October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 26, 2015

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor By Jeremias Wells An American Knight When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas […]

Read the full article →

October 29 – King turned monk, his people begged him to lead them in battle against Penda

October 26, 2015

Saint Sigebert King and martyr, date of birth unknown; died about 637, was the stepbrother of Earpwald, king of the East Angles. During the reign of Redwald he lived an exile in Gaul where he received baptism and became an ardent Christian. Earpwald died about 627, and East Anglia seems to have relapsed into anarchy […]

Read the full article →

General MacArthur Begs God’s Mercy

October 22, 2015

Hardly had MacArthur landed at an airstrip fifty miles from Darwin, in northern Australia, than he was jolted by the most shocking news of his military career: the “army” that he was to lead in a swift return to the Philippines to rescue [his men in] Bataan did not exist. Counting Australians, there were only […]

Read the full article →

Love for good and hatred for evil in the soul of a Crusader knight

October 22, 2015

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira [T]he knight mobilizes his whole soul, perspicacity, reflection so that the adversary will take no step and make no movement [without being countered]… filled with vigilance and sacral discernment to perceive the occasion and strike the blow: behold one of the most beautiful traits of a knight’s soul. Above all, […]

Read the full article →

October 23 – The amazing story of San Juan Capistrano and the Siege of Belgrade

October 22, 2015

St. John of Capistrano Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456.   His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed […]

Read the full article →

October 23 – Gentle Birth, But Not Gentle Death

October 22, 2015

Blessed Thomas Thwing Martyr. Born at Heworth Hall, near York, in 1635; suffered at York, 23 Oct., 1680. His father was George Thwing, Esq., of Kilton Castle and Heworth, nephew of Venerable Edward Thwing; his mother was Anne, sister of the venerable confessor Sir Thomas Gasciogne, of Barnbrow Hall. Educated at Douai, he was sent […]

Read the full article →

October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 22, 2015

St. Antonio María Claret y Clará Spanish prelate and missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec., 1807; died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct., 1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – The original hood

October 22, 2015

Hugh Capet King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty, born about the middle of the tenth century; died about 996, probably 24 October. He was the second son of Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, and Hedwig, sister of Otto I, German Emperor, and was about ten years old when he inherited from his […]

Read the full article →

October 25 – Memorial of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, Many of Them Nobles

October 22, 2015

February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest? May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first May 22 – Queen’s Confessor                June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first August 30 – She smuggled a priest out of prison

Read the full article →

October 25 – Crispin and Crispian and the baron of Renty

October 22, 2015

Martyrs of the Early Church who were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October, 285 or 286. It is stated that they were brothers, but the fact has not been positively proved. The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries […]

Read the full article →

October 26 – Laid to rest next to St. Peter

October 22, 2015

Pope Saint Evaristus Date of birth unknown; died about 107. In the Liberian Catalogue his name is given as Aristus. In papal catalogues of the second century used by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, he appears as the fourth successor of St. Peter, immediately after St. Clement. The same lists allow him eight years of reign, covering […]

Read the full article →

October 26 – Their black magic could not withstand the sign of the cross

October 22, 2015

Sts. Lucian and Marcian Lucian and Marcian living in the darkness of idolatry applied themselves to the vain study of the black art; but were converted to the faith by finding their charms lose their power upon a Christian virgin, and the evil spirits defeated by the sign of the cross. Their eyes being thus […]

Read the full article →

October 20 – Emperor Marcian

October 19, 2015

Marcian (Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457. He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – Hammer of Muslim invaders

October 19, 2015

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 19, 2015

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

Read the full article →

October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 19, 2015

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might […]

Read the full article →

October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 19, 2015

St. Wendelin of Trier Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. […]

Read the full article →

Labour leader stripped of ‘Right Honourable’ title

October 15, 2015

According to The Telegraph: The Queen’s advisers told Parliament to strip Jeremy Corbyn of his “Right Honourable” status after Number 10 wrongly implied the Labour leader had joined the Privy Council… Mr Corbyn, a known republican, said last month he was not previously aware that joining the Privy Council meant he had to kneel before […]

Read the full article →

St. Louis the Crusader-King Tries to Bring the Tartars to the Catholic Faith

October 15, 2015

As I have told you before, while the king [St. Louis IX] was sojourning in Cyprus, envoys came from the Tartars and gave him to understand that they would help him to conquer the kingdom of Jerusalem from the Saracens. The king sent back these envoys, and sent with him, by his own envoys, a […]

Read the full article →

Why a Crusader knight sacrificed himself to liberate the Holy Sepulcher

October 15, 2015

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira What is the position of an advancing knight? He knows he is running a deadly risk. He understands he is running this risk for the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to liberate His Holy Sepulcher. He perceives he will have to eliminate an adversary that he hates for […]

Read the full article →

October 16 – Marie Antoinette

October 15, 2015

Queen of France. Born at Vienna, 2 November, 1755; executed in Paris, 16 October, 1793. She was the youngest daughter of Francis I, German Emperor, and of Maria Theresa. The marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was one of the last acts of Choiseul’s policy; but the Dauphiness from the first shared the unpopularity […]

Read the full article →

October 16 – Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 15, 2015

Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians: A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Habsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make up the fabric of the most interesting […]

Read the full article →

October 16 – Duchess and saint

October 15, 2015

St. Hedwig Duchess of Silesia, born about 1174, at the castle of Andechs; died at Trebnitz, 12 or 15 October, 1243. She was one of eight children born to Berthold IV, Count of Andechs and Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia. Of her four brothers, two became bishops, Ekbert of Bamberg, and Berthold of Aquileia; Otto […]

Read the full article →

October 16 – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

October 15, 2015

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. […]

Read the full article →

October 17 – The Battle of Cholet

October 15, 2015

The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d’Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; […]

Read the full article →

October 18 – A day that sparked the Crusades

October 15, 2015

Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre On October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, orders for the complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection, were carried out. The measures against the church were part of a more general campaign against Christian places […]

Read the full article →

October 18 – Adopted nobility

October 15, 2015

Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini). B. at Siena, 29 May, 1439; elected 22 Sept., 1503; d. in Rome, 18 Oct., 1503, after a pontificate of four weeks. Piccolomini was the son of a sister of Pius II. He had passed his boyhood in destitute circumstances when his uncle took him into his household, bestowed […]

Read the full article →

October 19 – Barefoot from Spain to Rome

October 15, 2015

St. Peter of Alcántara Born at Alcántara, Spain, 1499; died 18 Oct., 1562. His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the University […]

Read the full article →

October 19 – Prayer was his crime

October 15, 2015

Saint Philip Howard Martyr, Earl of Arundel; born at Arundel House, London, 28 June 1557, died in the Tower of London, 19 October, 1595. He was the grandson of Henry, Earl of Surrey, the poet, executed by Henry VIII in 1547, and son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk executed by Elizabeth 1572. Philip II of […]

Read the full article →

October 19 – Founding Fathers

October 15, 2015

St. Isaac Jogues French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at […]

Read the full article →

October 13 – King Confessor

October 12, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 15 – Interior Castle

October 12, 2015

St. Teresa of Avila Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582. The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda by his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when the saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa […]

Read the full article →

October 15 – St. Bruno of Querfurt

October 12, 2015

St. Bruno of Querfurt (Also called BRUN and BONIFACE). Second Apostle of the Prussians and martyr, born about 970; died 14 February, 1009. He is generally represented with a hand cut off, and is commemorated on 15 October. Bruno was a member of the noble family of Querfurt and is commonly said to have been […]

Read the full article →

October 15 – Casimir Pulaski

October 12, 2015

Casimir Pulaski Patriot and soldier, born at Winiary, Poland, 4 March, 1748; died on the Wasp, in the harbour of Savannah, 11 Oct., 1779; eldest son of Count Joseph Pulaski and Maria Zislinska. His father, a noted jurist, reared him for the bar, and he received his military training, as a youth, in the guard […]

Read the full article →

The Robbers Of Aubrac

October 8, 2015

During the twelfth century, Adalard, Viscount of Flanders, having set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in Galicia, as was the custom of the pious knights in the Middle Ages, fell into an ambuscade of robbers on the way thither. This place was situated on the summit of a high mountain, […]

Read the full article →

The Library: Just a Place for Books or also a Symbol of the Dignity of the Mind?

October 8, 2015

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira There are two ways of considering a library. One way is to see it only in terms of its material function as a place where books, magazines, documents, bookcases, and tables should be protected from humidity, fires, and thieves. These documents, magazines and books should also be efficiently organized so […]

Read the full article →

October 9 – Superb and valiant knight

October 8, 2015

Baron Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie Born at Nantes, 3 Sept., 1832; died at Basse-Motte (Ille-et-Vilaine), 9 Oct., 1911. His father was a nephew of the famous General Charette who was shot at Nantes, 29 March, 1795, during the rising of the Vendee. His mother, Louise, Countess de Vierzon, was the daughter of the Duc […]

Read the full article →

October 9 – Royal penitent

October 8, 2015

Bl. Gunther A hermit in Bohemia in the eleventh century; born about 955; died at Hartmanitz, Bohemia, 9 Oct., 1045. The son of a noble family, he was a cousin of St. Stephen, the King of Hungary, and is numbered among the ancestors of the princely house of Schwarzburg. He passed the earlier of his […]

Read the full article →

October 9 – Even in his lifetime his reputation was for great holiness and miraculous powers

October 8, 2015

St. John Twenge Canon regular, Prior of St. Mary’s, Bridlington, born near the town, 1319; died at Bridlington, 1379. He was of the Yorkshire family Twenge, which family in Reformation days supplied two priest-martyrs and was also instrumental in establishing the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bar Convent, York. John completed his studies […]

Read the full article →

October 9 – St. Louis Bertrand

October 8, 2015

St. Louis Bertrand Born at Valencia, Spain, 1 Jan., 1526; died 9 Oct., 1581. His patents were Juan Bertrand and Juana Angela Exarch. Through his father he was related to the illustrious St. Vincent Ferrer, the great thaumaturgus of the Dominican Order. The boyhood of the saint was unattended by any of the prodigies that […]

Read the full article →

October 10 – How to overcome bad ancestry

October 8, 2015

St. Francis Borgia (also known as Francisco de Borja y Aragon), born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome […]

Read the full article →

October 10 – St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

October 8, 2015

St. Paulinus Archbishop of York, died at Rochester, 10 October, 644. He was a Roman monk in St. Andrew’s monastery at Rome, and was sent by St. Gregory the Great in 601, with St. Mellitus and others, to help St. Augustine and to carry the pallium to him. He laboured in Kent — with the […]

Read the full article →

October 11 – Model Archduke, both spiritual and temporal

October 8, 2015

St. Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne Bruno the Great (or Bruno I) (925–965) was Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, from 953 until his death, and Duke of Lotharingia from 954. He was the brother of Otto I, king of Germany and later Holy Roman Emperor. Bruno was the youngest son of Henry the Fowler and […]

Read the full article →

October 11 – He dared step into the gap during the crisis

October 8, 2015

Pope Boniface VIII (BENEDETTO GAETANO) Born at Anagni about 1235; died at Rome, 11 October, 1303.   He was the son of Loffred, a descendant of a noble family originally Spanish, but long established in Italy—first at Gaeta and later at Anagni. Through his mother he was connected with the house of Segni, which had […]

Read the full article →

October 12 – Difficulties in his youth prepared him for later trials

October 8, 2015

St. Wilfrid Bishop of York, son of a Northumbrian thegn, born in 634; died at Oundle in Northamptonshire, 709. He was unhappy at home, through the unkindness of a stepmother, and in his fourteenth year he was sent away to the Court of King Oswy, King of Northumbria. Here he attracted the attention of Queen […]

Read the full article →

October 12 – Martyr King

October 8, 2015

St. Edwin The first Christian King of Northumbria, born about 585, son of Aella, King of Deira, the southern division of Northumbria; died October 12, 633. Upon Aella’s death in 588, the sovereignty over both divisions of Northumbria was usurped by Ethebric of Bernicia, and retained at his death by his son Ethelfrid; Edwin, Aella’s […]

Read the full article →

Why celebrate Columbus Day?

October 8, 2015

Columbus and Divine Providence by Jeremias Wells Christopher Columbus certainly ranks as one of the greatest men of achievement the world has ever known, and also justly one of the most renowned, for the entire history of Europeans in America originated from his vision, religious sense and adventurous spirit. As can be expected in a […]

Read the full article →

Who Was Christopher Columbus, and Why Is He Important?

October 8, 2015

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

Read the full article →

Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

October 8, 2015

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

Read the full article →

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

October 5, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 7 – How the Rosary saved Christendom

October 5, 2015

by Jeremias Wells The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Here is but a small fraction of the victories directly obtained from God through the Holy Rosary: The Battle of Lepanto which saved Rome and Vienna, and thus the Pope and the Emperor, from Moslem subjugation The deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski The victory […]

Read the full article →

October 7 – Lepanto: Turkish might buckles in the grandest naval battle of History

October 5, 2015

The Turkish fleet came on imposing and terrible, all sails set, impelled by a fair wind, and it was only half a mile from the line of galliasses and another mile from the line of the Christian ships.D. John waited no longer; he humbly crossed himself, and ordered that the cannon of challenge should be […]

Read the full article →

Daily Prayer in the Life of the Banker Francis Drexel

October 1, 2015

During the winter, when the family lived at 1503, Papa Drexel went directly to his room each afternoon when he returned from the bank. He would close the door, stay there for some time, and then go the music room. Beautiful notes would pour from the organ with the gold-looking pipes that Francis Drexel loved […]

Read the full article →

A Monument Raised from a Ruin, an Institution from a Custom

October 1, 2015

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira “Consider the diversity of the Middle Ages: on the one hand, there is the razing of cities, the fall of empires, the struggle between races, the confusion of peoples, violence and lamentations; there is corruption, barbarianism; institutions fall and institutions rise; men disperse and make nations, whole peoples are led […]

Read the full article →

October 2 – Falsely charged, mutilated and martyred

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 3 – Military turned monk

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

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

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 3 – Mother Théodore Guérin

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 4 – He chose a greater chivalry

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

October 4 – He copied the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

October 1, 2015

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

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →