Video: Ancient Knights of the Thistle service in Edinburgh

July 7, 2014

The Order of the Thistle honors men and women who have held public office or who have contributed in a significant way to national life and is the highest honor in Scotland. Photos here.

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Baroness Herbert of Lea: a convert to the Catholic faith

July 7, 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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The Birth of Society from Unity

July 7, 2014

[A]ll stable human relations can give rise to these powerful links that call to mind the intense spirit of the family.  To the degree that a social unit develops this bonding, it contributes firmness, resilience, and quality to the social fabric. Moreover, when nurtured by the Commandments and evangelical counsels, this natural society acquires a […]

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July 7 – Only two cardinals dared to stand with the pope

July 7, 2014

Blessed Pope Benedict XI (Nicholas Boccasini) Born at Treviso, Italy, 1240; died at Perugia, 7 July, 1304. He entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. After fourteen years of study, he became lector of theology, which office he filled for several years. In 1296 he was elected Master General of the Order. As […]

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

July 7, 2014

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

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July 7 – Prince Abbots

July 7, 2014

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

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July 8 – The Pope who fought the democrats

July 7, 2014

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

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July 9 – St. Veronica Giuliani

July 7, 2014

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

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Locals protest tourists

July 3, 2014

According to the London Evening Standard: Residents are protesting over plans to build a visitor centre for the boat that was the centrepiece of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. They are furious at plans to put the Gloriana, a rowbarge, in a Norman Foster-designed dry dock and boathouse in woodland at Orleans Park in Richmond. […]

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Video: Pope Francis Receives King Felipe VI of Spain

July 3, 2014

According to The Royal Correspondent: On the morning of Monday, June 30, 2014, His Holiness Pope Francis held a private audience inside the papal library at the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican with Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain. According to the Vatican News Agency, during today’s 40-minute meeting discussions focused […]

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García Moreno Saves Ecuador From Invasion and Treason

July 3, 2014

General Flores had quitted Ecuador, humiliated but not resigned. After a time he determined to equip a body of mercenary troops and try to reconquer the country. It was in the year 1846. He was at the Spanish Court, where his noble presence and his clever conversation captivated not only the princes, but Queen Cristina […]

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How to Form a Consensus

July 3, 2014

The best example of how a consensus is formed is the family. Amid the joys and sufferings of life together, the family is such a source of intense cohesion that even non-family members such as close friends can be assimilated into it with a high degree of adherence and affinity. The whole family is enriched […]

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July 4 – Unsung American Hero

July 3, 2014

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

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July 3 – The Pope Who Condemned His Predecessor for Not Opposing Heresy

July 3, 2014

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

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

July 3, 2014

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

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July 4 – St. Bertha of Blangy

July 3, 2014

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

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

July 3, 2014

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

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 3, 2014

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

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July 6 – The King Had Three Daughters, All Saints

July 3, 2014

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

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July 6 – Bl. Thomas Alfield

July 3, 2014

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

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July 6 – Nobility dedicated to the eradication of slavery

July 3, 2014

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

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100 Years Ago: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Triggered World War

June 30, 2014

According to The Royal Forums: Stemming from their own inquiry into the assassination, the Austro-Hungarian government presented the Serbians with a list of demands as an ultimatum on July 23 – if the demands were not agreed to within 48 hours, war would be declared. And it was on July 28, sparking a chain of […]

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Queen visits Royal Hospital Chelsea for centenary of Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassination

June 30, 2014

According to the Daily Mail: The Queen has paid tribute to First World War volunteers today at the Royal Hospital Chelsea… It is held on the centenary of the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28 1914. The killing is widely viewed as setting off a chain of events that caused the […]

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King will visit sensitive region

June 30, 2014

According to Expatica: Just a week into his reign, Spain’s King Felipe VI visits one of the country’s most politically sensitive regions Thursday: Catalonia, where an independence drive has raised tensions with Madrid. Catalan leaders’ plan for a referendum on independence from Spain has put them at odds with the national government, which insists such […]

