December 26 – He had the face of an angel

December 24, 2018

St. Stephen One of the first deacons and the first Christian martyr; feast on 26 December. In the Acts of the Apostles the name of St. Stephen occurs for the first time on the occasion of the appointment of the first deacons (Acts, vi, 5). Dissatisfaction concerning the distribution of alms from the community’s fund […]

Read the full article →

December 27 – Son of Thunder

December 24, 2018

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Styled in the gospel, The beloved disciple of Christ, and called by the Greeks The Divine, he was a Galilean, the son of Zebedee and Salome, and younger brother to St. James the Great, with whom he was brought up to the trade of fishing. From his acquaintance with […]

Read the full article →

December 27 – The divorced saint

December 24, 2018

St. Fabiola of Rome A Roman matron of rank, died 27 December, 399 or 400. She was one of the company of noble Roman women who, under the influence of St. Jerome, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted themselves to the practice of Christian asceticism and to charitable work. At the time of St. […]

Read the full article →

For Christmas Gifts, St. Louis IX of France Gives His Nobles Crusader Crosses

December 20, 2018

Louis IX occupied himself constantly in carrying his design into execution, and neglected no mean of winning to his purpose all the nobility of his kingdom; his piety did not disdain to employ, for what he considered a sacred cause, all the empire that kings generally possess over their courtiers. . . . After an […]

Read the full article →

Inside the Kitchens at Buckingham Palace: Christmas Ginger Bread Biscuits

December 20, 2018

According to the British Royal Household: ‘Its always best to let the dough rest, so it’s great if you can make the dough the night before,’ reveals one Royal Pastry Chefs. ‘You can also roll out the dough, cut the shapes and put them in a freezer for an hour. This ensures they keep their […]

Read the full article →

December 21 – Doctor of the Church & Second Apostle of Germany

December 20, 2018

St. Peter Canisius Born at Nimwegen in the Netherlands, 8 May, 1521; died in Fribourg, 21 November, 1597. His father was the wealthy burgomaster, Jacob Canisius; his mother, Ægidia van Houweningen, died shortly after Peter’s birth. In 1536 Peter was sent to Cologne, where he studied arts, civil law, and theology at the university; he […]

Read the full article →

December 22 – “I swear by St. Eimhin’s bell…”

December 20, 2018

St. Eimhin Abbot and Bishop of Ros-mic-Truin (Ireland), probably in the sixth century. He came of the royal race of Munster, and was brother of two other saints, Culain and Dairmid. Of the early part of his religious life little is known. When he became abbot of the monastery of Ros-mic-Truin, in succession to its […]

Read the full article →

December 23 – He Always Held His Soul in His Hands

December 20, 2018

Saint Antônio de Sant’Anna Galvão Born 1739, in the village of Santo Antonio da Vila de Guaratinguetá, Brazil; died 23 December, 1822, at the Convent of Light, São Paulo, Brazil. His father, also named Anthony, belonged to an illustrious Portuguese family and was well educated, as evidenced by his writings. He excelled in business, the […]

Read the full article →

December 23 – The Knights of Aviz and Their Cistercian Founder

December 20, 2018

Saint John of Cirita Memorial: 23 December Benedictine monk, also known as John Ziritu. Hermit in Galacia. Monk at Toronca, Portugal, which he helped turn into a Cistercian house. Wrote the Rule of the Knights of Aviz (Portuguese: Ordem Militar de Avis).  Died, c. 1164. The Military Order of St. Benedict of Aviz A military […]

Read the full article →

December 23 – Duke of Guise

December 20, 2018

HENRI I DE LORRAINE Prince de Joinville, and in 1563 third Duke of Guise, born 31 Dec. 1550, the son of François de Guise and Anne d’Este; died at Blois, 23 Dec., 1588. The rumours which attributed to Coligny a share in the murder of François de Guise hailed in the young Henri de Guise, […]

Read the full article →

December 24 – Vasco da Gama

December 20, 2018

Vasco da Gama The discover of the sea route to East Indies; born at Sines, Province of Alemtejo, Portugal, about 1469; died at Cochin, India, 24 December, 1524. His father, Estevão da Gama, was Alcaide Mor of Sines, and Commendador of Cercal, and held an important office at court under Alfonso V. After the return […]

Read the full article →

December 24 – Adam and Eve

December 20, 2018

Adam The first man and the father of the human race. ETYMOLOGY AND USE OF WORD There is not a little divergence of opinion among Semitic scholars when they attempt to explain the etymological signification of the Hebrew word adam (which in all probability was originally used as a common rather than a proper name), […]

