Does America need a monarch?

February 24, 2014

According to Politico: Having a national, unifying position ostensibly standing outside the daily muck of politics provides a rallying point for all citizens and a safety valve to redirecting national passions in a non-partisan way. We have no such safety valve in the United States. Our experiment in self-government has progressed to the point where […]

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New study: overall life status depends not just from parents’ status but also from great-great-great-grandparents

February 24, 2014

According to The New York Times: The fortunes of high-status families inexorably fall, and those of low-status families rise, toward the average — what social scientists call “regression to the mean” — but the process can take 10 to 15 generations (300 to 450 years), much longer than most social scientists have estimated in the […]

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Brie helps Prince Talleyrand triumph in Vienna

February 24, 2014

There was another kind of storehouse for news, epigrams, witty sallies, a kind of “lion’s mouth….” The second spot was the big room of the ‘Empress of Austria’ tavern, which I have already mentioned. Every day, at the dinner hour, the place was thronged with illustrious and important personages, anxious to escape from the magnificent […]

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The Formation of Regions

February 24, 2014

This economic self-sufficiency easily leads to healthy localism since these inward movements come to be tied to a community and place. It necessarily leads to the formation of regions inside of which people come together and practice the temperance of living with the resources at hand. Hence, a region is formed by the intimate relationship […]

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February 24 – First Christian King Among the English

February 24, 2014

St. Ethelbert, King of Kent Born, 552; died, 24 February, 616; son of Eormenric, through whom he was descended from Hengest. He succeeded his father, in 560, as King of Kent and made an unsuccessful attempt to win from Ceawlin of Wessex the overlordship of Britain. His political importance was doubtless advanced by his marriage […]

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February 24 – The Cup Is Sometimes Bitter

February 24, 2014

Blessed Thomas Mary Fusco The seventh of eight children, he was born on 1 December 1831 in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy, to Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their upright moral and religious conduct, and taught their son Christian piety and charity to […]

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February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 24, 2014

St. Walburga Born in Devonshire, about 710; died at Heidenheim, 25 Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West […]

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February 26 – St. Isabel of France

February 24, 2014

St. Isabel of France Daughter of Louis VIII and of his wife, Blanche of Castille, born in March, 1225; died at Longchamp, 23 February, 1270. St. Louis IX, King of France (1226-70), was her brother. When still a child at court, Isabel, or Elizabeth, showed an extraordinary devotion to exercises of piety, modesty, and other […]

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February 26 – Blessed Robert Drury

February 24, 2014

Blessed Robert Drury Martyr (1567-1607), was born of a good Buckinghamshire family and was received into the English College at Reims, 1 April, 1588. On 17 September, 1590, he was sent to the new College at Valladolid; here he finished his studies, was ordained priest and returned to England in 1593. He laboured chiefly in […]

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Luxembourg’s Hereditary Grand Duchess, Princess Stéphanie, is 30

February 20, 2014

According to the Luxemburger Wort: The Princess became part of the Grand Ducal family when she married Hereditary Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg…at the “Notre Dame” Cathedral on October 20, 2012. Formerly Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, the pretty princess was born on February 18, 1984, in Belgium. She was the eighth child of the Count and […]

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Decadent, Timid Elites

February 20, 2014

According to The Wall Street Journal: No one wants to be the earnest outsider now, …the sober steward, …the guy carrying around a cross of dignity. No one wants to be accused of being staid. No one wants to say, “This isn’t good for the country, and it isn’t good for our profession.” And it […]

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Courtesy even at the tragic end: Marie Antoinette apologizes to her executioner

February 20, 2014

The cart drew up at the scaffold. Marie Antoinette alighted easily and ascended to the platform. She submitted to the executioners, shaking her cap from her head herself, and stepping accidentally on Sanson’s foot. “Pardon, Monsieur,” she involuntarily exclaimed. His assistants seized her; “Make haste,” she cried. It was all over in four minutes, and […]

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An Organic Society Has an Astonishing Self-Sufficiency

February 20, 2014

This great tendency to develop and take care of one’s own, results in an astonishing degree of self-sufficiency that filters up to all levels of society. It gives rise to the temperance and joy of living within one’s own means at both the individual and community levels. In medieval times, for example, families, intermediary groups, […]

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February 21 – Shakespeare’s Inspiration

February 20, 2014

Saint Robert Southwell Poet, Jesuit, martyr; born at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, England, in 1561; hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 21 February, 1595. His grandfather, Sir Richard Southwell, had been a wealthy man and a prominent courtier in the reign of Henry VIII. It was Richard Southwell who in 1547 had brought the poet Henry […]

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February 21 – Terror of the Wicked, Supporter of the Weak

February 20, 2014

Blessed Pepin of Landen Mayor of the Palace to the Kings Clotaire II, Dagobert, and Sigebert. He was son of Carloman, the most powerful nobleman of Austrasia, who had been mayor to Clotaire I, son of Clovis I. He was grandfather to Pepin of Herstal, the most powerful mayor, whose son was Charles Martel, and […]

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February 21 – His mother almost allowed him to die

February 20, 2014

St. Peter Damian Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna “five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III,” 1007; died at Faenza, 21 Feb., 1072. He was the youngest of a large family. His parents were noble, but poor. At his birth an elder brother protested against this new charge […]

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February 22 – From Cavalier’s Mistress to Saint

February 20, 2014

St. Margaret of Cortona A penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis, born at Laviano in Tuscany in 1247; died at Cortona, 22 February, 1297. At the age of seven years Margaret lost her mother and two years later her father married a second time. Between the daughter and her step-mother there seems to […]

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Prince perplexed by reception of communists in Vatican

February 17, 2014

According to TFP.org: Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza expressed his perplexity and concern in a reverent and filial letter to Pope Francis. “Brazilians are largely aware that it was thanks to the entreaties of Pope Leo XIII, and in spite of the serious political drawbacks that such a decision would entail, that my great grandmother, Princess […]

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Princes William and Harry help fellow soldiers fight floods, invite journalist to help

February 17, 2014

According to BBC News: The Duke of Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry have joined colleagues from the armed forces as flood efforts continue in Berkshire. When Prince Harry, who is still a serving officer with the Household Cavalry, was asked by reporters if he was enjoying helping out, he replied: “Not really, with you […]

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There was a time when Emperors trembled before a saint

February 17, 2014

St. John Chrysostom had the greatest horror of sin, because he knew that sin was the only thing that could keep him out of Heaven, on the Day of Judgment. The Emperor of Constantinople was a haughty and proud man, and could not bear to be reproved. St. John was the only one who had […]

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Subsidiarity and Man’s Pursuit of Self-Sufficiency

February 17, 2014

This notion cannot help but have economic applications. Being naturally endowed with intelligence and free will, man tends, by his own spiritual faculties, to draw from himself all the necessary qualities to provide for his welfare. This in turn gives rise to unique expressions of self-sufficiency. From the very beginning of economy around the hearth of the home, man turned vigorously inward seeking to […]

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February 17 – Marvelous Apparition of Our Lady To Seven Young Nobles

February 17, 2014

St. Alexis Falconieri Born in Florence, 1200; died 17 February, 1310, at Mount Senario, near Florence. He was the son of Bernard Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles. […]

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February 18 – Charlemagne’s envoy to the pope

February 17, 2014

St. Angilbert Abbot of Saint-Riquier, died 18 February, 814. Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the court of Charlemagne, where he was the pupil and friend of the great English scholar Alcuin. He was intended for the ecclesiastical state and must have received minor orders early in life, but he accompanied the young […]

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February 18 – Confronted the Emperor and annulled the Robber Council of Ephesus

February 17, 2014

St. Flavian Bishop of Constantinople, date of birth unknown; died at Hypaepa in Lydia, August, 449. Nothing is known of him before his elevation to the episcopate save that he was a presbyter and skeuophylax or sacristan, of the Church of Constantinople, and noted for the holiness of his life. His succession to St. Proclus […]

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February 18 – Fra Angelico brought part of heaven to earth

February 17, 2014

Blessed Fra Angelico A famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of Mugello, Tuscany, 1387; died at Rome, 1455. He was christened Guido, and his father’s name being Pietro he was known as Guido, or Guidolino, di Pietro, but his full appellation today is that of “Blessed Fra […]

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February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 17, 2014

St. Conrad of Piacenza Hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, date of birth uncertain; died at Noto in Sicily, 19 February, 1351. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged […]

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Queen Elizabeth to launch Royal Navy supercarrier named after her

February 13, 2014

According to the Daily Record: The Queen will launch the Royal Navy supercarrier named after her when she visits Scotland in the summer. The 65,000-ton HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to take to the water at Rosyth dockyard in Fife in July. The HMS Queen Elizabeth was built in sections in shipyards in Glasgow and […]

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St. Jerome’s prayer to St. Paula, the scion of an ancient noble family of Rome

February 13, 2014

St. Jerome had taught St. Paula to love God from her childhood, and watched over her as she grew up. At an early age God took her to Himself. St. Jerome grieved over her; but knowing how innocently she had lived, he was sure she was already in Paradise. “O dear Saint Paula,” he prayed, […]

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A Turning Inward

February 13, 2014

In tracing this economy back to its roots, we note a prevailing concern: there is a turning inward whereby one provides for one’s own. This tendency begins with the individual and extends to the family, community, and nation. The origin of this turning inward comes from man’s natural desire to express his personality and originality. […]

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February 13 – Mystic and Counselor to Future Popes

February 13, 2014

St. Catherine de Ricci, Virgin (AD 1522 – 1589) The Ricci are an ancient family, which still subsists in a flourishing condition in Tuscany. Peter de Ricci, the father of our saint, was married to Catherine Bonza, a lady of suitable birth. The saint was born at Florence in 1522, and called at her baptism […]

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February 13 – St. Fulcran

February 13, 2014

St. Fulcran Bishop of Lodève; died 13 February, 1006. According to the biography which Bernard Guidonis, Bishop of Lodève (died 1331), has left us his saintly predecessor, Fulcran came of a distinguished family, consecrated himself at an early age to the service of the Church, became a priest, and from his youth led a pure […]

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February 14 – Renounced Earthly Nobility To Obtain Heavenly Nobility

February 13, 2014

Sts. Cyril and Methodius These brothers, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Though belonging to a senatorial family they renounced secular honors and became priests. They were living in a monastery on the Bosphorus, when the Khazars sent to Constantinople for a Christian teacher. Cyril was selected […]

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February 15 – St. Claude de la Colombière

February 13, 2014

St. Claude de la Colombière Missionary and ascetical writer, born of noble parentage at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, between Lyons and Vienne, in 1641; died at Paray-le-Monial, 15 Feb., 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1659. After fifteen years of religious life he made a vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to […]

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February 16 – Founded and ruled a religious order as his family Manorhouse, but only joined that order in his old age

February 13, 2014

St. Gilbert of Sempringham Founder of the Order of Gilbertines, born at Sempringham, on the border of the Lincolnshire fens, between Bourn and Heckington. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it lies between 1083 and 1089; died at Sempringham, 1189. His father, Jocelin, was a wealthy Norman knight holding lands in Lincolnshire; […]

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Prime minister asks Congress to revoke death sentence against royal family members

February 10, 2014

According to the Libya Herald: The Prime Minister has asked..to repeal Qaddafi’s laws against the royal family. These…included death sentences against members of the family as well the confiscation of their property and stripping them of Libyan nationality. The proposed law…submitted by the Prime Minister contains three clauses. The first states that the role and […]

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The Pizza That Was Named For A Queen – Recipe

February 10, 2014

  Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, was born in Turin, on November 20, 1851. On April 21, 1868, when just sixteen years old, she married her first cousin, Umberto, Crown Prince of Italy. Pizza Margherita was named after her. This is how it happened… In June 1898, Margherita accompanied her husband, now Umberto I, King […]

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February 10 – He fought socialism in both its Nazi and Soviet forms…and paid for it with his life

February 10, 2014

BL. ALOJZIJE STEPINAC was born into a large Catholic family on 8 May 1898 in Krasic. After graduation from high school in 1916, he completed military service during World War I. In 1924 he decided to study for the priesthood and was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Germanicum-Hungaricum College. He earned doctorates […]

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“My own name of course, what else?”

February 10, 2014

According to the Royal Fans: On this very day in 1952, King George VI of the United Kingdom died…aged just 56… Above all else during the accession, The Queen’s quiet composure in the face of such tragic circumstances are always remarked upon by experts. In the words of a member of her household ‘she bore […]

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King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery mark accession anniversary

February 10, 2014

According to the British Army: Soldiers around the UK have today fired Royal Gun Salutes to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s accessions to the throne in 1952. The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired a 41 Royal Gun Salute at noon in London’s Hyde Park. Each of the six First World War era 13 pounder […]

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St. Louis IX instructs Henry III of England on the merit of great sufferings

February 10, 2014

St. Louis of France, whilst speaking to the King of England on the immense sufferings he had to endure when he was in captivity, said to him: “I thank God with my whole heart for the misfortunes that befell me at that time; I am filled with more joy at the thought of the patience […]

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A Moral Restoration

February 10, 2014

[T]he overthrow of the rule of money requires a moral regeneration centered on the highest set of values—those of Christian civilization. Indeed, through Her teachings, liturgy, and moral example, the Church embeds principles, ideas, and moral values inside the social fabric, inspiring men not to profits, but to an ardent love of God where all […]

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February 10 – The Lord God Gave Her What Her Brother Would Not

February 10, 2014

St. Scholastica, Virgin (c. 480 – 10 February 547) This saint was sister to the great St. Benedict. She consecrated herself to God from her earliest youth, as St. Gregory testifies. Where her first monastery was situated is not mentioned; but after her brother removed to Mount Cassino, she choose her retreat at Plombariola, in […]

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February 11 – Elected pope while on Crusade in Palestine

February 10, 2014

Blessed Pope Gregory X Born 1210; died 10 January, 1276. Pope Gregory X was declared Blessed on July 8, 1713 by Pope Clement XI. The death of Pope Clement IV (29 November, 1268) left the Holy See vacant for almost three years. The cardinals assembled at Viterbo were divided into two camps, the one French […]

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“Time bomb” for republicans – Younger voters prefer monarchy

February 6, 2014

According to The Sydney Morning Herald: Backing for an Australian republic has collapsed to a 20-year low, with just 39.4 per cent of Australians saying they support a republic. Support was lowest among older Australians and Generation Y voters… Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy national convener David Flint said the findings were a ”time bomb” […]

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Samurai moves closer to sainthood

February 6, 2014

According to CNA/EWTN News: Takayama Ukon, a 16th-century samurai who faced exile rather than giving up his Catholic faith, is being considered for sainthood… The Takayama were daimyo: members of the class of ruling feudal lords… Daimyo held vast estates and were entitled to raise armies and hire samurai. In 1587, when Takayama was 35, […]

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Are all large fortunes caused by greed?

February 6, 2014

According to Townhall: Too many discussions of large fortunes attribute them to “greed” — as if wanting a lot of money is enough to cause other people to hand it over to you. It is a childish idea… The transfer of money was a zero-sum process. Edison, Ford, the Wright brothers, and innumerable others…created unprecedented […]

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Philip II punishes two nobles for showing disrespect to God

February 6, 2014

Philip II, King of Spain, was at Mass in the chapel attached to his palace; many of the nobles were also present. During the time of the holy Sacrifice the King noticed that two of them, forgetting the sanctity of the place, were behaving in a very disrespectful manner in the presence of God. He […]

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Embedding Honor in Society

February 6, 2014

One might ask how a rule of honor can be restored. To this we would reply: Fill society with principles, ideas, and moral values and the influence of the rule of money will greatly diminish. When guiding principles govern conduct, money cannot buy loyalty. When society is blessed with a rich and balanced intellectual life, […]

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February 6 – Apostle of Flanders

February 6, 2014

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

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

February 6, 2014

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

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

February 6, 2014

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

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

February 6, 2014

Saint John of Matha Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. He was born into Provencal nobility in 1154 at Faucon-de-Barcelonnette, France. As a youth, he was educated at Aix-en-Provence, and later studied theology at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he was urged by a vision during his first Mass to […]

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February 8 – Mary Queen of Scots

February 6, 2014

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

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February 9 – Banished From the Court

February 6, 2014

St. Ansbert Archbishop of Rouen in 695, Confessor He had been chancelor to King Clotair III in which station he had united the mortification and recollection of a monk with the duties of wedlock, and of a statesman. Quitting the court, he put on the monastic habit at Fontenelle under St. Wandregisile, and when that […]

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This is not how The Guardian talks about Castro, or Chavez, or Woody Allen, or even Hollywood in general

February 3, 2014

According to The Guardian: …what it is like to be the poor old Queen? The boiler in Buckingham Palace is 60 years old. Obviously the answer is not pay for it herself out of her own enormous fortune because … well, she is the Queen. We – her largely indifferent subjects – should be ecstatically […]

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The Conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks, During the Battle of Tolbiac

February 3, 2014

About the middle of the fifth century there lived in France a great and powerful King whose name was Clovis. He was not a Christian, but he was married to a noble Princess, who was not only a good Christian, but a great Saint. Her name was Clotilda. Now, Clotilda loved her husband with the […]

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Character Not Capital

February 3, 2014

The greatest product of the rule of honor is the building of character. Man himself is the focal point of production where the unfathomable riches inside each soul can be developed. When the rule of honor dominates economy, it produces inside each soul what Richard Weaver lists as “the formation of character, the perfection of […]

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

February 3, 2014

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

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February 3 – The Stuff of Which Saints Are Made

February 3, 2014

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

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February 4 – Daughter of one king and wife of another

February 3, 2014

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

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