The First Crusade

February 5, 2015

In 1095, Pope Urban II presided over the Council of Clermont. To induce the Faithful more efficaciously to take up the cross, he granted the remission of punishment due to sin to all who should join the Crusade for the deliverance of the Holy Land, and should die in Christian sentiments in the expedition. This […]

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Being Modern: Apostasy or Sacred Obligation?

February 5, 2015

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In this article we discuss four pictures, two works of art from the fifteenth century, and two others from our times. The two paintings – “The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” and “Saint Dominic in Prayer” – are the work of the famous fifteenth century artist Giovanni da Fiesole, […]

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February 6 – Apostle of Flanders

February 5, 2015

St. Amandus One of the great apostles of Flanders; born near Nantes, in France, about the end of the sixth century. He was, apparently, of noble extraction. When a youth of twenty, he fled from his home and became a monk near Tours, resisting all the efforts of his family to withdraw him from his […]

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February 5 – St. Agatha

February 5, 2015

St. Agatha One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her… Read more here.

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February 7 – Refused admission to the Pontifical Noble Guard, he became Pope instead

February 5, 2015

Pope Blessed Pius IX (GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI-FERRETTI). Pope from 1846-78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878. BEFORE HIS PAPACY His early years. After receiving his classical education at the Piarist College in Volterra from 1802-09 he went to Rome to study philosophy and theology, but left there in 1810 […]

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February 7 – Saintly King, and Father of Three More Saints

February 5, 2015

St. Richard, King and Confessor This saint was an English prince, in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and was perhaps deprived of his inheritance by some revolution in the state: or he renounced it to be more at liberty to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christian perfection. His three children, Winebald, Willibald, and Warburga, […]

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February 8 – Mary Queen of Scots

February 5, 2015

Mary Queen of Scots Mary Stuart, born at Linlithgow, 8 December, 1542; died at Fotheringay, 8 February, 1587. She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland. His death (14 December) followed immediately after her birth, and she became queen when only six days old. The Tudors endeavored by war to force on […]

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February 8 – A strong and mighty Angel – calm, terrible, and bright – the cross in blended red and blue, upon his mantle white

February 5, 2015

Saint John of Matha Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. He was born into Provencal nobility in 1154 at Faucon-de-Barcelonnette, France. As a youth, he was educated at Aix-en-Provence, and later studied theology at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he was… Read more here.

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February 9 – Banished From the Court

February 5, 2015

St. Ansbert Archbishop of Rouen in 695, Confessor He had been chancellor to King Clotair III in which station he had united the mortification and recollection of a monk with the duties of wedlock, and of a statesman. Quitting the court, he put on the… Read more here.

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February 3 – Half Fierce Pagan Princess, Half Gentle Christian Princess

February 2, 2015

St. Werburgh of Chester (WEREBURGA, WEREBURG, VERBOURG). Benedictine, patroness of Chester, Abbess of Weedon, Trentham, Hanbury, Minster in Sheppy, and Ely, born in Staffordshire early in the seventh century; died at Trentham, 3 February, 699 or 700. Her mother was St. Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and St. Sexburga, and her father, Wulfhere, […]

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February 3 – The Stuff of Which Saints Are Made

February 2, 2015

St. Anschar (Or Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar.) Called the Apostle of the North, was born to the French nobility in Picardy, 8 September, 801; died 5 February, 865. He became a Benedictine of Corbie, whence he passed into Westphalia. With Harold, the newly baptized King of Denmark who had been… Read more here.

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February 4 – Daughter of one king and wife of another

February 2, 2015

St. Jeanne de Valois Queen and foundress of the Order of the Annonciades, b. 1464; d. at Bourges, 4 Feb., 1505. Daughter of one king and wife of another, there are perhaps few saints in the calendar who suffered greater or more bitter humiliations than did Madame Jeanne de France, the heroic woman usually known […]

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February 4 – Portuguese noble and favorite of the king, he strove to convert the nobility of India – and paid for it with his life

February 2, 2015

St. John de Brito Martyr, born in Lisbon, 1 March, 1647, and was brought up at Court, martyred in India 11 February, 1693. Entering the Society of Jesus at fifteen, he obtained as his mission-field Madura in southern India. In September, 1673, he reached Goa. Before taking up his work he spent thirty days in […]

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February 5 – He put the Bible to verse and prose

February 2, 2015

St. Avitus (Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, though his death is place by some as late as 525 or 526. He was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman family closely related to the Emperor Avitus and other illustrious persons, and in which episcopal honors were hereditary. In […]

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February 5 – St. Adelaide of Cologne

February 2, 2015

St. Adelaide (of Cologne) Abbess, born in the tenth century; died at Cologne, 5 February, 1015. She was daughter of Megingoz, Count of Guelders, and when still very young entered the convent of St. Ursula in Cologne, where the Rule of St. Jerome was followed. When her parents founded the convent of Villich, opposite the… […]

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Isabella the Liberator

January 29, 2015

Queen Isabella of Castile and León—the sponsor of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas—is known in History as “Isabella the Catholic,” but she could also be seen as “Isabella the Liberator.” During the ten-year war to reconquer the Kingdom of Granada and reintegrate it into Catholic Spain, she liberated thousands of Catholic captives reduced to […]

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The Harmonic Unity and Variety of the Sea

January 29, 2015

One of the primary elements of the sea’s grandeur is its unity. The oceans of the world flow into one another and make up an immense body of water which encircles the entire globe. Anywhere in the world, when we find ourselves at the edge of the sea, one of the most agreeable spiritual considerations […]

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January 30 – Cured in body and in soul

January 29, 2015

St. Hyacintha Mariscotti A religious of the Third Order of St. Francis and foundress of the Sacconi; born 1585 of a noble family at Vignanello, near Viterbo in Italy; died 30 January, 1640, at Viterbo; feast, 30 January; in Rome, 6 February (Diarium Romanum). Her parents were Marc’ Antonio Mariscotti (Marius Scotus) and Ottavia Orsini. […]

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January 30 – St. Martina

January 29, 2015

St. Martina Roman virgin, martyred in 226, according to some authorities, more probably in 228, under the pontificate of Pope Urban I, according to others. The daughter of an ex-consul and left an orphan at an early age, she so openly testified to her Christian faith that she could not escape the persecutions under Alexander […]

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January 31 – St. John Bosco Meets His First Noble Patroness

January 29, 2015

Juliette Colbert, a native of Vendée, had married Marquis Tancredi Falletti of Barolo, and of her it could be said, even as we read of Tabitha in the Acts of the Apostles: “This woman had devoted herself to good works and acts of charity.” Read more here.

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January 31 – The Glory of the Ladies

January 29, 2015

St. Marcella (325–410)  She was a Christian ascetic in ancient Rome. Growing up in Rome, she was influenced by her pious mother, Albina, an educated woman of wealth and benevolence. Childhood memories centered around piety, and one in particular related to Athanasius, who lodged in her home during one of his many exiles. He may […]

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February 1 – Those who attended his martyrdom lined up to venerate his relics

January 29, 2015

St. Henry Morse Martyr; born in 1595 in Norfolk; died at Tyburn, 1 Feb., 1644. He was received into the church at Douai, 5 June, 1614, after various journeys was ordained at Rome, and left for the mission, 19 June, 1624. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus at Heaton; there he was… Read […]

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February 1 – She and Saint Patrick were “one heart and one mind”

January 29, 2015

Saint Brigid of Ireland Born in 451 or 452 of princely ancestors at Faughart, near Dundalk, County Louth; d. 1 February, 525, at Kildare. Refusing many good offers of marriage, she became a nun and received the veil from St. Macaille. With seven other virgins she settled for a time at the foot of Croghan […]

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February 2 – “Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird”

January 29, 2015

St. Théophane Vénard (JEAN-THÉOPHANE VÉNARD.) French missionary, born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; martyred in Tonkin, 2 February, 1861. He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 […]

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February 2 – He hastened to the king, exhibited his wounded body and related his vision

January 29, 2015

St. Lawrence Second Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 2 Feb., 619. For the particulars of his life and pontificate we rely exclusively on details added by medieval writers being unsupported by historical evidence, though they may possibly embody ancient traditions. According to St. Bede, he was one of the original missionaries who left Rome with St. […]

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Queen Elizabeth II now world’s oldest reigning monarch, soon to set other records

January 26, 2015

According to USA Today: The death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Thursday, at age 90, leaves British Queen Elizabeth II as the oldest living reigning monarch in the world. The queen is 88, and will turn 89 on April 21, although her birthday is typically celebrated in June when the weather is better. […]

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Green Party wants to confiscate Royal assets, but not because of the assets…

January 26, 2015

According to The Mirror: The monarchy would be abolished and Queen Elizabeth II could be moved to a council house if the Green Party came to power, its leader Natalie Bennett said. Under a Green government, the Royal Family would be booted out of Buckingham Palace and forced to pay a ‘wealth tax’ slapped on […]

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Faith Of The Vendéan

January 26, 2015

A Vendéan, named Repoche, who during the French Revolution served in the royal army, having been taken prisoner by the revolutionary party, was conducted by them to a place where a cross had been erected, and there he was thus accosted: “You have been taken with arms in your hands, and so your life is […]

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The “Good-hearted’’ A Romantic Deformation of Charity

January 26, 2015

By Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   Is it a sin to hate? Why or why not? A survey of Catholics on this question would draw curious answers revealing a terrible confusion of ideas and a fundamental lack of logic. The many people still intoxicated with remnants of romanticism inherited from the nineteenth century consider […]

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January 27 – Foundress of the Ursulines

January 26, 2015

St. Angela Merici Foundress of the Ursulines, born 21 March, 1474, at Desenzano, a small town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy; died 27 January, 1540, at Brescia. She was left an orphan… Read more here.

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January 28 – Great in every sense

January 26, 2015

Charlemagne (French for Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, or Carlus Magnus; German Karl der Grosse). The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814. At the time of Charles’ birth, his father, Pepin […]

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January 28 – Angelic Doctor, Italian Count

January 26, 2015

Landulph, his father, was Count of Aquino; Theodora, his mother, Countess of Teano. His family was related to the Emperors Henry VI and Frederick II, and to the Kings of Aragon, Castile, and France. Calo relates that a holy hermit foretold his career, saying to Theodora before his birth: “He will enter the Order of […]

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January 28 – St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia

January 26, 2015

St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia Born at Premariacco, near Cividale, Italy, about 730-40; died 802. Born probably of a Roman family during Longobardic rule in Italy, he was brought up in the patriarchal schools at Cividale. After ordination he became master of the school. He acquired a thorough Latin culture, pagan and Christian. He […]

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January 28 – Larochejacquelein killed by the very men whose lives he spared

January 26, 2015

While Turreau was thus devastating La Vendée, where were Larochejacquelein, Stofflet, and Charette? Had they forgotten their country and its cause—were they deaf to her cries of distress? Charette still fought in the depths of the Marais; Stofflet in the recesses of the Bocage… Read more here.

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January 29 – Noble enough to cover five contemporary kings with invective

January 26, 2015

St. Gildas Surnamed the Wise; born about 516; died at Houat, Brittany, 570. Sometimes he is called “Badonicus” because, as he tells us, his birth took place the year the Britons gained a famous victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon, near Bath, Somersetshire (493 or 516). The biographies of Gildas exist — one written […]

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January 22 – Defended by a raven

January 22, 2015

St. Vincent of Saragossa Deacon of Saragossa, and martyr under Diocletian, 304; mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, 22 Jan., with St. Anastasius the Persian, honoured by the Greeks, 11 Nov. This most renowned martyr of Spain is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has as emblems a cross, a raven, a grate, or […]

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January 24 – They called him “Ironmonger”

January 22, 2015

Blessed William Ireland (Alias Ironmonger.) Jesuit martyr, born in Lincolnshire, 1636; executed at Tyburn, 24 Jan. (not 3 Feb.), 1679; eldest son of William Ireland of Crofton Hall, Yorkshire, by Barbara, a daughter of Ralph Eure, of Washingborough, Lincolnshire (who is to be distinguished from the last Lord Eure) by his first wife. He was […]

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January 24 – Saintly and Aristocrat

January 22, 2015

St. Francis de Sales Bishop of Geneva, Doctor of the Universal Church; born at Thorens, in the Duchy of Savoy, 21 August, 1567; died at Lyons, 28 December, 1622. His father, François de Sales de Boisy, and his mother, Françoise de Sionnaz, belonged to old Savoyard aristocratic families. The future saint was the eldest of […]

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January 25 – St. Poppo

January 22, 2015

St. Poppo Abbot, born 977; died at Marchiennes, 25 January, 1048. He belonged to a noble family of Flanders; his parents were Tizekinus and Adalwif. About the year 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two others of his countrymen. Soon after this he also went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He […]

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January 25 – Blessed Teresa Grillo Michel

January 22, 2015

BL. TERESA GRILLO MICHEL was born in Spinetta Marengo (Alessandria), Italy, on 25 September 1855. She was the fifth and last child of Giuseppe, the head physician at the Civil Hospital of Alessandria, and of Maria Antonietta Parvopassau, a descendent of an illustrious family of Alessandria. At Baptism she was given the name of Maddalena. […]

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January 25 – St. Ildephonsus

January 22, 2015

St. Ildephonsus Archbishop of Toledo; died 23 January, 667. He was born of a distinguished family and was a nephew of St. Eugenius, his predecessor in the See of Toledo. At an early age, despite the determined opposition of his father, he embraced the monastic life in the monastery of Agli, near Toledo. While he […]

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January 26 – She was from one of the first families of Rome

January 22, 2015

St. Paula Born in Rome, 347; died at Bethlehem, 404. She belonged to one of the first families of Rome. Left a widow in 379 at the age of 32 she became, through the influence of St. Marcella and her group, the model of Christian widows. In 382 took place her decisive meeting with St. […]

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Luxembourg Grand Ducal family will visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and Slonsk

January 19, 2015

According to the Luxemburger Wort: Luxembourg’s Grand Ducal couple, as well as Prince Guillaume and Princess Stéphanie, are set to travel to Poland later this month to mark the 70th anniversaries of the liberation of Auschwitz and a prison massacre in Slonsk. Guillaume and Stéphanie will attend a ceremony on January 27 to remember the […]

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French prince: “I am not Charlie”

January 19, 2015

According to Free Republic: Prince Charles-Philippe d’Orléans…is not a part of this vast movement “I’m Charlie” although obviously he condemns these acts that have so shaken France and worldwide. Here is his statement: “Charlie Hebdo is a vulgar paper, despising all opinions except its own, which, under the guise of freedom of expression, will allow […]

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A king shows repentance

January 19, 2015

In 1699, the famous sacred orator Father Jean Baptiste Massillon was made Court preacher at Versailles. After one of his sermons, Louis XIV thanked him saying: “Father, I have heard many preachers who leave me feeling happy with myself. But when I hear your sermons I always feel very dissatisfied.” Edmond Guérard, Dictionnaire encyclopédique d’anécdotes […]

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Pagan Manliness and False Christian Patience

January 19, 2015

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira If we compare the features of this third-century Roman, represented in a splendid sculpture from the Capitoline Palace, with those of the famous Apollo Belvedere, its irregularities become evident. In this sense, we could not exactly call this man handsome. Nonetheless, no one can deny that his countenance possesses a […]

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January 20 – A dove landed on his head, and you would not believe what happened next!

January 19, 2015

Pope St. Fabian (FABIANUS) Pope (236-250), the extraordinary circumstances of whose election is related by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., VI, 29). After the death of Anterus he had come to Rome, with some others, from his farm and was in the city when the new election began. While the names of several illustrious and noble persons […]

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January 20 – St. Sebastian

January 19, 2015

A.D. 288. St. Sebastian was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, but his parents were of Milan, in Italy, and he was brought up in that city. He was a fervent servant of Christ, and though his natural inclinations gave him an aversion to a military life, yet, to be better able, without suspicion, to assist […]

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January 21 – None was held in such high honor

January 19, 2015

St. Agnes of Rome Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as St. Agnes. St. Ambrose gives her age as twelve (De Virginibus, I, 2; P.L., XVI, 200-202: Haec duodecim annorum martyrium fecisse traditur), St. Augustine as thirteen (Agnes puella […]

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January 21 – He was put to death, just for being a king

January 19, 2015

His Last Will and Testament The last Will and Testament of Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, given on Christmas day, 1792. In the name of the Very holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To-day, the 25th day of December, 1792, I, Louis XVI King of France, being for more than four months […]

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January 22 – Patroness of abuse victims

January 19, 2015

Blessed Laura Vicuña Laura del Carmen Vicuña was born on April 5, 1891 in Santiago, Chile. She was the first daughter of the Vicuña Pino family. Her parents were José Domingo Vicuña, a soldier with aristocratic roots, and Mercedes Pino. Her father was in military service and her mother worked at home. At the very […]

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January 22 – The noble who often gave away even his shoes

January 19, 2015

St. Vincent Mary Pallotti The founder of the Pious Society of Missions, born at Rome, 21 April, 1798; died there, 22 Jan., 1850. He lies buried in the church of San Salvatore in Onda. He was descended from the noble families of the Pallotti of Norcia and the De Rossi of Rome. His early studies […]

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January 22 – Blessed Prince

January 19, 2015

Blessed Prince László Batthyány-Strattmann Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann (1870-1931), a layman, doctor and father of a family. He was born on 28 October 1870 in Dunakiliti, Hungary, into an ancient noble family. He was the sixth of 10 brothers. In 1876 the family moved to Austria. When Ladislaus was 12 years old his mother died. He was […]

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St. Elizabeth of Portugal

January 15, 2015

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, had nothing so much at heart as the promotion of those outward signs and ceremonies which are the ornaments of God’s worship. “To enable men to whom God has given a body as well as a soul to fix their minds on heavenly things,” she used to say,” it is […]

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Divorce and Romanticism

January 15, 2015

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Saint Angela Merici wisely observed, “disorder in the world is the result of disorder in the family.” Over the last generation, the disorder in American family life has grown exponentially. In 1940, there was one divorce for every six marriages; by 1975, the U.S. divorce rate had climbed to one […]

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January 16 – St. Euphrosyne

January 15, 2015

Saint Euphrosyne Died about 470. Her story belongs to that group of legends which relate how Christian virgins, in order the more successfully to lead the life of celibacy and asceticism to which they had dedicated themselves, put on male attire and passed for men. According to the narrative of her life in the “Vitae […]

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January 16 – When the Emporor insisted that the lapsed be readmitted to communion without penance, one man stood in his way. This is his story.

January 15, 2015

Pope St. Marcellus I His date of birth unknown; elected pope in May or June, 308; died in 309. For some time after the death of Marcellinus in 304 the Diocletian persecution continued with unabated severity. After the abdication of Diocletian in 305, and the accession in Rome of Maxentius to the throne of the […]

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January 16 – The true disciple of St. Francis who sent the Moorish king into a fit of rage

January 15, 2015

St. Berard of Carbio (Or BERALDUS). Friar Minor and martyr; d. 16 January, 1220. Of the noble family of Leopardi, and a native of Carbio in Umbria, Berard was received into the Franciscan Order by the Seraphic Patriarch himself, in 1213. He was well versed in Arabic, an eloquent preacher, and was chosen by St. […]

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January 16 – Irish Prince and Saint

January 15, 2015

St. Fursey An Abbot of Lagny, near Paris, died 16 Jan., about 650. He was the son of Fintan, son of Finloga, prince of South Muster, and Gelgesia, daughter of Aedhfinn, prince of Hy-Briuin in Connaught. He was born probably amongst the Hy-Bruin, and was baptized by St. Brendan the Traveller, his father’s uncle, who […]

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January 17 – Sister of the Grand Master of Malta

January 15, 2015

St. Roseline of Villeneuve (or Rossolina.) Having overcome her father’s opposition Roseline became a Carthusian nun at Bertaud in the Alps of Dauphiné. Her “consecration” took place in 1288, and about 1330 she succeeded her aunt, Blessed Jeanne or Diane de Villeneuve, as Prioress of Celle-Robaud in the Diocese of Fréjus near her home. In […]

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