June, and (together with St. Athanasius) on the 18th of January. He seems to have been of an Alexandrian family and was […]

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June 28 – St. Irenaeus

June 25, 2026

St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons, and Father of the Church. Information as to his life is scarce, and in some measure inexact. He was born in Proconsular Asia, or at least in some province bordering thereon, in the first half of the second century; the exact date is controverted, between the years 115 and 125, […]

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June 28 – He fought to preserve the Pope’s independence

June 25, 2026

Pope Saint Paul I Date of birth unknown; died at Rome, 28 June, 767. He was a brother of Pope Stephen II. They had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace. Stephen entrusted his brother, who approved of the pope’s course in respect to King Pepin, with many important ecclesiastical affairs, among others […]

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June 22 – St. John Fisher

June 22, 2026

St. John Fisher Cardinal, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr; born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1459 (?1469); died 22 June, 1535. John was the eldest son of Robert Fisher, merchant of Beverley, and Agnes his wife. His early education was probably received in the school attached to the collegiate church in his native town, whence in […]

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June 22 – St. Thomas More

June 22, 2026

St. Thomas More Saint, knight, Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr, born in London, 7 February, 1477-78; executed at Tower Hill, 6 July, 1535. He was the sole surviving son of Sir John More, barrister and later judge, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Thomas Graunger. While still a child Thomas was sent […]

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June 22 – Saint Alban, proto-martyr of Britain

June 22, 2026

St. Alban First martyr of Britain, suffered c. 304. The commonly received account of the martyrdom of St. Alban meets us as early as the pages of Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History” (Bk. I, chs. vii and xviii). According to this, St. Alban was a pagan living at Verulamium (now the town of St. Albans in Hertfordshire), […]

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June 23 – After her death, her sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens, followed her as abbesses of Ely.

June 22, 2026

St. Etheldreda Queen of Northumbria; born (probably) about 630; died at Ely, 23 June, 679. While still very young she was given in marriage by her father, Anna, King of East Anglia, to a certain Tonbert, a subordinate prince, from whom she received as morning gift a tract of land locally known as the Isle […]

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What is Feudalism?

June 22, 2026

Feudalism This term is derived from the Old Aryan pe’ku, hence Sanskrit pacu, “cattle”; so also Lat. pecus (cf. pecunia); Old High German fehu, fihu, “cattle”, “property”, “money”; Old Frisian fia; Old Saxon fehu; Old English feoh, fioh, feo, fee. It is an indefinable word for it represents the progressive development of European organization during […]

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June 24 – He denounced the king’s adultery

June 22, 2026

St. John the Baptist The principal sources of information concerning the life and ministry of St. John the Baptist are the canonical Gospels. Of these St. Luke is the most complete, giving as he does the wonderful circumstances accompanying the birth of the Precursor and items on his ministry and death. St. Matthew’s Gospel stands […]

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Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation

June 22, 2026

At age 16, George Washington copied out these 110 rules for morals and good manners and the manuscript is preserved at the Library of Congress. While some believe they were authored by Washington himself, it appears that they were originally written by French Jesuits in 1595. They made their first appearance in English in 1640, […]

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The Ten Commandments of Chivalry

June 22, 2026

I. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and shalt observe all its directions. II. Thou shalt defend the Church. III. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. IV. Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born. V. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. VI. […]

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June 18 – To make peace, she surrendered her son’s rights to the throne

June 18, 2026

Blessed Theresa of Portugal (born at Coimbra, October 4, 1178 – died at Lorvão, June 18, 1250) Queen of Léon as the first wife of King Alfonso IX of León. She was the oldest daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. Theresa was the mother to three of Alfonso’s children—two daughters and […]

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June 19 – St. François-Isidore Gagelin

June 18, 2026

Saint François-Isidore Gagelin (10 May 1799 – 17 October 1833) was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Vietnam. He became the first French martyr of the 19th century in Vietnam. He was born in Montperreux, Doubs. He left for Vietnam in 1821. In 1826, when Emperor Minh Mạng ordered all missionaries […]

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June 19 – His father the Duke was a murderer

June 18, 2026

St. Romuald Born at Ravenna, probably about 950; died at Val-di-Castro, 19 June, 1027. St. Peter Damian, his first biographer, and almost all the Camaldolese writers assert that St. Romuald’s age at his death was one hundred and twenty, and that therefore he was born about 907. This is disputed by most modern writers. Such […]

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June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

June 18, 2026

Carthusian Martyrs – the Second Group After little more than a month after the first group, it was the turn of three leading monks of the London house: Doms Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate, who were to die at Tyburn, London on the 19 June. Newdigate was a personal friend of Henry VIII, […]

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June 19 – Love Accepts No Limitations

June 18, 2026

St. Juliana Falconieri Born in 1270; died 12 June, 1341. Juliana belonged to the noble Florentine family of Falconieri. Her uncle, St. Alexis Falconieri, was one of the seven founders of the Servite Order. Through his influence she also consecrated herself from her earliest youth to the religious life and the practices of Christian perfection. […]

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June 20 – St. Florentina

June 18, 2026

St. Florentina Virgin; born towards the middle of the sixth century; died about 612. The family of St. Florentina furnishes us with a rare example of lives genuinely religious, and actively engaged in furthering the best interests of Christianity. Sister of three Spanish bishops in the time of the Visigothic dominion (Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius), […]

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