November 12 – Four years in Stalin’s concentration camp

November 9, 2017

Blessed Hryhorij Lakota Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church auxiliary bishop who suffered religious persecution and was martyred by the Soviet Government. Hryhorij Lakota was born 31 January 1893 in Holodivka, Lviv Oblast. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Przemyśl on 16 May 1926. On 9 June 1946, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, as […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Noble Ruthenian Stock

November 9, 2017

St. Josaphat Kuncevyc Martyr, born in the little town of Volodymyr in Lithuania (Volyn) in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk, Russia, 12 November, 1623. The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Constable of France: he fought his entire life and died in battle at age 74

November 9, 2017

Anne de Montmorency had proven many times before that his race does not degenerate and the brave blood of an illustrious line of ancestors flowed in his veins. Imperious, severe, of a stern mood, he had undeniable bravery and strict fidelity to his duty. Although success had not always been on a par with his […]

Read the full article →

November 13 – Patroness of missionaries

November 9, 2017

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. Also called Mother Cabrini, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a religious institute which was a major support to the Italian immigrants to the United States. She was the first citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. She was born in Sant’Angelo […]

Read the full article →

November 13 – Pure and noble, he received Holy Communion from the hands of angels

November 9, 2017

St. Stanislas Kostka Born at Rostkovo near Prasnysz, Poland, about 28 October, 1550; died at Rome during the night of 14-15 August, 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rome, 28 October, 1567, and is said to have foretold his death a few days before it occurred. His father, John Kostka, was a senator […]

Read the full article →

November 13 – Grand Master of the Order of Christ

November 9, 2017

Prince Henry the Navigator Born 4 March, 1394; died 13 November, 1460; he was the fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, by Queen Philippa, a daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1415 he commanded the expedition which captured Ceuta, Portugal’s first oversea conquest, and there won his knightly spurs. Three years later he […]

Read the full article →

November 13 – He calmed the fear of the end of the world

November 9, 2017

St. Abbon (or Abbo), born near Orléans c. 945; died at Fleury, 13 November, 1004, a monk of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire (Fleuret), conspicuous both for learning and sanctity, and one of the great lights of the Church in the stormy times of Hugh Capet of France and of the three Ottos […]

Read the full article →

November 13 – One of the Great Popes of the Middle Ages

November 9, 2017

Pope St. Nicholas I Born at Rome, date unknown; died 13 November, 867; one of the great popes of the Middle Ages, who exerted decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. He was of a distinguished family, being the son of the Defensor […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Martyred in Mecca

November 6, 2017

Saint Ernest of Mecca Abbot of the abbey of Zwiefalten Died     1148 AD in Mecca Feast     November 7 Saint Ernest (died 1148) was the abbot of the Benedictine Zwiefalten Abbey at Zwiefalten, Germany during the 12th century. He participated in the Second Crusade fought by Christians between 1145 and 1149 to regain the […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – He Went on Crusade to Atone for His Sins

November 6, 2017

Saint Engelbert of Cologne Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); born at Berg, about 1185; died near Schwelm, 7 November 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to an abuse of […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 6, 2017

Born     December 29, 1811, in Aitona, Lleida, Spain Died     20 March 1872, in Tarragona, Spain Beatified     April 24, 1988, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II Feast     November 7 Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

November 6, 2017

Bl. Bernardine of Fossa Of the Order of Friars Minor, historian and ascetical writer, b. at Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November, 1503. Blessed Bernardine belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Amici, and sometimes bears the name of Aquilanus on account of his long […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – St. Willibrord and the Dancing Procession

November 6, 2017

St. Willibrord Bishop of Utrecht, Apostle of the Frisians, and son of St. Hilgis, born in Northumbria, 658; died at Echternach, Luxemburg, 7 Nov., 739. Willibrord made his early studies at the Abbey of Ripon near York, as a disciple of St. Wilfrid, and then entered the Benedictine Order. When twenty years old he went […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Saint Tysilio of Wales

November 6, 2017

Saint Tysilio (died 640) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar, son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor Iscoed and an ecclesiastic who took a prominent part in the affairs of Wales during the distressful period at the opening of the 7th century. Prince […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Four Crowned Martyrs

