August 6 – He told his assassins “God does not die!”

August 4, 2016

Garcia Moreno Ecuadorean patriot and statesman; born at Guayaquil, 24 December, 1821; assassinated at Quito, 6 August, 1875. His father, Gabriel García Gomez, a native of Villaverde, in Old Castile, had been engaged in commerce at Callao before removing to Guayaquil, where he married Dona Mercedes Moreno, the mother of the future Ecuadorean martyr president. […]

Read the full article →

August 6 – Garcia Moreno: Heroic President of Ecuador

August 4, 2016

by José Maria dos Santos Gabriel Garcia Moreno, heroic President of Ecuador, assassinated for his Faith and Christian Charity. Manly Catholic of intransigent principles, slain by the enemies of the Faith because of his consistency and courage in defense of the Church and Papacy Gabriel Garcia Moreno was born in Guayaquil, in southern Ecuador on […]

Read the full article →

August 6 – Noble widower made pope

August 4, 2016

Pope St. Hormisdas Date of birth unknown, elected to the Holy See, 514; died at Rome, 6 August, 523. This able and sagacious pontiff belonged to a wealthy and honourable family of Frosinone (Frusino) in the Campagna di Roma (Latium). Before receiving higher orders he had been married; his son became pope under the name […]

Read the full article →

August 7 – Pope St. Sixtus II

August 4, 2016

Pope St. Sixtus II (XYSTUS) Elected 31 Aug., 257, martyred at Rome, 6 Aug., 258. His origin is unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” says that he was a Greek by birth, but this is probably a mistake, originating from the false assumption that he was identical with a Greek philosopher of the same name, who was […]

Read the full article →

August 7 – St. Cajetan

August 4, 2016

St. Cajetan (GAETANO.) Nobleman of the dynasties of Da Porto and Thiene of Vicenza, Italy. Founder of the Theatines, born October, 1480 at Vicenza in Venetian territory; died at Naples in 1547. Under the care of a pious mother he passed a studious and exemplary youth, and took his degree as doctor utriusque juris at […]

Read the full article →

August 8 – The Rosary is really a weapon

August 4, 2016

St. Dominic Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221. His parents, Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, undoubtedly belonged to the nobility of Spain, though probably neither was connected with the reigning house of Castile, as some of […]

Read the full article →

August 8 – He told his king that anyone who betrays Jesus could betray their king

August 4, 2016

St. Hormisdas (Martyred c. 420) Isdegerdes, king of Persia, renewed the persecution which Cosroes II had raised against the Church. It is not easy, says Theodoret, to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the disciples of Christ. Some were flayed alive, others had the skin torn from off their backs only, […]

Read the full article →

Ancient Rome: A State Born From Patriarchal Societies

August 4, 2016

The classic work of Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City, initially welcomed with enthusiasm, came under criticism over the course of time. Some, for example, faulted it for being too “systematic.” Nonetheless, by its exemplary erudition, its lucidity of thought, and its clarity of exposition, The Ancient City still ranks among the true […]

Read the full article →

August 2 – St. Pierre-Julien Eymard

August 1, 2016

St. Pierre-Julien Eymard Founder of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, and of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, born at La Mure d’Isere, Diocese of Grenoble, France, February 4, 1811; died there August 1, 1868. From early childhood he gave evidence of great holiness and most tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. In 1829, […]

Read the full article →

August 2 – Legate to the Emperor laden with responsibilities and threats

August 1, 2016

Saint Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli, born in Sardinia circa 283; died at Vercelli, Piedmont, August 1, 371. He was made lector in Rome, where he lived some time, probably as a member, or head, of a religious community (Spreitzenhofer, Die Entwickelung des alten Monchtums in Italien, Vienna, 1894, 14 sq.). Later he came to Vercellae, […]

Read the full article →

August 2 – Resisted the Emperor’s demand

August 1, 2016

Pope Severinus The date of his birth is not known. He was consecrated seemingly on 28 May, 640, and died 2 Aug., 640. Severinus, a Roman and the son of Abienus, was elected as usual on the third day after the death of his predecessor, and envoys were at once sent to Constantinople, to obtain […]

Read the full article →

August 3 – Secretive Leader

August 1, 2016

St. Nicodemus A prominent Jew of the time of Christ, mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus (Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent […]

