August 2 – Resisted the Emperor’s demand

August 1, 2019

Pope Severinus The date of his birth is not known. He was consecrated seemingly on 28 May, 640, and died 2 Aug., 640. Severinus, a Roman and the son of Abienus, was elected as usual on the third day after the death of his predecessor, and envoys were at once sent to Constantinople, to obtain […]

Read the full article →

August 3 – The day the bishop cursed his country

August 1, 2019

On August 3, 1941, Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen informed his listeners in a third sermon about the continued desecration of Catholic churches, the closing of convents and monasteries, and the deportation and murder of mentally ill people (who were sent to undisclosed destinations), while a notice was sent to family members stating that […]

Read the full article →

August 3 – Secretive Leader

August 1, 2019

St. Nicodemus A prominent Jew of the time of Christ, mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus (Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent […]

Read the full article →

August 4 – Carthusian Martyrs: The Lone Survivor

August 1, 2019

May 4 – First Group of Carthusian Martyrs June 19 – Second Group of Carthusian Martyrs May-June – Third and Fourth Groups August 4 – The Lone Survivor For some reason Brother William Horne was kept alive. Refusing to abandon his religious habit, he was not attainted till 1540, when he was hanged, disembowelled, and […]

Read the full article →

August 4 – St. Eleutherius

August 1, 2019

St. Eleutherius (Fr. Eleutière), Bishop of Tournai at the beginning of the sixth century. Historically there is very little known about St. Eleutherius, but he was without doubt the first Bishop of Tournai. Theodore, whom some give as his immediate predecessor, was either a bishop of Tours, whose name was placed by mistake on the […]

Read the full article →

August 5 – Our Lady of the Snow

August 1, 2019

(“Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ ad Nives”). A feast celebrated on 5 August to commemorate the dedication of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The church was originally built by Pope Liberius (352-366) and was called after him “Basilica Liberii” or “Liberiana”. It was restored by Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-440) […]

Read the full article →

August 5 – St. Oswald

August 1, 2019

St. Oswald King and martyr; born, probably, 605; died 5 Aug., 642; the second of seven brothers, sons of Ethelfrid, who was grandson of Ida, founder of the Kingdom of Northumbria in 547. Oswald’s mother was Acha, daughter of Ella or Alla, who, after Ida’s death, had seized Deira and thus separated it from the […]

Read the full article →

August 5 – Valor in a King

August 1, 2019

St. Oswald of Northumbria, King and Martyr The English Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was founded by Ida in 547. After his death the northern part called Bernicia was preserved by his children; but Deira, that is, the southern part, comprising Yorkshire and Lancashire, was occupied by Ælla or Alla, and after his death was recovered […]

Read the full article →

July 30 – St. Theobald

July 29, 2019

St. Theobald Born at Provins in the Province of Champagne, France, in 1017; died at Salanigo in Italy 30 June, 1066. He was a member of a noble family. In 1054 without the knowledge of his parents he and his friend Walter gave themselves to the life of hermits at Sussy in the Ardennes, then […]

Read the full article →

July 30 – St. Peter Chrysologus

July 29, 2019

St. Peter Chrysologus Born at Imola, 406; died there, 450. His biography, first written by Agnellus (Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis) in the ninth century, gives but scanty information about him. He was baptised, educated, and ordained deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, and was elevated to the Bishopric of Ravenna in 433. There are indications […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – Soldier of Jesus

July 29, 2019

St. Ignatius Loyola Youngest son of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda. Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556. The saint was baptized Iñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña: the name Ignatius was assumed […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – The duke who was tonsured against his will

July 29, 2019

St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – St. Helen of Sköfde

July 29, 2019

St. Helen of Sköfde Martyr in the first half of the twelfth century. Her feast is celebrated 31 July. Her life (Acta SS., July, VII, 340) is ascribed to St. Brynolph, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden (d. 1317). She was of noble family and is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Jarl […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity

July 29, 2019

Faith, Hope and Charity, Saints, the names of two groups of Roman martyrs around whom a considerable amount of legendary lore has gathered; though the extent of sound historical data possessed concerning them is so slight, that until very recent times the most eminent scholars failed to distinguish between them. However, the extent and antiquity […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