November 6, 2017

Four Crowned Martyrs The old guidebooks to the tombs of the Roman martyrs make mention, in connection with the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana, of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Quatuor Coronati), at whose grave the pilgrims were wont to worship (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 178-79). One of these itineraries, […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 6, 2017

St. Willehad Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He […]

Read the full article →

November 9 – Patrick’s psalm-singer

November 6, 2017

St. Benignus Date of birth unknown; died 467, son of Sesenen, an Irish chieftain in that part of Ireland which is now County Meath. He was baptized by St. Patrick, and became his favorite disciple and his coadjutor in the See of Armagh (450). His gentle and lovable disposition suggested the name Benen, which has […]

Read the full article →

November 9 – Executed in Oxford, buried with the Templars

November 6, 2017

Ven. George Napper (Or Napier). English martyr, born at Holywell manor, Oxford, 1550; executed at Oxford 9 November, 1610. He was a son of Edward Napper (d. in 1558), sometime Fellow of All Souls College, by Anne, his second wife, daughter of John Peto, of Chesterton, Warwickshire, and niece of William, Cardinal Peto. He entered […]

Read the full article →

With chaos, the hour of heroism and the possibility of shedding our blood as martyrs or crusaders draws closer

November 2, 2017

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The hour of chaos brings on the hour of hopes that are fulfilled. It is the hour of predictions that are confirmed but also the hour of the holocaust that knocks on our door! It is the hour of heroism, complete dedication; the hour we inch toward the eventual shedding […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – Patron of hunting

November 2, 2017

St. Hubert Confessor, thirty-first Bishop of Maastricht, first Bishop of Liège, and Apostle of the Ardennes, born about 656; died at Fura (the modern Tervueren), Brabant, 30 May, 727 or 728. He was honored in the Middle Ages as the patron of huntsmen, and the healer of hydrophobia (rabies). He was the eldest son of […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – The Battle of Mentana

November 2, 2017

It was a dark and gloomy morning, pouring rain, when this little army of some five thousand men filed out of the Porta Pia in a colorful parade, Pius IX’s Swiss General Rafael de Courten’s papal troops leading and the French contingent bringing up the rear…. Famous since classical times as a suburban retreat some […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – Patron of Buckingham

November 2, 2017

St. Rumwold of Buckingham His father was king of Northumberland, his mother a daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians. He was born at Sutthun, and baptized by Widerin, a bishop, the holy priest Eadwold being his godfather. He died very young on the 3rd of November and was buried in Sutthun by Eadwold. The […]

Read the full article →

November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 2, 2017

St. Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died […]

Read the full article →

November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 2, 2017

Bl. Frances d’Amboise Duchess of Brittany, afterwards Carmelite nun, born 1427; died at Nantes, 4 Nov., 1485. The daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, she was betrothed when only four years old, to Peter, second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, the marriage being solemnized when she had reached the age of fifteen. […]

Read the full article →

November 5 – Her name means “God is an oath”

November 2, 2017

St. Elizabeth (God is an oath—Ex., vi, 23) Zachary’s wife and John the Baptist’s mother, was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke, i, 5), and, at the same time, Mary’s kinswoman (Luke, i, 36), although what their actual relationship was, is unknown. St. Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) explains that Sobe and […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – Duchess d’Alençon

November 2, 2017

Blessed Margaret of Lorraine Duchess d’Alencon, religious of the order of Poor Clares, born in 1463 at the castle of Vaudémont (Lorraine); died at Argentan (Brittany) 2 November, 1521. The daughter of Ferri de Vaudimont and of Yolande d’Anjou, little Margaret became an orphan at an early age and was brought up at Aix-en-Provençe, by […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – We know nothing about him, except his miracles

November 2, 2017

St. Leonard of Limousin Nothing absolutely certain is known of his history, as his earliest “Life”, written in the eleventh century, has no historical value whatever. According to this extraordinary legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family of the time of King Clovis, and St. Remy of Reims was his godfather. After having secured […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – St. Winnoc

November 2, 2017

St. Winnoc Abbot or Prior or Wormhoult, died 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist […]

Read the full article →

October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 30, 2017

St. Wolfgang Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period […]

Read the full article →

November 1 – For saving her people, she was made their judge

October 30, 2017

Deborah the Prophetess (also known as Debbora the Judge, Deborah the Matriarch) Prophetess and judge: she was the wife of Lapidoth and was endowed by God with prophetic gifts which secured for her the veneration of the divided Israelitic tribes and gave her great authority over them. Her wisdom was first displayed in settling litigious […]

Read the full article →

All Saints Day: How many saints were noble?

October 30, 2017

All Saint’s Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity? The current misunderstanding of nobility and the analogous traditional elites results largely from the adroit but biased propaganda spread against them by the French Revolution. Such propaganda, continuously disseminated throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by ideological and political currents spawned […]

Read the full article →

November 2 – His mother celebrated his death as if it were a wedding

October 30, 2017

Blessed John Bodey Martyr, born at Wells, Somerset: 1549; died at Andover, Wilts., 2 November, 1583. He studied at Winchester and New College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1568. In June, 1576, he was deprived, with seven other Fellows, by the Visitor, Horne, Protestant Bishop of Winchester. Next year he went to […]

Read the full article →

The Institution Of All Souls Day

October 30, 2017

It was St. Odilo of Cluny who first appointed one day every year to be set aside in a special manner for prayer for the faithful departed. It happened that a certain religious belonging to France was returning home from Palestine, where he had gone to visit the places consecrated by the foot steps of […]

Read the full article →

Father Jacques Marquette preaches the Faith to the Illinois

October 26, 2017

Marquette spent the winter [1763-1764] and the following summer at the mission of Green Bay, still suffering from his malady. In the autumn, however, it abated; and he was permitted by his Superior to attempt the execution of a plan to which he was devotedly attached, — the founding, at the principal town of the […]

Read the full article →

Our Lady’s Call to Her Chivalry

October 26, 2017

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Look, my sons, at the situation the world is in; the desolation in which it is placed. History has not seen a similar situation or greater desolation. Because of it, a huge chastisement has been prepared, the likes of which will never be seen again. But my sons, I do […]

Read the full article →

October 27 – The Christian King Who Invaded Arabia

October 26, 2017

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor The Axumite Ethiopians, whose dominions were extended from the western coast of the Red Sea, very far on the continent, were in the sixth century a powerful and flourishing nation. St. Elesbaan their king, during the reign of Justin the Elder, in all his actions and designs had no […]

Read the full article →

October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 26, 2017

Sts. Edesius and Frumentius Tyrian Greeks of the fourth century, probably brothers, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; the latter a saint and first Bishop of Axum, styled the Apostle of Abyssinia, d. about 383. When still mere boys they accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Abyssinia. When their ship stopped at one of […]

Read the full article →

October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 26, 2017

Saint Alfred the Great In this incomparable prince were united the saint, the soldier, and the statesman in a most eminent degree. Sir Henry Spelman (Conc. Brit.) gives us his character in a rapture. “O, Alfred,” says he, “the wonder and astonishment of all ages! If we reflect on his piety and religion, it would […]

Read the full article →

October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 26, 2017

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor By Jeremias Wells When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a […]

Read the full article →

October 29 – King turned monk, his people begged him to lead them in battle against Penda

October 26, 2017

Saint Sigebert King and martyr, date of birth unknown; died about 637, was the stepbrother of Earpwald, king of the East Angles. During the reign of Redwald he lived an exile in Gaul where he received baptism and became an ardent Christian. Earpwald died about 627, and East Anglia seems to have relapsed into anarchy […]

Read the full article →

October 30 – Patroness of the Teutonic Knights

October 26, 2017

St. Dorothea of Montau, recluse, born at Montau, 6 February, 1347, died at Marienwerder, 25 June, 1394. At the age of seventeen she married the sword-cutler Albrecht of Danzig, a hot-tempered man, whose nature underwent a change through her humility and gentleness. Both made frequent pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln, and they intended (1390) […]

Read the full article →

October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 26, 2017

St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity. Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain of the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself […]

Read the full article →

October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 23, 2017

St. Antonio María Claret y Clará Spanish prelate and missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec., 1807; died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct., 1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – St. Cuthbert Mayne

