December 3 – St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies

December 2, 2013

St. Francis Xavier Born in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, 7 April, 1506; died on the Island of Sancian near the coast of China, 2 December, 1552. In 1525, having completed a preliminary course of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to Paris, where he entered the collège de Sainte-Barbe. […]

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December 4 – From a Muslim court, he opposed the Christian Emperor…and won!

December 2, 2013

St. John Damascene Born at Damascus, about 676; died some time between 754 and 787. The only extant life of the saint is that by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, which dates from the tenth century (P.G. XCIV, 429-90). This life is the single source from which have been drawn the materials of all his biographical […]

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December 4 – Saint Osmund, founder of the Cathedral system of Church governance

December 2, 2013

Saint Osmund Bishop of Salisbury, died 1099; his feast is kept on 4 December. Osmund held an exalted position in Normandy, his native land, and according to a late fifteenth-century document was the son of Henry, Count of Séez, and Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was the father of William the Conqueror […]

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Betrayal?

November 28, 2013

According to AFP: The queen’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Quentin Bryce…expressed support for the country becoming a republic. Bryce made the comments at a speech in Sydney on Friday evening in which she outlined a future vision for Australia… Australians voted against becoming a republic in a 1999 referendum and over the years the issue […]

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Emperor will visit the “country of heaven”

November 28, 2013

According to The Japan Times: Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, in a rare overseas trip, are scheduled to begin a tour of the Indian cities of New Delhi and Chennai on Nov. 30… While the Emperor is merely the “symbol of the state” under Japan’s U.S.-imposed postwar Constitution, he retains significant influence, owing to […]

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MacArthur faces apathy while rushing his war preparations

November 28, 2013

General MacArthur was hastening his defense of the Philippines, greatly handicapped by insufficient appropriations and apathy…. While some small wits of Manila called him the Napoleon of Luzon, General MacArthur was struggling against apathy at home and abroad. But MacArthur was not to be turned from his task.   Francis Trevelyan Miller, General Douglas MacArthur […]

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Contrast Between the Modern and Organic States

November 28, 2013

The modern State accomplishes its role by instituting an all-powerful bureaucratic system of legal norms to safeguard and regulate the private interests of its citizens. The modern State, notes Pius XI, has assumed the overwhelming functions and tasks that were once borne by intermediary associations. The result was that through the “overthrow and near extinction […]

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November 28 – December 27 – Siege of Jasna Góra

November 28, 2013

Lessons in Psychological Warfare from the Siege of Jasna Góra, November 28-December 27, 1655 This account of the siege of  Częstochowa is based on the Memoirs of the Siege of Czestochowa by Father Augustine Kordecki (Pamietnik oblezenia Częstochowy, edited and with a preface by Jan Tokarski, London, Veritas, 1956.) Written by Friar Kordecki in response […]

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November 29 – Grandson of the one who defeated Charles Martel in battle

November 28, 2013

St. Radbod, Bishop of Utrecht, Confessor This holy prelate was, by his father, of noble French extraction; and, by his mother, Radbod, the last king or prince of the Frisons was his great grandfather, whose name was given him by his mother. The first tincture of learning and piety he received under the tuition of […]

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December 1 – The Virgin Mary appears to General Gaston de Sonis after his army’s losses at Patay promising that France would survive

November 28, 2013

On the night of December 1 [1870], the Zouaves were ordered to advance to Patay [France], where Joan of Arc had won a renowned victory against the English. [General Louis-Gaston de] Sonis asked [Colonel Athanase de] Charette, who had no flag of his own, to lend him the Zouaves’. This banner had a curious history….  […]

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December 1 – He Hid Priests in His Manorhouse

November 28, 2013

Blessed Richard Langley Layman and martyr, b. probably at Grimthorpe, Yorks, England, date unknown; d. at York, 1 Dec., 1586. From his father, Richard Langley, of Rathorpe Hall, Walton, he probably inherited Rathorpe, but for the greater part of his life continued to reside on his estate at Ousethorpe, in the East Riding. His mother […]

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November 25 – The day a 16 year old invalid and a handful of men defeated a huge professional army

November 25, 2013

The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Ayyubids and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on November 25, 1177. The 16 year old King Baldwin IV, seriously afflicted by leprosy, led an out-numbered Christian force against the army of Saladin. The Islamic force was routed and their casualties were massive, only a fraction managed to flee […]

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Queen’s reconciliation gesture will be reciprocated

November 25, 2013

According to AFP: President Michael D. Higgins is to become the first Irish head of state to make a state visit to Britain… The visit in April will come three years after Queen Elizabeth made a groundbreaking trip to the republic… During her state visit, Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath at Ireland’s Garden of Remembrance […]

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Plans to give the king “the funeral he never had”

November 25, 2013

According to BBC News: Richard III, found by archaeologists last autumn below a Leicester car park, would have attended… reburials in his own lifetime, including for his own father. This was a profoundly religious society and reburial also had an important part in hopes for after death. Richard seemed to be a religious man, his […]

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Cancer does not stop Royal Christmas Carol

November 25, 2013

According to The Telegraph: Despite battling cancer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has written a royal Christmas carol. “I’m afraid my illness held me back a bit,” the composer tells Mandrake. Sir Peter previously said the monarch “converted” him from republicanism because of her “selfless dedication and example” to the nation. During his three-month hospital treatment […]

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Romanians march to restore monarchy

November 25, 2013

According to the Romanian Insider: More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Bucharest on Sunday (November 10), asking for the reinstatement of the monarchy in Romania. People chanted asking for King Michael I of Romania to take his seat at the Cotroceni Palace – which is now the presidency headquarters. The groups also […]

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Thai King orders army to build infrastructure against flooding

November 25, 2013

According to Royalty News: …Kalasin [villagers] were seeking royal help as their community was hit repeatedly by natural disasters. The villagers suffered from droughts during the dry season and heavy flooding during the rainy season. The King has ordered authorities to turn an area covering 886 rai of land adjacent to Lampao-Chi River in Rong […]

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The Princess of Chalais dispensed Christian charity every Sunday

November 25, 2013

[The Princess of Chalais] had her personal pew before the altar. Beside it she installed a small seat for Talleyrand. After mass, he followed her into a spacious hall in the chateau she called the “apothecarium.” The hall was lined with shelves and tables containing pots of various ointments and powders which the chateau had […]

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The nation, the State, and the common good of a people

November 25, 2013

Society starts with informal groupings of individuals, families, and intermediary associations mostly dedicated to furthering their own individual good. When this collection of social units coalesces into a clearly distinctive whole, a nation is born. The nation forms a cultural, social, economic, and political unity unable to be included or federated into any other one. […]

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November 25 – She Defied the Emperor

November 25, 2013

St. Catherine of Alexandria A virgin and martyr whose feast is celebrated in the Latin Church and in the various Oriental churches on 25 November, and who for almost six centuries was the object of a very popular devotion. Of noble birth and learned in the sciences, when only eighteen years old, Catherine presented herself […]

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November 25 & 26 – Blessed Hugh Taylor & Blessed Marmaduke Bowes

November 25, 2013

Blessed Hugh Taylor English martyr, born at Durham; hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, 25 (not 26) November, 1585. He arrived at Reims on 2 May, 1582, and having been ordained a priest was sent thence on the mission on 27 March, 1585. He was the first to suffer under the Statute 27 Eliz. c. […]

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November 27 – The king who made France “First-born daughter of the Church”

November 25, 2013

Clovis Son of Childeric, King of the Salic Franks; born in the year 466; died at Paris, 27 November, 511. He succeeded his father as the King of the Franks of Tournai in 481. His kingdom was probably one of the States that sprang from the division of Clodion’s monarchy like those of Cambrai, Tongres […]

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El Cid demands an oath from King Alfonso prior to giving his allegiance

November 21, 2013

[E]ven Rodrigo’s heroism [Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, known as el Cid] could not save King Sancho from the fate that awaited him at Zamora. On October 7, a knight named Vellido Adolfo snuck into Sancho’s camp and killed him with a lance. This treacherous act was an eerie repetition of the death that had met […]

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Countering libertarian distaste for the State

November 21, 2013

It might seem strange that in a time when all speak out against crushing and intrusive big government that we might propose the State, although a Christian one, as a part of our organic remedy. Popular wisdom has decreed that “the State is the problem, not the solution.” At most, some claim, we must tolerate […]

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November 21 – St. Albert

November 21, 2013

St. Albert Cardinal, Bishop of Liège, died 1192 or 1193. He was a son of Godfrey III, Count of Louvain, and brother of Henry I, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant, and was chosen Bishop of Liège in 1191 by the suffrages of both people and chapter. The Emperor Henry VI violently intruded his own venal […]

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November 22 – The Eternal Glory of the Caecilia Family

November 21, 2013

St. Cecilia Virgin and martyr, patroness of church music, died at Rome. This saint, so often glorified in the fine arts and in poetry, is one of the most venerated martyrs of Christian antiquity. The oldest historical account of St. Cecilia is found in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”; from this it is evident that her feast […]

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November 23 – St. Trudo

November 21, 2013

St. Trudo (also called TRON, TROND, TRUDON, TRUTJEN, TRUYEN). Apostle of Hasbein in Brabant; died 698 (or perhaps 693). Feast 23 November. He was the son of Blessed Adela of the family of the dukes of Austrasia. Devoted from his earliest youth to the service of God, Trudo came to St. Remaclus, Bishop of Liège […]

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November 23 – Blessed Margaret of Savoy

November 21, 2013

Bl. Margaret of Savoy Marchioness of Montferrat, born at Pignerol in 1382; died at Alba, 23 November, 1464. She was the only daughter of Louis of Savoy, Prince of Achaia, and of Bonne, daughter of Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, and was given in marriage in 1403 to Theodore, Marquis of Montferrat, a descendant of […]

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November 24 – Saint Joseph Mary Pignatelli, S.J.

November 21, 2013

(also known as St. Giuseppe Maria Pignatelli) Born 27 December, 1737, in Saragossa, Spain; died 11 November, 1811. His family was of Neapolitan descent and noble lineage. After finishing his early studies in the Jesuit College of Saragossa, he entered the Society of Jesus (8 May, 1753) notwithstanding his family’s opposition. On concluding his ecclesiastical […]

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Christ the King? Or Christ the President?

November 21, 2013

A heavenly King above all, but a King whose government is already exercised in this world. A King who by right possesses the supreme and full authority. The King makes laws, commands and judges. His sovereignty becomes effective when his subjects recognize his rights, and obey his laws. “Jesus Christ has rights over us all: […]

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How does a King unite three peoples and three languages? …With much prayer

November 18, 2013

According to Expatica: King’s Day traditionally includes a Te Deum mass… The celebration takes place in the Saint Michael and Saint Goedele cathedral in central Brussels… …the retired King Albert and his wife Queen Paola attended the mass… In his address, the Arch Bishop…talked about the role that King Filip will play, claiming the king […]

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Jirón: Heroism gives rise to a family name

November 18, 2013

In the battle of La Sagra, in 1086, Afonso VI of Castile was lightly wounded, but his horse was killed. With the king in this great peril, a knight dismounted and offered the sovereign his horse. The king mounted and continued the fight. The knight, however, had cut a small piece of the royal mantle. […]

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Calling forth our heroes

November 18, 2013

Such simple measures will prepare the climate for our representative characters—some who are remnants of traditional elites embedded in our own communities, others still to come from the ranks of society—to step forth and help harmonize our nation and improvise with the elements at hand to provide organic solutions. If our society is coming apart, […]

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November 18 – He Started the Cluniac Reform

November 18, 2013

St. Odo of Cluny Odo was born in 879 in Maine, and was the son of a pious and surprisingly learned layman, Abbo. Though vowed by his father to St. Martin in babyhood, he was given a military training and became a page at the court of Duke William. But the exercises of war and […]

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November 19 – St. Nerses I, Bishop of Armenia, Martyr

November 18, 2013

Nerses I Armenian patriarch, surnamed “the Great”. Died 373. Born of the royal stock, he spent his youth in Caesarea where he married Sanducht, a Mamikonian princess. After the death of his wife, he was appointed chamberlain to King Arshak of Armenia. A few years later, having entered the ecclesiastical state, he was elected catholicos, […]

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August 13 – The Pope Who Resigned

November 18, 2013

Pope St. Pontian Dates of birth and death unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” (ed. Duchesne, I, 145) gives Rome as his native city and calls his father Calpurnius. With him begins the brief chronicle of the Roman bishops of the third century, of which the author of the Liberian Catalogue of the popes made use in […]

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November 19 – Teacher, Engineer, Army Officer, Prisoner of War, Royal Tutor, and Priest

November 18, 2013

St. Raphael Kalinowski, O.C.D. (1835-1907) [Also known as Father Raphael of St. Joseph, O.C.D] Father Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski, was born at Vilna, 1st September 1835, and at baptism received the name Joseph. Under the teaching of his father Andrew, at the Institute for Nobles at Vilna, he progressed so well that he received […]

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November 20 – Queen Elizabeth II Wedding Anniversary

November 18, 2013

 

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November 20 – St. Edmund the Martyr

November 18, 2013

St. Edmund the Martyr King of East Anglia, born about 840; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, November 20, 870. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent St. Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia, though, according to later legends, he was born at Nuremberg (Germany), son to an otherwise unknown King Alcmund of […]

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Coronation violates human rights?

November 14, 2013

According to the Guardian: The National Secular Society (NSS) has instructed lawyers to investigate challenging the ancient religious rite [of coronation] under human rights legislation. The NSS expects the challenge to focus on article 9 of the European convention on human rights, on the grounds that allowing the Church of England to perform such a […]

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Grand Ducal couple will visit the forsaken and forgotten

November 14, 2013

According to the Luxemburger Wort: Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa are to visit Syrian refugees at a Turkish camp as part of a state visit to the Republic of Turkey. Next Wednesday, the Grand Ducal couple will call in at Nizip 2 refugee camp in the Gaziantep region (southeastern Anatolia), where […]

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Baby daughter born to Archduke Imre

November 14, 2013

According to Noblesse et Royautés: Born in Luxembourg: Archduchess Maria Stella, first child of Archduke Imre, son of Archduke Carl Christian von Habsburg and Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg, and his wife Archduchess Kathleen, née Walker. The couple married in September, 2012, in Washington, USA. The newborn Archduchess is the fifth grandchild of Grand Duke […]

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Many Russians favor return of Tsars

November 14, 2013

According to Russia Today: A recent poll has shown that 28 percent of Russian citizens want their country to be again ruled by Tsars… The research has been done by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion. The results were announced by the head of this organization, Valery Fedorov, at a Moscow conference dedicated to the […]

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Garcia Moreno returns to the practice of the Faith, and the fervor of his youth

November 14, 2013

Paris was, in fact, to Garcia Moreno a great school for the highest sciences; but, by the grace of God, Who was about to employ this man as an instrument of salvation to His people, it became also the focus of his true Christian life. For several years his early piety had been chilled. The […]

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Bourdon souls can rescue society today

November 14, 2013

It is possible to reawaken these bourdon souls. However, we must first re-emphasize that what we desire is these figures in the context of the “feudal bond” discussed earlier—those reciprocal social relationships that generate stability and leadership. We do not seek to impose the feudal structures or hierarchies of the past. By their nature, feudal […]

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November 14 – St. Lawrence O’Toole

November 14, 2013

St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lorcan ua Tuathail; also spelled Laurence O’Toole) Confessor, born about 1128, in the present County Kildare; died 14 November, 1180, at Eu in Normandy; canonized in 1225 by Honorius III. His father was chief of Hy Murray, and his mother one of the Clan O’Byrne. At the age of ten he was […]

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November 15 – Universal Doctor

November 14, 2013

St. Albert the Great Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called “the Great”, and “Doctor Universalis” (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and […]

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November 15 – St. Desiderius of Cahors

November 14, 2013

St. Desiderius of Cahors Bishop, born at Obrege (perhaps Antobroges, name of a Gaulish tribe), on the frontier of the Provincia Narbonnensis, of a noble Frankish family from Aquitaine, which possessed large estates in the territory of Albi; died 15 Nov., 655—though Krusch has called this date in question. In his childhood Desiderius was profoundly […]

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November 16 – St. Agnes of Assisi

November 14, 2013

St. Agnes of Assisi Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three […]

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November 16 – St. Margaret of Scotland: In the Middle Ages, the Marvelous Was Something Achievable

November 14, 2013

Saint Margaret of Scotland   Commentaries made by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira … Sovereign and patroness of Scotland, 11th century. Although it is a very good intention to comment on the life of St. Margaret, at times one does not have the slightest biographical data on a saint. For lack of a better biography, […]

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November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 14, 2013

St. Mechtilde (MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA). Benedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families, while here sister was the saintly and illustrious Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn. Some writers […]

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November 16 – St. Gertrude the Great

November 14, 2013

St. Gertrude the Great Saint, Benedictine and mystic writer; born in Germany, January 6, 1256; died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, November 17, 1301 or 1302. Nothing is known of her family, not even the name of her parents. It is clear from her life (Legatus, lib. I, xvi) that she was not born in […]

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November 17 – St. Hugh of Lincoln

November 14, 2013

St. Hugh of Lincoln Born about the year 1135 at the castle of Avalon, near Pontcharra, in Burgundy; died at London, 16 Nov., 1200. His father, William, Lord of Avalon, was sprung from one of the noblest of Burgundian houses; of his mother, Anna, very little is known. After his wife’s death, William retired from […]

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November 17 – The Queen Gave Good Example Caring for the Sick and Suffering

November 14, 2013

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207; died at Marburg, Hesse, 17 November (not 19 November), 1231. She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-35) and his wife Gertrude, a member of the family of the Counts of Andechs-Meran; Elizabeth’s brother succeeded […]

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Queen witnesses emotional unexpected reunion

November 11, 2013

According to BBC News: The Queen…attended…a three-day commemoration of Britain’s war dead. The Queen seemed particularly pleased to witness an emotional reunion… Megan Adams, 10, from Stirling, was not expecting to see her father, Lieutenant Commander Billy Adams, for another three months as he has been serving with the Royal Navy in the Seychelles as […]

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November 13 – Patroness of missionaries

November 11, 2013

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. Also called Mother Cabrini, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a religious institute which was a major support to the Italian immigrants to the United States. She was the first citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. She was born in Sant’Angelo […]

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November 13 – Grand Master of the Order of Christ

November 11, 2013

Prince Henry the Navigator Born 4 March, 1394; died 13 November, 1460; he was the fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, by Queen Philippa, a daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1415 he commanded the expedition which captured Ceuta, Portugal’s first oversea conquest, and there won his knightly spurs. Three years later he […]

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Leading, bourdon souls are found throughout society

November 11, 2013

Bourdon souls naturally arise and are found all over society. Their role does not necessarily depend upon great virtue or high office. Sometimes through their capacity to influence others, people without any public office or status are able to perceive the model that Providence wants for a family, town, or region and can inspire others […]

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November 11 – Patron of Veterans and Soldiers

November 11, 2013

St. Martin of Tours Bishop; born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Pannonia (Hungary), about 316; died at Candes, Touraine, most probably in 397. In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him thither, and when he reached adolescence was, in […]

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November 12 – Saint Cunibert

November 11, 2013

Saint Cunibert (also Cunipert, or Kunibert) (c. 600 – 12 November c. 663) was the ninth Bishop of Cologne from 627 to his death. Contemporary sources only mention him between 627 and 643. Cunibert (also spelled ‘Honoberht’) was born somewhere along the Moselle to a family of the local Ripuarian Frankish aristocracy. He entered the church […]

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