Read the full article →

December 24 – Sts. Trasilla and Emiliana

December 20, 2018

Aunts of St. Gregory the Great, virgins in the sixth century, given in the Roman Martyrology, the former on 24 December, the latter on 5 January. St. Gregory (Hom. XXXVIII, 15, on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and Lib. Dial., IV, 16) relates that his father, the Senator Gordian, had three sisters who vowed themselves […]

Read the full article →

December 19 – How Tumultuous Times Reveal Noble Souls

December 17, 2018

Pope Blessed Urban V Guillaume de Grimoard, born at Grisac in Languedoc, 1310; died at Avignon, 19 December, 1370. Born of a knightly family, he was educated at Montpellier and Toulouse, and became a Benedictine monk at the little priory of Chirac near his home. A Bull of 1363 informs us that he was professed […]

Read the full article →

December 19 – Pope St. Anastasius I

December 17, 2018

Pope St. Anastasius I A pontiff who is remembered chiefly for his condemnation of Origenism. A Roman by birth, he became Pope in 399, and died within a little less than four years. Among his friends were Augustine, and Jerome, and Paulinus, Jerome speaks of him as a man or great holiness who was rich […]

Read the full article →

December 20 – Abraham

December 17, 2018

Abraham The original form of the name, Abram, is apparently the Assyrian Abu-ramu. It is doubtful if the usual meaning attached to that word “lofty father”, is correct. The meaning given to Abraham in Genesis 17:5 is popular word play, and the real meaning is unknown. The Assyriologist, Hommel suggests that in the Minnean dialect, […]

Read the full article →

December 20 – Isaac

December 17, 2018

Isaac The son of Abraham and Sara. The incidents of his life are told in Genesis 15-35, in a narrative the principal parts of which are traced back by many scholars to three several documents (J, E, P) utilized in the composition of the Book of Genesis (see ABRAHAM). According to Genesis 17:17; 18:12; 21:6, […]

Read the full article →

December 20 – Jacob

December 17, 2018

Jacob The son of Isaac and Rebecca, third great patriarch of the chosen people, and the immediate ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. The incidents of his life are given in parts of Gen., xxv, 21-1, 13, wherein the documents (J, E, P) are distinguished by modern scholars (see ABRAHAM, I, 52). His name— […]

Read the full article →

December 20 – Her church ranks third in Rome

December 17, 2018

St. Anastasia This martyr enjoys the distinction, unique in the Roman liturgy, of having a special commemoration in the second Mass on Christmas day. This Mass was originally celebrated not in honour of the birth of Christ, but in commemoration of this martyr, and towards the end of the fifth century her name was also […]

Read the full article →

The Lutheran leaders threaten to join forces with the Muslims

December 13, 2018

The new heresies had gained adherents in Paris. Calvin was there, and Servet, his future victim; and Rabelais, the precursor of Voltaire. Calvin, who had studied philosophy at the College de Montaigu, had made the rest of his studies at Ste.Barbe, and, while St. Ignatius was there, frequently came thither. He gained many converts to […]

Read the full article →

Self-Love Makes Us Irritated Seeing Standards of Living Superior to Our Own

December 13, 2018

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira All of us are inclined to pick on standards of living superior to ours as superfluous. This comes from self-love: “I live entirely well with what suffices to me, so why does so-and-so want more than he needs? He is vain! Proud! Does he think he is more than me?” […]

Read the full article →

December 14 – Son of a disinherited noble

December 13, 2018

St. John of the Cross Founder (with St. Teresa) of the Discalced Carmelites, doctor of mystic theology, born at Hontoveros, Old Castile, 24 June, 1542; died at Ubeda, Andalusia, 14 Dec., 1591. John de Yepes, youngest child of Gonzalo de Yepes and Catherine Alvarez, poor silk weavers of Toledo, knew from his earliest years the […]

Read the full article →

December 15 – St. Drostan

December 13, 2018

St. Drostan (DRUSTAN, DUSTAN, THROSTAN) A Scottish abbot who flourished about a.d. 600. All that is known of him is found in the “Breviarium Aberdonense” and in the “Book of Deir”, a ninth-century MS. now in the University Library of Cambridge, but these two accounts do not agree in every particular. He appears to have […]