October 23, 2017

St. Cuthbert Mayne Martyr, born at Yorkston, near Barnstaple, Devonshire (baptized 20 March, 1543-4); died at Launceston, Cornwall, 29 Nov., 1577. He was the son of William Mayne; his uncle was a schismatical priest, who had him educated at Barnstaple Grammar School, and he was ordained a Protestant minister at the age of eighteen or […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – Memorial of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, Many of Them Nobles

October 23, 2017

February 1 – Immediately after his martyrdom, they lined up to venerate his relics February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest? May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first May 22 – Queen’s Confessor                June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – Crispin and Crispian and the baron of Renty

October 23, 2017

Martyrs of the Early Church who were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October, 285 or 286. It is stated that they were brothers, but the fact has not been positively proved. The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – The original hood

October 23, 2017

Hugh Capet King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty, born about the middle of the tenth century; died about 996, probably 24 October. He was the second son of Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, and Hedwig, sister of Otto I, German Emperor, and was about ten years old when he inherited from his […]

Read the full article →

October 26 – Bl. Celina Chludzińska v. Borzęcka

October 23, 2017

 (1833-1913) Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection Celine Chludzinska Borzecka was born on 29 October 1833 in Antowil, Orsza (formerly Polish territory, today Belarus), to Ignatius and Petronella Chludzinski, whose families were wealthy landowners. One of three children, she grew up in an environment of sound Catholic and patriotic traditions, and […]

Read the full article →

October 26 – Their black magic could not withstand the sign of the cross

October 23, 2017

Sts. Lucian and Marcian Lucian and Marcian living in the darkness of idolatry applied themselves to the vain study of the black art; but were converted to the faith by finding their charms lose their power upon a Christian virgin, and the evil spirits defeated by the sign of the cross. Their eyes being thus […]

Read the full article →

October 26 – Laid to rest next to St. Peter

October 23, 2017

Pope Saint Evaristus Date of birth unknown; died about 107. In the Liberian Catalogue his name is given as Aristus. In papal catalogues of the second century used by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, he appears as the fourth successor of St. Peter, immediately after St. Clement. The same lists allow him eight years of reign, covering […]

Read the full article →

Joseph Broussard leads a group of Acadians to Attakapas Parish, Louisiana

October 19, 2017

The group of six hundred Acadians from Halifax—including every living relative of Joseph and Alexandre Broussard, as well as the families of many of their associates in the Acadian resistance—arrived in Saint Domingue in January 1765. But the Broussards had no intention of remaining there. They soon hired another vessel, and with 193 Acadians continued […]

Read the full article →

In the face of Islamic Extremism’s aggressions…Why Not Launch a Crusade?

October 19, 2017

By Alejandro Ezcurra Naón Outrage is growing in western public opinion as news keeps coming in about the horrendous massacres perpetrated against Christians in Asia Minor and Africa by terrorists of the self-proclaimed“Islamic State” and their ilk. Many are beginning to wonder if one should call a new Crusade in defense of those peoples, victimized […]

Read the full article →

October 20 – Emperor Marcian

October 19, 2017

Marcian (Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457. He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – Hammer of Muslim invaders

October 19, 2017

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 19, 2017

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 19, 2017

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might […]

Read the full article →

October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 19, 2017

St. Wendelin of Trier Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. […]

Read the full article →

October 23 – Made eunuch because he was prince

October 19, 2017

St. Ignatius of Constantinople Born about 799; died 23 October, 877; son of Emperor Michael I and Procopia. His name, originally Nicetas, was changed at the age of fourteen to Ignatius. Leo the Armenian having deposed the Emperor Michael (813), made Ignatius a eunuch and incarcerated him in a monastery, that he might not become […]

Read the full article →

October 23 – Gentle Birth, But Not Gentle Death

October 19, 2017

Blessed Thomas Thwing Martyr. Born at Heworth Hall, near York, in 1635; suffered at York, 23 Oct., 1680. His father was George Thwing, Esq., of Kilton Castle and Heworth, nephew of Venerable Edward Thwing; his mother was Anne, sister of the venerable confessor Sir Thomas Gasciogne, of Barnbrow Hall… Read more here.

Read the full article →

October 23 – The amazing story of San Juan Capistrano and the Siege of Belgrade

October 19, 2017

St. John of Capistrano Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456. His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →