February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 21, 2019

St. Walburga Born in Devonshire, about 710; died at Heidenheim, 25 Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West […]

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February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 18, 2019

St. Conrad of Piacenza Hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, date of birth uncertain; died at Noto in Sicily, 19 February, 1351. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged […]

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February 20 – Leaders and future nobility appear in times of desperate distress

February 18, 2019

Andreas Hofer A patriot and soldier, born at St. Leonhard in Passeyrthale, Tyrol, 22 Nov., 1767; executed at Mantua, 20 Feb., 1810. His father was known as the “Sandwirth” (i. e., landlord of the inn on the sandy spit of land formed by the Passeyr. The inn had been in the family for over one […]

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February 20 – Repeatedly racked

February 18, 2019

Ven. Thomas Pormort English martyr, b. at Hull about 1559; d. at St. Paul’s Churchyard, 20 Feb., 1592. He was probably related to the family of Pormort of Great Grimsby and Saltfletby, Lincoln shire. George Pormort, Mayor of Grimsby in 1565, had a second son Thomas baptized, 7 February, 1566, but this can hardly be […]

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February 20 – Pope Martin V

February 18, 2019

Pope Martin V (Oddone Colonna) Born at Genazzano in the Campagna di Roma, 1368; died at Rome, 20 Feb., 1431. He studied at the University of Perugia, became prothonotary Apostolic under Urban VI, papal auditor and nuncio at various Italian courts under Boniface IX, and was administrator of the Diocese of Palestrina from 15 December […]

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February 21 – Shakespeare’s Inspiration

February 18, 2019

Saint Robert Southwell Poet, Jesuit, martyr; born at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, England, in 1561; hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 21 February, 1595. His grandfather, Sir Richard Southwell, had been a wealthy man and a prominent courtier in the reign of Henry VIII. It was Richard Southwell who in 1547 had brought the poet Henry […]

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February 21 – Terror of the Wicked, Supporter of the Weak

February 18, 2019

Blessed Pepin of Landen Mayor of the Palace to the Kings Clotaire II, Dagobert, and Sigebert. He was son of Carloman, the most powerful nobleman of Austrasia, who had been mayor to Clotaire I, son of Clovis I. He was grandfather to Pepin of Herstal, the most powerful mayor, whose son was Charles Martel, and […]

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February 21 – His mother almost allowed him to die

February 18, 2019

St. Peter Damian Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna “five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III,” 1007; died at Faenza, 21 Feb., 1072. He was the youngest of a large family. His parents were noble, but poor. At his birth an elder brother protested against this new charge […]

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Heroic Death of Jacques de Maillé, a Knight of the Temple

February 14, 2019

The truce made with the king of Jerusalem was broken at the same time by both Christians and Mussulmans. Renaud de Chatillon continued his incursions upon the territories of the infidels, and only replied to the complaints of Saladin by new violations of treaties. A Mussulman army, which the sultan of Damascus had sent to […]

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The March of the Revolution – VI

February 14, 2019

CHAPTER VI 2. The Apparent Intervals of the Revolution The existence of periods of accentuated calm might give the impression that at such times the Revolution has ceased. It would thus seem that the revolutionary process is not continuous and therefore not one. However, these calms are merely metamorphoses of the Revolution. The periods of […]

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February 15 – One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen

February 14, 2019

Ven. William Richardson (Alias Anderson.) Last martyr under Elizabeth I; b. according to Challoner at Vales in Yorkshire (i.e. presumably Wales, near Sheffield), but, according to the Valladolid diary, a Lancashire man; executed at Tyburn, 17 Feb., 1603. He arrived at Reims 16 July, 1592 and on 21 Aug. following was sent to Valladolid, where […]

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February 15 – Saintly financier

February 14, 2019

Francis Anthony Drexel Banker, b. at Philadelphia, U.S.A., 20 June, 1824; d. there 15 Feb., 1885. He was the oldest son of Francis Martin Drexel, a Tyrolese by birth, and by profession a portrait-painter and musician, who in 1837 turned his attention to finance, and founded the house of Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia with […]

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February 15 – Sts. Faustinus and Jovita

February 14, 2019

Sts. Faustinus and Jovita Martyrs, members of a noble family of Brescia; the elder brother, Faustinus, being a priest, the younger, a deacon. For their fearless preaching of the Gospel, they were arraigned before the Emperor Hadrian, who, first at Brescia, later at Rome and Naples, subjected them to frightful torments, after which they were […]

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February 15 – Pope Lucius II

February 14, 2019

Pope Lucius II (Gherardo Caccianemici dal Orso) Born at Bologna, unknown date, died at Rome, 15 February, 1145. Before entering the Roman Curia he was a canon regular in Bologna. In 1124 Honorius II created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. From 1125-1126 he was papal legate in Germany where he took part in […]

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February 15 – Ferdinand II, Emperor

February 14, 2019

Ferdinand II Emperor, eldest son of Archduke Karl and the Bavarian Princess Maria, b. 1578; d. 15 February, 1637. In accordance with Ferdinand I’s disposition of his possessions, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola fell to his son Karl. As Karl died in 1590, when his eldest son was only twelve years old, the government of these […]

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February 15 – St. Claude de la Colombière

February 14, 2019

St. Claude de la Colombière Missionary and ascetical writer, born of noble parentage at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, between Lyons and Vienne, in 1641; died at Paray-le-Monial, 15 Feb., 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1659. After fifteen years of religious life he made a vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to […]

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February 16 – Founded and ruled a religious order as his family Manorhouse, but only joined that order in his old age

February 14, 2019

St. Gilbert of Sempringham Founder of the Order of Gilbertines, born at Sempringham, on the border of the Lincolnshire fens, between Bourn and Heckington. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it lies between 1083 and 1089; died at Sempringham, 1189… Read more here.

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February 16 – St. Juliana

February 14, 2019

St. Juliana Suffered martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution. Both the Latin and Greek Churches mention a holy martyr Juliana in their lists of saints. The oldest historical notice of her is found in the “Martryologium Hieronymianum” for 16 February, the place of birth being given as Cumae in Campania (In Campania Cumbas, natale Julianae). It […]

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February 16 – Ven. Luis de Lapuente

February 14, 2019

Ven. Luis de Lapuente (Also, D’Aponte, de Ponte, Dupont). Born at Valladolid, 11 November, 1554; died there, 16 February 1624. Having entered the Society of Jesus, he studied under the celebrated Suarez, and professed philosophy at Salamanca. Endowed with exceptional talents for government and the formation of young religious, he was forced by impaired health […]

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February 17 – He burned the pagan temple

February 14, 2019

St. Theodore of Amasea Surnamed Tyro (Tiro), not because he was a young recruit, but because for a time he belonged to the Cohors Tyronum (Nilles, Kal. man., I, 105), called of Amasea from the place where he suffered martyrdom, and Euchaita from the place, Euchais, to which his body had been carried, and where […]

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February 17 – Marvelous Apparition of Our Lady To Seven Young Nobles

February 14, 2019

St. Alexis Falconieri Born in Florence, 1200; died 17 February, 1310, at Mount Senario, near Florence. He was the son of Bernard Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles. […]

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February 17 – He established the first charitable loan-institution for the poor

February 14, 2019

Barnabas of Terni (Interamna) Friar Minor and missionary, d. 1474 (or 1477). He belonged to the noble family of the Manassei and was a man of great learning, being Doctor of Medicine and well versed in letters and philosophy. Despising the honours and vanities of the world, he entered the Order of Friars Minor in […]

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February 17 – He suffered a three-fold death agony

February 14, 2019

Blessed Francis Regis Clet A Lazarist missionary in China; b. 1748, martyred, 18 Feb., 1820. His father was a merchant of Grenoble in France, his mother’s name was Claudine Bourquy. He was the tenth of fifteen children. The family was deeply religious, several members of it having consecrated themselves to God. Francis attended the Jesuit […]

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February 18 – Charlemagne’s envoy to the pope

February 14, 2019

St. Angilbert Abbot of Saint-Riquier, died 18 February, 814. Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the court of Charlemagne, where he was the pupil and friend of the great English scholar Alcuin. He was intended for the ecclesiastical state and must have received minor orders early in life, but he accompanied the young […]

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February 18 – Confronted the Emperor and annulled the Robber Council of Ephesus

February 14, 2019

St. Flavian Bishop of Constantinople, date of birth unknown; died at Hypaepa in Lydia, August, 449. Nothing is known of him before his elevation to the episcopate save that he was a presbyter and skeuophylax or sacristan, of the Church of Constantinople, and noted for the holiness of his life. His succession to St. Proclus […]

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February 18 – Fra Angelico brought part of heaven to earth

February 14, 2019

Blessed Fra Angelico A famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of Mugello, Tuscany, 1387; died at Rome, 1455. He was christened Guido, and his father’s name being Pietro he was known as Guido, or Guidolino, di Pietro, but his full appellation today is that of “Blessed Fra […]

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February 12 – Tadeusz Kosciuszko

February 11, 2019

Tadeusz Kosciuszko Polish patriot and soldier, b. near Novogrudok, Lithuania, Poland, 12 February, 1752; d. at Solothurn, Switzerland, 15 October, 1817. He was educated at the military schools of Warsaw and Versailles, and attained the rank of captain in the Polish army. When the American Revolution broke out he embarked for the scene of conflict […]

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February 12 – St. Frideswide

February 11, 2019

St. Frideswide (FRIDESWIDA, FREDESWIDA, Fr. FRÉVISSE, Old Eng. FRIS). Virgin, patroness of Oxford, lived from about 650 to 735. According to her legend, in its latest form, she was the child of King Didan and Safrida, and was brought up to holiness by Algiva. She refused the proffered hand of King Algar, a Mercian, and […]

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February 12 – Saint Eulalia of Barcelona

February 11, 2019

Saint Eulalia of Barcelona A Spanish martyr in the persecution of Diocletian (February 12, 304), patron of the cathedral and city of Barcelona, also of sailors. The Acts of her life and martyrdom were copied early in the twelfth century, and with elegant conciseness, by the learned ecclesiastic Renallus Grammaticus (Bol. acad. hist., Madrid, 1902, […]

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February 13 – Mystic and Counselor to Future Popes

February 11, 2019

St. Catherine de Ricci, Virgin (AD 1522 – 1589) The Ricci are an ancient family, which still subsists in a flourishing condition in Tuscany. Peter de Ricci, the father of our saint, was married to Catherine Bonza, a lady of suitable birth. The saint was born at Florence in 1522, and called at her baptism […]

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February 13 – St. Fulcran

February 11, 2019

St. Fulcran Bishop of Lodève; died 13 February, 1006. According to the biography which Bernard Guidonis, Bishop of Lodève (died 1331), has left us his saintly predecessor, Fulcran came of a distinguished family, consecrated himself at an early age to the service of the Church, became a priest, and from his youth led a pure […]

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February 14 – Renounced Earthly Nobility To Obtain Heavenly Nobility

February 11, 2019

Sts. Cyril and Methodius These brothers, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Though belonging to a senatorial family they renounced secular honors and became priests. They were living in a monastery on the Bosphorus, when the Khazars sent to Constantinople for a Christian teacher. Cyril was selected […]

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February 8 – A strong and mighty Angel – calm, terrible, and bright – the cross in blended red and blue, upon his mantle white

February 7, 2019

Saint John of Matha Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. He was born into Provencal nobility in 1154 at Faucon-de-Barcelonnette, France. As a youth, he was educated at Aix-en-Provence, and later studied theology at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he was urged by a vision during his first Mass to […]

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Royal visit to Cuba?

February 7, 2019

According to The Telegraph: The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will become the first members of the Royal Family to make an official visit to Cuba, the Duchess has confirmed, as she admits she is feeling a little apprehensive about the food. The Duchess told Baroness Hale, the president of the Supreme Court, […]

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Quijada Gives His Soul To God

February 7, 2019

Luis Quijada left the poor heirs of all his considerable wealth that was not entailed, and the usufruct of it to Doña Magdalena. He founded granaries and “monts de piété” in his four towns of Villagarcia, Villanueva de los Caballeros, Santofimia and Villamayor, founded schools, endowed hospitals with a special income that the dying should […]

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The March of the Revolution

February 7, 2019

[previous] CHAPTER VI The March of the Revolution The previous considerations gave us some data about the march of the Revolution, namely, its processive character, its metamorphoses, its outbreak in the innermost recesses of the human soul, and its externalization in acts. As can be seen, the Revolution has a whole dynamic of its own. […]

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February 8 – Mary Queen of Scots

February 7, 2019

Mary Queen of Scots Mary Stuart, born at Linlithgow, 8 December, 1542; died at Fotheringay, 8 February, 1587. She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland. His death (14 December) followed immediately after her birth, and she became queen when only six days old. The Tudors endeavored by war to force on […]

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February 9 – Banished From Court

February 7, 2019

St. Ansbert Archbishop of Rouen in 695, Confessor He had been chancelor to King Clotair III in which station he had united the mortification and recollection of a monk with the duties of wedlock, and of a statesman. Quitting the court, he put on the monastic habit at Fontenelle under St. Wandregisile, and when that […]

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February 10 – The Lord God Gave Her What Her Brother Would Not

February 7, 2019

St. Scholastica, Virgin (c. 480 – 10 February 547) This saint was sister to the great St. Benedict. She consecrated herself to God from her earliest youth, as St. Gregory testifies. Where her first monastery was situated is not mentioned; but after her brother removed to Mount Cassino, she choose her retreat at Plombariola, in […]

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February 10 – He fought socialism in both its Nazi and Soviet forms…and paid for it with his life

February 7, 2019

BL. ALOJZIJE STEPINAC was born into a large Catholic family on 8 May 1898 in Krasic. After graduation from high school in 1916, he completed military service during World War I. In 1924 he decided to study for the priesthood and was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Germanicum-Hungaricum College. He earned doctorates […]

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February 11 – Elected pope while on Crusade in Palestine

February 7, 2019

Blessed Pope Gregory X Born 1210; died 10 January, 1276. Pope Gregory X was declared Blessed on July 8, 1713 by Pope Clement XI. The death of Pope Clement IV (29 November, 1268) left the Holy See vacant for almost three years. The cardinals assembled at Viterbo were divided into two camps, the one French […]

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February 11 – St. Benedict of Aniane

February 7, 2019

St. Benedict of Aniane Born about 745-750; died at Cornelimünster, 11 February, 821. Benedict, originally known as Witiza, son of the Goth, Aigulf, Count of Maguelone in Southern France, was educated at the Frankish court of Pepin, and entered the royal service. He took part in the Italian campaign of Charlemagne (773), after which he […]

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February 5 – He put the Bible to verse and prose

February 4, 2019

St. Avitus (Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, though his death is place by some as late as 525 or 526. He was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman family closely related to the Emperor Avitus and other illustrious persons, and in which episcopal honors were hereditary. In […]

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February 5 – St. Agatha

February 4, 2019

One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her legendary life, composed at a later date, to the […]

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February 5 – St. Adelaide of Cologne

February 4, 2019

Abbess, born in the tenth century; died at Cologne, 5 February, 1015. She was daughter of Megingoz, Count of Guelders, and when still very young entered the convent of St. Ursula in Cologne, where the Rule of St. Jerome was followed. When her parents founded the convent of Villich, opposite the city of Bonn, on […]

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February 6 – Apostle of Flanders

February 4, 2019

St. Amandus One of the great apostles of Flanders; born near Nantes, in France, about the end of the sixth century. He was, apparently, of noble extraction. When a youth of twenty, he fled from his home and became a monk near Tours, resisting all the efforts of his family to withdraw him from his […]

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February 7 – Refused admission to the Pontifical Noble Guard, he became Pope instead

February 4, 2019

Pope Blessed Pius IX (GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI-FERRETTI). Pope from 1846-78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878. BEFORE HIS PAPACY His early years. After receiving his classical education at the Piarist College in Volterra from 1802-09 he went to Rome to study philosophy and theology, but left there in 1810 […]

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February 7 – Saintly King, and Father of Three More Saints

February 4, 2019

St. Richard, King and Confessor This saint was an English prince, in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and was perhaps deprived of his inheritance by some revolution in the state: or he renounced it to be more at liberty to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christian perfection. His three children, Winebald, Willibald, and Warburga, […]

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Queen Elizabeth and Brexit

January 31, 2019

According to The New York Times: …a prominent lawmaker suggested she employ a royal prerogative that has not been used for centuries: the right to tactically adjourn, or “prorogue,” a rebellious Parliament. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a hard-line Brexiteer…suggested [that]…the executive does have a secret weapon at its disposal: the monarch, who in centuries past reserved the […]

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Sigur of Norway and his 10,000 Viking Crusaders help conquer Sidon

January 31, 2019

After these conquests, the Pisans, the Genoese, and several warriors who had followed Baldwin in his expeditions, returned into Europe; and the king of Jerusalem, abandoned by these useful allies, was obliged to employ the forces which remained in repulsing the invasions of the Saracens, who penetrated into Palestine, and even displayed their standards on […]

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The Executed Jacobin Marie Joseph Chalier Was Worshiped As God During the French Revolution

January 31, 2019

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Let us study another episode of revolutionary hatred in the French Revolution. It is taken from the book, História Universal, by Johann Baptist Weiss. “In order to increase the bloodlust and hatred for Christianity in the population, on November 10, the day in which Chaumette began to desecrate churches in […]

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February 1 – Immediately after his martyrdom, they lined up to venerate his relics

January 31, 2019

St. Henry Morse Martyr; born in 1595 in Norfolk; died at Tyburn, 1 Feb., 1644. He was received into the church at Douai, 5 June, 1614, after various journeys was ordained at Rome, and left for the mission, 19 June, 1624. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus at Heaton; there he was arrested […]

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February 1 – She and Saint Patrick were “one heart and one mind”

January 31, 2019

Saint Brigid of Ireland Born in 451 or 452 of princely ancestors at Faughart, near Dundalk, County Louth; d. 1 February, 525, at Kildare. Refusing many good offers of marriage, she became a nun and received the veil from St. Macaille. With seven other virgins she settled for a time at the foot of Croghan […]

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February 1 – Adventurer Historian

January 31, 2019

François-Xavier Charlevoix Historian, born at St-Quentin, France, 24 October, 1682, died at La Flèche, 1 February, 1761. He entered the Society of Jesus, 15 September, 1698, at the age of sixteen, studied philosophy at the Collège de Louis le Grand (1700-1704), and then went to Quebec, where he taught grammar from 1705 to 1709. During […]

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February 1 – “The sublime genius of the man”

January 31, 2019

Saint Ephraem (Ephrem, Ephraim) Born. at Nisibis, then under Roman rule, early in the fourth century; died June, 373. The name of his father is unknown, but he was a pagan and a priest of the goddess Abnil or Abizal. His mother was a native of Amid. Ephraem was instructed in the Christian mysteries by […]

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February 2 – He hastened to the king, exhibited his wounded body and related his vision

January 31, 2019

St. Lawrence Second Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 2 Feb., 619. For the particulars of his life and pontificate we rely exclusively on details added by medieval writers being unsupported by historical evidence, though they may possibly embody ancient traditions. According to St. Bede, he was one of the original missionaries who left Rome with St. […]

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February 2 – “Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird”

January 31, 2019

St. Théophane Vénard (JEAN-THÉOPHANE VÉNARD.) French missionary, born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; martyred in Tonkin, 2 February, 1861. He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 […]

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February 3 – The Stuff of Which Saints Are Made

January 31, 2019

St. Anschar (Or Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar.) Called the Apostle of the North, was born to the French nobility in Picardy, 8 September, 801; died 5 February, 865. He became a Benedictine of Corbie, whence he passed into Westphalia. With Harold, the newly baptized King of Denmark who had been expelled from his kingdom […]

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February 3 – Half Fierce Pagan Princess, Half Gentle Christian Princess

January 31, 2019

St. Werburgh of Chester (WEREBURGA, WEREBURG, VERBOURG). Benedictine, patroness of Chester, Abbess of Weedon, Trentham, Hanbury, Minster in Sheppy, and Ely, born in Staffordshire early in the seventh century; died at Trentham, 3 February, 699 or 700. Her mother was St. Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and St. Sexburga, and her father, Wulfhere, […]

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February 3 – His crime was to call the queen a schismatic

January 31, 2019

Blessed John Nelson English Jesuit martyr, b. at Skelton, four miles from York, in 1534; d. at Tyburn, 3 February, 1577-78. He went to Douay in 1573, and two of his four brothers followed his example and became priests. He was ordained priest at Binche, in Hainault, by Mgr Louis de Berlaymont, Archbishop of Cambrai, […]

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