Read the full article →

December 16 – St. Adelaide: Most Important Woman of Her Century

December 13, 2018

St. Adelaide (ADELHEID). Born 931; died 16 December, 999, one of the conspicuous characters in the struggle of Otho the Great to obtain the imperial crown from the Roman Pontiffs. She was the daughter of Rudolph II, King of Burgundy, who was at war with Hugh of Provence for the crown of Italy. The rivals […]

Read the full article →

December 16 – Saint Judicael ap Hoel

December 13, 2018

Saint Judicael ap Hoel (c. 590 – 16 or 17 December 658) was the King of Domnonée and a Breton high king in the mid-seventh century. According to Gregory of Tours, the Bretons were divided into various regna (subkingdoms) during the sixth century, of which Domnonée, Cornouaille, and Broweroch are the best known; they had […]

Read the full article →

December 16 – Can Whistleblowers Be Saints? This One Was…

December 13, 2018

St. Ado, Archbishop of Vienne, Confessor Born about 800, in the diocese of Sens; died 16 December, 875. He was brought up at the Benedictine Abbey of Ferrières, and had as one of his masters the Abbot Lupus Servatus, one of the most celebrated humanists of those times. By his brilliant talents and assiduous application […]

Read the full article →

December 17 – St. Olympias

December 13, 2018

Born 360-5; died 25 July, 408, probably at Nicomedia. This pious, charitable, and wealthy disciple of St. John Chrysostom came from an illustrious family in Constantinople. Her father (called by the sources Secundus or Selencus) was a “Count” of the empire; one of her ancestors, Ablabius, filled in 331 the consular office, and was also […]

Read the full article →

December 17 – St. Begga, Widow and Abbess

December 13, 2018

This saint was daughter of Pepin of Landen, eldest sister to St. Gertrude of Nivelle, and married Ansegise, son to St. Arnoul, who was some time mayor of the palace, and afterwards bishop of Metz. Her husband being killed in hunting, she dedicated herself to a penitential state of retirement, and, after performing a pilgrimage […]

Read the full article →

December 17 – St. Sturmius and the diocese of Fulda

December 13, 2018

To systematize the work of evangelizing Germany, St. Boniface organized a hierarchy on the usual ecclesiastical basis; in Bavaria the Dioceses of Salzburg, Freising, Ratisbon, and Passau; in Franconia and Thuringia, Würzburg, Eichstätt, Buraburg near Fritzlar, and Erfurt. To facilitate missionary work farther north, especially among the Saxons, he sought a suitable spot for the […]

Read the full article →

December 11 – Pope Falsely Accused of Adultery

December 10, 2018

Pope St. Damasus I Born about 304; died 11 December, 384. His father, Antonius, was probably a Spaniard; the name of his mother, Laurentia, was not known until quite recently. Damasus seems to have been born at Rome; it is certain that he grew up there in the service of the church of the martyr […]

Read the full article →

December 11 – Her Name Was “Mother Marvelous”

December 10, 2018

St. María de las Maravillas de Jesús Pidal y Chico de Guzmán was born in Madrid, Spain, on 4 November 1891. She was the daughter of Luis Pidal y Mon, Marquis of Pidal, and Cristina Chico de Guzmán y Munoz. At the time her father was the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See and she grew […]

Read the full article →

December 12 – Tancred

December 10, 2018

Tancred Prince of Antioch, born about 1072; died at Antioch, 12 Dec., 1112. He was the son of Marquess Odo and Emma, probably the daughter of Robert Guiscard. He took the Cross in 1096 with the Norman lords of Southern Italy and joined the service of his uncle Bohemund. Having disembarked at Arlona (Epirus), they […]

Read the full article →

December 12 – Guadalupe: She Who Smashes the Serpent

December 10, 2018

by Cesar Franco Pope Pius XII gave Our Lady of Guadalupe the title of “Empress of the Americas” in 1945. Since December 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, this is a propitious moment to recall how She reigns over our nation from Heaven, protecting and guiding us with Motherly solicitude and tenderness. […]

Read the full article →

December 13 – The girl named Lucy, opposite of Lucifer

December 10, 2018

St. Lucy A virgin and martyr of Syracuse in Sicily, whose feast is celebrated by Latins and Greeks alike on 13 Dec. According to the traditional story, she was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin, but his early death left her dependent upon her mother, […]

Read the full article →

December 13 – St. Odilia

December 10, 2018

St. Odilia Patroness of Alsace, born at the end of the seventh century; died about 720. According to a trustworthy statement, apparently taken from an earlier life, she was the daughter of the Frankish lord Adalrich (Aticus, Etik) and his wife Bereswinda, who had large estates in Alsace. She founded the convent of Hohenburg (Odilienberg) […]

Read the full article →

December 13 – “The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from here”

December 10, 2018

St. Jane Frances de Chantal Born at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641. Her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy, and leader of the royalist party during the League that brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry IV. In 1592 she married Baron […]

Read the full article →

December 13 – Elected Pope to Fight the Emperor

December 10, 2018

Pope Callistus II Date of birth unknown; died 13 December, 1124. His reign, beginning 1 February, 1119, is signalized by the termination of the Investiture controversy which, begun in the time of Gregory VII, had raged with almost unabated bitterness during the last quarter of the eleventh century and the opening years of the twelfth. […]

Read the full article →

The Name Change

December 6, 2018

The King gave the final order. That two days afterwards, that is to say on the 1st of October, Jeromín was to be established in Valladolid with the Quijadas in a house which Doña Magdalena owned opposite that of the Conde de Rivadeo, which was henceforth to be the residence of the new prince; and […]

Read the full article →

Aging Gracefully or Shamefully

December 6, 2018

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In today’s society, at least as it pertains to the natural aging process, “young” is “in”—“old” is “out.” Everyone wants to appear young. There is a strange anomaly here. While it is fashionable to collect antiques and even vintage automobiles, a deep-rooted sentiment of displeasure exists among those for whom […]

Read the full article →

December 7 – The People Acclaimed Him as Bishop Even Though He Was Unbaptized

December 6, 2018

St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably 340, at Trier, Arles, or Lyons; died 4 April, 397. He was one of the most illustrious Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and fitly chosen, together with St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Athanasius, to uphold the venerable Chair of the Prince […]

Read the full article →

December 8 – The Immaculate Conception: The Celebration of Privilege

December 6, 2018

Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire […]

Read the full article →

December 8 – To overcome his repugnance, he bound himself by vow

December 6, 2018

St. Noel Chabanel A Jesuit missionary among the Huron Indians, born in Southern France, 2 February, 1613; slain by a renegade Huron, 8 December, 1649. Chabanel entered the Jesuit novitiate at Toulouse at the age of seventeen, and was professor of rhetoric in several colleges of the society in the province of Toulouse. He was […]

Read the full article →

December 9 – Banker and Saint

December 6, 2018

St. Peter Fourier Known as LE BON PÈRE DE MATTAINCOURT (Good Father of Mattaincourt), born at Mirecourt, Lorraine, 30 Nov., 1565 died at Gray, Haute-Saône, 9 Dec., 1640. At fifteen he was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson. His piety and learning led many noble families to ask him to educate their sons. He became […]

Read the full article →

December 10 – To protest the emperor, he paid special honor images and relics

December 6, 2018

Pope St. Gregory III (Reigned 731-741.) Pope St. Gregory III was the son of a Syrian named John. The date of his birth is not known. His reputation for learning and virtue was so great that the Romans elected him pope by acclamation, when he was accompanying the funeral procession of his predecessor, 11 February, […]

Read the full article →

December 10 – The First Pope to Live in a Palace

December 6, 2018

Pope St. Miltiades The year of his birth is not known; he was elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January, 314. After the banishment of Pope Eusebius, the Roman See was vacant for some time, probably because of the complications which has arisen on account of the apostates (lapsi), and […]

Read the full article →

December 4 – Saint Barbara

December 3, 2018

Saint Barbara Virgin and Martyr. There is no reference to St. Barbara contained in the authentic early historical authorities for Christian antiquity, neither does her name appear in the original recension of St. Jerome’s martyrology. Veneration of the saint was common, however, from the seventh century. At about this date there were in existence legendary […]

Read the full article →

December 4 – Saint Osmund, founder of the Cathedral system of Church governance

December 3, 2018

Saint Osmund Bishop of Salisbury, died 1099; his feast is kept on 4 December. Osmund held an exalted position in Normandy, his native land, and according to a late fifteenth-century document was the son of Henry, Count of Séez, and Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was the father of William the Conqueror […]

Read the full article →

December 4 – From a Muslim court, he opposed the Christian Emperor…and won!

December 3, 2018

St. John Damascene Born at Damascus, about 676; died some time between 754 and 787. The only extant life of the saint is that by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, which dates from the tenth century (P.G. XCIV, 429-90). This life is the single source from which have been drawn the materials of all his biographical […]

Read the full article →

December 5 – Noble matron faithful unto death

December 3, 2018

St. Crispina A martyr of Africa who suffered during the Diocletian persecution; born at Thagara in the Province of Africa; died by beheading at Thebeste in Numidia, 5 December, 304. Crispina belonged to a distinguished family and was a wealthy matron with children. At the time of the persecution she was brought before the proconsul […]

Read the full article →

December 6 – Martyr of the Muslims

December 3, 2018

St. Peter Paschal, Bishop and Martyr This saint was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1227, and descended of the ancient family of the Paschals, which had edified the Church by the triumphs of five glorious martyrs, which it produced under the Moors. Peter’s parents were virtuous and exceedingly charitable; and St. Peter Nolasco often lodged […]

Read the full article →

December 6 – Good St. Nicholas

December 3, 2018

Life of Saint Nicholas from Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine Here beginneth the Life of Saint Nicholas the Bishop. Stained glass window of St. Nicholas in Joinville, France. Nicholas is said of Nichos, which is to say victory, and of laos, people, so Nicholas is as much as to say as victory of people, […]

Read the full article →

Charette’s brave Zouaves

November 29, 2018

Upon which I galloped back to my Artillery reserve, where I had placed my Zouaves, and cried to Charette: ‘Colonel, give me one of your battalions.’ There were two. Then, addressing those brave Zouaves, I said: ‘There are some cowards down there who refuse to march, and who will lose the whole army. Try to […]

Read the full article →

Sister Anuarita of Bafwabaka: A Mary Goretti of Central Africa

November 29, 2018

The present Soviet-Cuban aggression against the African continent has been prepared by decades of infiltration, propaganda, and communist inspired terrorist activity. The lives of the African people have been systematically disrupted, the land has been devastated, and religious and shrines of the Church have been desecrated. These assaults have at times, by way of reaction, […]

Read the full article →

November 30 – His name means manhood, or valour

November 29, 2018

St. Andrew The name “Andrew” (Gr., andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C. St. Andrew, the Apostle, son of Jonah, or John (Matt., xvi, 17; John, i, 42), was born in Bethsaida of Galilee (John, i, 44). He was […]

Read the full article →

December 1 – The Virgin Mary appears to General Gaston de Sonis after his army’s losses at Patay promising that France would survive

November 29, 2018

On the night of December 1 [1870], the Zouaves were ordered to advance to Patay [France], where Joan of Arc had won a renowned victory against the English. [General Louis-Gaston de] Sonis asked [Colonel Athanase de] Charette, who had no flag of his own, to lend him the Zouaves’. This banner had a curious history….  […]

Read the full article →

December 1 – Bl. Ralph Sherwin

November 29, 2018

Bl. Ralph Sherwin English martyr, born 1550 at Rodesley, near Longford, Derbyshire; died at Tyburn, 1 December, 1581. In 1568 Sir William Petre nominated him to one of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford, probably acting under the influence of the martyr’s uncle, John Woodward, who from 1556 to 1566 […]

Read the full article →

December 1 – Billionaire Saint

November 29, 2018

Saint Eligius (French: Eloi), Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, born at Chaptelat near Limoges, France, circa 590, of Roman parents, Eucherius and Terrigia; died at Noyon, December 1, 660. His father, recognizing unusual talent in his son, sent him to the noted goldsmith Abbo, master of the mint at Limoges. Later Eligius went to Neustria, where he […]

Read the full article →

December 1 – He Hid Priests in His Manorhouse

November 29, 2018

Blessed Richard Langley Layman and martyr, b. probably at Grimthorpe, Yorks, England, date unknown; d. at York, 1 Dec., 1586. From his father, Richard Langley, of Rathorpe Hall, Walton, he probably inherited Rathorpe, but for the greater part of his life continued to reside on his estate at Ousethorpe, in the East Riding. His mother […]

Read the full article →

December 1 – The Queen bade him ask for what he would

November 29, 2018

Edmund Campion, English Jesuit Saint and martyr; he was the son and namesake of a Catholic bookseller, and was born in London, 25 Jan., 1540; executed at Tyburn, 1 Dec., 1581. A city company sent the promising child to a grammar school and to Christ Church Hospital. When Mary Tudor entered London in state as […]

Read the full article →

December 2 – Cause of Our Joy

November 29, 2018

Our Lady of Joy (aka Notre Dame de Liesse, or Causa Nostrae Laetitiae) In 1134 three Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, prisoners of the Muslims in Egypt, miraculously found or received in their prison a statue of Our Lady, which they named Our Lady of Joy, or Notre Dame de Liesse. […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →