May 31 – St. Camilla Battista da Varano

May 30, 2016

St. Baptista Varano (also spelled Varani). An ascetical writer, born at Camerino, in the March of Ancona, 9 Apr., 1458; died there, 31 May, 1527. Her father, Julius Caesar Varano or de Varanis, Duke of Camerino, belonged to an illustrious family; her mother, Joanna Malatesta, was a daughter of Sigismund, Prince of Rimini. Read more […]

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May 31 – St. Mechtildis of Edelstetten

May 30, 2016

St. Mechtildis was a Benedictine abbess and renowned miracle worker. Mechtildis was the daughter of Count Berthold of Andechs, whose wife, Sophie, founded a monastery on their estate at Diessen, Bavaria, and placed their daughter there at the age of five. In 1153, the Bishop of Augsburg placed her as Abbess of Edelstetten Abbey. Mechtildis […]

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June 1 – Kidnapped for Christ

May 30, 2016

Bl. John Story (Or Storey.) Martyr; born 1504; died at Tyburn, 1 June, 1571. He was educated at Oxford, and was president of Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College, from 1537 to 1539. He entered Parliament as member for Hindon, Wilts, in 1547, and was imprisoned for opposing the Bill of Uniformity, 24 Jan.-2 March, 1548-9. […]

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June 2 – Saved from the Byzantine Emperor’s roaster, ironically, by the Moslems

May 30, 2016

Pope Saint Eugene I Elected August 10, 654, and died at Rome, June 2, 657. Because he would not submit to Byzantine dictation in the matter of Monothelism, St. Martin I was forcibly carried off from Rome (June 18, 653) and kept in exile till his death (September, 655). What happened in Rome after his […]

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A Certain Democracy Goes So Far in Perversity as to Attribute Sovereignty to the People in Society and to Aim at the Suppression and Leveling of the Classes

May 30, 2016

From the apostolic letter Notre charge apostolique of Saint Pius X, August 25, 1910: “The Sillon, impelled by an ill-understood love of the weak, has fallen into error. “In effect, the Sillon puts forward as a programme the elevation and regeneration of the working classes. But in this matter the principles of Catholic doctrine are […]

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General MacArthur Stares Down a Robber

May 26, 2016

Late one night the General was returning…in his chauffeured military car. In a remote area, his car stopped for a red traffic signal in a wooded area. The door of his car was opened and a bandit exclaimed to the General, “This is a stickup; put up your hands.” The General instantly replied, “I am […]

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Courage is a form of loyalty; a knight trusts another courageous knight

May 26, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira If a knight imprisons an adversary who is also a knight, whom he saw fight with great bravery and proved to be a tough nut to crack, as soon as the knight imprisoned him, the knight jumps off the horse, congratulates him for his bravery and takes him prisoner, saying, […]

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May 27 – St. Augustine of Canterbury

May 26, 2016

St. Augustine of Canterbury First Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; died 26 May, 604. Symbols: cope, pallium, and mitre as Bishop of Canterbury, and pastoral staff and gospels as missionary. Nothing is known of his youth except that he was probably a Roman of the better class, and that […]

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May 28 – Whether She Was Upstairs Or Downstairs, She Was Ever Steady

May 26, 2016

Blessed Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury, martyr; born at Castle Farley, near Bath, 14 August, 1473; martyred at East Smithfield Green, 28 May, 1541. She was the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick (the king-maker), and the sister of Edmund of Warwick who, under Henry […]

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May 28 – After Defeating the Saracens, He Joined the Benedictines

May 26, 2016

St. William of Gellone Born 755; died 28 May, c. 812; was the second count of Toulouse, having attained that dignity in 790. He is by some writers also given the title of Duke of Aquitaine. This saint is the hero of the ninth-century “Roman de Guillame au court nez”, but the story of his […]

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May 28 – Lily of Quito

May 26, 2016

St. Mariana de Jesús de Paredes Born at Quito, Ecuador, 31 Oct. 1618; died at Quito, 26 May, 1645. On both sides of her family she was sprung from an illustrious line of ancestors, her father being Don Girolamo Flores Zenel de Paredes, a nobleman of Toledo and her mother Doña Mariana Cranobles de Xaramilo, […]

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May 28 – St. Germain of Paris

May 26, 2016

St. Germain Bishop of Paris; born near Autun, Saône-et-Loire, c. 496; died at Paris, 28 May, 576. He studied at Avalon and also at Luzy under the guidance of his cousin Scapilion, a priest. At the age of thirty-four he was ordained by St. Agrippinus of Autun and became Abbot of Saint-Symphorien near that town. […]

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May 29 – Intimate friend of St. Athanasius

May 26, 2016

St. Maximinus Bishop of Trier, born at Silly near Poitiers, died there, 29 May, 352 or 12 Sept., 349. He was educated and ordained priest by St. Agritius, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Trier in 332 or 335. At that time Trier was the government seat of the Western Emperor and, by force of […]

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May 30 – Most Valiant King

May 26, 2016

Saint Ferdinand III of Castile King of Leon and Castile, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, born in 1198 near Salamanca; died at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and of Berengeria, the daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, and sister of Blanche, the […]

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May 30 – When God chose sides in war between two Christian nations, He sent her to win it

May 26, 2016

St. Joan of Arc In French Jeanne d’Arc; by her contemporaries commonly known as la Pucelle (the Maid). Born at Domremy in Champagne, probably on 6 January, 1412; died at Rouen, 30 May, 1431. The village of Domremy lay upon the confines of territory which recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of Burgundy, but in […]

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In Society There Should be Princes and Vassals, Proprietors and Proletarians, Rich and Poor, Learned and Ignorant, Nobles and Plebeians

May 26, 2016

In the motu proprio Fin dalla prima, of December 18, 1903, Saint Pius X summarizes the doctrine of Leo XIII on social inequalities: 1. Human society, as God established it, is composed of unequal elements, just as the members of the human body are unequal. To make them all equal would be impossible, and would […]

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May 24 – Our Lady Help of Christians, to commemorate the liberation of the Pope from prison

May 23, 2016

This commemoration was introduced in the liturgical calendar by decree of Pope Pius VII on September 16, 1815, in thanksgiving for his happy return to Rome after a long and painful captivity in Savona and France due to Napoleon’s tyrannical power. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a […]

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May 24 – St. Vincent of Lérins

May 23, 2016

St. Vincent of Lérins Feast on 24 May, an ecclesiastical writer in Southern Gaul in the fifth century. His work is much better known than his life. Almost all our information concerning him is contained in Gennadius, “De viris illustribus” (lxiv). He entered the monastery of Lérins (today Isle St. Honorat), where under the pseudonym […]

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May 24 – Bl. Hermann Joseph

May 23, 2016

Bl. Hermann Joseph Premonstratensian monk and mystic; born at Cologne about 1150; died at Hoven, 7 April, 1241. According to the biography by Razo Bonvisinus, contemporary prior of Steinfeld (Acta SS., 7 April, I, 679), Hermann was the son of poor parents who had once been rich. At the age of seven he attended school […]

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May 25 – He Forced the Emperor To Wait Three Days in the Snow

May 23, 2016

Pope St. Gregory VII (HILDEBRAND). One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020 and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno. The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His name, […]

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May 25 – She withstood the devil

May 23, 2016

St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi Carmelite Virgin, born 2 April, 1566; died 25 May, 1607. Of outward events there were very few in the saint’s life. She came of two noble families, her father being Camillo Geri de’ Pazzi and her mother a Buondelmonti. She was baptized, and named Caterina, in the great baptistery. Her […]

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May 26 – He converted a young nobleman by showing him a vision of hell, and called the City of Rome his “Desert”

May 23, 2016

THE APOSTLE OF ROME St. Philip Romolo Neri Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595. Philip’s family originally came from Castelfranco but had lived for many generations in Florence, where not a few of its members had practised the learned professions, and therefore took rank with the Tuscan nobility. Among these […]

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May 26 – Saint Bruno of Würzburg

May 23, 2016

Saint Bruno of Würzburg (c. 1005 – 26 May 1045) Also known as Bruno of Carinthia, he was imperial chancellor of Italy from 1027 to 1034 for Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, to whom he was related, and from 1034 until his death prince-bishop of Würzburg. Bruno was the son of Conrad I, Duke of […]

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The Church Loves All the Classes and the Harmonious Inequality Among Them

May 23, 2016

Leo XIII teaches in his allocution to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on January 24, 1903: Coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth of Austria as King and Queen of Hungary, on June 8th, 1867, in Buda, Capital of Hungary. Work of Ödön (Edmund) Tull. The Roman Pontiffs have always taken care to equally […]

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Queen shows unusual display of emotion at memorial dedication

May 19, 2016

According to The Crown Chronicles: Her Majesty…laid a wreath at the foot of the new memorial, which is dedicated to the fallen of the regiment of The Duke of Lancaster… As the Last Post played and the minute’s silence ensued, Her Majesty was seen to shed a tear, before wiping it away and closing her […]

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First time: Queen Elizabeth II uses lift instead of stairs at State Opening of Parliament

May 19, 2016

According to The Telegraph: The Queen has for the first time chosen to use a lift to get to the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament, in one of the most public concessions to her age to date. A spokesman said: “It is a modest adjustment made for the Queen’s comfort.” …staff […]

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State Opening of Parliament still marked by fear of Catholic plot

May 19, 2016

According to The Crown Chronicles: The State Opening of Parliament begins a while before The Queen arrives at Westminster: it starts with the searching of the cellars. The Yeomen of the Guard, the oldest of the Royal bodyguards, search the cellars beneath the Houses of Parliament. This is a precaution to prevent a modern-day attempt […]

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Archbishop Montmorency-Laval, Father of the Canadian Church

May 19, 2016

Well did Laval deserve that his name should live in that of the university which a century and a half after his death owed its existence to his bounty. This father of the Canadian Church, who has left so deep an impress on one of the communities which form the vast population of North America, […]

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The knight likes to suffer for Our Lord Jesus Christ

May 19, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Let us say that a knight is sent to conquer the island of Rhodes, a stepping stone to conquer the Holy Land. This did not happen historically, it’s only for the sake of argument. He goes with the idea of conquering the Holy Land, the Holy Sepulcher, etc. – but […]

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May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 19, 2016

St. Bernardine of Siena Friar Minor, missionary, and reformer, often called the “Apostle of Italy”, b. of the noble family of Albizeschi at Massa, a Sienese town of which his father was then governor, 8 September, 1380; d. at Aquila in the Abruzzi, 20 May, 1444. Left an orphan at six Bernardine was brought up […]

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May 20 – Mentor of the Duke of Ferrara

May 19, 2016

Blessed Colomba of Rieti Born at Rieti in Umbria, Italy, 1467; died at Perugia, 1501. Blessed Colomba of Rieti is always called after her birthplace, though she actually spent the greater part of her life away from it. Her celebrity is based — as it was even in her lifetime — mainly on two things: […]

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May 20 – King of the East Angles

May 19, 2016

St. Ethelbert Date of birth unknown; died 794. King of the East Angles, was, according to the “Speculum Historiale” of Richard of Cirencester (who died about 1401), the son of King Ethelred and Leofrana, a lady of Mercia. Brought up in piety, he was a man of singular humility. Urged to marry, he declared his […]

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May 21 – De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 19, 2016

The next day, upon which De Soto was hoping to see the chief, a large company of Indians came, fully armed and in war-paint, with the purpose of attacking the Christians. But when they saw that the Governor had drawn up his army in line of battle, they remained a cross-bow shot away for half […]

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May 21 – Missionary to the Mohammedans

May 19, 2016

François Bourgade A French missionary and philosopher, b. 7 July, 1806, at Gaujan, department of Gers; d. 21 May, 1866, at Paris. He pursued his theological studies at the seminary of Auch and was ordained priest in 1832. His immediate request to be authorized to work among the infidels of Africa was granted only in […]

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May 22 – Hanged for Printing a Book

May 19, 2016

Blessed James Duckett Martyr, born at Gilfortrigs in the parish of Skelsmergh in Westmoreland, England, date uncertain, of an ancient family of that county; died 9 April, 1601. He was a bookseller and publisher in London. His godfather was the well-known martyr James Leybourbe of Skelsmergh. He seems, however, to have been brought up a […]

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May 22 – Queen’s Confessor

May 19, 2016

Blessed John Forest Born in 1471, presumably at Oxford, where his surname was then not unknown; suffered 22 May, 1538. At the age of twenty he received the habit of St. Francis at Greenwich, in the church of the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, called for brevity’s sake “Observants”. Nine years later we find […]

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May 23 – Appointed bishop to replace a corrupt one, then imprisoned for defending the King’s legitimate wife

May 19, 2016

St. Ivo of Chartres (YVO, YVES). One of the most notable bishops of France at the time of the Investiture struggles and the most important canonist before Gratian in the Occident, born of a noble family about 1040; died in 1116. From the neighbourhood of Beauvais, his native country, he went for his studies first […]

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May 23 – St. John Baptist de Rossi

May 19, 2016

St. John Baptist de Rossi (De Rubeis). Born at Voltaggio in the Diocese of Genoa, 22 February, 1698; died at Rome, 23 May, 1764; feast on 23 May. His parents, Charles de Rossi and Frances Anfossi, were not rich in earthly goods, but had solid piety and the esteem of their fellow-citizens. Of their four […]

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May 23 – Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

May 19, 2016

Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet Missionary among the North American Indians, born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium, 30 Jan., 1801; died at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., 23 May, 1873. He emigrated to the United States in 1821 through a desire for missionary labours, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Whitemarsh, Maryland. In 1823, however, at the suggestion […]

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Just as the Diverse Members in the Human Body Are Arranged Among Themselves, So Also the Social Classes Should Integrate in Society

May 19, 2016

[In the encyclical Rerum Novarum, of May 15, 1891, Pope Leo XIII affirms]: The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the workingmen are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. […]

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Queen Elizabeth II: shock at the rude manners of Chinese Communist tyrants

May 16, 2016

According to The New York Times: Queen Elizabeth II was filmed saying that Chinese officials were “very rude” during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Britain last year. The remarks were included in a video of the party that a longtime palace-approved pool cameraman recorded for the palace. The video was officially distributed to journalists […]

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Why May 10 is King’s Day in modern Romania

May 16, 2016

According to the Romania Insider: …on May 10, 1866, when Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Carol I) arrived in Bucharest and was proclaimed Ruling Prince of Romania. …in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War…again on May 10, Carol I signed the Romania’s proclamation of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Prince Carol then assumed command of the Russo/Romanian […]

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Social Inequality Redounds to the Advantage of All

May 16, 2016

Leo XIII returns to the subject of social inequality in the encyclical Rerum Novarum, of May 15, 1891: Let it, then, be taken as granted, in the first place, that the condition of things human must be endured, for it is impossible to reduce civil society to one dead level. Socialists may in that intent […]

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May 18 – St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

May 16, 2016

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr Eric [1] was descended of a most illustrious Swedish family: in his youth he laid a solid foundation of virtue and learning, and took to wife Christina, daughter of Ingo IV, king of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smercher in 1141, he was, purely for his extraordinary virtues […]

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May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 16, 2016

Pope St. John I Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days. We […]

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May 19 – Charlemagne’s Scholar

May 16, 2016

Blessed Alcuin of York An eminent educator, scholar, and theologian born about 735; died 19 May, 804. He came of noble Northumbrian parentage, but the place of his birth is a matter of dispute. It was probably in or near York. While still a mere child, he entered the cathedral school founded at that place […]

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May 19 – He Grabbed the Devil By the Nose

May 16, 2016

St. Dunstan of Canterbury Archbishop and confessor, and one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church; born near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church […]

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The prince and the garrulous watch-maker

