The Universe, the Church, and Civil Society Reflect the Love of God in an Organic Inequality

May 2, 2016

[From Leo XIII’s encyclical Quod Apostolici muneris, of December 28, 1878]: For, He who created and governs all things has, in His wise providence, appointed that the things which are lowest should attain their ends by those which are intermediate, and these again by the highest. Thus, as even in the kingdom of heaven He […]

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The Etiquette and History of Hat Tipping

April 28, 2016

The custom of a man tipping his hat to others derived from an ancient practice. When knights in medieval times wanted to express friendly intent, they would raise their face masks and reveal their faces. The practice of saluting is also derived from this friendly exchange between knights.  Lifting one’s armor mask eventually evolved into […]

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Unlike Feudalism, Perfect Chivalry Is Not Contractual

April 28, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira It appears that in some kingdoms of Europe, maybe the one of the Cid in the north of Spain, there was a contract between the king and his vassal so that if the king broke the contract, allegiance was extinguished. This is easy to understand because of the feudal bond. […]

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April 29 – The Templars, Knights of Calatrava, of St. Lazarus, of Alcantara, of Avis, of St. Maurice, all trace their existence to this austere monk

April 28, 2016

St. Robert of Molesme Born about the year 1029, at Champagne, France, of noble parents who bore the names of Thierry and Ermengarde; died at Molesme, 17 April, 1111. When fifteen years of age, he commenced his novitiate in the Abbey of Montier-la-Celle, or St. Pierre-la-Celle, situated near Troyes, of which he became later prior. […]

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April 29 – In 11th century Christendom, no king or bishop dare oppose him

April 28, 2016

Saint Hugh the Great Abbot of Cluny, born at Semur (Brionnais in the Diocese of Autun), 1024; died at Cluny, 28 April, 1109. His early life The eldest son of Count Dalmatius of Semur and Aremberge (Aremburgis) of Vergy, Hugh was descended from the noblest families in Burgundy. Dalmatius, devoted to war and the chase, […]

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April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 28, 2016

Pope Saint Pius V Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was […]

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May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

April 28, 2016

This saint was son of Gondebald, the Arian king of the Burgundians; but embraced the Catholic faith through the instructions of St. Alcimus Avitus, bishop of Vienne. (1) He succeeded to the kingdom of his father in 516, and in the midst of barbarism lived humble, mortified, penitent, devout, and charitable, even on the throne; […]

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May 2 – Two sisters of this medieval princess were also saints

April 28, 2016

St. Mafalda of Portugal In the year 1215, at the age of eleven, Princess Mafalda (i.e. Matilda), daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal, was married to her kinsman King Henry I of Castile, who was like herself a minor. The marriage was annulled the following year on the ground of the consanguinity of the […]

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May 2 – St. Athanasius

April 28, 2016

St. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of “Father of Orthodoxy”, by which he has been […]

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In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II at 90

April 26, 2016

Video courtesy of The Telegraph. Pictures courtesy of BBC: In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II at 90 in 90 images  

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Republicans ignore 20% support, press for ouster of monarchy after Queen’s death

April 26, 2016

According to the Guardian: Republic’s chief executive, Graham Smith, suggested that, when it happens, the Queen’s death will mark a turning point in public attitudes. …“that will be an opportunity…for us to…say, ‘…we want to have a vote.’ Then if we have that vote, it can’t just be, ‘Do you want Charles?’ It has to […]

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April 26 – She inspired the Albanians to resist the Turks

April 25, 2016

January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader, George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people. Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania. With Scanderbeg’s death, the Turkish army, finally […]

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April 26 – Nephew of the Duke of Maqueda

April 25, 2016

St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón (9 April 1911, Burgos, Spain – 26 April 1938, Dueñas, Palencia, Spain) Rafael Arnáiz, known in the monastery as Brother María Rafael, was born on 9 April 1911 in the city of Burgos, in north-central Spain. He was the first of four sons born to a well-to-do, deeply Christian and Catholic […]

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April 26 – Pope St. Cletus

April 25, 2016

Pope St. Cletus This name is only another form for Anacletus, the second successor of St. Peter. It is true that the Liberian Catalogue, a fourth-century list of popes, so called because it ends with Pope Liberius (d. 366), contains both names, as if they were different persons. But this is an error, owing evidently […]

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April 27 – Noble Model of Confidence

April 25, 2016

St. Peter Armengol was born in Guárdia dels Prats, a small village in the archdiocese of Tarragon, Spain in 1238. He belonged to the house of the barons of Rocafort, descendants of the counts of Urgel, whose ancestors were directly linked to the counts of Barcelona and the monarchs of Aragon and Castile.   From […]

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300 years – St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

April 25, 2016

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort Missionary in Brittany and Vendee; born at Montfort, 31 January, 1673; died at Saint Laurent sur Sevre, 28 April, 1716. From his childhood, he was indefatigably devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and, when from his twelfth year he was sent as a day pupil to the Jesuit college […]

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Lord Nelson: “England expects that every man will do his duty”

April 21, 2016

It was at this time also that Nelson, oblivious alike to the clamour of the opposing fleet and to the cheering of his own men at the sight of St. George’s flag, went down to his cabin, sank on his knees, and wrote in his diary this prayer: “May the great God, whom I worship, […]

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St. Ignatius Loyola and the spirit of chivalry

April 21, 2016

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira You know that at the time of St. Ignatius, the word “company” meant army. Not exactly army but it was a fraction of the army, a brigade, regiment or something of the sort. Company of Jesus means Regiment of Jesus. In other words, he wanted to do his priestly apostolate […]

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April 22 – Father of Origen

April 21, 2016

St. Leonidas (Or LEONIDES.) The Roman Martyrology records several feast days of martyrs of this name in different countries. Under date of 28 January there is a martyr called Leonides, a native of the Thebaid, whose death with several companions is supposed to have occurred during the Diocletian persecution (Acta SS., January, II, 832). Another […]

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April 22 – Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 21, 2016

Pedralvarez Cabral (Pedro Alvarez.) A celebrated Portugese navigator, generally called the discoverer of Brazil, born probably around 1460; date of death uncertain. Very little is known concerning the life of Cabral. He was the third son of Fernao Cabral, Governor of Beira and Belmonte, and Isabel de Gouvea, and married Isabel de Castro, the daughter […]

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April 23 – The Original Knight in Shining Armor

April 21, 2016

St. George Martyr, patron of England, suffered at or near Lydda, also known as Diospolis, in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. According to the very careful investigation of the whole question recently instituted by Father Delehaye, the Bollandist, in the light of modern sources of information, the above statement sums up all that […]

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April 23 – Archbishop author of war-song

April 21, 2016

St. Adalbert of Bohemia Born 939 of a noble Bohemian family; died 997. He assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert (his name had been Wojtech), under whom he studied at Magdeburg. He became Bishop of Prague, whence he was obliged to flee on account of the enmity he had aroused by his efforts to […]

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April 24 – Mother Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

April 21, 2016

Mother Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, foundress of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and canonized May 2, 1940 by Pope Pius XII. The aim of this institute is to provide a shelter for girls and women of dissolute habits, who wish to do penance for their iniquities and to lead a […]

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April 24 – “I came to extirpate heresy, not to embrace it”

April 21, 2016

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen Born in 1577, at Sigmaringen, Prussia, of which town his father Johannes Rey was burgomaster; died at Sevis, 24 April, 1622. On the paternal side he was of Flemish ancestry. He pursued his studies at the University of Freiburg in the Breisgau, and in 1604 became tutor to Wilhelm von Stotzingen, […]

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April 25 – Builder

April 21, 2016

Blessed Meinwerk Tenth Bishop of Paderborn, d. 1036: Meinwerk (Meginwerk) was born of the noble family of the Immedinger and related to the royal house of Saxony. His father was Imad (Immeth), Count of Teisterbant and Radichen, and his mother’s name was Adela (Adala, Athela). In early youth he was dedicated by his parents to […]

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April 19 – Captured by pirates

April 18, 2016

St. Alphege (or Elphege), Saint, born 954; died 1012; also called Godwine, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, left his widowed mother and patrimony for the monastery of Deerhurst (Gloucestershire). St. Alphege being asked for advice. After some years as an anchorite at Bath, he there became abbot, and (19 Oct., 984) was made Bishop of Winchester. […]

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April 19 – The saintly warrior pope

April 18, 2016

Pope St. Leo IX Pope St. Leo IX earnestly spread the Cluny reform. Born at Egisheim, near Colmar, on the borders of Alsace, 21 June, 1002, Pope St. Leo IX died on 19 April, 1054. He belonged to a noble family which had given or was to give saints to the Church and rulers to […]

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April 19 – Blessed Conrad of Ascoli

April 18, 2016

Friar Minor and missionary, born at Ascoli in the March of Ancona in 1234; died there, 19 April, 1289. He belonged to the noble family of Milliano and from his earliest years made penance the predominating element of his life… Read more here.

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April 20 – Blessed John Finch

April 18, 2016

Bl. John Finch A martyr, b. about 1548; d. 20 April, 1584. He was a yeoman of Eccleston, Lancashire, and a member of a well-known old Catholic family, but he appears to have been brought up in schism. When he was twenty years old he went to London where he spent nearly a year with […]

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April 20 – “I beg your Lordship…that my lips and…fingers may be cut off…”

April 18, 2016

Blessed Fr. James Bell Priest and martyr, b. at Warrington in Lancashire, England, probably about 1520; d. 20 April, 1584. For the little known of him we depend on the account published four years after his death by Bridgewater in his “Concertatio” (1588), and derived from a manuscript which was kept at Douay when Challoner […]

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April 20 – Blessed Richard Sergeant

April 18, 2016

Bl. Richard Sergeant English martyr, executed at Tyburn, 20 April, 1586. He was probably a younger son of Thomas Sergeant of Stone, Gloucestershire, by Katherine, daughter of John Tyre of Hardwick. He took his degree at Oxford (20 Feb., 1570-1), and arrived at the English College, Reims, on 25 July, 1581. He was ordained subdeacon […]

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April 21 – Adventurous in youth and adulthood

April 18, 2016

St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church; born at Aosta a Burgundian town on the confines of Lombardy, died 21 April, 1109. His father, Gundulf, was a Lombard who had become a citizen of Aosta, and his mother, Ermenberga, came of an old Burgundian family. Like many other saints, Anselm learnt the first […]

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Vasco da Gama prays to Our Lady before setting out for India

April 14, 2016

At Belém they were all kneeling at his side: Paulo da Gama, his brother, with Nicolau Coelho and Gonçalo Nunes, his other captains and their pilots, Pero de Alenquer, João de Coimbra, Pero Escolar, Afonso Gonçalves; and likewise the “secretaries” Diogo Dias, João de Sá and Álvaro de Braga. Bartolomeu Dias was also there, for […]

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Norway referendum on monarchy to be proposed this month

April 14, 2016

According to Norway Today: …Labour’s deputy Hadia Tajik and over 80 percent of the youngest members of the Ap group in the parliament want to remove the royal house and introduce the republic in Norway. Oslo Progress Party does not want this, but wants to propose a referendum on this issue. – It is important […]

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Churchill: Democracy Made War Cruel and Squalid

April 14, 2016

“War, which used to be cruel and magnificent, has now become cruel and squalid. In fact it has been completely spoilt. It is all the fault of democracy and science. From the moment that either of these meddlers and muddlers was allowed to take part in actual fighting, the doom of war was sealed. Instead […]

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April 16 – Martyred in the name of Equality

April 14, 2016

Just a few of the many martyrs during the French Revolution († 1792-1799) 16 April 1794 in Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire (France) The cruel blade of the guillotine was indifferent to the service that generations of France’s illustrious lineages had given to the country. Pierre Delépine layperson of the diocese of Angers born: 24 May 1732 in […]

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April 17 – He rescued his country from crushing debt, yet waged incessant war

April 14, 2016

Maximilian I Duke of Bavaria, 1598-1622, Elector of Bavaria and Lord High Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, 1623-1651; born at Munich, 17 April, 1573; died at Ingolstadt, 27 September, 1651. The lasting services he rendered his country and the Catholic Church justly entitle him to the surname of “Great”. He was the son of […]

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April 17 – One of the many nobles who spread the Cluny reform

April 14, 2016

St. Robert Founder of the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne, born at Aurilac, Auvergne, about 1000; died in Auvergne, 1067. St. Robert print by Raphael Sadeler & Marten de Vos On his father’s side he belonged to the family of the Counts of Aurilac, who had given birth to St. Géraud. He studied at Brioude […]

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April 17 – St. Stephen Harding

April 14, 2016

St. Stephen Harding Confessor, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire, England, about the middle of the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery […]

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April 18 – Blessed Marie de l’Incarnation

April 14, 2016

Bl. Marie de l’Incarnation Bl. Marie of the Incarnation, O.C.D. , also as Madame Acarie Known also as Madame Acarie, foundress of the French Carmel, born in Paris, 1 February, 1566; died at Pontoise, April, 1618. By her family Barbara Avrillot belonged to the higher bourgeois society in Paris. Her father, Nicholas Avrillot was accountant […]

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April 18 – St. Willigis

April 14, 2016

St. Willigis Archbishop of Mainz, d. 23 Feb., 1011. Feast, 23 February or 18 April. Though of humble birth he received a good education, and through the influence of Bishop Volkold of Meissen entered the service of Otto I, and after 971 figured as chancellor of Germany. Otto II in 975 made him Archbishop of […]

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April 12 – St. Teresa of the Andes

April 11, 2016

Saint Teresa of the Andes, O.C.D. (July 13, 1900 – April 12, 1920), also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Spanish: Teresa de Jesús de los Andes), was a Chilean nun of the Discalced Carmelite order. She was born Juana Enriqueta Josefina de los Sagrados Corazones Fernández y Solar in Santiago, Chile […]

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April 12 – Crusader in every sense of the word

April 11, 2016

Bl. Angelo Carletti di Chivasso Moral theologian of the order of Friars Minor; born at Chivasso in Piedmont, in 1411; and died at Coni, in Piedmont, in 1495. From his tenderest years the Blessed Angelo was remarkable for the holiness and purity of his life. He attended the University of Bologna, where he received the […]

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April 12 – Pope St. Julius I

April 11, 2016

(337-352) The immediate successor of Pope Silvester, Arcus, ruled the Roman Church for only a very short period – from 18 January to 7 October, 336 – and after his death the papal chair remained vacant for four months. What occasioned this comparatively long vacancy is unknown. On 6 February, 337, Julius, son of Rustics […]

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April 13 – This Prince Defied His Family

April 11, 2016

St. Hermengild Date of birth unknown; died 13 April, 585. Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths (569-86), had two sons, Hermengild and Reccared, by his first marriage with the Catholic Princess Theodosia. Hermengild married, in 576, Ingundis, a Frankish Catholic princess, the daughter of Sigebert and Brunhilde… Read more here.  

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April 13 – Born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and dwarfed

April 11, 2016

Blessed Margaret of Castello (1287–1320) is the patroness of the poor, crippled, and the unwanted. She was born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and a dwarf, into a family of nobles in the castle of Metola, in southeast of Florence. As a child, her parents Parisio and Emilia imprisoned her for 14 years so no one… […]

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April 13 – Pope St. Martin I

April 11, 2016

Pope St. Martin I Martyr, born at Todi on the Tiber, son of Fabricius; elected Pope at Rome, 21 July, 649, to succeed Theodore I; d at Cherson in the present peninsulas of Krym, 16 Sept., 655, after a reign of 6 years, one month and twenty six days, having ordained eleven priests, five deacons […]

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April 14 – She suffered for the moral corruption and decay of her time

April 11, 2016

Saint Lydwine In 1380, Saint Lydwine was born in the small town of Schiedam in Holland. Her father was a wealthy noble named Peter, and her mother was from a poor family who worked their own farm. Her father’s family lost their fortune, and the whole family was reduced to poverty. At that time, all […]

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April 14 – St. Peter Gonzalez (aka St. Elmo)

April 11, 2016

St. Peter Gonzalez Popularly known as St. Elmo, b. in 1190 at Astorga, Spain; d. 15 April, 1246, at Tuy. He was educated by his uncle, Bishop of Astorga, who gave him when very young a canonry. Later he entered the Dominican Order and became a renowned preacher; crowds gathered to hear him and numberless […]

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British Monarchy on Last Legs?

April 7, 2016

According to The Telegraph: Dr Anna Whitelock is an early modern history don at London University. …but she’s certainly not much good at modern history. She’s just said that, by 2030, the monarchy could be on its last legs; that the popularity of the monarchy is linked to the Queen, not the institution itself. The […]

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Few naturalised Canadians recant oath of allegiance to Queen

April 7, 2016

According to The Guardian: …a small but determined group of naturalised Canadians rebel against the oath to the Queen required of all new Canadian citizens. Ezra de Leon became a Canadian citizen in 2002… His opposition to the idea has since hardened. “Since then I realised that it is undemocratic to force a new Canadian […]

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How many were lost to birth control?

April 7, 2016

  Ann Clare Boothe was born on April 10, 1903, in a dismal apartment house on Riverside Drive in New York City…. Clare herself once succinctly pictured her unpropitious prospects as a baby. Shortly after her conversion to Catholicism, she was attacked by an ardent disciple of Mrs. Sanger for the Catholic stand against birth […]

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Eleanor of Castile: Daughter of St. Ferdinand and Much Loved Queen of England

April 7, 2016

She [Eleanor of Castille] died on November 28, in her forth-seventh year.…. Edward emerged from his solitary mourning to accompany the cortege to Lincoln. The bier rested that first night at the Priory of St. Catherine close to the city, and it was probably then that the determination became fixed in the king’s mind to […]

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Sacred Art and Naturalism

April 7, 2016

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Upon entering the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the first impression is one of vastness. The immense polished floor provides an open arena for the diverse performance of the filtering light. The length and height of the walls are enhanced by the tall, narrow arches. One row of arches opens […]

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April 8 – Together with a noble who escaped the Terror, she founded the Sisters of Notre Dame

April 7, 2016

St. Julie Billiart (Also Julia). Foundress, and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, 1751, at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy, in the Diocese of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France; died 8 April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium. She was […]

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April 9 – She persuaded her husband the Count to become a monk

April 7, 2016

St. Waudru She was daughter to the princess St. Bertille, elder sister to St. Aldegondes, and wife to Madelgaire, count of Hainault, and one of the principal lords of King Dagobert’s court. After bearing him two sons and two daughters, she induced him to embrace the monastic state at Haumont, near Maubeuge, taking the name […]

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April 9 – Mary of Cleophas

April 7, 2016

Mary of Cleophas This title occurs only in John, xix, 25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joseph ( Mark, xv, 40; cf. Matt., xxvii, 56). Some have indeed tried to identify […]

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April 10 – Friend of Cluny

April 7, 2016

St. Fulbert of Chartres Bishop, born between 952 and 962; died 10 April, 1028 or 1029. Mabillon and others think that he was born in Italy, probably at Rome; but Pfister, his latest biographer, designates as his birthplace the Diocese of Laudun in the present department of Gard in France. He was of humble parentage […]

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April 11 – He excommunicated the king, who murdered him as he celebrated Mass

April 7, 2016

Saint Stanislaus of Cracow Martyrdom of St. Stanislaus of Cracow from Anjou legendarium of the Kings of Hungary (XIV century) In pictures he is given the episcopal insignia and the sword. Larger paintings represent him in a court or kneeling before the altar and receiving the fatal blow. His parents, Belislaus and Bogna, pious and […]

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New Zealand votes to keep Union Jack on flag

April 4, 2016

According to The Crown Chronicles: New Zealand has voted to keep their current flag, featuring the Union Jack of the United Kingdom. 2.1 millions New Zelanders voted in the referendum, a 67% turn out. The issue with the current flag lay in that the flag of the UK formed part of the NZ flag, due […]

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