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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June 20 – The Pope Who Was the Son of Another Pope, Also a Saint

June 19, 2014

Pope St. Silverius (Reigned 536-37). Dates of birth and death unknown. He was the son of Pope [St.] Hormisdas who had been married before becoming one of the higher clergy. Silverius entered the service of the Church and was subdeacon at Rome when Pope Agapetus died at Constantinople, 22 April, 536. The Empress Theodora, who […]

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June 21 – He Was More Angel than Man

June 19, 2014

St. Aloysius Gonzaga When we see a young prince, the darling of his family and country, sacrifice nobility, sovereignty, riches, and pleasures, the more easily to secure the treasure of divine love, and of eternal happiness, how ought we to condemn our own sloth, who live as if heaven were to cost us nothing! Aloysius […]

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June 22 – St. John Fisher

June 19, 2014

St. John Fisher Cardinal, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr; born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1459 (?1469); died 22 June, 1535. John was the eldest son of Robert Fisher, merchant of Beverley, and Agnes his wife. His early education was probably received in the school attached to the collegiate church in his native town, whence in […]

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June 22 – St. Thomas More

June 19, 2014

St. Thomas More Saint, knight, Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr, born in London, 7 February, 1477-78; executed at Tower Hill, 6 July, 1535. He was the sole surviving son of Sir John More, barrister and later judge, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Thomas Graunger. While still a child Thomas was sent […]

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June 22 – St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola

June 19, 2014

St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola (Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus). Born at Bordeaux about 354; died 22 June, 431. He sprang from a distinguished family of Aquitania and his education was entrusted to the poet Ausonius. He became governor of the Province of Campania, but he soon realized that he could not find in public life […]

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“A royalty complex?”

June 16, 2014

According to The Economist: THE capital of the French republic is better known for beheading monarchs than celebrating them. But Paris went wild for Britain’s queen during her state visit last week. Perhaps the hidden reason for French royal fervour, though, is a secret envy mixed with regret. The French “have a royalty complex”, wrote […]

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Emperor asked to fly over stricken nuclear plant

June 16, 2014

According to The Asahi Shimbun: Emperor Akihito wanted to fly over the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant even though radiation was spewing from the facility following the triple meltdown there…in May 2011, about two months after the earthquake and tsunami disaster that triggered the nuclear crisis. They patiently sat through explanations offered by […]

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Surviving or thriving?

June 16, 2014

According to the Raw Story: …monarchies are not only surviving, but thriving in the 21st century. There are 28 sovereigns across 43 countries in the world today… This equates to 22% of the 193 UN member states… The number of monarchs expands internationally when we consider local and religious royalty. For example, the Zulu nation… […]

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A noble lady’s good example and martyrdom

June 16, 2014

[Saint] Julitta (aka Saint Julietta) was a noble lady of Lycaonia. By order of the Prefect Alexander, she was arrested because she was a Christian, and brought before his tribunal. She had a little boy named Cyrus, who at this time was only five or six years old. He was a beautiful child, and the […]

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Born of Wonder and the Marvelous

June 16, 2014

This driving desire for the sublime also awakens in us a sense of wonder. Aristotle claims that wonder is the beginning of philosophy. Saint Thomas teaches that wonder is the longing for knowledge, which comes when we first contemplate this order and then seek after its first cause, which is either unknown to us or […]

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June 17 – Founder of the Albertines

June 16, 2014

Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski In Igołomia, on the outskirts of Cracow (Poland), the noble family of Adalbert Chmielowski and Josephine Borzysławska announced on August 20, 1845, the birth of their son Adam (Brother Albert). Mr Chmielowski together with his wife, raised their children in an atmosphere of patriotic ideals, strong faith in God and a […]

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June 17, 1793: Pius VI condemns the revolutionary concepts of liberty and equality

June 16, 2014

Pius VI repeatedly condemned the false concept of liberty and equality. In the Secret Consistory of June 17, 1793, quoting the words of the encyclical Inscrutabilie Divinae Sapientiae of December 25, 1775, he declared: “‘The most perfidious philosophers go farther. They dissolve all those bonds by which human beings are joined to one another and to […]

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El Cid

June 16, 2014

El Cid (Rodrigo, or Ruy, Diaz, Count of Bivar). The great popular hero of the chivalrous age of Spain, born at Burgos c. 1040; died at Valencia, 1099. He was given the title of seid or cid (lord, chief) by the Moors and that of campeador (champion) by his admiring countrymen. Tradition and legend have […]

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Monarchist vs. Republican Sentiment in Spain

June 12, 2014

According to Royal News Blog: If a referendum were to be held, the poll found 49% of people would prefer to have a monarchy with Felipe as king while 36% would support a republic. Republican sentiment remains strong in Spain, which only restored the monarchy in 1975 after the death of General Franco. The prime […]

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Garcia Moreno: the much-liked, volunteer tax collector

June 12, 2014

García Moreno had been one of the principal actors in this religious and political drama. Struck with the ascendancy which he exercised over all with whom he came in contact, the Government confided to him a difficult and delicate mission. It was absolutely necessary to give the troops their long arrears of pay, and as […]

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The Search for Meaning

June 12, 2014

Christian civilization was not only turned towards those sublime things but also found meaning in them. Medieval man believed happiness came from a true understanding of the order of the universe. He saw the universe as a great lesson book that was understood above all by its symbolism and its hierarchical order. Thus, with great […]

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June 12 – He Crowned Charlemagne

June 12, 2014

Pope St. Leo III Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of […]

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June 13 – He Lived Only 36 Years, But the Whole World Knows Him

June 12, 2014

St. Anthony of Padua Franciscan Thaumaturgist, born at Lisbon, 1195; died at Vercelli, 13 June, 1231. He received in baptism the name of Ferdinand. Later writers of the fifteenth century asserted that his father was Martin Bouillon, descendant of the renowned Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First Crusade, and his mother, Theresa Taveira, descendant […]

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June 15 – St. Bernard dogs carry his name

June 12, 2014

St. Bernard of Menthon Born in 923, probably in the castle Menthon near Annecy, in Savoy; died at Novara, 1008. He was descended from a rich, noble family and received a thorough education. He refused to enter an honorable marriage proposed by his father and decided to devote himself to the service of the Church. […]

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June 15 – The Northern Crusades

June 12, 2014

The Battle of Lyndanisse was a battle which helped King Valdemar II of Denmark establish the territory of Danish Estonia during the Northern Crusades. Valdemar II defeated the Estonians at Lyndanisse (Estonian: Lindanise), during the Northern Crusades, by orders from the Pope. The Battle Valdemar II, along with Archbishop Anders Sunesen of Lund, Bishop Theoderik […]

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June 15, 1215 – Magna Carta

June 12, 2014

Magna Carta The charter of liberties granted by King John of England in 1215 and confirmed with modifications by Henry III in 1216, 1217, and 1225. The Magna Carta has long been considered by the English-speaking peoples as the earliest of the great constitutional documents which give the history of England so unique a character; […]

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June 16 – Death threats meant nothing to him

June 12, 2014

Saint John Francis Regis Born 31 January, 1597, in the village of Fontcouverte (department of Aude); died at la Louvesc, 30 Dec., 1640. His father Jean, a rich merchant, had been recently ennobled in recognition of the prominent part he had taken in the Wars of the League; his mother, Marguerite de Cugunhan, belonged by […]

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Queen Elizabeth politely asks for “classic French”

June 9, 2014

According to AFP: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Paris on Thursday for an increasingly rare overseas visit…at D-Day commemorations… The special treatment included seeking the monarch’s preferences for Friday’s banquet menu. “Very classic French” was the request relayed back. After her arrival, the queen laid a wreath at France’s national monument to its war […]

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Veterans reduced to tears as Queen Elizabeth and French families thank them for their D-Day sacrifices

June 9, 2014

According to the Mirror: …when the clock began ticking on the longest day, she prayed for the young men who would be jumping into enemy waters and battling their way onto the beaches. Today the Queen was back with the survivors, listening to their stories and assuring them the world would never forget. Many of […]

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Sir Winston Churchill: Victorious abroad, politically defeated at home

June 9, 2014

I flew home with Mary on the afternoon of July 25. My wife met me at Northolt, and we all dined quietly together. Excellent arrangements had been made by Captain Pim and the staff of the Map Room to present a continuous tale of election results as they came in the next day. The latest […]

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Supernatural Aspects

June 9, 2014

  While the sublime can be considered from a purely natural and more metaphysical perspective, its highest expression is the supernatural. The concept of God naturally flows from a knowledge of sublime things. God created us with an appetite for sublime things because they are His masterpieces and speak most about Him. By knowing them, […]

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June 9 – A simple palace servant, God confided to her the destiny of nations

June 9, 2014

Blessed Anna Maria Gesualda Antonia Taigi (Maiden name Giannetti.) Venerable Servant of God, born at Siena, Italy, 29 May, 1769; died at Rome, 9 June, 1837. Her parents, Luigi Giannetti and Maria Masi, kept an apothecary shop at Siena, but lost all their fortune and were obliged to go to Rome in search of a […]

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June 9 – Apostle of Brazil

June 9, 2014

St. Joseph Anchieta A famous Jesuit missionary, commonly known as the Apostle of Brazil, born on the Island of Tenerife, in 1553, of noble family; died in Brazil, 1596. After studying in Coimbra, he entered the Society of Jesus, at the age of seventeen, and when a novice nearly ruined his health by his excessive […]

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

June 9, 2014

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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St. Gregory of Utrecht

June 9, 2014

St. Gregory of Utrecht Abbot; born about 707 or 708; died 775 or 780. Gregory was born of a noble family at Trier. His father Alberic was the son of Addula, who, as widow, was Abbess of Pfalzel (Palatiolum) near Trier. On account of the similarity of names, and in consequence of a forged last […]

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