Who Was Christopher Columbus, and Why Is He Important?

October 6, 2016

Christopher Columbus (Italian CRISTOFORO COLOMBO; Spanish CRISTOVAL COLON.) Born at Genoa, or on Genoese territory, probably 1451; died at Valladolid, Spain, 20 May 1506. His family was respectable, but of limited means, so that the early education of Columbus was defective. Up to his arrival in Spain (1485) only one date has been preserved. His […]

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Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

October 6, 2016

When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on October 12, 1492–a feat that earned for him the title of Admiral of the Indies and for his grandson Louis and his descendants in perpetuity the noble title of Duke of Veragua–he introduced into the Americas the greatest treasure possible: the Catholic Faith… Read more here.

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October 13 – King Confessor

October 6, 2016

St. Edward the Confessor Saint, King of England, born in 1003; died January 5, 1066. He was the son of Ethelred II and Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, being thus half-brother to King Edmund Ironside, Ethelred’s son by his first wife, and to King Hardicanute, Emma’s son by her second marriage with Canute. […]

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October 5 – Second founder of the Dominicans

October 5, 2016

Bl. Raymond of Capua Called “the second founder of the Dominicans”, Raymond della Vigna was born in Capua of a prominent family in the kingdom of Naples. He entered the Dominican Order when attending the university in Bologna and went on to fill several posts, including prior in Rome and lector in Florence and Siena. […]

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Prince Charles leads memorial to fallen police officers

October 4, 2016

According to BBC News: Police officers who “paid the ultimate sacrifice” by dying in the line of duty have been commemorated at a service… About 2,000 people attended the National Police Memorial Day ceremony, led by Prince Charles. The Prince of Wales said the “security challenges of today” emphasised the importance of the police. Prince […]

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France calls for remains of King Charles X to be returned from Slovenia

October 4, 2016

According to The Guardian: …an association of historians, royalists and descendants launched a campaign to have Charles X’s remains returned… He was buried in the Franciscan Kostanjevica monastery, now in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. He is the only French king not buried in France. …a letter was being sent to the Slovenian embassy in Paris this […]

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October 4 – He chose a greater chivalry

October 3, 2016

St. Francis of Assisi Founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182 — the exact year is uncertain; died there, 3 October, 1226. His father, Pietro Bernardone, was a wealthy Assisian cloth merchant. Of his mother, Pica, little is known, but she is said to have belonged to a […]

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October 4 – He copied the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

October 3, 2016

St. Petronius Bishop of Bologna, date of birth unknown; died before 450. The only certain historical information we possess concerning him is derived from a letter written by Bishop Eucherius of Lyons (died 450-5) to Valerianus (in P. L., L, 711 sqq.) and from Gennadius’ “De viris illustribus”, XLI (ed. Czapla, Münster, 1898, p. 94). […]

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October 5 – St. Galla

October 3, 2016

A Roman widow of the sixth century; feast, 5 October. According to St. Gregory the Great (Dial. IV, ch. xiii) she was the daughter of the younger Symmachus, a learned and virtuous patrician of Rome, whom Theodoric had unjustly condemned to death (525). Becoming a widow before the end of the first year of her […]

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October 5 – Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

October 3, 2016

Francis X. Seelos Born at Füssen, Bavaria, 11 January, 1819; died at New Orleans, La., 4 Oct., 1867. When a child, asked by his mother what he intended to be, he pointed to the picture of his patron, St. Francis Xavier, and said: “I’m going to be another St. Francis.” He pursued his studies in […]

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October 6 – Princes and popes coveted the advice of this silent man

October 3, 2016

St. Bruno Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death’s head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His […]

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Three year old Prince George rejects egalitarian forms of greeting

September 29, 2016

According to The Telegraph: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to get a high five from Prince George when he arrived in Canada with his sister and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their royal tour. To read the entire article in The Telegraph, please click here.  

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American Elite, Papal Aristocrat

September 29, 2016

Countess Annie Leary Leary, Annie, philanthropist, was born about 1860, in New York City, daughter of James and Catherine Leary, who were also born in New York. She is descended on her mother’s side from Holland—Dutch ancestors, while her paternal grandfather came from Ireland to the United States during his boyhood. In early childhood Miss […]

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Hopes, delays, failures, and struggles in forming an order of Chivalry

September 29, 2016

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The TFP is large today, but it was once very small. What a long way it has come! No one here felt this more than me. I lived [with this hope] between ages 10 and 20. For a child, a year is an eternity! All of you remember as children […]

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September 30 – The cantankerous noble who became a saint

September 29, 2016

St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420. Read more here.

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October 1 – St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Chapter VI: A Pilgrimage to Rome & Chapter VII: The Little Flower Enters the Carmel

September 29, 2016

ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX Excerpts from THE STORY OF A SOUL: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX SOEUR THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX, THE LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS ______________________________ PROLOGUE: THE PARENTAGE & BIRTH OF MARIE FRANÇOISE THÉRÈSE MARTIN and CHAPTER ONE – EARLIEST MEMORIES CHAPTER II: A CATHOLIC HOUSEHOLD and CHAPTER III: PAULINE ENTERS THE […]

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October 1 – The martial and pious death of Don John of Austria: “A man sent by God”

September 29, 2016

Alarm was ended on the fourth day, seeing that the fever and other ills left D. John. But the next day, which was a Saturday, he suddenly grew worse, and while the other invalids went on getting better and became convalescent, he showed other symptoms of a strange illness, palpitations which made him get up […]

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October 1 – The Hon. George Spencer

September 29, 2016

(In religion, Ignatius of St. Paul). Passionist, born at the Admiralty, London, 21 Dec., 1799; died at Carstairs, Scotland, 1 Oct., 1864. He was the youngest son of the second Earl Spencer and Lavinia, daughter of Sir Charles Bingham. From Eton he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, received Anglican orders, 13 June, 1824, and became […]

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October 2 – Falsely charged, mutilated and martyred

September 29, 2016

St. Leodegar (also Leger or Leodegarius) Bishop of Autun, born about 615; died a martyr in 678, at Sarcing, Somme. His mother was called Sigrada, and his father Bobilo. His parents being of high rank, his early childhood was passed at the court of Clotaire II. He went later to Poitiers, to study under the […]

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October 2 – The Holy Guardian Angels

September 29, 2016

That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it is the “mind of the Church”, as St. Jerome expressed it: “how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard […]

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October 3 – Military turned monk

September 29, 2016

St. Gérard, Abbot of Brogne Born at Staves in the county of Namur, towards the end of the ninth century; died at Brogne or St-Gérard, 3 Oct. 959. The son of Stance, of the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia, and of Plectrude, sister of Stephen, Bishop of Liège, the young Gérard, like most men […]

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October 3 – Enemy of King St. Louis, but still his friend in Christ

September 29, 2016

(THOMAS DE CANTELUPE). Born at Hambledon, Buckinghamshire, England, about 1218; died at Orvieto, Italy, 25 August, 1282. He was the son of William de Cantelupe and Millicent de Gournay, and thus a member of an illustrious and influential family. He was educated under the care of his uncle, Walter de Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester, first […]

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October 3 – Mother Théodore Guérin

September 29, 2016

Many of the early pioneers faced the hardships of this country where wars, famine and disease were the norm. Leaving everything behind, heroic souls came not only to save the souls of Indian nations, but also to minister to these frontier families. One such person was St. Mother Théodore Guérin, who became the eighth American Saint […]

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October 3 – Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

September 29, 2016

(December 13, 1908 – October 3, 1995) Brazilian intellectual and Catholic activist. Corrêa de Oliveira was born in São Paulo to Lucilia Corrêa de Oliveira, a devout Roman Catholic, and educated by Jesuits. In 1928 he joined the Marian Congregations of São Paulo and soon became a leader of that organization. In 1933 he helped […]

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September 27 – St. Vincent de Paul had special charity to the impoverished nobility

September 26, 2016

St. Vincent de Paul founded a special organization for the relief of the nobility of Lorraine who had sought refuge in Paris during the Thirty Years War. In that period of the war known as the French period Lorraine, Trois-Evechés, Franche-Comté, and Champagne underwent for nearly a quarter of a century all the horrors and […]

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September 27 – These exemplary nobles personified virtue

September 26, 2016

Saint Elzéar of Sabran, Count of Arian, and Saint Delphina of Glandenes St. Elzear (also spelled Eleazarus) was descended of the ancient and illustrious family of Sabran, in Provence; his father, Hermengaud of Sabran, was created count of Arian (Ariano), in the kingdom of Naples; his mother was Lauduna of Albes, a family no less […]

