January 19 – Godfrey Goodman

January 16, 2025

Godfrey Goodman Born at Ruthin, Denbighshire, 28 February, 1582-3; died at Westminster, 19 January, 1656. He was Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, and passed all his public life in the Protestant Church. His religious sympathies, however, inclined him to the old Faith, and when misfortune and ruin overtook him, late in life, he entered its fold. […]

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RCR – Part 1 Chapter IV Thru Chapter VII

January 13, 2025

CHAPTER IV The Metamorphoses of the Revolutionary Process As can be seen from the analysis in the preceding chapter, the revolutionary process is the development by stages of certain disorderly tendencies of Western and Christian man and of the errors to which they have given rise. In each stage, these tendencies and errors have a […]

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January 13 – The Count Who Converted the King

January 13, 2025

St. Remigius of Rheims Apostle of the Franks, Archbishop of Rheims, b. at Cerny or Laon, 437; d. at Rheims, 13 January 533. His father was Emile, Count of Laon. He studied literature at Rheims and soon became so noted for learning and sanctity that he was elected Archbishop of Rheims in his twenty-second year. […]

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January 13 – The Opponent of Bishop Lucifer

January 13, 2025

St. Hilary of Poitiers Bishop, born in that city at the beginning of the fourth century; died there 1 November, according to the most accredited opinion, or according to the Roman Breviary, on 13 January, 368. Belonging to a noble and very probably pagan family, he was instructed in all the branches of profane learning, […]

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January 14 – Blessed Devasahayam Pillai

January 13, 2025

Blessed Devasahayam Pillai Devasahayam Pillai (named Neelakanda Pillai at birth) was born into an affluent Nair-caste family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District, on 23 April 1712. His father Vasudevan Namboodiri, hailed from Kayamkulam, in present-day Kerala state, and was working as a priest at Sri Adi Kesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar in present-day […]

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January 14 – The Ten Year Old Saint and Some Of Her Miracles

January 13, 2025

Ven. Anne de Guigné When St. Thomas Aquinas’s sister asked him how to become a Saint, he told her to just “will it.” Venerable Anne de Guigné¹ was a child with an iron will and from the moment of her conversion, she willed only one thing…to be a Saint. “To become a Saint is to […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 14, 1952

January 13, 2025

Faithful to your ancient tradition, beloved Sons and Daughters, you have again come this year to present the visible Head of the Church with a testimonial of your devotion and your fond wishes for the New Year. We welcome them with keen and affectionate gratitude, and offer you in return Our warmest regards. We include […]

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January 15 – St. Maurus & St. Placidus

January 13, 2025

St. Maurus Deacon, son of Equitius, a nobleman of Rome, but claimed also by Fondi, Gallipoli, Lavello etc.; died 584. Feast, 15 Jan. He is represented as an abbot with crozier, or with book and censer, or holding the weights and measures of food and drink given him by his holy master. He is the […]

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The Nobility: A Particularly Distinguished Order in Human Society—It Will Have Special Accounts to Render to God

January 9, 2025

An application of these rich and solid teachings to the contemporary condition of the nobility may be found in the allocution of John XXIII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on January 9, 1960. “The Holy Father is pleased to note that the distinguished audience is a reminder of what human society is as a […]

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January 9 – Blessed Tommaso Reggio

January 9, 2025

Blessed Tommaso Reggio Bl. Tommaso Reggio was born in Genoa, Italy, on 9 January 1818 to the Marquis of Reggio and Angela Pareto. He had a comfortable upbringing which gave him a solid Christian and cultural background and assured him of a brilliant career. However, at the age of 20 he decided to become a […]

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January 10 – Maria Theodor Ratisbonne

January 9, 2025

A distinguished preacher and writer, and director of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers, b. of Jewish parentage at Strasburg, 28 Dec., 1802; d. in Paris, 10 Jan. 1884. He was raised in luxury, was educated at the Royal College of his native city, and at the age of manhood, was considered a leader among his […]

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January 10 – St. Diarmaid the Just

January 9, 2025

A famous Irish confessor of the mid-sixth century; d. 542. His name is associated with the great monastery of Inisclothran (Iniscleraun) on Lough Ree, in the Dioeese of Ardagh, which he founded about the year 530. He was of princely origin and a native of Connacht. Wishing to found an oratory far from the haunts […]

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January 10 – Jean-Baptiste Régis

January 9, 2025

Born at Istres, Provence, 11 June, 1663, or 29 Jan., 1664; died at Peking, 24 Nov., 1738. He was received into the Society of Jesus, 14 Sept. 1683, or 13 Sept. 1679, and in 1698 went on the Chinese mission, where he served science and religion for forty years, and took the chief share in […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 11, 1943

January 9, 2025

How, beloved Sons and Daughters, could the warm and heartfelt greetings that the lofty words of your illustrious representative conveyed to Us in your name fail to find their response in the offerings We now raise to God on your behalf? Unvanquished by the sorrows of the present hour, We feel, at this moment, a […]

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January 12 – Prominent Jesuit Missionary in Early Mexico

January 9, 2025

Pedro Díaz Missionary, b. at Lupedo, Diocese of Toledo, Spain, in 1546; d. in Mexico, 12 Jan., 1618. Though but twenty years of age when he joined the Society of Jesus he had already been a teacher of philosophy for two years. In 1572 he was sent by St. Francis Borgia to Mexico with the […]

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January 12 – Tyrolese priest and patriot

January 9, 2025

Johann Simon (Joachim) Haspinger A Tyrolese priest and patriot; b. at Gries, Tyrol, 28 October, 1776; d. in the imperial palace of Mirabell, Salzburg, 12 January, 1858. His parents were well-to-do country people, and destined their son for the priesthood. It was, however, only in 1703 after having devoted himself until his seventeenth year to […]

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January 12 – Father of the Modern Oratorio

January 9, 2025

Giacomo Carissimi The most influential and prolific Italian composer of his time, b. in 1604 at Marino in the Papal States; d. 12 Jan., 1674, in Rome. After completing his musical education in Rome, Carissimi became choirmaster at Assisi, and, in 1628, he was appointed to a like position at the church of St. Apollinaris […]

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January 12 – Countess, convert and authoress

January 9, 2025

Ida Hahn-Hahn Countess, convert and authoress, born 22 June, 1805; died 12 January, 1880. She was descended from a family that formerly was one of the wealthiest and most illustrious of the Mecklenburg nobility. Her father, the tragic and famous “Theatergraf” (theatrical count), squandered such huge sums on his one hobby, the drama, that he […]

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January 12 – Bernard Jungmann

January 9, 2025

Bernard Jungman A dogmatic theologian and ecclesiastical historian, born at Münster in Westphalia, 1 March, 1833; died at Louvain, 12 Jan., 1895. He belonged to an intensely Catholic family of Westphalia; like him, two of his brothers entered the service of the Church, one joining the Society of Jesus and the other becoming a missionary […]

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January 12 – Physician

January 9, 2025

Daniel Noble Physician, b. 14 Jan., 1810; d. at Manchester, 12 Jan, 1885. He was the son of Mary Dewhurst and Edward Noble of Preston, a descendant of an old Yorkshire Catholic family. Apprenticed to a Preston surgeon named Thomas Moore, Noble was in time admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and […]

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RCR Book

January 6, 2025

Foreword Since its first publication in the Brazilian cultural journal Catolicismo in 1959, Revolution and Counter-Revolution has gone through a number of editions in Portuguese, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. The present edition is the first to be published digitally in the United States. It includes recent commentaries on Revolution and Counter-Revolution’s third part, which […]

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January 6 – The Kingship of Christ Is Manifest to the Pagan World

January 6, 2025

The Epiphany of Our Lord Saints Balthasar, Caspar and Melchior Epiphany, which in the original Greek signifies appearance or manifestation, as St. Augustin observes, (1) is a festival principally solemnized in honor of the discovery Jesus Christ made of himself to the Magi, or wise men; who, soon after his birth, by a particular inspiration […]

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First recorded Mass in the Americas: January 6, 1494 at La Isabela, Dominican Republic

January 6, 2025

Columbus’s second fleet of seventeen assorted ships carried between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred men and was organized to establish a permanent colony that would serve as a base for trade with the people of this new land. The fleet left Cádiz on 25 September 1493 and arrived in the Caribbean in November. Columbus was […]

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January 6 – St. Roch

January 6, 2025

St. Roch Born at Montpellier towards 1295; died 1327. His father was governor of that city. At his birth St. Roch is said to have been found miraculously marked on the breast with a red cross. Deprived of his parents when about twenty years old, he distributed his fortune among the poor, handed over to […]

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January 6 – St. Joan of Arc was born on this day over 600 years ago

January 6, 2025

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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January 7 – St. Aldric

January 6, 2025

St. Aldric Bishop of Le Mans in the time of Louis le Debonnaire, born c. 800; died at Le Mans, 7 January, 856. As a youth he lived in the court of Charlemagne, at Aix la Chapelle, as well as in that of his son and successor Louis. By both monarchs he was highly esteemed, […]

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January 7 – Ordered bandits of royal blood to hang from the highest mast

January 6, 2025

St. Canut Second son of Eric the Good, king of Denmark, he was made duke of Sleswig, his elder brother Nicholas being king of Denmark. Their father, who lived with his people as a father with his children, and no one ever left him without comfort, says the ancient chronicle Knytling-Saga, p. 71. died in […]

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Allocution of January 8, 1940

January 6, 2025

At the start of the New year, a twofold gift has been given us by the Roman Patriciate and Nobility by their gathering around Us: the most appreciated gift of their presence and the gift of their filial best wishes, adornments, as a flower, of the testimonial of their traditional loyalty to the Holy See, […]

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January 8 – Hapsburg Saint

January 6, 2025

St. Gudula (Latin, Guodila) Born in Brabant, Belgium, of Witger and Amalberga, in the seventh century; died at the beginning of the eighth century. After the birth of Gudula her mother Amalberga, who is herself venerated as a saint, embraced the religious life, and according to tradition received the veil at the hands of St. […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 8, 1947

January 6, 2025

The homage of your loyalty and devotion, and the wishes of good tidings which you, beloved Sons and Daughters, come to offer Us each year by ancient custom, and which have been so beautifully expressed by your most excellent representative, always fill Our heart with sincere gratitude. Naturally, they usually reflect the thoughts and worries […]

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Three Reasons Why Abolishing the Hereditary Lords in the English Parliament Is a Big Mistake

January 2, 2025

By John Horvat II The United Kingdom’s Labour Party government is presenting a bill to abolish the hereditary lords from the upper chamber of Parliament. Hereditary lords are those House of Lords’ members who inherit the right to sit in the upper House based on services rendered to the realm. Many storied families have retained […]

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Aging Gracefully or Shamefully

January 2, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In today’s society, at least as it pertains to the natural aging process, “young” is “in”—“old” is “out.” Everyone wants to appear young. There is a strange anomaly here. While it is fashionable to collect antiques and even vintage automobiles, a deep-rooted sentiment of displeasure exists among those for whom […]

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The Charm of the Curtsey

January 2, 2025

A young Englishwoman of title visited this country recently she expressed astonishment at the ignorance of the art of formal social behavior which American girls displayed. They did not know how to bow correctly, the curtsey seemed to have become an obsolete social form here; they had not learned the graceful way to proceed down the […]

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January 2 – The Infant of Prague

January 2, 2025

Its earliest history can be traced back to Prague in the year 1628 when the small, 19-inch high, wooden and coated wax statue of the Infant Jesus was given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz (1566–1642) to the Discalced Carmelites, to whom she had become greatly attached. The princess had received the statue as a wedding […]

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January 3 – Discoverer of Oregon and of the entire California coast

January 2, 2025

Estévan (Juan) Cabrillo A Portugese in the naval service of Spain, date and place of birth unknown; died on the island of San Bernardo, 3 Jan., 1543. In 1541 Pedro de Alvarado gathered a fleet of twelve vessels on the coast of Western Mexico (Navidad) for an expedition to the Moluccas. Alvarado was soon after […]

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January 3 – The saint who twice saved Paris

January 2, 2025

St. Genevieve Patroness of Paris, born at Nanterre, circa 419 or 422; died at Paris, 512. Her feast is kept on 3 January. She was the daughter of Severus and Gerontia; popular tradition represents her parents as poor peasants, though it seems more likely that they were wealthy and respectable townspeople. In 429 St. Germain […]

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January 4 – Patroness of those afflicted by sexual temptation

January 2, 2025

Blessed Angela of Foligno Umbrian penitent and mystical writer. She was born at Foligno in Umbria, in 1248, of a rich family; died 4 January, 1309. Married at an early age, she loved the world and its pleasures and, worse still, forgetful of her dignity and duties as wife and mother, fell into sin and […]

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January 4 – Nobility in the United States

January 2, 2025

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Foundress and first superior of the Sisters of Charity in the United States, b. in New York City, 28 Aug., 1774, of non-Catholic parents of high position; d. at Emmitsburg, Maryland, 4 Jan., 1821. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley (b. Connecticut and educated in England), was the first professor of anatomy […]

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The Great Coronation Banquet

December 30, 2024

A century has passed since Emperor Karl was crowned King of Hungary on December 30, 1916. The coronation ceremony took place at St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest, attended by illustrious guests from throughout Europe. Usually a coronation is an occasion of mirth and celebration. However, Hungary was reeling from the ongoing First World War, just […]

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December 30 – He Preached Sanctity in Marriage and Chastity in Priesthood

December 30, 2024

St. Egwin Third Bishop of Worcester; date of birth unknown; d. (according to Mabillon) 20 December, 720, though his death may have occurred three years earlier. His fame as founder of the great Abbey of Evesham no doubt tended to the growth of legends which, though mainly founded on facts, render it difficult to reconcile […]

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December 31 – The patrician girl who befriended St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and the Empress

December 30, 2024

St. Melania (the Younger) Born at Rome, about 383; died in Jerusalem, 31 December, 439. She was a member of the famous family of Valerii. Her parents were Publicola and Albina, her paternal grandmother of the same name is known as Melania, Senior. Little is known of the saint’s childhood, but after the time of […]

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St. Louis and The Holy Name Of God

December 30, 2024

St. Louis, King of France, was one of the gentlest and most pious of monarchs. One thing only did he punish with great severity, and this was disrespect to, and profanation of, the Holy Name of God. At that time, as in our own days, nothing was more dishonored than God’s holy Name. To put […]

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The Dauphin’s gift to the Queen on New Year’s Day

December 30, 2024

At Marie Antoinette’s insistence, the four-year-old Dauphin promised: “By the end of the year, I will learn how to read. It will be my New Year’s gift to you.” Soon after he asked his tutor, Father Avaux, “How long is it before the end of the year?” “A little more than a month,” the priest […]

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January 1 – The Virgin Mary was “of the house of David”

December 30, 2024

Mary’s Davidic ancestry St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, “because he was of the house and family of David”. As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist (1:32, 69) states that the child born of Mary without the intervention of […]

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January 1 – As bishop, he was harsh to himself, to his clergy, and to any king

December 30, 2024

St. Fulgentius (FABIUS CLAUDIUS GORDIANUS FULGENTIUS). Born 468, died 533. Bishop of Ruspe in the province of Byzacene in Africa, eminent among the Fathers of the Church for saintly life, eloquence and theological learning. His grandfather, Gordianus, a senator of Carthage, was despoiled of his possessions by the invader Genseric, and banished to Italy, his […]

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Was There No Zeal For The Well-being of The Common People in The Centuries of Faith?

December 30, 2024

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Two rooms.   The first belongs to a building with thick walls, easily seen by the deep encasement of the two windows that allow the light to enter through their thick panes yet protect the room from the cold. The wide borders of carved wood and the finely sculpted ceiling beams […]

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December 26 – He had the face of an angel

December 26, 2024

St. Stephen One of the first deacons and the first Christian martyr; feast on 26 December. In the Acts of the Apostles the name of St. Stephen occurs for the first time on the occasion of the appointment of the first deacons (Acts, vi, 5). Dissatisfaction concerning the distribution of alms from the community’s fund […]

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Excerpt from Pope Pius XII’s Allocution to the Pontifical Noble Guard on December 26, 1942

December 26, 2024

“None can be envious upon seeing that We bear you such special affection. To whom, in truth, is the immediate protection of Our person entrusted, if not to you? And are you not the first of Our guards? “Guard! What lofty resonance there is in this word: the soul trembles therewith; thoughts take wing. An […]

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December 27 – Son of Thunder

December 26, 2024

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Styled in the gospel, The beloved disciple of Christ, and called by the Greeks The Divine, he was a Galilean, the son of Zebedee and Salome, and younger brother to St. James the Great, with whom he was brought up to the trade of fishing. From his acquaintance with […]

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December 27 – The divorced saint

December 26, 2024

St. Fabiola of Rome A Roman matron of rank, died 27 December, 399 or 400. She was one of the company of noble Roman women who, under the influence of St. Jerome, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted themselves to the practice of Christian asceticism and to charitable work. At the time of St. […]

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The Legend of St. Dismas

December 26, 2024

by Pauline Sanders Many years ago, after Jesus was born, the evil King Herod waited for the three kings from the Orient to return to his kingdom with news of the newborn King. When they did not return, Herod grew afraid that this new King would cause him to lose his throne. Because of this, […]

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The Socialists Declare That the Right of Property Is a Human Invention Opposed to the Innate Equality of Man

December 26, 2024

[From Leo XIII’s encyclical Quod Apostolici muneris, of December 28, 1878]: But Catholic wisdom, sustained by the precepts of natural and divine law, provides with especial care for public and private tranquility in its doctrines and teachings regarding the duty of government and the distribution of the goods which are necessary for life and use. […]

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

December 26, 2024

[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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Elitism

December 26, 2024

Folha de São Paulo, December 28, 1977 by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In more than one progressivist-inspired publication I have run into the adjective, “elitist,” needless to say employed in a strongly pejorative sense. Indeed, from the psychological standpoint, progressivism is an amalgamation of all kinds of mediocrity, triviality and even vulgarity. As a consequence, […]

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December 29 – His Staff Did More Damage Than His Sword

December 26, 2024

St. Thomas à Becket Martyr, Archbishop of Canterbury, also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London, born at London, 21 December, c. 1118; died at Canterbury, 29 December, 1170. St. Thomas was born of parents who, coming from Normandy, had settled in England some years previously. No reliance can be placed upon the […]

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Christmas Story Collection

December 23, 2024

Our Lord as the Point of Reference Some Reflections on the Story of the Little Drummer Boy Christmas Preparation The Count and The Chimneysweep How did St. Nicholas evolve into Santa Claus and why? For Christmas Gifts, St. Louis IX of France Gives His Nobles Crusader Crosses Seeking the True Joy of Christmas Empress Sisi’s […]

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December 25 – On Christmas Day, He Died

December 23, 2024

St. Peter Nolasco Born at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, near Castelnaudary, France, in 1189 (or 1182); died at Barcelona, on Christmas Day, 1256 (or 1259). He was of a noble family and from his youth was noted for his piety, almsgiving, and charity. Having given all his possessions to the poor, he took a vow of virginity and, […]

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Christmas in French Salons

December 23, 2024

Since no door in the town of Bethlehem was opened to the Holy Family, the Infant Jesus was born in a poor stable manger heated only with an ox and ass. In reparation for such lack of hospitality, every year at Christmas, French noble houses open their doors to the Christ Child, his holy Mother, […]

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The Christmas Rose

December 23, 2024

The Christmas rose blooms at Christmastime. Really!  The flower pushes up out of the snow. The blooms last for weeks and the plant lasts for years. It is said that it bloomed outside the stable at Bethlehem, although the plant is not a native of the Holy Land. The rose reminds us of the stable […]

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Christmas Is Here: The Gate Of Pardon And Hope Are Open

December 23, 2024

By Plinio Correa de Oliveira The secret to the proper organization of earthly life is found in the words the angels sang to the enraptured shepherds on Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will.” When men recognize the plenitude of all perfections in God and […]

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