August 29 – At the helm during the French Revolution

August 25, 2016

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 – Passion of St. John the Baptist

August 25, 2016

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 – Converted by her slave

August 25, 2016

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 25, 2016

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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The Difficulty in Forming the State

August 25, 2016

One can easily imagine two things: first, that this religion proper to each city must have formed the city in a powerful and almost unshakeable way—it is, in fact, marvelous how this social organization has endured, in spite of its faults and chances of ruin; secondly, that this religion must have had the effect, over […]

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August 23 – Cardinal-General

August 22, 2016

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 23 – St. Philip Benizi

August 22, 2016

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 – St. Rose of Lima

August 22, 2016

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

August 22, 2016

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 24 – Saint Bartholomew’s Day: the real story

August 22, 2016

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 – Chancellor of the court

August 22, 2016

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 25 – He opened the first public free school in Europe

August 22, 2016

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 25 – How do you portray a saint?

August 22, 2016

  The following text is taken from an informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on August 25, 1964. It has been translated and adapted for publication without his revision. –Ed. August 25 is the feast of Saint Louis IX, king, confessor of the Faith, Crusader and model of a Catholic head of state. […]

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August 25 – King, Crusader, Saint

August 22, 2016

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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Civitas and Urbs

August 22, 2016

Civitas and urbs, which we render as city, were not synonymous among the ancients. The civitas was the religious and political association of the families of a tribe; the urbs was the place of reunion, the domicile, and, above all, the sanctuary of this association…. Once the families, the phratries, and the tribes agreed to […]

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Etiquette and Tea Styles

August 18, 2016

Just Some of the Different Styles Of “Teas” Held, or Given, for the Enjoyment of this Popular Beverage   ·The High Tea:  In the past, “High Tea” was considered the tea of the working-class rather than the tea of the elite. This tea was a hearty affair. Meat pies, rarebit, shepherd’s pies, slices of roast, sausage, vegetables, […]

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In taming the barbarians, the Church funneled their combativeness to the service of Christendom, giving rise to Chivalry and the Crusades

August 18, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Providence disposed that the Middle Ages should be a specially warlike age. This was not only because of the double effort that Charlemagne had to do by fighting both Saracens and barbarians, but also because of the remaining traits of barbarian mentality in Catholics themselves, which led them to unsheathe […]

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

August 18, 2016

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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August 20 – The Knights Templar owe him

August 18, 2016

St. Bernard of Clairvaux Born in 1090, at Fontaines, near Dijon, France; died at Clairvaux, 21 August, 1153. His parents were Tescelin, lord of Fontaines, and Aleth of Montbard, both belonging to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard, the third of a family of seven children, six of whom were sons, was educated with particular […]

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August 20 – Saint Philibert of Jumièges and Recipes for Hazelnuts Named in His Honor

August 18, 2016

Saint Philibert of Jumièges (c. 608–684) was the only son of a Frankish noble, a courtier of Dagobert I. He was educated at court by Saint Ouen and entered monastic life at Rebais and was elected abbot at the age of 20. In 654, St. Philibert received a gift of land from Clovis II on […]

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August 20 – St. Oswin, King

August 18, 2016

St. Oswin King and martyr, murdered at Gilling, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, on 20 August, 651, son of Osric, King of Deira in Britain. On the murder of his father by Cadwalla in 634, Oswin still quite young was carried away for safety into Wessex, but returned on the death of his kinsman St. Oswald, […]

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August 21 – La Vallete

August 18, 2016

Jean Parisot de La Valette Forty-eighth Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem; born in 1494; died in Malta, 21 Aug., 1568. He came from an old family of Southern France, several members of which had been capitouls (chief magistrates) in Toulouse. When still young he entered the Order […]

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August 21 – He was one of a network of aristocrat bishops

August 18, 2016

Saint Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius (Modestus) Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris (November 5[1] of an unknown year, perhaps 430 – August, 489) was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is “the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul” according to Eric Goldberg.[2] He was one of four fifth-to sixth-century Gallo-Roman aristocrats whose letters […]

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August 22 – The Queenship of Mary

August 18, 2016

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

August 18, 2016

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 22 – Venerable John Wall

August 18, 2016

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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The City Is Formed

August 18, 2016

The tribe, like the family and the phratry, was set up to be an independent body, since it had a special cult from which strangers were excluded. Once formed, no new family could be admitted. Nor could two tribes merge into a single tribe; their religion was against it. But, just as several phratries united […]

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Queen Elizabeth II moves into Balmoral Castle 11 days late

August 15, 2016

According to The Crown Chronicles: Her Majesty has spent the past 11 nights at another house in the grounds of her Aberdeenshire retreat so that the castle could remain open to the public a little longer. The bill for the upkeep of the 1856 gothic-style castle is approximately £3 million per year. The Sovereign must […]

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August 15 – Prester John

August 15, 2016

Prester John Name of a legendary Eastern priest and king. FIRST STAGE The mythical journey to Rome of a certain Patriarch John of India in 1122, and his visit to Callistus II, cannot have been the origin of the legend. Not until much later, in a manuscript dating from the latter part of the fifteenth-century […]

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August 16 – His incorrupt right hand is treasured as the most sacred relic in Hungary

August 15, 2016

St. Stephen of Hungary First King of Hungary, born at Gran, 975; died 15 August, 1038. He was a son of the Hungarian chief Géza and was baptized, together with his father, by Archbishop St. Adalbert of Prague in 985, on which occasion he changed his heathen name Vaik (Vojk) into Stephen. In 995 he […]

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August 16 – Did he inspire the tales of King Arthur?

August 15, 2016

Saint Armel (Welsh: Arthfael, lit. “Bear-Prince”; Latin: Armagilus) He was an early 6th-century holy man in Brittany. Armel is said to have been a Breton prince, born to the wife of King Hoel while they were living in Glamorgan in Wales in the late 5th century. He founded the abbey of Plouarzel in Brittany and […]

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August 16 – Apostle of the North

August 15, 2016

St. Hyacinth Dominican, called the Apostle of the North, son of Eustachius Konski of the noble family of Odrowacz [or Odrowaz]; born 1185 at the castle of Lanka, at Kamin, in Silesia, Poland…; died 15 August, 1257, at Cracow. Feast, 16 Aug. A near relative of Saint Ceslaus, he made his studies at Cracow, Prague, […]

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August 17 – Her great beauty aroused the jealousy of the queen

August 15, 2016

St. Beatrix da Silva A Portuguese nun, died 1 September, 1490. In Portuguese she is known as Blessed Brites. She was a member of the house of Portalegre and descended from the royal family of Portugal. She accompanied the Portuguese Princess Isabel to Spain, when she married John II of Castile. There Beatrix seems to […]

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August 18 – The Empress who found the True Cross

August 15, 2016

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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Family, Curia or Phratry, and Tribe

August 15, 2016

The study of ancient rules of private law allowed us to glimpse, beyond so-called historic times, a period of centuries during which the family was the only form of society. This family then contained many thousands of human beings within its large frame. But within this framework human association was still too narrow; too narrow […]

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Alfred the Great: Father of the British Navy

August 11, 2016

In the fifth century the Saxons had been formidable for their power by sea; their conquests in Britain had directed their attention to other objects, and had annihilated their fleet. But Alfred now saw the necessity of opposing the Danes on their own element. In 875 he equipped a few ships, manned them with foreign […]

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The Church’s bellicose and militant character must permeate all society in the Reign of Mary

August 11, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   Now, I take advantage to say that the Church’s Crusading and militant spirit was intimately united with the condition of noble and warrior. And the nobility gradually faded as well. And, to be precise, I believe that there will be no Reign of Mary if this spirit is not […]

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The Concept of Family in the Ancient World

August 11, 2016

One can then glimpse a long period during which men had no form of society other than the family…. Each family has its religion, its gods, its priesthood…. Each family also has its property, that is to say, its parcel of land inseparably attached to it through religion…. In short, each family has its leader, […]

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August 12 – St. Jane Frances de Chantal

August 11, 2016

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 de Chantal, and lived in […]

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August 12 – His pontificate was spent in opposing royal absolutism

August 11, 2016

Pope Blessed Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi) Born at Como, 16 May, 1611; died at Rome, 11 August, 1689. He was educated by the Jesuits at Como, and studied jurisprudence at Rome and Naples. Urban VIII appointed him successively prothonotary, president of the Apostolic Camera, commissary at Ancona, administrator of Macerata, and Governor of Picena. Innocent […]

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August 13 – The Ottomans lived in fear of this Capuchin

August 11, 2016

Blessed Mark of Aviano (1631–1699) Capuchin friar. His baptismal name was Carlo Domenico Cristofori, his birthplace Aviano, a small community in the Republic of Venice (Italy). From an early age, he felt attracted to a life of devotion and martyrdom. Educated at the Jesuit College in Gorizia, at 16 he tried to reach the island […]

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August 13 – Crusader nun

August 11, 2016

Bl. Gertrude of Aldenberg Abbess of the Premonstratensian convent of Aldenberg, near Wetzlar, in the Diocese of Trier; born about 1227, died 13 August, 1297. She was the youngest of three children of Louis VI, margrave of Thuringia, and his wife St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Gertrude’s father died on his way to the Holy Land […]

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August 13 – The Pope Who Resigned

August 11, 2016

Pope St. Pontian Dates of birth and death unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” (ed. Duchesne, I, 145) gives Rome as his native city and calls his father Calpurnius. With him begins the brief chronicle of the Roman bishops of the third century, of which the author of the Liberian Catalogue of the popes made use in […]

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August 13 – The antipope who became a saint

August 11, 2016

Hippolytus, Saint, Martyr. St. Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope; date of birth unknown; died about 236. Until the publication in 1851 of the recently discovered “Philosophumena”, it was impossible to obtain any definite authentic facts concerning Hippolytus of Rome and his life from the conflicting statements about him, as follows: Eusebius says that he […]

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August 14 – Founding Father

August 11, 2016

Pierre Chastellain Missionary among the Huron Indians, born at Senlis, France, in 1606; died at Quebec, 14 August, 1684. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and at the age of thirty sailed from France with two future martyrs, Fathers Isaac Jogues and Charles Garnier, and the new Governor of Canada, Montmagny, the successor […]

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August 14 – St. Eusebius, Roman patrician and priest

August 11, 2016

St. Eusebius of Rome A presbyter at Rome; date of birth unknown; d. 357(?). He was a Roman patrician and priest, and is mentioned with distinction in Latin martyrologies. The ancient genuine martyrology of Usuard styles him confessor at Rome under the Arian emperor Constantius and adds that he was buried in the cemetery of […]

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August 15 – The Knights of St. John capture Rhodes and establish their sovereignty

August 11, 2016

On 15 August, 1310, under the leadership of Grand Master Foulques de Villaret, the Knights of St. John captured the island in spite of the Greek emperor, Andronicus II. The Knights of Rhodes, the successors of the Hospitallers of St. John, were distinguished from the latter in many ways. In the first place, the grand […]

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August 9 – Pope St. Victor I

August 8, 2016

Pope St. Victor I (189-198 or 199), date of birth unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” makes him a native of Africa and gives his father the name of Felix. This authority, taking the “Liberian Catalogue” as its basis, gives the years 186-197 as the period of Victor’s episcopate. The Armenian text of the “Chronicle” of Eusebius […]

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August 10 – Defiant under torture, he inspires noble souls until today

August 8, 2016

St. Lawrence Martyr; died 10 August, 258. St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church, was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus II and many other members of the Roman clergy. At the beginning of the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, […]

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August 10 – His sister founded the Conceptionists

August 8, 2016

Blessed João Mendes de Silva Better known as Amadeus of Portugal, O.F.M., (1420–1482), was a Portuguese nobleman who became first a monk, then left that life to become a friar of the Franciscan Order. Later he became a reformer of that Order, which led to his founding of a distinct branch of the Friars Minor […]

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August 11 – St. Attracta

August 8, 2016

St. Attracta (Or ST. ARAGHT). A contemporary of St. Patrick from whom she received the veil. She is known as the foundress of several churches in the Counties of Galway and Sligo, Ireland. Colgan’s account of her life is based on that written by Augustine Magraidin in the last years of fourteenth century, and abounds […]

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August 11 – As soldiers scaled the walls of the convent, she met them with ciborium in hand and put them to flight

August 8, 2016

St. Clare of Assisi Cofoundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Clares, and first Abbess of San Damiano; born at Assisi, 16 July, 1194; died there 11 August, 1253. She was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, the wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in […]

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August 11 – János Hunyady

August 8, 2016

(JOHN) Governor of Hungary, born about 1400; died 11 August, 1456; the heroic defender of the Catholic Faith against the advance of the Osmanli; father of King Matthias I (Corvinus) of Hungary. The origin and parentage of his family was not ascertained until recently, when modern investigation cleared up the numerous legends which surrounded the […]

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The Gens of the Romans and the Génos of the Greeks

August 8, 2016

In the difficult problems that history often presents to us, it is good to seek all possible illumination in the terms of language. An institution is sometimes explained by the word with which it is designated. In Latin, the word gens is exactly the same as the word genus, to the point that one can […]

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August 5 – Our Lady of the Snow

August 4, 2016

(“Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ ad Nives”). A feast celebrated on 5 August to commemorate the dedication of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The church was originally built by Pope Liberius (352-366) and was called after him “Basilica Liberii” or “Liberiana”. It was restored by Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-440) […]

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Obituary – Queen Anne of Romania

August 4, 2016

According to The Royal Forums: During the Second World War, Princess Anne…enlisted as an ambulance driver in the Free French Army and found herself working in Morocco and Italy before returning to France where she received the Croix de Guerre. During the last week of her life, King Michael visited his wife every day in […]

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St. Edward the Confessor: The beloved and sorely missed king of England

August 4, 2016

If we estimate the character of a sovereign by the test of popular affection, we must rank Edward among the best princes of his time. The goodness of his heart was adored by his subjects, who lamented his death with tears of undissembled grief, and bequeathed his memory as an object of veneration to their […]

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The fight based on discernment of the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution is a continuous battle and a refinement of the Crusades

August 4, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Either every man is watching everything or, since the devil billets himself in the smallest things in order to damn souls through the meaning of things rather than the meaning of books, it so happens that one needs to pay as much attention to a painting’s frame as to a […]

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August 5 – Valor in a King

August 4, 2016

St. Oswald of Northumbria, King and Martyr The English Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was founded by Ida in 547. After his death the northern part called Bernicia was preserved by his children; but Deira, that is, the southern part, comprising Yorkshire and Lancashire, was occupied by Ælla or Alla, and after his death was recovered […]

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August 5 – St. Oswald

August 4, 2016

St. Oswald King and martyr; born, probably, 605; died 5 Aug., 642; the second of seven brothers, sons of Ethelfrid, who was grandson of Ida, founder of the Kingdom of Northumbria in 547. Oswald’s mother was Acha, daughter of Ella or Alla, who, after Ida’s death, had seized Deira and thus separated it from the […]

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