July 29, 2019

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – Saint Ethelwold

July 29, 2019

Saint Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester. Born born there of good parentage in the early years of the tenth century; died August 1, 984. After a youth spent at the court of King Athelstan, Ethelwold placed himself under Elphege the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, who gave him the tonsure and ordained him priest along with Dunstan. […]

Read the full article →

Czech stud farm added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list

July 25, 2019

According to The Associated Press: A Czech stud farm founded 440 years ago to breed and train ceremonial horses to serve at the Habsburg emperor’s court has been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list… [T]he Kladruber horse…is one of the oldest [breeds] in the world with a population of only 1,200. Kladrubers were bred to […]

Read the full article →

Charlemagne Meets Roland His Nephew

July 25, 2019

On a certain day a great noise was hear in the precincts of the palace; quite a “bombardment” of youthful feet. A valet was seen to descend the staircase, followed by thirty damoiseaux de gente faucon [young men]. Not one of them boasted a beard, but what a refined appearance, and what good clothes they […]

Read the full article →

Culture, Arts, and Ambiences in the Revolution

July 25, 2019

[previous] CHAPTER X Having described the complexity and scope of the revolutionary process in the deepest levels of souls and, therefore, in the mentality of peoples, we are prepared to point out the full import of culture, arts, and ambiences in the march of the Revolution. 1. Culture The revolutionary ideas enable the tendencies from […]

Read the full article →

July 26 – In memoriam: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich – who called Hitler a “stuffed doll”

July 25, 2019

According to The Telegraph: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich, who died…on July 26, 2006, aged 91, was…one of the most beautiful women of her day… …she witnessed the effect of Nazism on Germany, was close to those involved in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler in 1944, and was forced to make a 600-kilometre trek across […]

Read the full article →

July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 25, 2019

Blessed John Ingram English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594. He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at […]

Read the full article →

July 26 – St. Joachim and Confidence

July 25, 2019

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (*) The excerpts about Our Lady’s father, Saint Joachim, are taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Gueranger, OSB. Joachim’s wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God’s blessing upon it. But the greatest of […]

Read the full article →

July 27 – Hunted Priest

July 25, 2019

John Gerard Jesuit; born 4 October, 1564; died 27 July, 1637. He is well known through his autobiography, a fascinating record of dangers and adventures, of captures and escapes, of trials and consolations. The narrative is all the more valuable because it sets before us the kind of life led by priests, wherever the peculiar […]

Read the full article →

July 27 – St. Pantaleon

July 25, 2019

St. Pantaleon Martyr, died about 305. According to legend he was the son of a rich pagan, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, and had been instructed in Christianity by his Christian mother, Eubula. Afterwards he became estranged from Christianity. He studied medicine and became physician to the Emperor Maximianus. He was won back to Christianity by the […]

Read the full article →

July 27 – Wanted: Noble Men for the Missions, Never to Return Home

July 25, 2019

Martyrs of Cuncolim On Monday, 25 July, 1583, the village of Cuncolim in the district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India, was the scene of the martyrdom of five religious of the Society of Jesus: Fathers Rudolph Acquaviva, Alphonsus Pacheco, Peter Berno, and Anthony Francis, also Francis Aranha, lay brother… Read more here.

Read the full article →

July 28 – St. Samson

July 25, 2019

St. Samson Bishop and confessor, born in South Wales; died 28 July, 565 (?). The date of his birth is unknown. His parents whose names are given as Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwynedd, were of noble, but not royal, birth. While still an infant he was dedicated to God and entrusted to the […]

Read the full article →

July 28 – Nepotism Sometimes Bears Good Fruit

July 25, 2019

Pope Victor II (GEBHARD, COUNT OF CALW, TOLLENSTEIN, AND HIRSCHBERG.) Born about 1018; died at Arezzo, 28 July, 1057. The papal catalogues make him a native of the Bavarian Nordgau, while most German sources designate Swabia as his birthplace. His parents were Count Hartwig and Countess Baliza; the Emperor Henry III recognized him as a […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – He regained the hearts of his people only after his death

July 25, 2019

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), born 995; died 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – With one sermon, he launched the Crusades

July 25, 2019

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

Read the full article →

July 29-31: Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet

July 25, 2019

THE BATTLES OF LA NAVAL DE MANILA Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet Inside the Dominican church of Santo Domingo in Quezon City sits in celestial splendor and glory one of the most venerated and beloved image of the Most Holy Virgin in the Philippines. Among […]

Read the full article →

July 23 – The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdom

July 22, 2019

St. Bridget of Sweden The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373. She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – She Was Fearless, Courageous, and Unswerving

July 22, 2019

Matilda of Canossa Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114. In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 22, 2019

Saint Kinga of Poland (also known as Cunegunda, Kunigunda, Kunegunda, Cunegundes, Kioga, Zinga; Polish: Święta Kinga, Hungarian: Szent Kinga) Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – St. John Boste

July 22, 2019

St.  John Boste (Or JOHN BOAST.) Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went […]

Read the full article →

July 25 – St. Apollinaris

July 22, 2019

St. Apollinaris The most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and unhappily Valence, which was the central see of the recently founded Kingdom of Burgundy, had been scandalized by the dissolute Bishop Maximus, and the see in consequence […]

Read the full article →

During the Gospel, Knights Unsheathed Their Swords

July 18, 2019

No matter in what sequence the Church bestowed these virtues upon the warrior, she gave him a definite aim and object—a precise law. The law was the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments of chivalry, which we purpose to illustrate. The object was to enlarge the Kingdom of God on earth. When our knights attended Mass one […]

Read the full article →

By tradition, Japanese imperial succession follows the male bloodline

July 18, 2019

In the opinion of Hidetsugu Yagi (a professor at Reitaku University specializing in constitutional studies): There have been cases in the past — 10 reigns, to be precise — where women succeeded the Chrysanthemum Throne and ruled as empresses. However, they were interim rulers who filled the role temporarily until a male member could become […]

Read the full article →

Queen’s Swan Marking: River Thames birds ‘under threat’

July 18, 2019

According to BBC News: Swans on the River Thames are under threat from dog attacks and the American mink, the Queen’s Swan Marker has said. David Barber said the number of cygnets were down on last year as his team began an annual population survey. Mr Barber said: “We’ve had a pretty rough time with…dog […]

Read the full article →

The “Semi-counterrevolutionary” Is Also a Son of the Revolution

July 18, 2019

[previous] CHAPTER IX Everything that has been said herein provides grounds for a practical observation. Spirits marked by this interior Revolution might conserve a counter-revolutionary attitude in respect to one or many points due to an interplay of circumstances and coincidences, such as being reared in a strongly traditional and moral milieu.1 Nevertheless, the spirit […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 18, 2019

St. Macrina the Younger Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – Penitent Nobility

July 18, 2019

St. Arsenius Anchorite; born 354, at Rome; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus to find him in the West a tutor for his son Arcadius, they made choice of Arsenius, a man well read in Greek literature, member of a noble Roman family, and […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – The knight who was afraid of water, but not afraid of martyrdom

July 18, 2019

Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia Founder of the Monasteries of Teplá and Chotěšov, born (c) 1170, died July 14, 1217. In the happy reign of Premysl, – also called Ottacar, – king of Bohemia, among the other magnates of the kingdom the first place at court, next to the king’s magnificence, was held by Hroznata, the […]

Read the full article →

July 20 – Carolingian Reformer

July 18, 2019

St. Ansegisus Born about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834. At the age of eighteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Fontanelle (also called St. Vandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. St. Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle. From the beginning […]

Read the full article →

July 21 – Fearless in every sense

July 18, 2019

St. Lorenzo da Brindisi (Also: Lawrence, or Laurence, of Brindisi.) Born at Brindisi in 1559; died at Lisbon on 22 July, 1619. In baptism he received the names of Julius Caesar. Guglielmo de Rossi — or Guglielmo Russi, according to a contemporary writer — was his father’s name; his mother was Elisabetta Masella. Both were […]

Read the full article →

July 21 – He raised the king’s son back to life, but wished to be buried among the criminals

July 18, 2019

St. Arbogast (Gaelic Arascach). St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name “Scotia”, which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled […]

Read the full article →

July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 18, 2019

St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot [Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.]  He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. […]

Read the full article →

July 22 – The Siege of Belgrade (1456)

July 18, 2019

The Siege of Belgrade (or Battle of Belgrade, or Siege of Nándorfehérvár) occurred from July 4 to July 22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of […]

Read the full article →

July 16 – Founder of Louisiana

July 15, 2019

Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville Founder of the colony of Louisiana, b. at Villemarie, Montreal, 16 July, 1661; d. at Havana, 9 July, 1706. He was the third son of Charles Le Moyne, a native of Dieppe Sieur de Longueuil in Canada, and of Catharine Primot. Several of his brothers distinguished themselves greatly as explorers […]