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Throne of Robert the Bruce reconstructed with wood from Crusader times

June 30, 2014

According to BBC News: The tree from which the throne is carved was planted…at about the time Robert owned the estate, and was known locally as “the Bruce tree”. When the 18ft tree was felled by a fire in 2005, the timber was salvaged… Using an image from the Bruce’s official cast metal seal, which […]

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Nobles formed into an association for the protection of the good name and reputation of others

June 30, 2014

We need not extend ourselves on the more “official” aspects of the saint—protomartyr of the sacrament of Confession and patron saint of confessors, which helped the Church exalt the sacrament of Penance against its detractors; exterminator of the heresies against Protestantism; protector of Bohemia and the Catholic Empire—all this could have a political connotation. But […]

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When Men Dream

June 30, 2014

The quest for the sublime enters into our daily lives because it makes of us men of great desires.* It awakens in us demands that need to be satisfied. Hence, we can affirm that sublime ideals are among the most practical things that exist. On the platform of these ideals, we are moved to set […]

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

June 30, 2014

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

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

June 30, 2014

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

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July 1 – Venerable Thomas Maxfield

June 30, 2014

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

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July 1 – St. Gal

June 30, 2014

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

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

June 30, 2014

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

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

June 30, 2014

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

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July 2 – Caught Between Two Masters

June 30, 2014

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

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Queen Elizabeth shows courage in visit to Northern Ireland

June 26, 2014

According to The Telegraph: Visits by the Queen to Northern Ireland used not to be announced in advance. But the Queen’s preference is for business as usual in all parts of the Kingdom. That she walked freely among her people in a publicised schedule is one more reflection of her daily courage and duty. …an […]

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Ditch the monarchy?

June 26, 2014

According to Scotland on Sunday: Opponents of the monarchy believe a vote for independence will give them a historic opportunity to turn Scotland into a republic… The aim of an independent Scotland removing the monarch as head of state was last night backed by other leading figures in the Yes campaign, including prominent members of […]

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Spanish royals praise LGBT activist groups

June 26, 2014

According to The Local: Spain’s newly enthroned King Felipe and Queen Letizia broke with tradition on Tuesday by officially receiving representatives from Spain’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups at the royal El Pardo palace on Tuesday and highlighting that their work “deserves to be better known and acknowledged”. …Spain’s State Federation of Lesbians, […]

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Prince Charles saves ceramics factory

June 26, 2014

According to The Telegraph: It seems an unlikely setting for a Prince to visit, but…it is here where the last working Victorian pottery in Britain keeps going, and where many feel could be the scene of the industry’s rebirth. Middleport pottery, which dates back to 1888, has just undergone a three-year, £9 million project funded […]

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Don Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador’s President-Martyr, hailed from respectable families

June 26, 2014

García Moreno was born at Guayaquil on the 24th of December, 1821, some days before the capture of Quito by the Republican troops. He received in Baptism the name of Gabriel, which was that of his father. He belonged to an old family, as distinguished for its nobility as for its merits. His father, Don […]

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Compensating for Our Weaknesses

June 26, 2014

The nature of this disinterested pleasure also comes from the fact that we all sense our own weaknesses and infirmities. This, in turn, awakens in us a desire to repose in the contemplation of something perfect and consequently sense a kind of completeness. In this way, rather than pleasure for pleasure’s sake, we sense the […]

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Chef Charles Ranhofer: an example of a traditional professional elite

June 26, 2014

Charles Ranhofer was the undisputed master chef in the United States for the last 40 years of the 19th century. He was born in 1836, in a northern suburb of Paris that is known for its Abbey-Basilica of Saint-Denis, the burial place of the French kings. With his father and grandfather having been chefs before him, one could say that fine cuisine came […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 26, 2014

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

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June 27 – Chivalrous King

June 26, 2014

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

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

June 26, 2014

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

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God and religion excluded from coronation

June 23, 2014

According to ACI Digital: On the 19th of June…Felipe will take the throne of Spain as King VI in a ceremony with no religious references…although the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has qualified this fact as “normal” in a nonconfessional State… About the absence of religious symbols, such as the coronation Mass of Juan Carlos I, the […]

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Duchess of Cambridge honors codebreakers

June 23, 2014

According to BBC News: The Duchess of Cambridge has reopened a World War Two codebreaking centre, where her grandmother once worked. The home of the Government Code and Cypher School in Buckinghamshire cost £8m to restore The duchess also met Lady Marion Body, a former colleague of her paternal grandmother, Valerie Glassborow, who worked in […]

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After a month’s heroic resistance, the fort of St. Elmo falls to the Turks

June 23, 2014

The garrison knew their final hour had come: the chaplains heard the confession of every man and said mass…. Then they began the slow ringing of the bell. Dawn on Saturday 23 June 1565 saw Piali’s fleet heading towards the stricken St. Elmo…. This signaled the mass Turkish assault. The Knights and soldiers were ready—as […]

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Giving Meaning to Religion

June 23, 2014

Such a vision naturally gives religion great meaning. It is not merely a teaching of dogmas or catechism, but a way of finding magnificence, meaning, and happiness already in this world. Contrary to those who believe religion only teaches resigned unhappiness in this life, medieval man found it incomprehensible that this world would not have […]

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What is Feudalism?

June 23, 2014

Feudalism This term is derived from the Old Aryan pe’ku, hence Sanskrit pacu, “cattle”; so also Lat. pecus (cf. pecunia); Old High German fehu, fihu, “cattle”, “property”, “money”; Old Frisian fia; Old Saxon fehu; Old English feoh, fioh, feo, fee. It is an indefinable word for it represents the progressive development of European organization during […]

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

June 23, 2014

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

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June 24 – He denounced the king’s adultery

June 23, 2014

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

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June 25 – Simon de Montfort

June 23, 2014

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

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Video: Most Noble Order of the Garter Service at St. George’s Chapel

June 19, 2014

According to The Royal Correspondent: On Monday, June 16, 204, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh accompanied by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge, His Royal Highness The Duke of York, His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, Her Royal […]

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First challenge for the new king of Spain

June 19, 2014

According to The Guardian: Felipe, 46, will take the crown at a defining time for Spain: along with a fragile economic recovery and rampant unemployment across the country, the wealthy north-eastern region of Catalonia has vowed to hold a referendum on independence in early November. The central government…is intent on preventing the referendum, which it […]

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Education minister: Nobles should be deported

June 19, 2014

According to Librumface: Uruguay’s Ministry of Education announced it will issue a decree forbidding all Uruguay residents to use a royal name or title. Though unmentioned, the decree’s target is obvious (no one else fits the bill): Lætitia d’Arenberg. Minister Ricardo Ehrlich wrote: “Nobility titles are incompatible with our culture. … How can a teacher explain […]

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Archduke Albrecht: Catholic harmony and charity between social classes

June 19, 2014

Viennese society still laughs about a little adventure which occurred to him when returning from a hunting expedition in the mountains above Ischl. Through some extraordinary chance the Archduke had wandered from his party, and losing his way among the narrow wooded paths descending to the valley, he determined to reach the first yâger hut […]

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An Intelligible Universe

June 19, 2014

The practical result of all this is the ordering of a society according to this transcendent order. The world becomes intelligible—bristling with meaning and purpose. From wonder and the sublime come those philosophical—as well as religious and aesthetic—considerations that are the basis of civilization. Thus, the search for the sublime cannot be restricted to pure […]

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June 19 – Love Accepts No Limitations

June 19, 2014

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

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

June 19, 2014

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

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June 19 – The murderer’s saintly son

June 19, 2014

St. Romuald Born at Ravenna, probably about 950; died at Val-di-Castro, 19 June, 1027. St. Peter Damian, his first biographer, and almost all the Camaldolese writers assert that St. Romuald’s age at his death was one hundred and twenty, and that therefore he was born about 907. This is disputed by most modern writers. Such […]

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