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September 27 – Fr. Peter Skarga: Court Preacher

September 26, 2016

Fr. Peter Skarga Theologian and missionary, born at Grojec, 1536; died at Cracow, 27 Sept., 1612. He began his education in his native town in 1552; he went to study in Cracow and afterwards in Warsaw. In 1557 he was in Vienna as tutor to the young Castellan, Teczynski; returning thence in 1564, he received […]

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September 28 – Franciscan money lender

September 26, 2016

Bl. Bernardine of Feltre Friar Minor and missionary, born at Feltre, Italy, in 1439 and died at Pavia, 28 September, 1494. He belonged to the noble family of Tomitano and was the eldest of nine children. In 1456 St. James of the Marches preached the Lenten course at Padua, and inspired to enter the Franciscan […]

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September 28 – Good King Wenceslaus

September 26, 2016

(Also Vaclav, Vaceslav.) Duke, martyr, and patron of Bohemia, born probably 903; died at Alt-Bunzlau, 28 September, 935. His parents were Duke Wratislaw, a Christian, and Dragomir, a heathen. He received a good Christian education from his grandmother (St. Ludmilla) and at Budweis. After the death of Wratislaw, Dragomir, acting as regent, opposed Christianity, and […]

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September 29 – In battle or in prison, he never missed Mass

September 26, 2016

Blessed Charles of Blois (1320- September 29, 1364) Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. Early in life, he felt a call to be a Franciscan friar, but political duty kept him in secular life. Following his marriage […]

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September 29 – Military Orders of St. Michael

September 26, 2016

Military Orders of St. Michael (1) A Bavarian Order, founded in 1721 by Elector Joseph Clemens of Cologne, Duke of Bavaria, and confirmed by Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, 11 September 1808. Pius VII, 5 Feb. 1802 granted to priests decorated with this order all the privileges of domestic prelates. Under Louis I it was […]

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September 29 – The Angelic Inspiration of Chivalry

September 26, 2016

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael _____________________ Saint Michael the Archangel: “Who is like God?” In Hebraic, mîkâ’êl, means “Who is like God?” The Scriptures refer to the Archangel Saint Michael in four different passages: two of them, in Daniel’s prophesy (chap. 10, 13 and 21; and chap. 12, 1); one in Saint Jude Thaddeus (single […]

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The Protection of the Faith Is Sufficient Cause for the Lawfulness of War

September 26, 2016

What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians Think Regarding the Lawfulness of War (contd.) The Protection of the Faith Is Sufficient Cause for the Lawfulness of War From the Seraphic Doctor, Saint Bonaventure, we present the following judgment on the subject: For the lawfulness [of war] it is required…that the person who declares war be invested […]

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Prince William helps aide as he slips on pavement

September 22, 2016

According to BBC: The Duke of Cambridge was one of several people to help the Queen’s representative in Essex when he appeared to slip and fall on a wet pavement. Jonathan Douglas-Hughes, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, was introducing Prince William to local dignitaries in Harlow when he slipped outside the Stewards Academy school. A gasp […]

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Netherlands: King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima Attend the 2016 Prinsjesdag

September 22, 2016

According to the Royal Correspondent: King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands…attended the 2016 Prinsjesdag held at the Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights) in Den Haag. Prinsjesdag is the opening of the new parliamentary year of the Staten-Generaal (Dutch Senate and House of Representatives). His Majesty delivered a speech… [excerpt] It is not wise […]

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A hero model Catholic youth

September 22, 2016

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira “Long live Christ the King!” Such was the cry that opened the gates of Heaven and eternal glory to many blessed during the Catholic resistance in the Mexico of the 30s. The Cristero martyrs shouted it as they were executed by the communist regime they had fought: a tyrannical regime […]

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Hollywood’s influence: a crusade against the Cross

September 22, 2016

What I think was really terrible – as far as I could see – was that from the moment the Hollywood atmosphere began to penetrate civil society it met no resistance from the ecclesiastical society; and then it began to intoxicate even religious ambiences with loads and loads of secularism, frivolity, and liberalism. It is […]

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September 23 – He ensured the immunity of non-combatants in warfare

September 22, 2016

St. Adamnan of Ireland, Abbot He was the eighth in descent from the great Nial, king of Ireland, and from Conal the Great, ancestor of St. Columbkille. His parents were eminent for their rank and virtue. He was born in the year 626, at Rathboth, (1) now called Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, and […]

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September 24 – “There is nothing so sublime as the papacy nor so exalted as the imperial throne”

September 22, 2016

Pope Innocent II (Gregorio Papereschi) Elected 14 Feb., 1130; died 24 Sept., 1143. He was a native of Rome and belonged to the ancient family of the Guidoni. His father’s name is given as John. The youthful Gregory became canon of the Lateran and later Abbot of Sts. Nicholas and Primitivus. He was made Cardinal-Deacon […]

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September 24 – Our Lady of Ransom (also Our Lady of Mercy)

September 22, 2016

24 September commemorates the foundation of the Mercedarians. [Nobility.org note: The most current historical dates and facts can be found in the Mercedarian history book, available here: http://orderofmercy.org/charism.html] On 10 August, 1223, the Mercedarian Order was legally constituted at Barcelona by King James of Aragon and was approved by Gregory IX on 17 January, 1235. […]

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September 24 – Founding Father

September 22, 2016

Fr. François Vaillant de Gueslis Jesuit missionary, born at Orleans, 20 July, 1646; died at Moulins, 24 Sept., 1718. He entered the Society of Jesus, 10 Nov., 1665; came to Canada in 1670; and was ordained priest at Quebec, 1 Dec., 1675. He first evangelized the Mohawks (1679-84). In the beginning of 1688 he was […]

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September 25 – St. Aunarius

September 22, 2016

St. Aunarius (Or Aunacharius). Bishop of Auxerre in France, born 573, died 603. Being of noble birth, he was brought up in the royal court, but evinced a desire to enter the clerical state, was ordained priest by St. Syagrius of Autum, and eventually was made Bishop of Auxerre. His administration is noted for certain […]

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September 25 – Princely Umpire in a deadly sport

September 22, 2016

St. Albert of Jerusalem Patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the conspicuous ecclesiastics in the troubles between the Holy See and Federick Barbarossa; date of birth uncertain; died 14 September, 1215. He was in fact asked by both Pope and Emperor to act as umpire in their dispute and, as a reward, was made Prince of […]

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September 25 – Did he compose the Salve Regina prayer?

September 22, 2016

Hermann Contractus (Herimanus Augiensis, Hermann von Reichenau). Chronicler, mathematician, and poet; born 18 February, 1013, at Altshausen (Swabia); died on the island of Reichenau, Lake Constance, 21 September, 1054. He was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. Being a cripple from birth (hence the surname Contractus) he was powerless to move without assistance, […]

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September 26 – Fr. Frederick William Faber

September 22, 2016

Fr. Frederick William Faber Oratorian and devotional writer, b. 28 June, 1814, at Calverley, Yorkshire, England; d. in London, 26 Sept., 1863. After five years at Harrow School he matriculated at Balliol in 1832, became a scholar at University College in 1834, and a fellow of that College in 1837. Of Huguenot descent Faber was […]

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Saint Bernard: To Die or to Kill for Christ Is Not Criminal, but Glorious

September 22, 2016

What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians Think Regarding the Lawfulness of War (contd.) To Die or to Kill for Christ Is Not Criminal, but Glorious About the lawfulness of war against the pagans, Saint Bernard, the Mellifluous Doctor, has these glowing words: But in truth the knights of Christ fight the battles of their Lord […]

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September 20 – “Threats do not terrify me”

September 19, 2016

Pope St. Agapetus I (Also AGAPITUS.) Reigned 535-536. Date of birth uncertain; died 22 April, 536. He was the son of Gordianus, a Roman priest who had been slain during the riots in the days of Pope Symmachus. His first official act was to burn in the presence of the assembled clergy the anathema which […]

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September 20 – Court preacher to Charles V

September 19, 2016

Saint Alonso de Orozco Mena Alphonsus de Orozco was born in Oropesa, Province of Toledo, Spain, on the 17th of October 1500, where his father was governor of the local castle. He began his studies in the nearby Talavera de la Reina and for three years he was a choir boy in the Cathedral of […]

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September 20 – Starved to death for the faith

September 19, 2016

Bl. Thomas Johnson Carthusian martyr, died in Newgate gaol, London, 20 September, 1537. On 18 May, 1537, the twenty choir monks and eighteen brothers remaining in the London Charterhouse were required to take the Oath of Supremacy. Of these choir monks Thomas Johnson, Richard Bere, Thomas Green (priests), and John Davy (deacon) refused; and of […]

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September 21 – Pope Conon

September 19, 2016

Pope Conon Date of birth unknown; died, after a long illness, 21 September, 687. The son, seemingly, of an officer in the Thracesian troop, he was educated in Sicily and ordained priest at Rome. His age, venerable appearance, and simple character caused the clergy and soldiery of Rome, who were in disagreement, to put aside […]

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September 21 – Victim of intrigue

September 19, 2016

Gabriel Malagrida A Jesuit missionary to Brazil, born 18 September or 6 December, 1689, at Menaggio, in Italy; died 21 September, 1761, at Lisbon. He entered the Jesuit order at Genoa in 1711. He set out from Lisbon in 1721 and arrived on the Island of Maranhào towards the end of the same year. Thence […]

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September 22 – Saint Emmeram

September 19, 2016

Saint Emmeram Bishop of Poitiers and missionary to Bavaria, born at Poitiers in the first half of the seventh century; martyred at Ascheim (Bavaria) towards the end of the same century. Of a noble family of Aquitaine, he received a good education and was ordained priest. According to some authors Emmeram occupied the See of […]

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September 22 – He especially sought out impoverished nobles who shrank from asking alms

September 19, 2016

St. Thomas of Villanova Educator, philanthropist, born at Fuentellana, Spain, 1488; died at Valencia, 8 September, 1555. Son of Aloazo Tomas Garcia and Lucia Martínez Castellanos, the saint was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Friday his father was wont to give in alms all the meal he earned at the […]

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Popes and Councils Confirm the Doctrine of Saint Thomas on War

September 19, 2016

What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians Think Regarding the Lawfulness of War (contd.) 2. Popes and Councils Confirm the Doctrine of Saint Thomas on War According to the entry “Paix et Guerre” in the Dictionnaire Apologétique de la Foi Catholique, Saint Thomas Aquinas “sets forth the three conditions that legitimize in conscience the use of […]

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Princess Madeleine and Queen Silvia of Sweden grant seriously ill girl’s lifelong wish

September 15, 2016

According to Royal Central: Queen Silvia and Princess Madeleine were happy to grant Enna her life’s dream of meeting them. Enna…is suffering from a disease that makes her life extra difficult. The little girl was clearly very thrilled… Madeleine said of the visit…“Enna is 7 and her dream was to meet the Royal Family at […]

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New Petition Questions Monarchy in Luxembourg

September 15, 2016

According to Luxerazzi: A new petition has called for a referendum on Luxembourg’s monarchy. The petition is supported by the political party Déi Lénk, which notes that the State of Luxembourg currently supports the Grand Ducal family at the expense of 10 million euros each year and asks for a nationwide vote on the type […]

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Etiquette and American Nobility

September 15, 2016

On a certain occasion, some years since, half a dozen titled ladies were in the anteroom of the German Empress by appointment. Her Majesty was engaged for a time and the audience was delayed beyond the limits of ordinary patience. At last one of the restless group remarked in French to her neighbor their prolonged […]

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War’s Legitimate Purpose is Peace in Justice

September 15, 2016

What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians Think Regarding the Lawfulness of War The pugnacious and warlike manifestation of the medieval spirit, as well as the militant character of the Church, may amaze the radicals of contemporary pacifism, absolutely intolerant of any and every type of war, for to their ears the expressions “holy war” and […]

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September 16 – The pope who exacted tribute from the Mohammedan ruler of Tunis

September 15, 2016

Pope Blessed Victor III Born in 1026 or 1027 of a non-regnant branch of the Lombard dukes of Benevento; died in Rome, 16 Sept., 1087. Being an only son his desire to embrace the monastic state was strenuously opposed by both his parents. After his father’s death in battle with the Normans, 1047, he fled […]

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September 16 – St. Cyprian of Carthage

September 15, 2016

St. Cyprian of Carthage (Thaschus Cæcilius Cyprianus). Bishop and martyr. Of the date of the saint’s birth and of his early life nothing is known. At the time of his conversion to Christianity he had, perhaps, passed middle life. He was famous as an orator and pleader, had considerable wealth, and held, no doubt, a […]

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