November 16 – St. Agnes of Assisi

November 13, 2014

St. Agnes of Assisi Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three […]

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November 16 – St. Margaret of Scotland: In the Middle Ages, the Marvelous Was Something Achievable

November 13, 2014

Saint Margaret of Scotland Commentaries made by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira … Sovereign and patroness of Scotland, 11th century. Although it is a very good intention to comment on the life of St. Margaret, at times one does not have the slightest biographical data on a saint. For lack of a better biography, I […]

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November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 13, 2014

St. Mechtilde (MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA). Benedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families… Read more here.

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November 16 – St. Gertrude the Great

November 13, 2014

St. Gertrude the Great Saint, Benedictine and mystic writer; born in Germany, January 6, 1256; died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, November 17, 1301 or 1302. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in […]

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November 17 – St. Hugh of Lincoln

November 13, 2014

St. Hugh of Lincoln Born about the year 1135 at the castle of Avalon, near Pontcharra, in Burgundy; died at London, 16 Nov., 1200. His father, William, Lord of Avalon, was sprung from one of the noblest of Burgundian houses; of his mother, Anna, very little is known. After his wife’s death, William retired from […]

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November 17 – Saint Gregory of Tours

November 13, 2014

Saint Gregory of Tours Born in 538 or 539 at Arverni, the modern Clermont-Ferrand; died at Tours, 17 Nov., in 593 or 594. He was descended from a distinguished Gallo-Roman family, and was closely related to the most illustrious houses of Gaul. He was originally called Georgius Florentius, but in memory of his maternal great-grandfather, […]

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November 17 – The Queen Gave Good Example Caring for the Sick and Suffering

November 13, 2014

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207; died at Marburg, Hesse, 17 November (not 19 November), 1231. She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-35) and his wife Gertrude, a member of the family of the Counts of Andechs-Meran; Elizabeth’s brother succeeded […]

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Queen braves the threat from Islamist terrorists

November 10, 2014

According to The Telegraph: As police continued to question four men arrested last week over fears of an Islamist plot to attack Remembrance Sunday commemorations, the Queen, politicians and thousands of veterans refused to be distracted from remembering their dead. After a shot from a 13-pounder First World War gun rang out across Horse Guards Parade […]

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Princess Anne at Arlington’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

November 10, 2014

According to The Washington Post: “On her first official visit to the U.S. since 1994, Princess Anne also attended a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.” To read the entire article in The Washington Post, please click here

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Marshal de Villars: Commanding at 81 years of age

November 10, 2014

In 1734, Louis XV declared war on the House of Austria and the Marshal de Villars was chosen to command the combined armies of France, Spain, and Sardinia that were fighting in Italy. In clashes before Pizzigitone, when an officer cautioned that he was exposing himself to many dangers, the Marshal replied: — “You would […]

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Expressions of Tenderness

November 10, 2014

The signs of this tender love could be seen everywhere as medieval man sought to express the infinite perfections of Christ through tangible symbols. Indeed, love seeks nothing except to give itself and to communicate the riches it enjoys. Thus, Taylor observes, “And the same need of grasping the infinite and universal through symbols was […]

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November 11 – Patron of Veterans and Soldiers

November 10, 2014

St. Martin of Tours Bishop; born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Pannonia (Hungary), about 316; died at Candes, Touraine, most probably in 397. In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him thither, and when he reached adolescence was, in […]

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November 12 – Saint Cunibert

November 10, 2014

Saint Cunibert (also Cunipert, or Kunibert) (c. 600 – 12 November c. 663) was the ninth Bishop of Cologne from 627 to his death. Contemporary sources only mention him between 627 and 643. Cunibert (also spelled ‘Honoberht’) was born somewhere along the Moselle to a family of the local Ripuarian Frankish aristocracy. He entered the church […]

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November 12 – Four years in Stalin’s concentration camp

November 10, 2014

Blessed Hryhorij Lakota Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church auxiliary bishop who suffered religious persecution and was martyred by the Soviet Government. Hryhorij Lakota was born 31 January 1893 in Holodivka, Lviv Oblast… Read more here.

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November 12 – Fearless and Bold

November 10, 2014

St. Lebwin (LEBUINUS or LIAFWIN). Apostle of the Frisians and patron of Deventer, b. in England of Anglo-Saxon parents at an unknown date; d. at Deventer, Holland, about 770. Educated in a monastery and fired by the example of St. Boniface, St. Willibrord, and other great English missionaries, Lebwin resolved to dovote his life to […]

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November 12 – Kidnapped, sold as a slave, ransomed by a bishop, and confidante of the emperor

November 10, 2014

St. Nilus (Neilos) Nilus the elder, of Sinai (died circa 430), was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. We know him first as a layman, married, with two sons. At this time he was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, and is said to have been one of […]

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November 12 – Noble Ruthenian Stock

November 10, 2014

St. Josaphat Kuncevyc Martyr, born in the little town of Volodymyr in Lithuania (Volyn) in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk, Russia, 12 November, 1623. The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine […]

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November 12 – How a Constable of France dies in battle

November 10, 2014

Anne de Montmorency had proven many times before that his race does not degenerate and the brave blood of an illustrious line of ancestors flowed in his veins. Imperious, severe, of a stern mood, he had undeniable bravery and strict fidelity to his duty. Although success had not always been… Read more here.

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November 13 – Patroness of missionaries

November 10, 2014

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. Also called Mother Cabrini, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a religious institute which was a major support to the Italian immigrants to the United States. She was the first citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. She was born in Sant’Angelo […]

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November 13 – Grand Master of the Order of Christ

November 10, 2014

Prince Henry the Navigator Born 4 March, 1394; died 13 November, 1460; he was the fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, by Queen Philippa, a daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1415 he commanded the expedition which captured Ceuta, Portugal’s first oversea conquest, and there won his knightly spurs. Three years later he […]

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November 13 – Pure and noble, he received Holy Communion from the hands of angels

November 10, 2014

St. Stanislas Kostka Born at Rostkovo near Prasnysz, Poland, about 28 October, 1550; died at Rome during the night of 14-15 August, 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rome, 28 October, 1567, and is said to have foretold his death a few days before it occurred. His father, John Kostka, was a senator […]

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November 13 – He calmed the fear of the end of the world

November 10, 2014

St. Abbon (or Abbo), born near Orléans c. 945; died at Fleury, 13 November, 1004, a monk of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire (Fleuret), conspicuous both for learning and sanctity, and one of the great lights of the Church in the stormy times of Hugh Capet of France and of the three Ottos […]

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November 13 – One of the Great Popes of the Middle Ages

November 10, 2014

Pope St. Nicholas I Born at Rome, date unknown; died 13 November, 867; one of the great popes of the Middle Ages, who exerted decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. He was of a distinguished family, being the son of the Defensor […]

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Conclusion – King St. Ferdinand endures war from his father

November 6, 2014

[Earlier] One act of justice was left to administer, but this the King of Heaven assumed as His responsibility. The wicked Don Alvaro was sick in bed the night the truce was agreed upon. When he heard the news, he fell into despair and commanded his men to move him quickly to Toro. The rapid […]

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Prince Charles on the persecution of Christians in Syria

November 6, 2014

According to BBC News: Prince Charles has described threats to Christians in the Middle East as “an indescribable tragedy”. Prince Charles said events in Iraq and Syria, where civil war and Islamic State extremists have caused thousands to be displaced, were “heartbreaking”. …across the world, Christians remain the most persecuted religious minority… “It is an […]

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Our Lord as the Point of Reference

November 6, 2014

In fact, Our Lord was the point of reference for all things. “About the figure of the Divinity,” writes Johan Huizinga, “a majestic system of correlated figures crystallizes, which all have reference to Him, because all things derive their meaning from Him.”* It was not just an abstract figure of the Divinity that so attracted […]

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November 7 – He Went on Crusade to Atone for His Sins

November 6, 2014

Saint Engelbert of Cologne Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); born at Berg, about 1185; died near Schwelm, 7 November 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to an abuse of […]

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November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 6, 2014

Born     December 29, 1811 Aitona, Lleida, Spain Died     20 March 1872 Tarragona, Spain Beatified     April 24, 1988, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II Feast     November 7 Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching for adult […]

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November 7 – Martyred in Mecca

November 6, 2014

Saint Ernest of Mecca Abbot of the abbey of Zwiefalten Died     1148 AD in Mecca Feast     November 7 Saint Ernest (died 1148) was the abbot of the Benedictine Zwiefalten Abbey at Zwiefalten, Germany during the 12th century. He participated in the Second Crusade fought by Christians between 1145 and 1149 to regain the […]

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November 7 – St. Willibrord and the Dancing Procession

November 6, 2014

St. Willibrord Bishop of Utrecht, Apostle of the Frisians, and son of St. Hilgis, born in Northumbria, 658; died at Echternach, Luxemburg, 7 Nov., 739. Willibrord made his early studies at the Abbey of Ripon near York, as a disciple of St. Wilfrid, and then entered the Benedictine Order. When twenty years old he went […]

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November 7 – Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

November 6, 2014

Bl. Bernardine of Fossa Of the Order of Friars Minor, historian and ascetical writer, b. at Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November, 1503. Blessed Bernardine belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Amici, and sometimes bears the name of Aquilanus on account of his long […]

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November 8 – Four Crowned Martyrs

November 6, 2014

Four Crowned Martyrs The old guidebooks to the tombs of the Roman martyrs make mention, in connection with the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana, of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Quatuor Coronati), at whose grave the pilgrims were wont to worship (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 178-79). One of these itineraries, […]

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November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 6, 2014

St. Willehad Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He […]

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November 8 – Saint Tysilio of Wales

November 6, 2014

Saint Tysilio (died 640) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar, son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor Iscoed and an ecclesiastic who took a prominent part in the affairs of Wales during the distressful period at the opening of the 7th century. Prince […]

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November 10 – Who Was the First Pope to Be Called “Great,” and Why?

November 6, 2014

Pope St. Leo I (the Great) Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. (Reigned 440-61). Leo’s pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity. At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in consequence of the hastening […]

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King St. Ferdinand endures war from his father – Part 4

November 3, 2014

[Earlier] After exchanging farewells, the Castilian representatives returned to their encampment, accompanied part of their way by the negotiating team from León. The Castilian ambassadors were quite pleased with the success of their mission and approached the King’s tent to render him an account of the events. They did not find him, and his camp […]

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The Secret of the Middle Ages

November 3, 2014

While an understanding of the high and sublime ideals that moved medieval society may help us in our search for economic solutions, such considerations tell only part of the story. Neither these ideals nor the dreams built upon them give an entirely adequate explanation for the flowering of the Middle Ages. Even the austere and […]

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November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 3, 2014

St. Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died […]

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November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 3, 2014

Bl. Frances d’Amboise Duchess of Brittany, afterwards Carmelite nun, born 1427; died at Nantes, 4 Nov., 1485. The daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, she was betrothed when only four years old, to Peter, second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, the marriage being solemnized when she had reached the age of fifteen. […]

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November 6 – Duchess d’Alençon

November 3, 2014

Blessed Margaret of Lorraine Duchess d’Alencon, religious of the order of Poor Clares, born in 1463 at the castle of Vaudémont (Lorraine); died at Argentan (Brittany) 2 November, 1521. The daughter of Ferri de Vaudimont and of Yolande d’Anjou, little Margaret became an orphan at an early age and was brought up at Aix-en-Provençe, by […]

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November 6 – St. Winnoc

November 3, 2014

St. Winnoc Abbot or Prior or Wormhoult, died 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist […]

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Queen Elizabeth receives military heroes at Buckingham Palace

October 30, 2014

According to The Telegraph: Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh have hosted a reception in Buckingham Palace to honour 23 recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross and their families. The Victoria Cross is…awarded “for most conspicuous bravery or some daring pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in […]

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100 years: Prince Maurice of Battenberg

October 30, 2014

According to the Mary Evans Picture Library: On this day 100 years ago, the Great War claimed the life of a young and popular member of the royal family – Prince Maurice of Battenberg…the youngest son of Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg, and consequently the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. It is characteristic […]

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King St. Ferdinand endures war from his father – Part 3

October 30, 2014

[Earlier]Alfonso IX already knew of the embassy his son had sent, and was awaiting them in his tent with the wisest and most important of his noblemen. The Castilians greeted him with due respect, and the Archbishop of Toledo, reasoning in a prudent but forceful way, illustrated the harm that this war would cause to […]

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Rewards of the Cross

October 30, 2014

When such a metaphysical spirit permeates everything, all society cannot but grow in quality and excellence. The lawyer presents a magnificent legal brief or a cobbler searches for a marvelous shoe for the sake of the beauty of their actions. The artist—so sensitive to such an outlook—produces his masterpiece and dies content even though he […]

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October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 30, 2014

St. Wolfgang Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period […]

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November 1 – For saving her people, she was made their judge

October 30, 2014

Deborah the Prophetess (also known as Debbora the Judge, Deborah the Matriarch) Prophetess and judge: she was the wife of Lapidoth and was endowed by God with prophetic gifts which secured for her the veneration of the divided Israelitic tribes and gave her great authority over them. Her wisdom was first displayed in settling litigious […]

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All Saints Day: How many saints were noble?

October 30, 2014

All Saint’s Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity? The current misunderstanding of nobility and the analogous traditional elites results largely from the adroit but biased propaganda spread against them by the French Revolution. Such propaganda, continuously disseminated throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by ideological and political currents spawned […]

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November 2 – His mother celebrated his death as if it were a wedding

October 30, 2014

Blessed John Bodey Martyr, born at Wells, Somerset: 1549; died at Andover, Wilts., 2 November, 1583. He studied at Winchester and New College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1568. In June, 1576, he was deprived, with seven other Fellows, by the Visitor, Horne, Protestant Bishop of Winchester. Next year he went to […]

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November 3 – Patron of hunting

October 30, 2014

St. Hubert Confessor, thirty-first Bishop of Maastricht, first Bishop of Liège, and Apostle of the Ardennes, born about 656; died at Fura (the modern Tervueren), Brabant, 30 May, 727 or 728. He was honored in the Middle Ages as the patron of huntsmen, and the healer of hydrophobia (rabies). He was the eldest son of […]

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November 3 – The Battle of Mentana

October 30, 2014

It was a dark and gloomy morning, pouring rain, when this little army of some five thousand men filed out of the Porta Pia in a colorful parade, Pius IX’s Swiss General Rafael de Courten’s papal troops leading and the French contingent bringing up the rear…. Famous since classical times as a suburban retreat some […]

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Queen grieves for Canada and the victims of the Islamist attack

October 27, 2014

According to Hello!DailyNews: “The 88-year-old monarch, who is Canada’s head of state, revealed that she was ‘shocked and saddened’. A single gunman, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, opened fire at the national war memorial in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, killing Canadian soldier Nathan Crillo.” To read the entire post at Hello!DailyNews, please click here.  

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King St. Ferdinand endures war from his father – continued

October 27, 2014

[Earlier] A few hours later the King left at the head of his army in the direction of the town besieged by the King of León. Accompanying him were the Archbishop Ximénez de la Rada and the Bishops Don Maurice and Don Tello. Astonished, the prelates and the noblemen watched their lord, for it was […]

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Pursuit of Excellence

October 27, 2014

With Christ as the perfect model, this “Way of the Cross” economy also served God’s glory by awakening in men a passionate pursuit of excellence for excellence’s sake. To medieval man, this pursuit of excellence was an arduous task, not unlike a Way of the Cross that ultimately led not to profits but to God. […]

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October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 27, 2014

Saint Alfred the Great In this incomparable prince were united the saint, the soldier, and the statesman in a most eminent degree. Sir Henry Spelman (Conc. Brit.) gives us his character in a rapture. “O, Alfred,” says he, “the wonder and astonishment of all ages! If we reflect on his piety and religion, it would […]

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October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 27, 2014

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 […]

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

October 27, 2014

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 […]

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October 30 – Patroness of the Teutonic Knights

October 27, 2014

St. Dorothea of Montau, recluse, born at Montau, 6 February, 1347, died at Marienwerder, 25 June, 1394. At the age of seventeen she married the sword-cutler Albrecht of Danzig, a hot-tempered man, whose nature underwent a change through her humility and gentleness. Both made frequent pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln, and they intended (1390) […]

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October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 27, 2014

St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity.Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain of the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself with […]

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Baroness Herbert of Lea: a convert to the Catholic faith

October 27, 2014

Mary Elizabeth Ashe à Court-Repington was born in Richmond, Surrey, on July 21, 1822. She was the only daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Ashe à Court-Repington, member of Parliament, and the niece of William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury, British Ambassador to the Russian Imperial Court at St. Petersburg. In August 1846, at the age of […]

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