Read the full article →

August 3 – The day the bishop cursed his country

August 1, 2016

On August 3, 1941, Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen informed his listeners in a third sermon about the continued desecration of Catholic churches, the closing of convents and monasteries, and the deportation and murder of mentally ill people (who were sent to undisclosed destinations), while a notice was sent to family members stating that […]

Read the full article →

August 4 – St. Eleutherius

August 1, 2016

St. Eleutherius (Fr. Eleutière), Bishop of Tournai at the beginning of the sixth century. Historically there is very little known about St. Eleutherius, but he was without doubt the first Bishop of Tournai. Theodore, whom some give as his immediate predecessor, was either a bishop of Tours, whose name was placed by mistake on the […]

Read the full article →

August 4 – Carthusian Martyrs: The Lone Survivor

August 1, 2016

May 4 – First Group of Carthusian Martyrs June 19 – Second Group of Carthusian Martyrs May-June – Third and Fourth Groups August 4 – The Lone Survivor For some reason Brother William Horne was kept alive. Refusing to abandon his religious habit, he was not attainted till 1540, when he was hanged, disembowelled, and […]

Read the full article →

Tradition is a fertile patrimony, an inheritance that must be preserved

August 1, 2016

From an allocution of Paul VI to his fellow countrymen of Brescia, September 26, 1970: “Allow a fellow-citizen of yours from yesterday to render homage to one of the most precious values of human life, and one of the most neglected in our day: tradition. It is a fertile patrimony, a heritage to be preserved. […]

Read the full article →

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet

July 28, 2016

THE BATTLES OF LA NAVAL DE MANILA Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet Inside the Dominican church of Santo Domingo in Quezon City sits in celestial splendor and glory one of the most venerated and beloved image of the Most Holy Virgin in the Philippines. Among […]

Read the full article →

A monarchist and a republican go head to head

July 28, 2016

From the Economist: British republicans are stuck in the minority. See both sides to the argument: Graham Smith, who campaigns against the monarchy, and Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, the chairman of the British Monarchist Society.  

Read the full article →

Three-year-old Prince George attacked for “White privilege”

July 28, 2016

According to the Crown Chronicles: Angela Gibbins, who is head of global estates at the government-funded language assistantship organisation, commented on a photo of the 3-year-old prince… “White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he’s royal, rich, advantaged and will never know *any* difficulties or hardships in life… The British Council sends Brits […]

Read the full article →

New exhibition: 90 years of Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe

July 28, 2016

According to BBC News: A new exhibition looking back at 90 years of the Queen’s outfits is set to open to coincide with the summer opening of Buckingham Palace…Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The exhibition…includes the Queen’s wedding dress in which she married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. Many of the outfits […]

Read the full article →

The Crucifix of Mary Stuart

July 28, 2016

When Mary Queen of Scots, on February 18, 1587, was led to the scaffold she held in her hands a precious crucifix, which has changed hands many times since that date. The last owner of the esteemed relic was the German poetess, Countess Hahn-Hahn, who left it at her death to the cathedral in the […]

Read the full article →

Chivalry, a “psy-war” for the time

July 28, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira It would be a very interesting complement to the study of revolutionary psychological warfare to analyze that which was the Church’s counter-revolutionary psychological warfare of that time. Because chivalry was a set of truths that the Church mobilized for the use of the combatants and exposed not only in the […]

Read the full article →

Are the Queen’s swans disappearing?

July 28, 2016

According to The Telegraph: Swans are under myriad threats in this country. The cygnet total last year fell from 120 in 2014 to just 83. “Careless dog owners let their animals roam near nests, then there’s fishing tackle which they eat, mink attacks and even shootings,” says Chris Spencer, 50, an Upper with the Vintner […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – He regained the hearts of his people only after his death

July 28, 2016

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), born 995; died 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – With one sermon, he launched the Crusades

July 28, 2016

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

Read the full article →

July 30 – St. Theobald

July 28, 2016

St. Theobald Born at Provins in the Province of Champagne, France, in 1017; died at Salanigo in Italy 30 June, 1066. He was a member of a noble family. In 1054 without the knowledge of his parents he and his friend Walter gave themselves to the life of hermits at Sussy in the Ardennes, then […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – Soldier of Jesus

July 28, 2016

St. Ignatius Loyola Youngest son of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda. Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556. The saint was baptized Iñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña: the name Ignatius was assumed […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – St. Germain

July 28, 2016

St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles […]

Read the full article →

July 31 – St. Helen of Sköfde

July 28, 2016

St. Helen of Sköfde Martyr in the first half of the twelfth century. Her feast is celebrated 31 July. Her life (Acta SS., July, VII, 340) is ascribed to St. Brynolph, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden (d. 1317). She was of noble family and is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Jarl […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

July 28, 2016

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – Saint Ethelwold

July 28, 2016

Saint Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester. Born born there of good parentage in the early years of the tenth century; died August 1, 984. After a youth spent at the court of King Athelstan, Ethelwold placed himself under Elphege the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, who gave him the tonsure and ordained him priest along with Dunstan. […]

Read the full article →

Detaching Oneself From the Past Causes Uneasiness, Anxiety, and Instability

July 28, 2016

From the homily of Paul VI during a Mass he celebrated in the patriarchal basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls on November 2, 1963: We are accustomed to looking ahead, ignoring the merits of yesterday; we are not lavish in gratitude, in memory, in consistency toward our past, nor in the respect and fidelity […]

Read the full article →

July 26 – In memoriam: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich – who called Hitler a “stuffed doll”

July 25, 2016

According to The Telegraph: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich, who died…on July 26, 2006, aged 91, was…one of the most beautiful women of her day… …she witnessed the effect of Nazism on Germany, was close to those involved in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler in 1944, and was forced to make a 600-kilometre trek across […]

Read the full article →

July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 25, 2016

Blessed John Ingram English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594. He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at […]

Read the full article →

July 27 – Wanted: Noble Men for the Missions, Never to Return Home

July 25, 2016

Martyrs of Cuncolim On Monday, 25 July, 1583, the village of Cuncolim in the district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India, was the scene of the martyrdom of five religious of the Society of Jesus: Fathers Rudolph Acquaviva, Alphonsus Pacheco, Peter Berno, and Anthony Francis, also Francis Aranha, lay brother. Rudolph Acquaviva was born 2 […]

Read the full article →

July 27 – St. Pantaleon

July 25, 2016

St. Pantaleon Martyr, died about 305. According to legend he was the son of a rich pagan, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, and had been instructed in Christianity by his Christian mother, Eubula. Afterwards he became estranged from Christianity. He studied medicine and became physician to the Emperor Maximianus. He was won back to Christianity by the […]

Read the full article →

July 28 – St. Samson

July 25, 2016

St. Samson Bishop and confessor, born in South Wales; died 28 July, 565 (?). The date of his birth is unknown. His parents whose names are given as Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwynedd, were of noble, but not royal, birth. While still an infant he was dedicated to God and entrusted to the […]

Read the full article →

July 28 – Nepotism Sometimes Bears Good Fruit

July 25, 2016

Pope Victor II (GEBHARD, COUNT OF CALW, TOLLENSTEIN, AND HIRSCHBERG.) Born about 1018; died at Arezzo, 28 July, 1057. The papal catalogues make him a native of the Bavarian Nordgau, while most German sources designate Swabia as his birthplace. His parents were Count Hartwig and Countess Baliza; the Emperor Henry III recognized him as a […]

Read the full article →

Respect for Tradition Absolutely Does Not Impede True Progress

July 25, 2016

From a speech of Pius XII to the Professors and students of the Liceo Ennio Quirino Visconti of Rome, February 28, 1957: It has been correctly noted that one characteristic of Romans, almost a secret of the timeless greatness of the Eternal City, is their respect for traditions. Not that such respect implies a fossilization […]

Read the full article →

King Canute rebukes the sycophants and stops wearing the crown

July 21, 2016

The courtiers of Canute, to please his vanity, were accustomed to extol him as the greatest of kings, whose will was obeyed by six powerful nations, the English, Scots, and Welsh, the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. Canute either had the good sense to despise, or affected to despise, their flattery. On one of these occasions, […]

Read the full article →

What the Crusader had which the Cristero did not

July 21, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Question: Was there a certain revival of the crusading spirit in the Cristero war? No. I think there was a great religious dedication, one that was taken to a heroic degree, but not a revival of the spirit of Crusade.   Question: What would be the difference? The impression I […]

Read the full article →

July 22 – The Siege of Belgrade (1456)

July 21, 2016

The Siege of Belgrade (or Battle of Belgrade, or Siege of Nándorfehérvár) occurred from July 4 to July 22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of […]

Read the full article →

July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 21, 2016

St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot [Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.]  He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. […]

Read the full article →

July 23 – The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdom

July 21, 2016

St. Bridget of Sweden The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373. She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 21, 2016

Saint Kinga of Poland (also known as Cunegunda, Kunigunda, Kunegunda, Cunegundes, Kioga, Zinga; Polish: Święta Kinga, Hungarian: Szent Kinga) Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – She Was Fearless, Courageous, and Unswerving

July 21, 2016

Matilda of Canossa Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114. In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in […]

Read the full article →

July 24 – St. John Boste

July 21, 2016

St.  John Boste (Or JOHN BOAST.) Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went […]

Read the full article →

July 25 – St. Apollinaris

July 21, 2016

St. Apollinaris The most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and unhappily Valence, which was the central see of the recently founded Kingdom of Burgundy, had been scandalized by the dissolute Bishop Maximus, and the see in consequence […]

Read the full article →

The True Friends of the People Are Traditionalists

July 21, 2016

The True Friends of the People Are Traditionalists From the apostolic letter Notre charge apostolique, August 25, 1910, of Saint Pius X: Let not the priests be led astray in the maze of contemporary opinions, in the mirage of a false democracy. Let them not borrow from the rhetoric of the worst enemies of the […]

Read the full article →

After Brexit, Great Britain needs a Queen as never before

July 18, 2016

According to The Spectator: While Brexit has put most people in a stew, the Queen is one person who needn’t worry… …there are certain jobs in which age is a real asset, jobs in which continuity, experience and wisdom are much more important than energy and competence at running things. These are jobs (the papacy […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – The knight who was afraid of water, but not afraid of martyrdom

July 18, 2016

Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia Founder of the Monasteries of Teplá and Chotěšov, born (c) 1170, died July 14, 1217. In the happy reign of Premysl, – also called Ottacar, – king of Bohemia, among the other magnates of the kingdom the first place at court, next to the king’s magnificence, was held by Hroznata, the […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 18, 2016

St. Macrina the Younger Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – Penitent Nobility

July 18, 2016

St. Arsenius Anchorite; born 354, at Rome; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus to find him in the West a tutor for his son Arcadius, they made choice of Arsenius, a man well read in Greek literature, member of a noble Roman family, and […]

Read the full article →

July 20 – Carolingian Reformer

July 18, 2016

St. Ansegisus Born about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834. At the age of eighteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Fontanelle (also called St. Vandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. St. Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle. From the beginning […]

Read the full article →

July 21 – Fearless in every sense

July 18, 2016

St. Lorenzo da Brindisi (Also: Lawrence, or Laurence, of Brindisi.) Born at Brindisi in 1559; died at Lisbon on 22 July, 1619. In baptism he received the names of Julius Caesar. Guglielmo de Rossi — or Guglielmo Russi, according to a contemporary writer — was his father’s name; his mother was Elisabetta Masella. Both were […]

Read the full article →

July 21 – He raised the king’s son back to life, but wished to be buried among the criminals

July 18, 2016

St. Arbogast (Gaelic Arascach). St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name “Scotia”, which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled […]

Read the full article →

By Nature, All Men Are in One Sense Equal, but in Another They Are Unequal

July 18, 2016

From the book Land Reform: A Matter of Conscience, by Archbishop Geraldo de Proença Sigaud, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, and economist Luiz Mendonça de Freitas, in a topic composed and written by the author of the present work:   “[All men] are equal because they are creatures of God, […]

Read the full article →

An Empress God-Mother

July 14, 2016

When Austria was ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph, his Empress, Elizabeth, was legendary for her beauty, and also for her love of the outdoors. She often took trips in the company of her lady-in-waiting, simply dressed so as to remain incognito. One fine day, when out walking in the Tyrol, in the region of Campiglio, […]

Read the full article →

He who loves Our Lord Jesus Christ as he should, is sensitive to meanness done to Him

July 14, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira We should analyze a little bit the psychological genesis of this furor in order to understand it well. With that way of seeing Our Lord Jesus Christ who was being offended by the Mohammedans in the Holy Sepulcher, we can understand well the ascending and descending path of furor and […]

Read the full article →

July 15 – After conversion, he ordered the statues of the pagan gods chopped up and burned

July 14, 2016

St. Vladimir the Great Grand Duke of Kiev (Kieff) and All Russia, grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity, b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and brought up his son Vladimir […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →