Post-mortem of a Revolution

October 13, 2014

French Revolution The last thirty years have given us a new version of the history of the French Revolution, the most diverse and hostile schools having contributed to it. The philosopher, Taine, drew attention to the affinity between the revolutionary and what he calls the classic spirit, that is, the spirit of abstraction which gave […]

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Why celebrate Columbus Day?

October 13, 2014

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

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October 15 – Second Apostle of the Prussians

October 13, 2014

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

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October 15 – Interior Castle

October 13, 2014

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

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October 15 – Casimir Pulaski

October 13, 2014

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

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October 16 – Marie Antoinette

October 13, 2014

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

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

October 13, 2014

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

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October 16 – Duchess and saint

October 13, 2014

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

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Queen moves out. Tourists move in. Who gets the criticism for not making money?

October 9, 2014

According to The Telegraph: …the Queen moved into the seven-bedroom Craigowan Lodge…about a mile away from [Balmoral] castle. The arrangements were made so the estate could stay open to the public for its normal seasonal period of April to July. The 88-year-old monarch’s move to Craigowan was prompted by the growing need to maximise tourist […]

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Labour: Royals “just like everyone else”

October 9, 2014

According to The Telegraph: The Queen and the royal family will have to pay a mansion tax on their portfolio of country estates if Labour is elected, Ed Balls has said. The shadow chancellor said that royals will not be exempt and will have to pay the taxes “just like everyone else” for properties which […]

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Prince of Wales saves wool farmers

October 9, 2014

According to the Sunday Express: When the Prince of Wales conceived his Campaign for Wool crusade five years, bringing together all sectors of the industry, farmers were being paid less for a fleece than it cost to shear. Today wool prices have tripled. “The primary aim of the Campaign is to increase the demand for […]

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Turenne’s horse leads the way

October 9, 2014

When he died on the battlefield, the Marshall de Turenne was riding a magnificent horse, which was well-known and admired by his soldiers. Deprived of their leader, the officers were momentarily at a loss as to what to do, when the soldiers spoke up: — “Put the Commandant’s horse in the front and we will […]

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The Great Works of Men

October 9, 2014

Great dreams are born of those who unite around sublime ideals. When we forsake our dreams, we put ourselves in the hands of bureaucrats in a regime of mediocrity. This is because these great dreams are never the work of social planners, but rather the joint effort of great men, true elites, and peoples. Each […]

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October 10 – What if you come from a family of bad nobility?

October 9, 2014

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

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October 10 – St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

October 9, 2014

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

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October 11 – Model Archduke, both spiritual and temporal

October 9, 2014

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

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

October 9, 2014

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

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

October 9, 2014

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

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October 12 – Martyr King

October 9, 2014

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

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October 13 – King Confessor

October 9, 2014

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

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Who Was Christopher Columbus, and Why Is He Important?

October 9, 2014

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

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Father Jean Le Vacher: Hero and Missionary, Blasted to Death by Muslims

October 6, 2014

In 1647, St. Vincent de Paul sent Father Jean Le Vacher to do missionary work among the Catholics enslaved by the Barbary Coast’s Muslim corsairs and he arrived in Tunis during an epidemic of the plague and did much to comfort the captives. Upon the death of the French consul, the Bey appointed Father Le […]

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Common Sense and the Balance We Seek

October 6, 2014

There is a second driving force that serves as a counterbalance to the first lest it degenerate into dangerous fantasy. It comes from realizing that this land of exile is not all marvelousness; we must adjust ourselves to the world that exists. Hence, there is born in balanced souls a veritable enthusiasm for common sense […]

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October 7 – How the Rosary saved Christendom

October 6, 2014

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

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October 9 – Superb and valiant knight

October 6, 2014

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

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October 9 – Royal penitent

October 6, 2014

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

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October 9 – St. John Twenge

October 6, 2014

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

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October 9 – St. Louis Bertrand

October 6, 2014

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

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Belgian king visits former concentration camp

October 2, 2014

According to the Royal News Blog: On September 28, 2014 King Philippe attended a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belgium’s Fort Breendonk from the Nazis, who used it as a concentration camp. The fort is now a Belgian national memorial. Please click here to see a picture of his visit.

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One Noble Family’s Six Centuries of Stability in a Locale

October 2, 2014

Bishop Isoard…narrates a conversation he heard one month earlier between notre Monsieur and his farmer. The latter said to him: “Last December, it was three hundred forty-seven years that we have been with Monsieur.” And the former replied, “We, we were here before you. I don’t know for sure how many years… all I know […]

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Uniting the Idealist and the Pragmatist

October 2, 2014

Alas, there is a modern tendency to divide the world between the idealist and the pragmatist, the metaphysical and the physical, or the spiritual and material, as if we were dealing with two different realities. In a society that pursues its dreams, this separation need not be made. Both the ideal and the practical can […]

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October 3 – Military turned monk

October 2, 2014

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

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October 3 – Mother Théodore Guérin

October 2, 2014

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

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

October 2, 2014

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

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October 4 – He chose a greater chivalry

October 2, 2014

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

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October 5 – St. Galla

October 2, 2014

A Roman widow of the sixth century; feast, 5 October. According to St. Gregory the Great (Dial. IV, ch. xiii) she was the daughter of the younger Symmachus, a learned and virtuous patrician of Rome, whom Theodoric had unjustly condemned to death (525). Becoming a widow before the end of the first year of her […]

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

October 2, 2014

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

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Army straightens out Prince Harry

September 29, 2014

According to The Telegraph: Prince Harry’s biographer Penny Junor [said]: “It’s only been in the last four years that Harry’s found his path. The Army was the making of him. He tried to go to Iraq but couldn’t as the press outed him. That moment could have sent him off the rails, but didn’t. Instead, […]

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Dignity and courtesy in a military retreat

September 29, 2014

Count Jean de Gassion was wounded on the bridge of Cameretz while fighting next to the duke of Rohan. As he did not want to be separated from his commanding officer, the latter asked him: —    “But will you be able to accompany us?” —    “I don’t see what would prevent me. After all, your […]

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True Sanctity Lies in Strength of Soul and Not in Sentimental Softness

September 29, 2014

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Church teaches that true and complete sanctity is the heroism of virtue. The honor of the altars is not granted to weak, hypersensitive souls that flee from profound thoughts, from acute suffering, from the fight, in short, from the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful of the […]

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The Crusading Bagel

September 29, 2014

Several nations claim the bagel as their own, but none of the accounts on the origins of this tasty roll are as epic as the Polish. The Poles tell us that the bagel was invented by a grateful Jewish baker in a rescued and half-destroyed Vienna. He wanted to honor King John Sobieski of Poland […]

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September 30 – The cantankerous noble who became a saint

September 29, 2014

St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420. He had a brother much younger than himself, whose name was Paulinian. His father, called Eusebius, was descended from a good family, and had a […]

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October 1 – How the “man sent by God” spent his last moments

September 29, 2014

Alarm was ended on the fourth day, seeing that the fever and other ills left D. John. But the next day, which was a Saturday, he suddenly grew worse, and while the other invalids went on getting better and became convalescent, he showed other symptoms of a strange illness, palpitations which made him get up […]

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October 1 – St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Chapter II: A Catholic Household & Chapter III: Pauline Enters the Carmel

September 29, 2014

ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX Excerpts from THE STORY OF A SOUL: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX SOEUR THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX, THE LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS ______________________________ PROLOGUE: THE PARENTAGE & BIRTH OF MARIE FRANÇOISE THÉRÈSE MARTIN and CHAPTER ONE – EARLIEST MEMORIES ______________________________ CHAPTER II A CATHOLIC HOUSEHOLD My dear Mother died on August […]

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October 2 – Falsely charged, mutilated and martyred

September 29, 2014

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

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Queen’s statement after Scotland’s historic independence vote

September 25, 2014

On Friday, September 19, Queen Elizabeth II released a statement on Scotland’s historical referendum to remain in the United Kingdom. In a vote that is reported to have seen the largest turnout in 64 years, 55% of the voters voted NO for independence. The reverberations were felt worldwide. Here is the Queen’s statement: After many months of discussion, debate, and careful […]

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The Dauphin Kneels for the Blessed Sacrament

September 25, 2014

Louis, son of Louis XV and Dauphin of France, was riding in a carriage with his sisters and wife on one of Paris’s boulevards, when he came across a small procession that was bringing the Blessed Sacrament to the house of a sick person. The prince ordered his carriage to stop, and joined by the […]

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Can Only Sacred Art Be Christian?

September 25, 2014

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Through tall stained glass windows comes abundant but soft streams of light. This light is reflected everywhere: on the floor, the polished metal of the weapons and suits of armor, and the bronze and crystal of the immense candelabras. It even seems to touch with difficulty the ceiling ribbing […]

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September 26 – Fr. Frederick William Faber

September 25, 2014

Fr. Frederick William Faber Oratorian and devotional writer, b. 28 June, 1814, at Calverley, Yorkshire, England; d. in London, 26 Sept., 1863. After five years at Harrow School he matriculated at Balliol in 1832, became a scholar at University College in 1834, and a fellow of that College in 1837. Of Huguenot descent Faber was […]

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September 27 – Fr. Peter Skarga: Court Preacher

September 25, 2014

Fr. Peter Skarga Theologian and missionary, born at Grojec, 1536; died at Cracow, 27 Sept., 1612. He began his education in his native town in 1552; he went to study in Cracow and afterwards in Warsaw. In 1557 he was in Vienna as tutor to the young Castellan, Teczynski; returning thence in 1564, he received […]

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September 27 – St. Vincent de Paul had special charity to the impoverished nobility

September 25, 2014

St. Vincent de Paul founded a special organization for the relief of the nobility of Lorraine who had sought refuge in Paris during the Thirty Years War. In that period of the war known as the French period Lorraine, Trois-Evechés, Franche-Comté, and Champagne underwent for nearly a quarter of a century all the horrors and […]

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September 27 – These exemplary nobles personified virtue

September 25, 2014

Saint Elzéar of Sabran, Count of Arian, and Saint Delphina of Glandenes St. Elzear (also spelled Eleazarus) was descended of the ancient and illustrious family of Sabran, in Provence; his father, Hermengaud of Sabran, was created count of Arian (Ariano), in the kingdom of Naples; his mother was Lauduna of Albes, a family no less […]

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September 28 – Franciscan money lender

September 25, 2014

Bl. Bernardine of Feltre Friar Minor and missionary, born at Feltre, Italy, in 1439 and died at Pavia, 28 September, 1494. He belonged to the noble family of Tomitano and was the eldest of nine children. In 1456 St. James of the Marches preached the Lenten course at Padua, and inspired to enter the Franciscan […]

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September 28 – Good King Wenceslaus

September 25, 2014

(Also Vaclav, Vaceslav.) Duke, martyr, and patron of Bohemia, born probably 903; died at Alt-Bunzlau, 28 September, 935. His parents were Duke Wratislaw, a Christian, and Dragomir, a heathen. He received a good Christian education from his grandmother (St. Ludmilla) and at Budweis. After the death of Wratislaw, Dragomir, acting as regent, opposed Christianity, and […]

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September 29 – In battle or in prison, he never missed Mass

September 25, 2014

Blessed Charles of Blois (1320- September 29, 1364) Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. Early in life, he felt a call to be a Franciscan friar, but political duty kept him in secular life. Following his marriage […]

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September 29 – Military Orders of St. Michael

September 25, 2014

Military Orders of St. Michael (1) A Bavarian Order, founded in 1721 by Elector Joseph Clemens of Cologne, Duke of Bavaria, and confirmed by Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, 11 September 1808. Pius VII, 5 Feb. 1802 granted to priests decorated with this order all the privileges of domestic prelates. Under Louis I it was […]

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September 29 – The Angelic Inspiration of Chivalry

September 25, 2014

Saint Michael the Archangel: “Who is like God?” In Hebraic, mîkâ’êl, means “Who is like God?” The Scriptures refer to the Archangel Saint Michael in four different passages: two of them, in Daniel’s prophesy (chap. 10, 13 and 21; and chap. 12, 1); one in Saint Jude Thaddeus (single chapter, vers. 9) and, finally, in […]

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Monarchy referendum crushed

September 22, 2014

According to RIA Novosti: Spain’s lower house of parliament has decided against a referendum on the future of the monarchy, local news agency EFE reported. The initiative of the United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU) received support of only 26 parliamentarians, while 274 others voted against it and 15 abstained from the vote. The idea of […]

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Godfrey of Bouillon refuses the crown of Jerusalem

September 22, 2014

In 1099, after the conquest of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the leaders of the Catholic Army decided to keep Godfrey of Bouillon in overall command and offered to make him king of Jerusalem. He refused, saying: — “I will never wear a gold crown where the Redeemer was crowned with thorns.” Vicente Vega, Diccionario […]

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Two Paintings, Two Mentalities, Two Doctrines

September 22, 2014

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Indulge in an exercise of fantasy, and suppose that by rewinding the thread of bygone centuries it has become possible for you to return to the time of Christ and walk into a room of the Holy Family’s humble dwelling in Nazereth. Imagine that you find the Virgin playing […]

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