Churchill: Monarchy would have prevented Hitler

September 7, 2017

‘Personally, having lived through all these European disturbances and studied carefully their causes, I am of the opinion that if the Allies at the peace table at Versailles had not imagined that the sweeping away of long-established dynasties was a form of progress, and if they had allowed a Hohenzollern, a Wittelsbach, and a Habsburg […]

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Saint Bernard’s spirit of chivalry

September 7, 2017

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira St. Bernard was a Trappist monk. He founded a religious Order that was a branch of the Order of St. Benedict destined to practice greater austerity and have a tougher life than required by the toughest rules of the monks of his time.  He believed – how rightly! – that […]

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September 8 – The Davidic ancestry of Mary

September 7, 2017

As we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us recall her Davidic ancestry. St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, “because he was of the house and family of David”. As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist […]

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September 8 – He added the Agnus Dei to the Mass

September 7, 2017

Pope St. Sergius I (Reigned 687-701), date of birth unknown; consecrated probably on 15 Dec., 687; died 8 Sept., 701. While Pope Conon lay dying, the archdeacon Pascal offered the exarch a large sum to bring about his election as his successor. Through the exarch’s influence the archdeacon was accordingly elected by a number of […]

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September 9 – Wife of a dissolute husband

September 7, 2017

Blessed Seraphina Sforza Born at Urbino about 1434; died at Pesaro, 8 September, 1478. Her parents were Guido Antonio of Montefeltro, Count of Urbino, and Cattarina Colonna. She was brought up at Rome by her maternal uncle, Martin V. In 1448 Seraphina married Alexander Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. Ten years afterwards her husband gave himself […]

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September 9 – St. Omer

September 7, 2017

St. Omer Born of a distinguished family towards the close of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, at Guldendal, Switzerland; died c. 670. After the death of his mother, he, with his father, entered the monastery of Luxeuil in the Diocese of Besançon probably about 615. Under the direction of Saint Eustachius, […]

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September 10 – Model of chastity

September 7, 2017

St. Nicholas of Tolentino Born at Sant’ Angelo, near Fermo, in the March of Ancona, about 1246; d. 10 September, 1306. He is depicted in the black habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine — a star above him or on his breast, a lily, or a crucifix garlanded with lilies, in his hand. Sometimes, […]

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September 10 – They always carried a copy of his Bible in battle

September 7, 2017

St. Finnian of Moville Born about 495; died 589. Though not so celebrated as his namesake of Clonard, he was the founder of a famous school about the year 540. He studied under St. Colman of Dromore and St. Mochae of Noendrum (Mahee Island), and subsequently at Candida Casa (Whithern), whence he proceeded to Rome, […]

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September 10 – Arrested while preaching

September 7, 2017

St. Edward Ambrose Barlow (Alias RADCLIFFE and BRERETON.) Priest and martyr, born at Barlow Hall, 1585; died 10 September, 1641. He was the fourth son of Sir Alexander Barlow, Knight of Barlow Hall, near Manchester, by Mary, daughter of Sir Uryan Brereton, Knight of Handforth Hall, Co. Chester, and was baptized at Didsbury Church 30 […]

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September 10 – St. Pulcheria, Empress, and her husband Marcian

September 7, 2017

St. Pulcheria Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire, eldest daughter of the Emperor Arcadius, born 19 Jan., 399; died in 453. After the death of Arcadius (408), her younger brother, Theodosius II, then only seven, became emperor under the guardianship of Anthimus. Pulcheria had matured early and had great administrative ability; she soon exerted salutary […]

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September 11 – Burned slowly to death at Nagasaki

September 7, 2017

Blessed Charles Spinola Born in Genoa in 1564, he was the son of the Count of Tassarolo, and the nephew of Cardinal Philip Spinola. He was educated in Spain and in the Jesuit school in Nola, Italy. He entered the noviatiate in 1584, and was ordained in 1594. In 1596, he received a letter appointing […]

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September 11 – Italian army invades the Papal State without a declaration of war

September 7, 2017

The King of Italy sends an ultimatum to Blessed Pope Pius IX As the French military situation deteriorated [in the Franco-Prussian War], the government in Florence grew bolder. Near the end of August [1870], the Italian cabinet issued a circular letter to all the governments of Europe, in which it declared that the time had […]

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September 11 – Prince Eugen of Savoy crushes the Turks at Zenta

September 7, 2017

Although his men had already done a forced march of over ten hours that day, Eugen gave the order to advance and then galloped ahead to see the scene at first hand. He spotted how, just above the bridge on the near side of the river, the water was shallow with a sandbank leading up […]

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September 11 – His fame will last forever as that of a gallant soldier and a true Christian

September 7, 2017

Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière French general and commander-in-chief of the papal army, b. at Nantes, 5 February, 1806; d. at the château of Prouzel, near Amiens, 11 September, 1865. His father was descended from an old Breton family whose device was Spes mea Deus. His mother was Desirée de Robineau de Bougon. He made […]

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September 5 – Unashamed to beg alms even from his noble family

September 4, 2017

St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor, First Patriarch of Venice Bishop and first Patriarch of Venice, born in 1381, and died 8 January, 1456. He was a descendant of the Giustiniani, a Venetian patrician family which numbered several saints among its members. Lawrence’s pious mother sowed the seeds of a devout religious life in the […]

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September 6 – Blessed Thomas Tsuji

September 4, 2017

Born to the Japanese nobility in Sonogi on the island of Kyushu about the year 1571. Educated by Jesuits at Arima, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1587. He traveled all over Japan and became known for his eloquent, persuasive preaching. After the publication of an edict banning Catholic priests, he followed eighty of […]

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September 7 – The Outrage of Anagni

September 4, 2017

It had been the practice to speak of the spiritual and temporal powers in terms of pope and emperor, and it was long before it was realized, at least on the papal side, that the civil power, defeated as emperor, had returned to the attack with more aggressive vigour as the Monarchy and the State. […]

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September 7: Richard the Lionheart defeats Saladin at Arsuf – Video

September 4, 2017

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September 7 – Grandson of Queen St. Clotilda

September 4, 2017

St. Cloud, Confessor A.D. 560. St. Cloud, called in Latin Chlodoardus, is the first and most illustrious saint among the princes of the royal family of the first race in France. He was son of Chlodomir, king of Orleans, the eldest son of St. Clotilda, and was born in 522. He was scarcely three years […]

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September 7 – Milkos Zrinyi

September 4, 2017

Milkos Zrinyi Count, a Hungarian soldier, born in 1518, killed at Sziget, near the Brave, Sept. 7, 1566. When only 12 years old, Charles V. gave him a gold chain for his conduct during the siege of Vienna. He afterward became ban of Croatia, and at the siege of Sziget with 8,000 men he resisted […]

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How King St. Ferdinand besieged Jaén and how God gave it to him with the whole kingdom of Granada

August 31, 2017

As son as he left the Queen and the infantes in Córdoba, Don Ferdinand left in the direction of Martos. There he had summoned the noblemen to discuss the campaign to conquer Jaén and to return it to the Kingship of Christ. Among those who came was one whom he liked since childhood. This was […]

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Nobility and Traditional Elites Today

August 31, 2017

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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September 1 – Gideon the Judge

August 31, 2017

Gideon or Gedeon (Hebrew “hewer”), also called JEROBAAL (Judges, vi, 32; vii, 1; etc.), and JERUBESHETH (II Kings, xi, 21, in the Hebrew text). Gideon was one of the Greater Judges of Israel. He belonged to the tribe of Manasses, and to the family of Abiezer (Judges, vi, 34). Gideon’s father was Joas, and lived […]

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September 1 – St. Giles

August 31, 2017

(Latin Ægidius.) An Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where […]

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September 3 – All the principles of Catholicism can be found in his life

August 31, 2017

Pope St. Gregory I (“the Great”) Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604. Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church. To him we […]

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September 3 – St. Hereswitha

August 31, 2017

St. Hereswitha (HAERESVID, HERESWYDE). Daughter of Hereric and Beorhtswith and sister of St. Hilda of Whitby. She was the wife of Aethelhere, King of East Anglia, to whom she bore two sons, Aldwulf and Alfwold. By the “Liber Eliensis” she is stated to have been the wife of King Anna, the leder brother of King […]

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September 4 – She predicted the speedy death of the emperor

August 31, 2017

St. Rose of Viterbo (also Rosalia, and in Sicily affectionately nicknamed La Santuzza) Virgin, born at Viterbo, 1235; died 6 March, 1252. The chronology of her life must always remain uncertain, as the Acts of her canonization, the chief historical sources, record no dates. Those given above are accepted by the best authorities. Born of […]

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September 4 – Pope Saint Boniface I

August 31, 2017

Pope Saint Boniface I Elected 28 December, 418, he died at Rome, 4 September, 422. Little is known of his life antecedent to his election. The “Liber Pontificalis” calls him a Roman, and the son of the presbyter Jocundus. He is believed to have been ordained by Pope Damasus I (366-384) and to have served […]

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August 29 – Passion of St. John the Baptist

August 28, 2017

Part of the Baptist’s ministry was exercised in Perea: Ennon, another scene of his labours, was within the borders of Galilee; both Perea and Galilee made up the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. This prince, a son worthy of his father Herod the Great, had married, likely for political reasons, the daughter of Aretas, king of […]

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August 29 – At the helm during the French Revolution

August 28, 2017

Pope Pius VI (GIOVANNI ANGELICO BRASCHI). Born at Cesena, 27 December, 1717; elected 15 February, 1775; died at Valence, France, 29 Aug., 1799. He was of a noble but impoverished family, and was educated at the Jesuit College of Cesena and studied law at Ferrara. After a diplomatic mission to Naples, he was appointed papal […]

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August 29 – Converted by her slave

August 28, 2017

St. Sabina Widow of Valentinus and daughter of Herod Metallarius, suffered martyrdom about 126. According to the Acts of the martyrdom, which however have no historic value, she lived at Rome and was converted to Christianity by her female slave Serapia. Serapia was put to death for her faith and later, in the same year, […]

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August 29 – King and Confessor

August 28, 2017

St. Sebbi, or Sebba This prince was the son of Seward, and in the year 664, which was remarkable for a grievous pestilence, began to reign over the East Saxons, who inhabited the country which, now comprises Essex, Middlesex, and the greater part of Hertfordshire; he being the tenth king from Erkinwin, founder of that […]

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August 30 – Saved by the cross

August 28, 2017

Blessed Bronislava (or Bronislawa) of Poland Born in 1230 to an important Polish family, her grandfather had founded the Premonstratensian monastery at Zwierzyniec near Cracow where Bronislava’s aunt Gertrude had entered, later becoming prioress at Imbramowice. Bronislava was also a cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth and related to Saint Jacek and Blessed Czeslaw. Bronislava entered the convent at […]

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August 30 – Gallant Lady

August 28, 2017

St. Margaret Ward Martyr, born at Congleton, Cheshire; executed at Tyburn, London, 30 Aug., 1588. Nothing is known of her early life except that she was of good family and for a time dwelt in the house of a lady of distinction named Whitall then residing in London. Knowing that William Watson, the priest who […]

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August 31 – Born of a dead mother

August 28, 2017

St. Raymond Nonnatus (Not-Born) (In Spanish SAN RAMON). Born 1200 or 1204 at Portello in the Diocese of Urgel in Catalonia; died at Cardona, 31 August, 1240. His feast is celebrated on 31 August. He is pictured in the habit of his order surrounded by ransomed slaves, with a padlock on his lips. He was […]

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The Love Of The People Of Villagarcía For Their Lord, Don Luis de Quijada

August 24, 2017

Jeromín [Don John of Austria] had a great fright on the morning of 28th of August, 1556. He was doing his lessons with D. Guillén Prieto, when Doña Elizabeth de Alderete, first lady-in-waiting, appeared suddenly to tell him from Doña Magdalena to come to the parlor. She considered his lesson time so sacred, and it […]

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Conclusion – Princess Louise de France, Daughter of Louis XV, Carmelite

August 24, 2017

Part III The upshot is that she continued to struggle and fight to drive the wicked out of the Church. As you know, when the French Revolution broke out there were four atheist bishops who did not even blush when calling themselves atheists. One of them is the famous Talleyrand. This gives you an idea […]

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August 25 – King, Crusader, Saint

August 24, 2017

Saint Louis IX King of France, son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, born at Poissy, 25 April, 1215; died near Tunis, 25 August, 1270. He was eleven years of age when the death of Louis VIII made him king, and nineteen when he married Marguerite of Provence by whom he had eleven children. […]

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August 25 – How do you portray a saint?

August 24, 2017

August 25 is the feast of Saint Louis IX, king, confessor of the Faith, Crusader and model of a Catholic head of state. There are two different ways people picture Saint Louis IX. One is as he truly was, the other is a soft, effeminate distortion of his person. This dichotomy is similar to the […]

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August 25 – He opened the first public free school in Europe

August 24, 2017

St. Joseph Calasanctius (Calasanz) Called in religion “a Matre Dei”, founder of the Piarists, born 11 Sept., 1556, at the castle of Calasanza near Petralta de la Sal in Aragon; died 25 Aug., 1648, at Rome; feast 27 Aug. His parents, Don Pedro Calasanza and Donna Maria Gastonia, gave Joseph, the youngest of five children, […]

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August 26 – This noblewoman survived the Terror and founded the Daughters of the Cross

August 24, 2017

Saint Elizabeth Bichier des Ages She was born of a rich, noble family on July 5, 1773, at the Château des Ages, France. Raised in a pious home, she developed at an early age a close relationship with God and a genuine love for the poor. She was twenty-five when she first met André Hubert […]

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August 27 – “Conform I would not, for it was against my conscience”

August 24, 2017

Saint David Lewis, alias Charles Baker (Recté, according to his own entry in the English College David Henry Lewis). An English Jesuit martyr, born in Monmouthshire in 1616; died at Usk, 27 August, 1679. His father, Morgan Lewis, was a lax Catholic, afterwards converted; his mother, Margaret Pritchard, was a very devout Catholic. David was […]

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August 27 – Never underestimate the prayers of a mother

August 24, 2017

St. Monica Widow; born of Christian parents at Tagaste, North Africa, in 333; died at Ostia, near Rome, in 387. We are told but little of her childhood. She was married early in life to Patritius who held an official position in Tagaste. He was a pagan, though like so many at that period, his […]

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August 28 – Restless Heart

August 24, 2017

St. Augustine of Hippo The great St. Augustine’s life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the “Confessions,” which relate the touching story of his soul, the “Retractations,” which give the history of his mind, and the […]

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August 22 – The Queenship of Mary

August 21, 2017

Pope Pius XII in the Papal Encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam proposed the traditional doctrine on the Queenship of Mary and established this feast for the Universal Church. Pope Pius IX said of Mary’s Queenship: “Turning her maternal Heart toward us and dealing with the affair of our salvation, she is concerned with the whole human […]

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August 22 – Venerable John Wall

August 21, 2017

Blessed John Wall Martyr, born in Lancashire, 1620; suffered near Worcester, 22 August, 1679; known at Douay and Rome as John Marsh, and when on the Mission under the aliases of Francis Johnson, Webb, and Dormore. The son of wealthy and staunch Lancashire Catholics, he was sent when very young to Douai College. He entered […]

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August 22 – The pope who preached a Crusade against the German Emperor Frederick II

August 21, 2017

Pope Gregory IX (UGOLINO, Count of Segni). Born about 1145, at Anagni in the Campagna; died 22 August, 1241, at Rome. He received his education at the Universities of Paris and Bologna. After the accession of Innocent III to the papal throne, Ugolino, who was a nephew of Innocent III, was successively appointed papal chaplain, […]

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August 23: He brought peace to Italy’s war-torn city-states in the Middle Ages

August 21, 2017

Saint Philip Benizi, Servite Priest (1233-1285) Saint Philip Benizi was born in Florence on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233. That same day the Order of Servites was founded by the Mother of God. As an infant one year old, Philip spoke when in the presence of these new religious, and announced the Servants of […]

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August 23 – St. Rose of Lima

August 21, 2017

St. Rose of Lima Virgin, patroness of America, born at Lima, Peru 20 April, 1586; died there 30 August, 1617. Saint Rose was born Isabel Flores y de Oliva in the city of Lima, the Viceroyalty of Peru, then part of New Spain. She was one of the many children of Gaspar Flores, a harquebusier […]

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August 23 – St. Philip Benizi

August 21, 2017

St. Philip Benizi Propagator and fifth General of the Servite Order, born at Florence, Italy, August 15, 1233; died at Todi, in Umbria, August 23, 1285. His parents were scions of the renowned Benizi and Frescobaldi families. After many years of married life had left them childless, Philip was granted to them in answer to […]

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August 23 – Cardinal-General

August 21, 2017

Alvarez Carillo Gil de Albornoz A renowned cardinal, general, and statesman; born about 1310 at Cuenca in New Castile; died 23 Aug., 1367, at the Castle of Bonriposo, near Viterbo, in Italy. His father, Don Garcia, was a descendant of King Alfonso V of Leon, and his mother, Teresa de Luna, belonged to the royal […]

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August 24 – Chancellor of the court

August 21, 2017

St. Ouen (OWEN; DADON, Latin Audaenus). Archbishop of Rouen, b. at Sancy, near Soissons about 609; d. at Clichy-la-Garenne, near Paris, 24 Aug., 683. His father, Autharius, and his mother, Aiga, belonged to the Gallo-Roman race. Shortly after Ouen’s birth they came to Ussy-sur-Marne, where he spent his childhood, with which tradition connects a series […]

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August 24 – Saint Bartholomew’s Day: the real story

August 21, 2017

Saint Bartholomew’s Day This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes. The first point argued was whether or not the massacre had been […]

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August 24 – St. Emilie De Vialar

August 21, 2017

Every child comes into the world with the message that God still loves the world. Emilie De Vialar, Saint and Foundress, was born on September 12, 1797 in a family of noble descent. Her father, Antoine Auguste Jacques, was the son of a renowned High Court Judge. Her mother, Antoinette Emilie de Portal, was the […]

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August 24 – St. María Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament

August 21, 2017

Micaela Desmaisières López de Dicastillo was born in 1809 in Madrid during the War of Independence to Miguel Desmaisières Flores and Bernarda López de Dicastillo Olmeda; her brother was Diego (1806-55). Her father was a high-ranking officer in the armed forces and her mother was an attendant to Queen Maria Luisa de Parma. Her mother […]

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August 20 – Archbishop Teofilo Matulionis: anecdotes

August 17, 2017

He suffered horribly and his exile to the Solovki Islands was incredible!  The prisoners were forced to lay tree trunks over the slippery and swampy road-beds. Sometimes a tree would fall on a prisoner and submerge him in the muddy swamp. No one was permitted to leave what he was doing at the time to […]

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Princess Louise de France, Daughter of Louis XV, Carmelite, Part III

August 17, 2017

PART II Versailles was, therefore, a crucible where the most abominable vices were formed and developed alongside the most admirable virtue. What was it there, in the Versailles environment, architecture, in the court’s atmosphere which caused such opposing and simultaneous effects? This is a starting point for a critique of the “Ancien Régime” which would […]

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August 18 – The Empress who found the True Cross

August 17, 2017

Saint Helena (also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople) The mother of Constantine the Great, born about the middle of the third century, possibly in Drepanum (later known as Helenopolis) on the Nicomedian Gulf; died about 330. She was of humble parentage; St. Ambrose, in his “Oratio de obitu Theodosii”, referred […]

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August 19 – St. John Eudes

August 17, 2017

French missionary and founder of the Eudists and of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity; author of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; born at Ri, France, 14 Nov., 1601; died at Caen, 19 Aug., 1680. He was a brother of the French historian, François Eudes de Nézeray. At […]

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August 19 – The prince who was made bishop at age 22

August 17, 2017

St. Louis of Toulouse Bishop of Toulouse, generally represented vested in pontifical garments and holding a book and a crosier, b. at Brignoles, Provence, Feb., 1274; d. there, 19 Aug., 1297. He was the second son of Charles II of Anjou, called the Lame, King of Naples (1288- 1309), and nephew of St. Louis IX […]

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