May 12, 2016

One day when the Duke was traveling from Munich to Vienna, without submitting himself to any of the fuss which generally surrounds the voyages of princes, a gentleman, at the moment when the train was about to steam out of the station, entered the ordinary first-class carriage in which he was established. A conversation soon […]

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The knight is generous and detached

May 12, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira So the true knight takes his generosity to such a point that if he goes into battle and has a brother-in-arms who is fighting magnificently but whose sword all of a sudden drops from his hand, his reaction is not, “Great, I won’t have this one as a rival!” but […]

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May 13 – “Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

May 12, 2016

Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants. Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, the only child of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi. Her parents were devout Catholics and were known for their charity and generosity to the underprivileged of Bologna. As a very young girl, […]

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May 13 – St. Peter de Regalado

May 12, 2016

St. Peter de Regalado (REGALATUS) A Friar Minor and reformer, born at Valladolid, 1390; died at Aguilera, 30 March, 1456. His parents were of noble birth and conspicuous for their wealth and virtue. Having lost his father in his early youth, he was piously educated by his mother. At the age of ten years Peter […]

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May 13 – St. John the Silent

May 12, 2016

St. John the Silent (Hesychastes, Silentiarius). Bishop of Colonia, in Armenia, b. at Nicopolis, Armenia, 8 Jan., 452; d. 558. His parents, Encratius and Euphemia, wealthy and honoured, belonged to families that had done great service in the State and had given to it renowned generals and governors, but they were also good Christians, and […]

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May 14 – Bl. Gil of Santarem

May 12, 2016

Bl. Gil of Santarem A Portuguese Dominican: born at Vaozela, diocese of Viseu, about 1185; died at Santarem, 14 May, 1265. His father, Rodrigo Pelayo Valladaris, was governor of Coimbra and councillor of Sancho I. It was the wish of his parents that Gil should enter the ecclesiastical state, and the king was very lavish […]

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May 14 – The Right to Revolt

May 12, 2016

May 14, 1264: Simon de Montfort Defeats King Henry III at Battle of Lewes The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons’ War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de […]

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May 15 – Beautiful Princess, Tragic Story

May 12, 2016

St. Dymphna Virgin and martyr. The earliest historical account of the veneration of St. Dymphna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. Under Bishop Guy I of Cambrai (1238-47), Pierre, a canon of the church of Saint Aubert at Cambrai, wrote a “Vita” of the saint, from which we learn that she had been […]

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May 15 – Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac

May 12, 2016

Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac (December 27, 1556 – February 2, 1640) was founderess of the order The Company of Mary Our Lady. She was born in Bordeaux, France in 1556 to a prominent family. Her father, Richard de Lestonnac, was a member of the French Parliament while her mother, Jeanne Eyquem, was the sister of […]

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May 15 – William Lockhart

May 12, 2016

William Lockhart Son of the Rev. Alexander Lockhart of Waringham, Surry; b. 22 Aug., 1820; d. at St. Etheldreda’s Priory, Eby Place, Holborn, London, 15 May, 1892. He was a cousin of J. G. Lockhart, the well-known biographer of Sir Walter Scott. After studying first at Bedford Grammar School and, afterwards under various tutors, he […]

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May 16 – Leper King

May 12, 2016

Modern society obsessively avoids suffering, risk and danger. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer heat, prints warnings on coffee cups and advises that safety glasses should be used while working with hammers. Certainly such precautions have prevented misfortune. However, since heroism and excellence are born from confronting rather than […]

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May 16 – St. Honoratus of Amiens

May 12, 2016

Saint Honoratus of Amiens (Honoré, sometimes Honorius, Honortus) (d. May 16, ca. 600) was the seventh bishop of Amiens. His feast day is May 16. He was born in Port-le-Grand (Ponthieu) near Amiens to a noble family. He was said to be virtuous from birth. He was taught by his predecessor in the bishopric of […]

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May 16 – Patron of Poland

May 12, 2016

Saint Andrew Bobola Martyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; died at Janów, 16 May, 1657. Having entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Wilno (1611), he was ordained in 1622, and appointed preacher in the Church of St. Casimir, Wilno. After making his solemn […]

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