Read the full article →

July 16 – Of the noble family of Odrowatz

July 15, 2019

St. Ceslaus Born at Kamien in Silesia, Poland (now Prussia), about 1184; died at Breslau about 1242. He was of the noble family of Odrowatz and a relative, probably a brother, of St. Hyacinth. Having studied philosophy at Prague, he pursued his theological and juridical studies at the University of Bologna, after which he returned […]

Read the full article →

July 16 – Catholic Spain’s fate in the balance at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

July 15, 2019

The following year was a memorable one for all Spain. King Alfonso of Castile, in face of the Almohade danger, had launched an alert to Christendom; answering it, the Christian princes had assembled not only from Spain but also from other countries. Pope Innocent III proclaimed a Crusade against the Moors of Spain and bestowed […]

Read the full article →

July 16 – Alfonso VIII of Castile crushes the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa

July 15, 2019

The Almohads, the new dynasty of Moroccan fanatics who had subdued all the Moslems in al Andalus, launched an all-out attack on the Christians by moving a huge army north into south central Spain. The impetuous Alfonso VIII of Castile, without waiting for reinforcements, attempted to bar the way at Alarcos. On July 18, 1195, […]

Read the full article →

July 17 – When the Saracens attacked Rome…

July 15, 2019

Pope St. Leo IV (Reigned 847-55) A Roman and the son of Radoald, was unanimously elected to succeed Sergius II, and as the alarming attack of the Saracens on Rome in 846 caused the people to fear for the safety of the city, he was consecrated (10 April, 847) without the consent of the emperor. […]

Read the full article →

July 17 – The day the Tsar was murdered

July 15, 2019

Execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family’s safety — that anti-Bolshevik forces were […]

Read the full article →

July 17 – Martyred in the Name of Equality

July 15, 2019

The Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne Guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), Paris, 17 July, 1794. They are the first sufferers under the French Revolution on whom the Holy See has passed judgment, and were solemnly beatified 27 May, 1906. Before their execution they knelt and chanted […]

Read the full article →

July 18 – Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future

July 15, 2019

St. Camillus de Lellis Born at Bacchianico, Naples, 1550; died at Rome, 14 July, 1614. He was the son of an officer who had served both in the Neapolitan and French armies. His mother died when he was a child, and he grew up absolutely neglected. When still a youth he became a soldier in […]

Read the full article →

July 18 – A soldier of hell who became a soldier of heaven

July 15, 2019

Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lower Lorraine and first King of Jerusalem, son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine; born probably at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1060; died at Jerusalem, 18 July, 1100 (according to a thirteenth-century chronicler, he was born at Baisy, in Brabant; see […]

Read the full article →

July 18 – “Don’t drink water, drink beer” said the bishop

July 15, 2019

Saint Arnulf of Metz Statesman, bishop under the Merovingians, born c. 580; died c. 640. His parents belonged to a distinguished Frankish family, and lived in Austrasia, the eastern section of the kingdom founded by Clovis. In the school in which he was placed during his boyhood he excelled through his talent and his good […]

Read the full article →

July 18 – She Married a Man to Change Him and He Did

July 15, 2019

Saint Hedwig, Queen of Poland Born, 1371. Died, 17 July 1399 during child birth. Hedwig was the youngest daughter of King Louis I of Hungary. Because she was great-niece to King Casimir III of Poland, she became Queen of Poland in 1382 upon her father‘s death. She was engaged to William, Duke of Austria, whom […]

Read the full article →

A Commandment of Chivalry: Never Lie

July 11, 2019

Another commandment for the knightly ones, and one which the ancients were little acquainted with, is, “Beware of falsehood; have a horror of lying.” “Do not lie,” is one of the conditions of chivalry which remains fixed and living amongst modern peoples. There is no necessity to quote a number of texts, and so we […]

Read the full article →

Erard de Severy Died on Crusade Upholding his Family Honor

July 11, 2019

The greater part of the French warriors, when in the presence of danger, were never abandoned by that sentiment of honor that constituted the spirit and character of chivalry. Erard de Severy, whilst fighting bravely with a small number of knights [in the battle of Mansourah, Seventh Crusade], received a sabre cut in the face; […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →