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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February 4 – Portuguese noble and favorite of the king, he strove to convert the nobility of India – and paid for it with his life

February 3, 2014

St. John de Brito Martyr, born in Lisbon, 1 March, 1647, and was brought up at Court, martyred in India 11 February, 1693. Entering the Society of Jesus at fifteen, he obtained as his mission-field Madura in southern India. In September, 1673, he reached Goa. Before taking up his work he spent thirty days in […]

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February 5 – He put the Bible to verse and prose

February 3, 2014

St. Avitus (Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, though his death is place by some as late as 525 or 526. He was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman family closely related to the Emperor Avitus and other illustrious persons, and in which episcopal honors were hereditary. In […]

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February 5 – St. Adelaide of Cologne

February 3, 2014

St. Adelaide (of Cologne) Abbess, born in the tenth century; died at Cologne, 5 February, 1015. She was daughter of Megingoz, Count of Guelders, and when still very young entered the convent of St. Ursula in Cologne, where the Rule of St. Jerome was followed. When her parents founded the convent of Villich, opposite the […]

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February 5 – St. Agatha

February 3, 2014

St. Agatha One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her legendary life, composed at a later date, […]

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Louis XVI’s weakness leads to the massacre of his Swiss guards

January 30, 2014

“Lay down your arms, place them in the hands of the National Guard. I do not wish brave men to perish,” Louis told [Captain Durler] and, taking a piece of paper, he wrote “the King orders the Swiss to lay down their arms immediately and to retire to their barracks.” Louis had signed the death […]

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Riches and Honor

January 30, 2014

By affirming the rule of honor, we do not in any way disparage riches, goods, or money. All we are saying is that they should not dominate a culture. Nor do we advocate a primitive or impoverished economy devoid of luxury and splendor. Where honor rules, men make abundant use of material goods as a […]

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January 30 – Cured in body and in soul

January 30, 2014

St. Hyacintha Mariscotti A religious of the Third Order of St. Francis and foundress of the Sacconi; born 1585 of a noble family at Vignanello, near Viterbo in Italy; died 30 January, 1640, at Viterbo; feast, 30 January; in Rome, 6 February (Diarium Romanum). Her parents were Marc’ Antonio Mariscotti (Marius Scotus) and Ottavia Orsini. […]

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January 31 – St. John Bosco Meets His First Noble Patroness

January 30, 2014

Juliette Colbert, a native of Vendée, had married Marquis Tancredi Falletti of Barolo, and of her it could be said, even as we read of Tabitha in the Acts of the Apostles: “This woman had devoted herself to good works and acts of charity.” Indeed, she used her abundant wealth to help the working classes […]

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January 31 – The Glory of the Ladies

January 30, 2014

St. Marcella (325–410)  She was a Christian ascetic in ancient Rome. Growing up in Rome, she was influenced by her pious mother, Albina, an educated woman of wealth and benevolence. Childhood memories centered around piety, and one in particular related to Athanasius, who lodged in her home during one of his many exiles. He may […]

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February 1 – Immediately after his martyrdom, they lined up to venerate his relics

January 30, 2014

St. Henry Morse Martyr; born in 1595 in Norfolk; died at Tyburn, 1 Feb., 1644. He was received into the church at Douai, 5 June, 1614, after various journeys was ordained at Rome, and left for the mission, 19 June, 1624. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus at Heaton; there he was arrested […]

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The last words of Queen Philippa to her sons

January 27, 2014

It was to [Prince Edward], as her eldest son, that the Queen turned first. “God has chosen you to be the heir to this kingdom,” she said. “I know your virtue and your kindness, so I give you this sword of justice. With it you will govern both great and small, when at your father’s […]

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The value of nobility is sometimes intangible

January 27, 2014

According to Townhall, Though each of us is equal in the eyes of God, and should be equal before the law, we have diverse skills, passions and physical attributes. Where this is obvious…people are unlikely to complain. Few publicly begrudge the incomes of professional athletes, actors and high tech entrepreneurs. The greedy one percenters we […]

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Not all the rain in Spain…

January 27, 2014

According to The New York Times: You know a monarchy is in trouble when the queen is jeered at the Royal Theater, of all places…. This happened to Queen Sofía of Spain last year in Madrid — a scene then repeated elsewhere… What is astonishing about this turn of events is that the Spanish monarchy […]

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Sir Winston Churchill on monarchy

January 27, 2014

The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, “God save the Queen!” When she loses, she votes down the prime minister.” ~ Sir Winston Churchill

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“Credo, Domine! Credo, Domine!”

January 27, 2014

Those were the last recorded words of Queen Mary Christine before her death, on January 31, 1836, days after giving birth to her only son (the future Francis II, last King of the Two Sicilies). She believed in her Lord, Who welcomed her for all eternity. (h/t Rorate Caeli) _______________ Also of interest: Maria Cristina […]

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Rule of Honor vs. Rule of Money

January 27, 2014

The rule of honor is a fitting response to the rule of money because it defines a lifestyle that naturally leads men to esteem and seek after those things that are excellent. It introduces into the market square a set of values that includes quality, beauty, goodness, and charity. This rule is open to the […]

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January 27 – Foundress of the Ursulines

January 27, 2014

St. Angela Merici Foundress of the Ursulines, born 21 March, 1474, at Desenzano, a small town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy; died 27 January, 1540, at Brescia. She was left an orphan at the age of ten and together with her elder sister came to the home of her uncle at […]

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January 28 – Great in every sense

January 27, 2014

Charlemagne (French for Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, or Carlus Magnus; German Karl der Grosse). The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814. At the time of Charles’ birth, his father, Pepin […]

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January 28 – Angelic Doctor, Count

January 27, 2014

St. Thomas Aquinas Philosopher, theologian, doctor of the Church (Angelicus Doctor), patron of Catholic universities, colleges, and schools. Born at Rocca Secca in the Kingdom of Naples, 1225 or 1227; died at Fossa Nuova, 7 March, 1274. I. LIFE The great outlines and all the important events of his life are known, but biographers differ […]

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February 9 – St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia

January 27, 2014

St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia Born at Premariacco, near Cividale, Italy, about 730-40; died 802. Born probably of a Roman family during Longobardic rule in Italy, he was brought up in the patriarchal schools at Cividale. After ordination he became master of the school. He acquired a thorough Latin culture, pagan and Christian. He […]

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January 28 – Larochejacquelein killed by the very men whose lives he spared

January 27, 2014

While Turreau was thus devastating La Vendée, where were Larochejacquelein, Stofflet, and Charette? Had they forgotten their country and its cause—were they deaf to her cries of distress? Charette still fought in the depths of the Marais; Stofflet in the recesses of the Bocage; but Larochejacquelein, the young, the brave, the chivalrous, the peasants’ idol […]

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January 29 – Noble enough to cover five contemporary kings with invective

January 27, 2014

St. Gildas Surnamed the Wise; born about 516; died at Houat, Brittany, 570. Sometimes he is called “Badonicus” because, as he tells us, his birth took place the year the Britons gained a famous victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon, near Bath, Somersetshire (493 or 516). The biographies of Gildas exist — one written […]

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Marie Antoinette embraces her father for the last time

January 23, 2014

Schoenbrunn! Never again was Marie Antoinette to see the long yellow façade with its green shutters, nor her apartments on the ground floor where, after hours of play, she and her brothers and sisters would eat pyramids of Viennese cakes dripping with whipped cream. A few more revolutions of the wheels and the coach crowned […]

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A Return to the Rule of Honor

January 23, 2014

Throughout history, two sides, two economic outlooks, two lifestyles have long opposed each other as if engaged in constant combat. On the one side, there is the rule of money with a set of secular values, which include quantity, function, efficiency, and utility. This rule tends to reduce everything to terms of self-interest, matter, and […]

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Grand Duke George of Russia Gives Interview

January 23, 2014

According to New Europe: In an exclusive interview with New Europe, the Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia – the 33-year-old heir apparent to Maria Vladimirovna, the Grand Duchess of Russia – spoke about his title, the evolution of the throne and his work in Europe…. To read the full interview in New Europe, please […]

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Norway’s future queen turns 10

January 23, 2014

According to NewsinEnglish.no: Princess Ingrid Alexandra is set to be Queen of Norway and the country’s head of state some day, but on Tuesday she was said to be planning a birthday party at home with her friends and family, just like most other children.  As usual, Royal Palace staff and her parents were keeping […]

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January 22 – Defended by a raven

January 23, 2014

St. Vincent of Saragossa Deacon of Saragossa, and martyr under Diocletian, 304; mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, 22 Jan., with St. Anastasius the Persian, honoured by the Greeks, 11 Nov. This most renowned martyr of Spain is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has as emblems a cross, a raven, a grate, or […]

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January 24 – They called him “Ironmonger”

January 23, 2014

Blessed William Ireland (Alias Ironmonger.) Jesuit martyr, born in Lincolnshire, 1636; executed at Tyburn, 24 Jan. (not 3 Feb.), 1679; eldest son of William Ireland of Crofton Hall, Yorkshire, by Barbara, a daughter of Ralph Eure, of Washingborough, Lincolnshire (who is to be distinguished from the last Lord Eure) by his first wife. He was […]

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January 24 – Saintly and Aristocrat

January 23, 2014

St. Francis de Sales Bishop of Geneva, Doctor of the Universal Church; born at Thorens, in the Duchy of Savoy, 21 August, 1567; died at Lyons, 28 December, 1622. His father, François de Sales de Boisy, and his mother, Françoise de Sionnaz, belonged to old Savoyard aristocratic families. The future saint was the eldest of […]

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January 25 – St. Poppo

January 23, 2014

St. Poppo Abbot, born 977; died at Marchiennes, 25 January, 1048. He belonged to a noble family of Flanders; his parents were Tizekinus and Adalwif. About the year 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two others of his countrymen. Soon after this he also went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He […]

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January 25 – Blessed Teresa Grillo Michel

January 23, 2014

BL. TERESA GRILLO MICHEL was born in Spinetta Marengo (Alessandria), Italy, on 25 September 1855. She was the fifth and last child of Giuseppe, the head physician at the Civil Hospital of Alessandria, and of Maria Antonietta Parvopassau, a descendent of an illustrious family of Alessandria. At Baptism she was given the name of Maddalena. […]

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January 25 – St. Ildephonsus

January 23, 2014

St. Ildephonsus Archbishop of Toledo; died 23 January, 667. He was born of a distinguished family and was a nephew of St. Eugenius, his predecessor in the See of Toledo. At an early age, despite the determined opposition of his father, he embraced the monastic life in the monastery of Agli, near Toledo. While he […]

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January 26 – She was from one of the first families of Rome

January 23, 2014

St. Paula Born in Rome, 347; died at Bethlehem, 404. She belonged to one of the first families of Rome. Left a widow in 379 at the age of 32 she became, through the influence of St. Marcella and her group, the model of Christian widows. In 382 took place her decisive meeting with St. […]

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January 22 – Patroness of abuse victims

January 20, 2014

Blessed Laura Vicuña Laura del Carmen Vicuña was born on April 5, 1891 in Santiago, Chile. She was the first daughter of the Vicuña Pino family. Her parents were José Domingo Vicuña, a soldier with aristocratic roots, and Mercedes Pino. Her father was in military service and her mother worked at home. At the very […]

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January 22 – The noble who often returned home barefoot

January 20, 2014

St. Vincent Mary Pallotti The founder of the Pious Society of Missions, born at Rome, 21 April, 1798; died there, 22 Jan., 1850. He lies buried in the church of San Salvatore in Onda. He was descended from the noble families of the Pallotti of Norcia and the De Rossi of Rome. His early studies […]

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January 22 – Blessed Prince

January 20, 2014

Blessed Prince László Batthyány-Strattmann Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann (1870-1931), a layman, doctor and father of a family. He was born on 28 October 1870 in Dunakiliti, Hungary, into an ancient noble family. He was the sixth of 10 brothers. In 1876 the family moved to Austria. When Ladislaus was 12 years old his mother died. He was […]

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Archduke Karl: Habsburgs not to blame for World War I

January 20, 2014

According to the Guardian: In an interview with a European group of newspapers including the Guardian, Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, the grandson of the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Charles I, said: “If you were to simplify it, you could say that the shooting in Sarajevo started the first world war. But if there hadn’t been […]

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The Pope favors removing the Merovingians and acclaiming Pippin the Short as king of the Franks

January 20, 2014

[A] Frankish mission arrived in Rome and proceeded to inquire, in diplomatic terms, the attitude of the pope towards the delicate problem of the Frankish crown. Ought a person who was without real authority to retain the name of king?—or ought the name and the power to go together? The pope…answered that the name and […]

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In the Middle Ages, the King Was Subject to the Law, Which Was Sovereign

January 20, 2014

All were subject to this unchangeable [natural moral] law whether they were rulers or the ruled. In the Middle Ages, the king was a creature of law, which he swore to safeguard. It was held that “the law makes the king” (lex facit regem). He was not the creator of law; his power was not […]

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During the Revolution, Barley Sugar suffered with the nobility

January 20, 2014

In 1638, Mother Elisabeth Pidoux, cousin of the French literary genius La Fontaine, invented barley sugar. In the Benedictine tradition, she was experimenting with sugar and barley, while striving to create medications that would alleviate the plight of the sick. Her invention made the Benedictine Priory of Our Lady of the Angels at Moret-sur-Loing famous, […]

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January 21 – None was held in such high honor

January 20, 2014

St. Agnes of Rome Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as St. Agnes. In the ancient Roman calendar of the feasts of the martyrs (Depositio Martyrum), incorporated into the collection of Furius Dionysius Philocalus, dating from 354 and often […]

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January 21 – He was put to death, just for being a king

January 20, 2014

His Last Will and Testament The last Will and Testament of Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, given on Christmas day, 1792. In the name of the Very holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To-day, the 25th day of December, 1792, I, Louis XVI King of France, being for more than four months […]

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As we continue to sink, hereditary elites look better and better

January 16, 2014

According to The New York Times: How do you translate the poetry of high aspiration into the prose of effective governance? This is the common problem today. Practical knowledge is hard to see, but it is embedded in traditions of behavior. It is embedded in the lives of older legislators and public servants, and it […]

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Philip II’s admirable reaction to the defeat of the Invincible Armada

January 16, 2014

[I]t was not the English, but the elements that broke the morale of the Invincible Armada and scattered over a thousand miles of sea the timbers of the best ships and the bones of the bravest men of Spain…. Altogether about sixty per cent of the Armada came home; but less than half the men. […]

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January 17 – Scanderbeg: the hero of Christendom

January 16, 2014

In a history, where so much is spoken of the regions, from whence the miraculous Image of Our Lady of Good Counsel came, it will be of great use to take a brief glance at the once entirely Catholic nation in which it so long remained, and at the great client of its Sanctuary in […]

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Medieval Representative Government and the Sanctioning of Law

January 16, 2014

The ruler was obliged to “find” law, give it his sanction, and enforce that law that came from time immemorial. The law did not belong to him. To aid in this discovery process, he had to seek the assent of those affected; he often was bound to have recourse to assemblies or councilors. As a […]

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January 17 – Sister of the Grand Master of Malta

January 16, 2014

St. Roseline of Villeneuve (or Rossolina.) Having overcome her father’s opposition Roseline became a Carthusian nun at Bertaud in the Alps of Dauphiné. Her “consecration” took place in 1288, and about 1330 she succeeded her aunt, Blessed Jeanne or Diane de Villeneuve, as Prioress of Celle-Robaud in the Diocese of Fréjus near her home. In […]

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January 18 – St. Margaret of Hungary

January 16, 2014

St. Margaret of Hungary Daughter of King Bela I of Hungary and his wife Marie Laskaris, born 1242; died 18 Jan., 1271. According to a vow which her parents made when Hungary was liberated from the Tatars that their next child should be dedicated to religion, Margaret, in 1245 entered the Dominican Convent of Veszprem. […]

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January 19 – Archbishop Senator of the Spanish Kingdom

January 16, 2014

Blessed Marcelo Rafael José María de los Dolores Hilario Spinola y Maestre, Archbishop of Seville born: 14 January 1835. died 20 January 1906 Marcelo Spínola was born on the island of San Fernando, Cádiz Province. His parents were Juan Spínola y Osorno, Marquis of Spínola and Antonia Maestre y Osorno; they had eight children, of […]

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January 19 – Noble martyrs of Persia

January 16, 2014

Sts. Maris, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum All martyred at Rome in 270. Maris and his wife Martha, who belonged to the Persian nobility, came to Rome with their children in the reign of Emperor Claudius II. As zealous Christians, they sympathized with and succoured the persecuted faithful, and buried the bodies of the slain. This […]

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