July 7 – The Princess who left court and entered a forest monastery

July 6, 2015

St. Edelburga Virgin, also called St. Æthelburh of Faremoutiers. She was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of which she succeeded […]

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July 7 – Prince Abbots

July 6, 2015

Sts. Willibald and Winnebald (WUNIBALD, WYNNEBALD). Members of the Order of St. Benedict, brothers, natives probably of Wessex in England, the former, first Bishop of Eichstätt, born on 21 October, 700 (701); died on 7 July, 781 (787); the latter, Abbot of Heidenheim, born in 702; died on 18 (19) December, 761. They were the […]

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July 8 – The Pope who fought the democrats

July 6, 2015

Pope Blessed Eugene III Bernardo Pignatelli, born in the neighbourhood of Pisa, elected 15 Feb., 1145; died at Tivoli, 8 July, 1153. On the very day that Pope Lucius II succumbed, either to illness or wounds, the Sacred College, foreseeing that the Roman populace would make a determined effort to force the new pontiff to […]

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July 9 – St. Veronica Giuliani

July 6, 2015

St. Veronica Giuliani Born at Mercatello in the Duchy of Urbino, Italy, 1660; died at Città di Castello, 9 July, 1727. Her parents, Francesco Giuliana and Benedetta Mancini, were both of gentle birth. In baptism she was named Ursula, and showed marvelous signs of sanctity. When but eighteen months old she uttered her first words […]

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Maria Leszczyńska

July 2, 2015

This virtuous Queen of Louis XV gives us a noble example of submission to the Church. In the last years of her life, her health was such that she was no longer able to observe the fast of Lent with her former exactness. She therefore sent one of the highest of her Court to seek […]

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5: The Law of Monarchy

July 2, 2015

In order that they might be attain unity, all things must tend to arrange themselves in turn of a supreme element which then would be a symbol, a kind of personification of the whole. It is this personification which gives perfection to unity. Though it may appear to be so, monarchy is not the opposite […]

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July 3 – The Pope Who Condemned His Predecessor, But Not For Heresy

July 2, 2015

Pope St. Leo II Pope (682-83), date of birth unknown; d. 28 June, 683. He was a Sicilian, and son of one Paul. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho (10 June, 681), he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months (17 Aug., 682). […]

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July 3 – The Twin

July 2, 2015

St. Thomas the Apostle Little is recorded of St. Thomas the Apostle, nevertheless thanks to the fourth Gospel his personality is clearer to us than that of some others of the Twelve. His name occurs in all the lists of the Synoptists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but in St. John […]

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July 4 – Unsung American Hero

July 2, 2015

St. Anthony Daniel Huron missionary, born at Dieppe, in Normandy, 27 May 1601, slain by the Iroquois at Teanaostae, near Hillsdale, Limcoe County, Ontario, Canada, 4 July, 1648. After two years’ study of philosophy and one of law, he entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, 1 October, 1621. Sent to Canada in 1633 he […]

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July 4 – Patroness of victims of adultery, jealousy and unfaithfulness

July 2, 2015

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal A.D. 1336. ST. ELIZABETH was daughter of Peter III,  king of Aragon, and granddaughter of James I, who had been educated under the care of St. Peter Nolasco, and was surnamed the Saint, and from the taking of Majorca and Valentia, Expugnator or the Conqueror. Her mother, Constantia, was daughter […]

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July 4 – St. Bertha of Blangy

July 2, 2015

St. Bertha (Abbess of Blangy in Artois) Died about 725. She was the daughter of Rigobert, Count of the Palace under Clovis II, and married Siegfried, a relation of the king. After twenty years, when he died, she determined to found a nunnery. Two buildings which she constructed fell down, but an angel in a […]

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July 5 – He founded the Barnebites and reformed two religious orders, but only lived 37 years

July 2, 2015

St. Antonio Maria Zaccaria Founder of the Clerks Regular of St. Paul, commonly known as the Barnabites; born in Cremona, Italy, 1502; died 5 July, 1539. While he was still an infant his father died, leaving the care of the child’s education to his mother, who taught him compassion for the poor and suffering by […]

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 2, 2015

St. Godelina Born at Hondeforte-lez-Boulogne, c. 1049; died at Ghistelles, 6 July, 1070. The youngest of the three children born to Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy, and his wife Ogina, Godelina was accustomed as a child to exercises of piety and was soon distinguished for a solidity of virtue extraordinary for one of her years. The […]

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July 6 – The King Had Three Daughters, All Saints

July 2, 2015

St. Sexburga of Ely Died about 699. Her sisters, Sts. Ethelburga and Saethrid, were both Abbesses of Faremontier in Brie, St. Withburga was a nun at Ely, and St. Etheldreda became Abbess of Ely. Sexburga was the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and was married about 640 to Earconbert, King of Kent. […]

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July 6 – Bl. Thomas Alfield

July 2, 2015

Bl. Thomas Alfield (AUFIELD, ALPHILDE, HAWFIELD, OFFELDUS; alias BADGER). Priest, born at Gloucestershire; martyred at Tyburn, 6 July, 1585. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge (1568). He was afterwards converted and came to Douai College in 1576, but the troubles there compelled him to intermit his studies for four years, and he was eventually […]

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July 6 – Nobility dedicated to the eradication of slavery

July 2, 2015

Blessed Maria Teresia Ledóchowska (29 April 1863 – 6 July 1922) was a Roman Catholic nun and African missionary. She was the eldest of seven children. Members of the Polish nobility, she and her siblings – including Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Ursula Ledóchowska and Ignacy Kazimierz Ledóchowski were born on the estate of their father, Count Antoni […]

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A Silver Wedding Anniversary in the Japanese Imperial Family

June 29, 2015

According to THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Prince Fumihito, Princess Kiko celebrate their silver wedding anniversary today, June 29, marking 25 years of close ties and expanded activities with the public, including providing hope to a tsunami-devastated town. A month after the magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami ravaged the town, Fumihito informed an acquaintance in Otsuchi that he […]

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June 30 – How One Humble Servant Transformed the New York Upper Class

June 29, 2015

Servant of God Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) Born to slavery in Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti), Toussaint came to New York in 1789 with his master, Jean Bérard du Pithon, a French noble and prosperous planter who was fleeing the turmoil unleashed in Saint Domingue by the French Revolution. Two years later, his master died without having […]

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June 30 – He began a crusade against the immorality of his time

June 29, 2015

Blessed Januarius Maria Sarnelli One of S. Alphonsus’s earliest companions, fourth son of Baron Angelo Sarnelli of Ciorani, born in Naples 12 Sept., 1702; died 30 June, 1744. From his childhood he was remarkable for modesty, self-denial, piety, and great diligence in his studies. At the age of fourteen he desired to become a Jesuit, […]

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July 1 – Venerable Thomas Maxfield

June 29, 2015

Ven. Thomas Maxfield (Vere Macclesfield) English priest and martyr, born in Stafford gaol, about 1590, martyred at Tyburn, London, Monday, 1 July, 1616. He was one of the younger sons of William Macclesfield of Chesterton and Maer and Aston, Staffordshire (a firm recusant, condemned to death in 1587 for harbouring priests, one of whom was […]

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July 1 – St. Gal

June 29, 2015

St. Gal Of the ninety-eight bishops who have occupied the see of Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne) the sixteenth and twenty-third bore the name of Gal, and both are numbered among the twenty-nine bishops of this church who are honoured as saints. The first and most illustrious was bishop from 527 to 551, the second, form 640 to […]

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July 1 – Condemned to death for promoting the Catholic faith, he responded “Deo gratias”

June 29, 2015

Saint Oliver Plunket Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, born at Loughcrew near Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland, 1629; died 11 July, 1681. His is the brightest name in the Irish Church throughout the whole period of persecution. He was connected by birth with the families which had just then been ennobled, the Earls […]

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July 1 – The Marquis of Lescure destroys two thirds of Westermann’s army and saves the lives of captured enemy soldiers

June 29, 2015

While the grand army were under the walls of Nantes, several engagements had taken place in La Vendée. Westermann, at the head of a German legion, advanced into the heart of the Bocage, after making himself master of Parthenay, on the 20th June. On the 1st July he burned the town of Amaillon; he then […]

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July 2 – Caught Between Two Masters

June 29, 2015

Saint Otto Bishop of Bamberg, born about 1060; died 30 June, 1139. He belonged to the noble, though not wealthy, family of Mistelbach in Swabia, not to the Counts of Andechs. He was ordained priest, but where he was educated is not known. While still young he joined the household of Duke Wladislaw of Poland; […]

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July 2 – St. Swithin

June 29, 2015

(SWITHUN) Bishop of Winchester; died 2 July, 862. Very little is known of this saint’s life, for his biographers constructed their “Lives” long after his death and there is hardly any mention of him in contemporary documents. Swithin was one of the two trusted counsellors of Egbert, King of the West Saxons (d. 839), helping […]

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St. Thomas and His Companion

June 25, 2015

One day a friend of St. Thomas of Aquinas cried out to him by way of amusement: “Thomas, look at the flying ox.” St. Thomas looked around him in astonishment to see where the strange animal was, but of course could not see it anywhere. His friend then began to laugh, and said to him […]

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Anti-monarchy group fails basic accounting

June 25, 2015

According to the Crown Chronicles: Anti-monarchy group Republic…claim that the ‘true cost’ of Monarchy is…£337 million for this last year – when The Queen only received a fraction of this, being granted £35.7 million in the Sovereign Support Grant of 2014-2015. Laughably, the report includes a page with this statistic over a picture of Princess […]

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4: The Law of Symetry

June 25, 2015

Imagine an edifice with a facade so extensive that it runs the risk of losing its unity. If, however, it were to have two like towers at its two extremes, its unity would be reconstituted by means of symetry. When the French wish to describe the dominating attitude of a man, they say that he […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 25, 2015

St. Anthelm of Belley (1107 – 1178) Prior of the Carthusian Grand Chartreuse and bishop of Belley. He was born near Chambéry in 1107. He would later receive an ecclesiastical benefice in the area of Belley. When he was thirty years old, he resigned from this position to become a Carthusian monk at Portes. Only […]

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June 27 – Chivalrous King

June 25, 2015

St. Ladislaus King of Hungary, born 1040; died at Neutra, 29 July, 1095; one of Hungary’s national Christian heroes. He was the son of Béla I; the nobles, after the death of Geisa I, passed over Solomon, son of Andrew I, and chose Ladislaus to be their king in 1077. It is true that he […]

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June 28 – He fought to preserve the Pope’s independence

June 25, 2015

Pope Saint Paul I Pope Saint Paul I reigned from 757 to 767 Date of birth unknown; died at Rome, 28 June, 767. He was a brother of Pope Stephen II. They had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace. Stephen entrusted his brother, who approved of the pope’s course in respect to […]

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Who Was Degraded from the Order of the Garter?

June 22, 2015

According to The Royal Correspondent: On Monday, June 15, 2015, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II…attended Service for the Order of the Garter… Established in 1348 by His Majesty King Edward III the Order of the Garter is: “…the most senior and the oldest British Order of Chivalry. Over the years, a number of knights have […]

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Videos – Trooping the Colour 2015 and little Prince George

June 22, 2015

According to The Royal Correspondent: On Saturday, June 13, 2015, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II…attended the 2015 Trooping the Colour… Per the British royal court regarding the history and tradition of Trooping the Colour: Trooping the Colour is carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) […]

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Young people find inspiration in Prince Harry military service – survey

June 22, 2015

According to The Telegraph: The Prince…said in an interview last month: “I dread to think where I’d be without the Army. Bring back National Service.” He argued that the discipline would help to keep young people on the straight and narrow. “Without a doubt, it does keep you out of trouble.” A survey of 1,000 […]

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Queen Elizabeth at Runnymede to commemorate 800 years of Magna Carta

June 22, 2015

According to the Royal News blog: Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince William, Princess Anne…attend a commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta on June 15, 2015 at Runnymede, a water-meadow near Windsor Castle. England’s King John signed the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, at Runnymede on June 15, 1215 […]

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June 23 – Her sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens, followed her as abbesses of Ely

June 22, 2015

St. Etheldreda Queen of Northumbria; born (probably) about 630; died at Ely, 23 June, 679. While still very young she was given in marriage by her father, Anna, King of East Anglia, to a certain Tonbert, a subordinate prince, from whom she received as morning gift a tract of land locally known as the Isle […]

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June 24 – He denounced the king’s adultery

June 22, 2015

St. John the Baptist The principal sources of information concerning the life and ministry of St. John the Baptist are the canonical Gospels. Of these St. Luke is the most complete, giving as he does the wonderful circumstances accompanying the birth of the Precursor and items on his ministry and death. St. Matthew’s Gospel stands […]

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June 25 – Simon de Montfort

June 22, 2015

Simon de Montfort An Earl of Leicester, date of birth unknown, died at Toulouse, 25 June, 1218. Simon (IV) de Montfort was descended from the lords of Montfort l’Amaury in Normandy, being the second son of Simon (III), and Amicia, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third Earl of Leicester. Having succeeded his father as Baron […]

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June 25 – St. William of Vercelli

June 22, 2015

(Or WILLIAM OF MONTE VERGINE.) The founder of the Hermits of Monte Vergine, or Williamites, born 1085; died 25 June, 1142. He was the son of noble parents, both of whom died when he was still a child, and his education was entrusted to one of his kinsmen. At the age of fifteen he made […]

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3: The Law of Proportion

June 18, 2015

Holy Writ tells us that all things were created by God with number, weight, and measure. In effect, we see that nature, movement, and mass are proportional in all bodies. An immense, most rich and beautiful organization, the Catholic Church is personified, par excellance, in the person of the Pope. But, at the same time, […]

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King Ferdinand And His Son Alphonsus

June 18, 2015

Ferdinand II, who reigned in Leon about the year 1157, had several children, amongst whom was Alphonsus VI, who succeeded him. Ferdinand lived till a good old age, and towards the end of his life was weighed down with many infirmities. Alphonsus acted towards his father the part of a most dutiful son, never leaving […]

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June 19 – St. Jean-Louis Bonnard

June 18, 2015

Saint Jean-Louis Bonnard A French missionary and martyr, born 1 March, 1824 at Saint-Christôt-en-Jarret (Diocese of Lyons); beheaded 30 April, 1852. After a collegiate course at Saint Jodard, he entered the seminary of Lyons, which he left at the age of twenty two, to complete his theological studies at the Seminary of the Foreign Missions […]

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June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

June 18, 2015

Carthusian Martyrs – the Second Group After little more than a month after the first group, it was the turn of three leading monks of the London house: Doms Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate, who were to die at Tyburn, London on the 19 June. Newdigate was a personal friend of Henry VIII, […]

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June 19 – Bl. Odo of Cambrai

June 18, 2015

Bl. Odo of Cambrai Bishop and confessor, also called ODOARDUS; born at Orleans, 1050; died at Anchin, 19 June, 1113. In 1087 he was invited by the canons of Tournai to teach in that city, and there soon won a great reputation. He became a Benedictine monk (1095) in St. Martin’s, Tournai, of which be […]

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June 19 – Love Accepts No Limitations

June 18, 2015

St. Juliana Falconieri Born in 1270; died 12 June, 1341. Juliana belonged to the noble Florentine family of Falconieri. Her uncle, St. Alexis Falconieri, was one of the seven founders of the Servite Order. Through his influence she also consecrated herself from her earliest youth to the religious life and the practices of Christian perfection. […]

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June 20 – The Pope Who Was the Son of Another Pope, Also a Saint

June 18, 2015

Pope St. Silverius (Reigned 536-37). Dates of birth and death unknown. He was the son of Pope [St.] Hormisdas who had been married before becoming one of the higher clergy. Silverius entered the service of the Church and was subdeacon at Rome when Pope Agapetus died at Constantinople, 22 April, 536. The Empress Theodora, who… […]

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June 22 – St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola

June 18, 2015

St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola (Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus.) Born at Bordeaux about 354; died 22 June, 431. He sprang from a distinguished family of Aquitania and his education was entrusted to the poet Ausonius. He became governor of the Province of Campania… Read more here.

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June 15 – St. Bernard dogs carry his name

June 15, 2015

St. Bernard of Menthon Born in 923, probably in the castle Menthon near Annecy, in Savoy; died at Novara, 1008. He was descended from a rich, noble family and received a thorough education. He refused to enter an honorable marriage proposed by… Read more here.

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June 15 – The Northern Crusades

June 15, 2015

The Battle of Lyndanisse was a battle which helped King Valdemar II of Denmark establish the territory of Danish Estonia during the Northern Crusades. Valdemar II defeated the Estonians at Lyndanisse (Estonian: Lindanise), during the Northern Crusades, by orders from the Pope. The Battle Valdemar II, along with Archbishop Anders Sunesen of Lund, Bishop Theoderik […]

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June 16 – Saint John Francis Regis

June 15, 2015

Saint John Francis Regis Born 31 January, 1597, in the village of Fontcouverte (department of Aude); died at la Louvesc, 30 Dec., 1640. His father Jean, a rich merchant, had been recently ennobled in recognition of the prominent part he had taken in the Wars of the League; his mother, Marguerite de Cugunhan, belonged by […]

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June 17 – Sobieski

June 15, 2015

John III Sobieski (Polish: Jan III Sobieski, Lithuanian: Jonas Sobieskis; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) Born at Olesko in 1629; died at Wilanow, 1696; son of James, Castellan of Cracow and descended by his mother from the heroic Zolkiewski, who died in battle at Cecora. His elder brother Mark was his companion in […]

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June 17 – Founder of the Albertines

June 15, 2015

Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski In Igołomia, on the outskirts of Cracow (Poland), the noble family of Adalbert Chmielowski and Josephine Borzysławska announced on August 20, 1845, the birth of their son Adam (Brother Albert). Mr Chmielowski together with his wife, raised their children in an atmosphere of patriotic ideals, strong faith in God and a […]

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June 17, 1793: Pius VI condemns the revolutionary concepts of liberty and equality

June 15, 2015

Pius VI repeatedly condemned the false concept of liberty and equality. In the Secret Consistory of June 17, 1793, quoting the words of the encyclical Inscrutabilie Divinae Sapientiae of December 25, 1775, he declared: “‘The most perfidious philosophers go farther. They dissolve all those bonds by which human beings are joined to one another and to […]

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June 18 – To make peace, she surrendered her son’s rights to the throne

June 15, 2015

Blessed Theresa of Portugal (born at Coimbra, October 4, 1178 – died at Lorvão, June 18, 1250) Queen of Léon as the first wife of King Alfonso IX of León. She was the oldest daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. Theresa was the mother to three of Alfonso’s children—two daughters and […]

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St. Eligius, The Goldsmith

June 11, 2015

St. Eligius, or Giles, was a goldsmith by trade. At that time Clotaire II was King of France. Having heard that St. Eligius was skilful in gold and silver work, the King sent for him, and asked him to make him a throne in gold of great magnificence. At the same time he gave the […]

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2: The Law of Harmonic Transition

June 11, 2015

In hierarchy, variety is affirmed by the multiplicity of intermediary degrees, while unity is affirmed by the suavity of the transition between these degrees. The rainbow is exemplary of this: the colors of which comprise it are arranged in a suave transition. In this we see the wisdom of God, Who created the Universe with […]

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June 12 – Saint Guido of Acqui

June 11, 2015

Saint Guido of Acqui (also Wido) (c. 1004 – 12 June 1070) was Bishop of Acqui (now Acqui Terme) in north-west Italy from 1034 until his death. He was born around 1004 to a noble family of the area of Acqui, the Counts of Acquesana, in Melazzo where the family’s wealth was concentrated. He completed […]

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June 12 – He Crowned Charlemagne

June 11, 2015

Pope St. Leo III Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of […]

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June 12 – A certain nobleman had a concubine

June 11, 2015

St. John of Sahagun Hermit, born 1419, at Sahagun (or San Fagondez) in the Kingdom of Leon, in Spain; died 11 June, 1479, at Salamanca; feast 12 June. In art he is represented holding a chalice and host surrounded by rays of light. John, the oldest of seven children, was born of pious and respected […]

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He Lived Only 36 Years, But the Whole World Knows Him

June 11, 2015

St. Anthony of Padua Franciscan Thaumaturgist, born at Lisbon, 1195; died at Vercelli, 13 June, 1231. He received in baptism the name of Ferdinand. Later writers of the fifteenth century asserted that his father was Martin Bouillon, descendant of the renowned Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First Crusade, and his mother, Theresa Taveira, descendant […]

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