August 6 – He told his assassins “God does not die!”

August 4, 2014

Garcia Moreno Ecuadorean patriot and statesman; born at Guayaquil, 24 December, 1821; assassinated at Quito, 6 August, 1875. His father, Gabriel García Gomez, a native of Villaverde, in Old Castile, had been engaged in commerce at Callao before removing to Guayaquil, where he married Dona Mercedes Moreno, the mother of the future Ecuadorean martyr president. […]

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August 6 – Noble widower made pope

August 4, 2014

Pope St. Hormisdas Date of birth unknown, elected to the Holy See, 514; died at Rome, 6 August, 523. This able and sagacious pontiff belonged to a wealthy and honourable family of Frosinone (Frusino) in the Campagna di Roma (Latium). Before receiving higher orders he had been married; his son became pope under the name […]

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Is Prince Harry good at anything?

July 31, 2014

According to The Telegraph: Charles Innes-Ker, the Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford, who oversaw Prince Harry’s stint in the Household Cavalry Regiment, described him as a “…very good officer and his soldiers really admired him.” The 33-year-old served in the Blues and Royals for five years, which included tours of Iraq and spent “two years […]

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The Haughty Eleanor of Aquitaine turns to God for Help

July 31, 2014

[Eleanor of Aquitaine] and Bernard of Clairvaux met in a private room and began their tête-à-tête. Saint and madcap queen—they made an extraordinary pair…. However, Eleanor remained sufficiently self-possessed to tell him composedly what troubled her. “During all the seven years that she had lived with the king she had remained barren, apart from one […]

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From Frivolity To An Encounter With God

July 31, 2014

“I Discovered I Had a Soul” June 30 2014 by Tradición y Acción por un Perú mayor Imagine a young television journalist who hosted a leading program on current issues and also stood out for her family name, talent, beauty and charm, a considerable fortune, an eminent social position both locally and internationally; who shone […]

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July 31 – St. Germain

July 31, 2014

St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles […]

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July 31 – Soldier of Jesus

July 31, 2014

St. Ignatius Loyola Youngest son of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda. Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556. The saint was baptized Iñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña: the name Ignatius was assumed […]

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July 31 – St. Helen of Sköfde

July 31, 2014

St. Helen of Sköfde Martyr in the first half of the twelfth century. Her feast is celebrated 31 July. Her life (Acta SS., July, VII, 340) is ascribed to St. Brynolph, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden (d. 1317). She was of noble family and is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Jarl […]

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August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

July 31, 2014

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

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August 2 – Legate to the Emperor laden with responsibilities and threats

July 31, 2014

Saint Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli, born in Sardinia circa 283; died at Vercelli, Piedmont, August 1, 371. He was made lector in Rome, where he lived some time, probably as a member, or head, of a religious community (Spreitzenhofer, Die Entwickelung des alten Monchtums in Italien, Vienna, 1894, 14 sq.). Later he came to Vercellae, […]

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August 3 – Secretive Leader

July 31, 2014

St. Nicodemus A prominent Jew of the time of Christ, mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus (Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent […]

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Videos: King and Queen receive mortal remains of MH17 victims

July 28, 2014

According to the Royal Correspondent: On Wednesday, July 23, 2014, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands accompanied by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Mark Rutte, His Royal Highness Prince Laurent of Belgium, the Governor-General of Australia, Mr. Peter Cosgrove, the Australian Foreign Minister, Ms. Julie Bishop, various dignitaries as […]

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Emperor and Empress have now visited every leprosy sanitarium in Japan

July 28, 2014

According to Nippon TV: On Tuesday, July 22nd, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko paid a visit to…a leprosy sanitarium located in the northeastern Japanese city of Tome, Miyagi Prefecture. The Emperor and Empress have long been concerned about the plight of patients suffering from leprosy, having visited a leprosy sanitarium for the first time in […]

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A dying princess ponders human glory

July 28, 2014

On her deathbed, the duchess of Burgundy heard one of her servants lament: “God cannot deprive you of life so soon! You are too precious to the nation.” The duchess replied: “I am a princess today, nothing tomorrow, and will be completely forgotten the day after tomorrow.” Edmond Guérard, Dictionnaire encyclopédique d’anécdotes (Paris: Firmin Didot, […]

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Total Leveling: Essence of the Revolution’s Luciferian Spirit

July 28, 2014

The essence of the Revolutionary spirit is to be found in a famous document produced by the Committee of the Republic, under the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. There, the authorities of the interior of France declared that all were invited to bring down every tower of every church and of every castle […]

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July 29 – He regained the hearts of his people only after his death

July 28, 2014

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), born 995; died 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

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July 29 – With one sermon, he launched the Crusades

July 28, 2014

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

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July 30 – Patron of Charcoal

July 28, 2014

St. Theobald Born at Provins in the Province of Champagne, France, in 1017; died at Salanigo in Italy 30 June, 1066. He was a member of a noble family. In 1054 without the knowledge of his parents he and his friend Walter gave themselves to the life of hermits at Sussy in the Ardennes, then […]

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Belgium’s King Philippe tasks centre-right parties to form unified government

July 24, 2014

According to Expatica: Belgium’s King Philippe on Tuesday appointed two leading centre-right politicians to lead negotiations on forming a national government, a potentially drawn-out process after elections in May. The Belgian monarch, who plays an important constitutional role, tasked the Flemish Christian Democrat leader Kris Peeters and the head of the French-speaking Liberals, Charles Michel, […]

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RIP Sir Jocelyn Buxton: heroic aviator and adventurer

July 24, 2014

According to The Telegraph: As soon as he was old enough Buxton volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm and…tasked with protecting the Arctic supply convoys to northern Russia. …he was credited with a share in shooting down enemy seaplanes. In a raid on German positions in Norway, he was shot down and ditched in the […]

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St. Louis IX accepts correction from a beggar

July 24, 2014

It was the custom of Saint Louis IX to wash the feet of twelve randomly chosen poor men during Holy Week.  One year, a pauper took the ceremonial in quite the literal, not its symbolic sense and admonished the king for not washing his feet properly washed, all the while pointing to the part of […]

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Egalitarianism: the Putrid Heart of the Revolution

July 24, 2014

The many crises shaking the world today—those of the State, family, economy, culture, and so on—are but multiple aspects of a single fundamental crisis whose field of action is man himself. In other words, these crises have their root in the most profound problems of the soul, from whence they spread to the whole personality […]

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July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 24, 2014

 Saint Kinga of Poland Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her infancy it pleased God to give tokens of the eminent sanctity to which she was […]

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July 24 – Fearless, Courageous, Unswerving

July 24, 2014

Matilda of Canossa Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114. In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in […]

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July 24 – St. John Boste

July 24, 2014

Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went to Reims, where he was ordained […]

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July 26 – In memoriam: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich – who called Hitler a “stuffed doll”

July 24, 2014

According to The Telegraph: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich, who died…on July 26, 2006, aged 91, was…one of the most beautiful women of her day… …she witnessed the effect of Nazism on Germany, was close to those involved in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler in 1944, and was forced to make a 600-kilometre trek across […]

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July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 24, 2014

Blessed John Ingram English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594. He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at […]

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July 27 – Wanted: Noble Men for the Missions, Never to Return Home

July 24, 2014

Martyrs of Cuncolim On Monday, 25 July, 1583, the village of Cuncolim in the district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India, was the scene of the martyrdom of five religious of the Society of Jesus: Fathers Rudolph Acquaviva, Alphonsus Pacheco, Peter Berno, and Anthony Francis, also Francis Aranha, lay brother. Rudolph Acquaviva was born 2 […]

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Britain’s royal baptism gown: Eight generations of tradition

July 21, 2014

According to The Telegraph: The Victorian gown, which entered the record books having been worn by 62 babies during its lifespan, had humble beginnings. Only last year the gown’s creator was revealed to have been a young woman named Janet Sutherland, the daughter of a coal miner from Falkirk, who died in 1852 at the […]

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Out with the Royal Crest! That Treaty No One Read Before Signing

July 21, 2014

According to LiveLeak.com: Eric Pickles said there was nothing he could do to prevent the emblem from replacing the royal crest on birth, marriage and death certificates. The Communities Secretary warned the move was part of a Brussels plot to brand people as European citizens ‘from cradle to grave’…. He said the plan, contained in […]

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Prince Charles lauds Britain’s quality cheeses

July 21, 2014

According to The Telegraph: ”I remember 20 years ago you could never find a really interesting cheese in this country except Cheddar,” [the Prince of Wales] said. ”But the extraordinary explosion of artisan-made cheeses has been one of the most remarkable things in this country.’’ His Royal Highness is right. To read the full article […]

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July 21 – Fearless in every sense

July 21, 2014

St. Lorenzo da Brindisi (Also: Lawrence, or Laurence, of Brindisi.) Born at Brindisi in 1559; died at Lisbon on 22 July, 1619. In baptism he received the names of Julius Caesar. Guglielmo de Rossi — or Guglielmo Russi, according to a contemporary writer — was his father’s name; his mother was Elisabetta Masella. Both were […]

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July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 21, 2014

St. Wandrille [Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.]  He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. To retrieve himself […]

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July 23 – The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdom

July 21, 2014

St. Bridget of Sweden The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373. She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep […]

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“Just 17 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds now strongly support a republic”

July 17, 2014

According to The Telegraph: A ten-day royal visit to Australia by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George has triggered a rise in the nation’s support for the monarchy, especially amongst younger Australians. A Newspoll survey found support for Australia becoming a republic has dropped to 40 per cent, the lowest level in […]

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Tower of London, Buckingham and St James’ Palace guards will speak French tomorrow

July 17, 2014

According to RCI: Members of the Ceremonial Guard and dignitaries of the Royal 22e Régiment are to stand guard at Buckingham Palace, St. James’ Palace and the Tower of London on 14, 16 and 18th of July. The Quebec-based R22R…and are Canada’s only completely Francophone regiment. It was also a first for the King’s Guard […]

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Sobieski Comes to the Relief of Vienna

July 17, 2014

On the day after Sobieski’s conference with Zierowski, unknown to them both, a messenger set out at top speed on the long journey from Vienna. Count Thurn covered 350 miles in 11 days, and arrived at the royal residence of Wilanów outside Warsaw on 15 July. Austria was being invaded, its capital city was in […]

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Egalitarianism: The Fundamental Error of Our Times

July 17, 2014

Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira, in his masterly work Revolution and Counter-Revolution, demonstrates that the chaos of the modern world has a cause. It is a profound cause that begets all the evils of the modern world. It has, if you will, its own personality, its own reason for being; and its name is “the Revolution.” […]

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July 17 – When the Saracens attacked Rome…

July 17, 2014

Pope St. Leo IV (Reigned 847-55) A Roman and the son of Radoald, was unanimously elected to succeed Sergius II, and as the alarming attack of the Saracens on Rome in 846 caused the people to fear for the safety of the city, he was consecrated (10 April, 847) without the consent of the emperor. […]

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July 17 – Martyred in the Name of Equality

July 17, 2014

The Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne Guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), Paris, 17 July, 1794. They are the first sufferers under the French Revolution on whom the Holy See has passed judgment, and were solemnly beatified 27 May, 1906. Before their execution they knelt and chanted […]

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July 17 – The day the Tsar was murdered

July 17, 2014

Execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family’s safety — that anti-Bolshevik forces were […]

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July 18 – This soldier of hell became a soldier of heaven

July 17, 2014

Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lower Lorraine and first King of Jerusalem, son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine; born probably at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1060; died at Jerusalem, 18 July, 1100 (according to a thirteenth-century chronicler, he was born at Baisy, in Brabant; see […]

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July 18 – “Don’t drink water, drink beer” said the bishop

July 17, 2014

Saint Arnulf of Metz Statesman, bishop under the Merovingians, born c. 580; died c. 640. His parents belonged to a distinguished Frankish family, and lived in Austrasia, the eastern section of the kingdom founded by Clovis. In the school in which he was placed during his boyhood he excelled through his talent and his good […]

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July 19 – The knight who was afraid of water, but not afraid of martyrdom

July 17, 2014

Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia Founder of the Monasteries of Teplá and Chotěšov, born (c) 1170, died July 14, 1217. In the happy reign of Premysl, – also called Ottacar, – king of Bohemia, among the other magnates of the kingdom the first place at court, next to the king’s magnificence, was held by Hroznata, the […]

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July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 17, 2014

St. Macrina the Younger Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a […]

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July 19 – Penitent Nobility

July 17, 2014

St. Arsenius Anchorite; born 354, at Rome; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus to find him in the West a tutor for his son Arcadius, they made choice of Arsenius, a man well read in Greek literature, member of a noble Roman family, and […]

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July 20 – Carolingian Reformer

July 17, 2014

St. Ansegisus Born about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834. At the age of eighteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Fontanelle (also called St. Vandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. St. Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle. From the beginning […]

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Certain souls only become great when the winds of misfortune blow upon them

July 14, 2014

         “There are certain souls who only become great when blown upon by the winds of misfortune.  Marie Antoinette, who was inconsequent as a princess and unpardonably frivolous in her life as a queen, nonetheless, was surprisingly transformed before the surge of blood and misery that flooded France. Historians will be consumed by admiration upon […]

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Charles V, the Duke of Alba, and Martin Luther

July 14, 2014

When the Protestants refused to accept the decrees of the Council of Trent, Charles V resolved to wage war, defeating them in the battle of Mühlberg on April 24, 1547. The duke of Alba was the commanding general of his troops. Having entered Württemberg, the Emperor asked to see the tomb of Luther, the friar […]

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Prince Charles awards Military Cross to “The Bomb Magnet”

July 14, 2014

According to the Mirror: Warrant Officer Class 1 Patrick Hyde – nicknamed The Bomb Magnet – has been awarded a Military Cross in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace Patrick, 38, was given his MC by Prince Charles… Afterwards, the senior soldier – who is Regimental Sergeant Major of the 4th Battalion The Rifles – gave […]

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A Recipe From The Crusaders

July 14, 2014

July 15th is the anniversary of the conquest of Jerusalem by Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and the First Crusade (1099). We thus offer our readers this panforte (strong bread) recipe, which tradition says hails from Crusader days. Fruits, nuts and honey, all commonly available to Crusaders, are among panforte‘s ingredients. As you bake and enjoy panforte, think of […]

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July 14 – The Lily of the Mohawks

July 14, 2014

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks Kateri Tekakwitha was daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a devout Roman Catholic Algonquian woman. She was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York, in 1656. Kateri’s mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many of Abenaki […]

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July 15 – After conversion, he ordered the statues of the pagan gods chopped up and burned

July 14, 2014

St. Vladimir the Great Grand Duke of Kiev (Kieff) and All Russia, grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity, b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and brought up his son Vladimir […]

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July 16 – Alfonso VIII of Castile crushes the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa

July 14, 2014

The Almohads, the new dynasty of Moroccan fanatics who had subdued all the Moslems in al Andalus, launched an all-out attack on the Christians by moving a huge army north into south central Spain. The impetuous Alfonso VIII of Castile, without waiting for reinforcements, attempted to bar the way at Alarcos. On July 18, 1195, […]

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July 16 – Catholic Spain’s fate in the balance at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

July 14, 2014

The following year was a memorable one for all Spain. King Alfonso of Castile, in face of the Almohade danger, had launched an alert to Christendom; answering it, the Christian princes had assembled not only from Spain but also from other countries. Pope Innocent III proclaimed a Crusade against the Moors of Spain and bestowed […]

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King Saint Ferdinand Rides to the Conquest of Córdoba

July 10, 2014

A page who entered quickly took him from his thoughts…. “Lord, Ordoño Alvarez de Asturias has come in great haste and says he has happy and marvelous news to give you.” “Ordoño Alvarez, who is stationed at the frontier? Tell him to enter immediately as my door is always open for my knights.” The young […]

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Idealizing a Life Together

July 10, 2014

In this atmosphere of cohesiveness and especially that of grace, the members of a society begin to idealize their life together. Some authors have referred to this sense of imagined perfection together as the creation of “utopias.” We feel this action is much better expressed in terms of how social units create their own myths, […]

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July 10 – Seven Holy Noble Brethren

July 10, 2014

Saints, martyred in Rome, in 150. According to legend, they were the sons of Saint Felicitas, and suffered martyrdom under Emperor Antoninus. Januarius, Felix, and Philip were scourged to death; Silvanus was thrown over a precipice; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were beheaded. Feast, Roman Calendar, 10 July. St. Felicitas, Martyr The earliest list of the […]

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July 10 – Charlemagne Was Punished for His Rudeness to Her

July 10, 2014

St. Amalberga A virgin, very much revered in Belgium, who is said to have been sought in marriage by Charles, afterwards Charlemagne. Continually repulsed, Charles finally attempted to carry her off by force, but though he broke her arm in the struggle he was unable to move her from the altar before which she had […]

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July 11 – The noble saint who fled the world, but the world ran after him

July 10, 2014

Saint Benedict of Nursia Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of Saint Gregory’s “Dialogues”. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number […]

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