Almsgiving of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

June 27, 2024

During Lent we recall the duties of every Christian to apply themselves more fervently to almsgiving. In pre-revolutionary France it was for the King and the Queen to give an example to everyone else in this regard. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette took this duty seriously and throughout their reign did what they could to help […]

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What is Feudalism?

June 27, 2024

Feudalism This term is derived from the Old Aryan pe’ku, hence Sanskrit pacu, “cattle”; so also Lat. pecus (cf. pecunia); Old High German fehu, fihu, “cattle”, “property”, “money”; Old Frisian fia; Old Saxon fehu; Old English feoh, fioh, feo, fee. It is an indefinable word for it represents the progressive development of European organization during […]

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June 27 – The Saint-King elected to lead the First Crusade

June 27, 2024

St. Ladislaus (or Ladislas) St. Ladislaus the First, called by the Hungarians László, and in old French, Lancelot, was son of Bela king of Hungary, and born in 1041. By the pertinacious importunity of the people he was compelled, much against his own inclination, to ascend the throne in 1080, the kingdom being then elective. […]

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St. Ladislaus – Chivalrous King

June 27, 2024

King of Hungary, born 1040; died at Neutra, 29 July, 1095; one of Hungary’s national Christian heroes. He was the son of Béla I; the nobles, after the death of Geisa I, passed over Solomon, son of Andrew I, and chose Ladislaus to be their king in 1077. It is true that he made peace […]

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June 28 – To Avoid Their Desecration, He Ordered the Relics of the Saints to be Brought Inside the Walls

June 27, 2024

Pope Saint Paul I Date of birth unknown; died at Rome, 28 June, 767. He was a brother of Pope Stephen II. They had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace. Stephen entrusted his brother, who approved of the pope’s course in respect to King Pepin, with many important ecclesiastical affairs, among others […]

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The Church is Not Opposed to Any Form of Government that Is Just and Serves the Common Good

June 27, 2024

previous Leo XIII says in his encyclical Diuturnum illud (June 29, 1881): “There is no question here respecting forms of government, for there is no reason why the Church should not approve of the chief power being held by one man or by more, provided only it be just, and that it tend to the […]

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Ven. Philip Powel

June 27, 2024

(alias MORGAN, alias PROSSER) Martyr, b. at Tralon, Brecknockshire, 2 Feb., 1594; d. at Tyburn 30 June, 1646. He was the son of Roger and Catherine Powel, and was brought up to the law by David Baker, afterwards Dom Augustine Baker, O.S.B. At the age of sixteen he became a student in the Temple, London, […]

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The Fate of Greed

June 27, 2024

There can be no doubt, but that when a decision was to be made in regard to the affairs of the Indies, the enemies of Columbus assailed the Queen with every artifice and intrigue to secure a decision unfavorable to the admiral. The appointment of Don Francisco Bobadilla proves this. His subsequent cruelty and perfidy […]

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An Assessment Of Twenty Years of The Third Revolution According To The Criteria Of Revolution and Counter-Revolution

June 24, 2024

[previous] The situation of the Third Revolution and the Counter-Revolution has been outlined herein on the basis of how they appear shortly before the twentieth anniversary of the publication of this book. On the one hand, the apogee of the Third Revolution makes a success of the Counter-Revolution in the near future more difficult than […]

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He denounced the king’s adultery

June 24, 2024

St. John the Baptist The principal sources of information concerning the life and ministry of St. John the Baptist are the canonical Gospels. Of these St. Luke is the most complete, giving as he does the wonderful circumstances accompanying the birth of the Precursor and items on his ministry and death. St. Matthew’s Gospel stands […]

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Knights Were Dubbed After Battle

June 24, 2024

“Where was the knight armed?” On the field of battle, first of all, in the hour of enthusiasm and victory after some doughty deed. This grand old custom may be placed very far back into antiquity, and our old poems give us many striking instances of it. In this manner Danois was dubbed under the […]

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Dignified Pride Is the Harmonious Complement of Humility

June 24, 2024

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira A manly figure, whose strength is replete with harmony and proportion and whose bodily vigor seems penetrated by and imbued with the strong and luminous presence of a great soul. His facial features are very defined and also well proportioned. Handsome? Without a doubt. But there is almost no […]

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Servant of God Maria Clotilde of Savoy

June 24, 2024

by Antonio Borrelli Maria Clotilde of Savoy is one of the most striking examples of how to achieve union with Christ while remaining in the world in environments which by their nature lead instead to distraction, pride of power, luxury and a worldly lifestyle, things once usually abundant in the royal and imperial courts of […]

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It Takes More Heroism To Be Faithful Today Than In The Days Of Chivalry

June 24, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira There is more heroism in maintaining the elevation of soul in this pigsty that is the contemporary world, and to face the temptations, manifestations of annoyance, and perhaps laughter or mockery that you all face, than in riding a horse in shining armor, resplendent with glory.   (Excerpt from a […]

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Madame Elizabeth ponders the horrors afflicting France during the Revolution

June 24, 2024

To the Abbé de Lubersac June 25, 1792 This letter will be rather long on its way; but I prefer not to let this opportunity of talking with you pass. I am convinced that you will feel almost as keenly as ourselves the blow that has just been struck us; it is all the more […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 24, 2024

St. Anthelm of Belley (1107 – 1178) Prior of the Carthusian Grand Chartreuse and bishop of Belley. He was born near Chambéry in 1107. He would later receive an ecclesiastical benefice in the area of Belley. When he was thirty years old, he resigned from this position to become a Carthusian monk at Portes. Only […]

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June 20 – St. Novatus

June 20, 2024

St. Novatus, who is mentioned on 20 June with his brother, the martyr Timotheus, was the son of St. Pudens and Claudia Rufina, and the brother of Sts. Pudentiana and Praxedes. His paternal grandfather was Quintus Cornelius Pudens, the Roman senator, who with his wife, Priscilla, was among St. Peter’s earliest converts in Rome and […]

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The Jeanne d’Arc of the Blessed Sacrament

June 20, 2024

Marie-Marthe-Baptistine Tamisier (Called by her intimates EMILIA) Initiator of international Eucharistic congresses, born at Tours, 1 Nov., 1834; died there 20 June, 1910. From her childhood her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was extraordinary; she called a day without Holy Communion a veritable Good Friday. In 1847 she became a pupil of the Religious of […]

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Ven. William Barrow

June 20, 2024

Ven. William Barrow (Alias Waring, alias Harcourt). An English Jesuit martyr, born in Lancashire, in 1609, died 20 June, 1679. He made his studies at the Jesuit College, St. Omers, and entered the Society at Watten in 1632. He was sent to the English mission in 1644 and worked on the London district for thirty-five […]

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June 20 – St. Florentina

June 20, 2024

Virgin; born towards the middle of the sixth century; died about 612. The family of St. Florentina furnishes us with a rare example of lives genuinely religious, and actively engaged in furthering the best interests of Christianity. Sister of three Spanish bishops in the time of the Visigothic dominion (Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius), she consecrated […]

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The Dauphin’s innocent description of a revolutionary riot

June 20, 2024

On June 21, 1792, the agitators fired up the mob, as they had done the day before, to invade the Tuileries Palace where the royal family was lodged. Hearing the tumult, Marie Antoinette rushed to the side of the Dauphin. Upon seeing her and still remembering what had happened the day before, the child asked: […]

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June 21 – He seemed to resemble an angel clothed with a human body

June 20, 2024

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Aloysius Gonzaga was son of Ferdinand Gonzaga, prince of the holy empire, and marquis of Castiglione, removed in the third degree of kindred from the duke of Mantua. His mother was Martha Tana Santena, daughter of Tanus Santena, lord of Cherry, in Piedmont. She was lady of honour to Isabel, the wife […]

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June 22 – Saint Alban, proto-martyr of Britain

June 20, 2024

St. Alban First martyr of Britain, suffered c. 304. The commonly received account of the martyrdom of St. Alban meets us as early as the pages of Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History” (Bk. I, chs. vii and xviii). According to this, St. Alban was a pagan living at Verulamium (now the town of St. Albans in Hertfordshire), […]

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St. Etheldreda

June 20, 2024

After her death, her sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens, followed her as abbesses of Ely. Queen of Northumbria; born (probably) about 630; died at Ely, 23 June, 679. While still very young she was given in marriage by her father, Anna, King of East Anglia, to a […]

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The Admiration of the English Golden Boy

June 20, 2024

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira This is a scene from an Italian magazine showing the queen of England riding in a carriage, dressed in the insignias of the Order of the Garter. The carriage is being pulled by horses and she is in grand ceremonial dress. . . . There’s a hat with a feather […]

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June 17 – Sobieski

June 17, 2024

John III Sobieski (Polish: Jan III Sobieski, Lithuanian: Jonas Sobieskis; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) Born at Olesko in 1629; died at Wilanow, 1696; son of James, Castellan of Cracow and descended by his mother from the heroic Zolkiewski, who died in battle at Cecora. His elder brother Mark was his companion in […]

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Nobility Is a Gift From God

June 17, 2024

[previous] From the allocution of Pius IX to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on June 17, 1871: One day a Cardinal, a Roman prince, presented his nephew to one of my Predecessors, who on that occasion made a very true statement: that thrones should be upheld principally through the nobility and clergy. For there is […]

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Three Monarchs: Two Saints and a Tyrant – Part I

June 17, 2024

By Jeremias Wells Saint Ferdinand III of Castile – Part I King Alfonso VIII of Castile, the great leader of Las Navas de Tolosa, left two daughters who became queen mothers of two young kings, both of whom developed into illustrious warriors, crusaders, and saints. Because Alfonso’s two sons died in their youth, one from […]

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Structuralism and Pre-tribal Tendencies

June 17, 2024

[previous] B. Structuralism and Pre-tribal Tendencies To the extent that one sees the structuralist movement as a more or less exact (but, in any event, precursory) figure of the Fourth Revolution, one must view certain phenomena generalized over the last decade or two as preparing and driving the structuralist impetus. Thus, the overthrow of the […]

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Blessed Theresa of Portugal

June 17, 2024

To make peace, she surrendered her son’s rights to the throne   (born at Coimbra, October 4, 1178 – died at Lorvão, June 18, 1250) Queen of Léon as the first wife of King Alfonso IX of León. She was the oldest daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. Theresa was the […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: INTRODUCTION – Continued

June 17, 2024

[previous] This terrible enemy has a name: It is called the Revolution. Its profound cause is an explosion of pride and sensuality that has inspired, not one system, but, rather, a whole chain of ideological systems. Their wide acceptance gave rise to the three great revolutions in the history of the West: the Pseudo-Reformation, the […]

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June 19 – His father the Duke was a murderer

June 17, 2024

St. Romuald Born at Ravenna, probably about 950; died at Val-di-Castro, 19 June, 1027. St. Peter Damian, his first biographer, and almost all the Camaldolese writers assert that St. Romuald’s age at his death was one hundred and twenty, and that therefore he was born about 907. This is disputed by most modern writers. Such […]

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Herbert Vaughan

June 17, 2024

Cardinal, and third Archbishop of Westminster; b. at Gloucester, 15 April, 1832; d. at St. Joseph’s College, Mill Hill, Middlesex, 19 June, 1903; he came of a family which had been true to the Catholic Faith all through the ages of the persecution. Its members had suffered for their faith in fines and imprisonment and […]

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June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

June 17, 2024

Carthusian Martyrs – the Second Group After little more than a month after the first group, it was the turn of three leading monks of the London house: Doms Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate, who were to die at Tyburn, London on the 19 June. Newdigate was a personal friend of Henry VIII, […]

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St. Ignatius in London as the storm gathers

June 13, 2024

In the summer of 1530, Ignatius came to London. That year was a fatal one to England. The question of the divorce was agitating not this country alone, but the whole Christian world. The most celebrated Universities were consulted on the subject, and by means of bribery and intrigue, not to say open violence, favorable […]

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He Died Aged 36, But the Whole World Knows Him

June 13, 2024

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

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June 13 – Who Is the Real Saint Anthony?

June 13, 2024

here is a tendency nowadays to depict saints as people who bypass the realities of life and somehow attain sanctity with little effort. Here we have two pictures of Saint Anthony of Padua. The first is a fresco in the basilica dedicated to the saint in Padua, Italy, and it is the oldest known depiction […]

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The Tragedy of Marie Adelaide

June 13, 2024

by Diane Moczar Of all the rulers of western European countries in the first quarter of the twentieth century, few are as unknown to British and American historians as Marie Adelaide, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg during World War I. The small size of her realm alone does not explain history’s neglect; by all accounts Marie […]

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The entire population was slaughtered, except those who embraced Islam

June 13, 2024

Croia A titular see of Albania. Croia (pronounced Kruya, Albanian, “Spring”) stands on the site of Eriboea, a town mentioned by Ptolemy (III, xiii, 13, 41). Georgius Acropolites (lxix) mentions it as a fortress in 1251. A decree of the Venetian senate gave it in 1343 to Marco Barbarigo and his wife. In 1395 it […]

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True Glory Can Only Be Born of Pain

June 13, 2024

From every side of the parade grounds, with habitual and quite natural enthusiasm, a huge crowd watches a trooping of the Queen’s Royal Grenadiers in their ceremonial uniforms. New military tactics forced uniforms like these into obsolescence long ago. Nevertheless, these black trousers, red coats with white belts, gloves and ornaments topped with distinguished bearskin […]

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The Northern Crusades

June 13, 2024

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

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A noble lady’s good example and martyrdom

June 13, 2024

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

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June 16 – St. Benno

June 13, 2024

Bishop of Meissen, b., as is given in biographies written after his lifetime, about 1010; d., probably, June 16, 1106. He is said to have been the son of a Count Frederick von Woldenberg (Bultenburg) and to have been educated by his relative St. Bernward of Hildesheim. But these statements and the date of his […]

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Most Sublime Figure of Portuguese Literature

June 10, 2024

Luis Vaz de Camões (OR CAMOENS) Born in 1524 or 1525; died 10 June, 1580. The most sublime figure in the history of Portuguese literature, Camões owes his lasting fame to his epic poem “Os Lusiadas,” (The Lusiads); he is remarkable also for the degree of art attained in his lyrics, less noteworthy for his […]

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The Pizza That Was Named For A Queen – Recipe

June 10, 2024

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 of […]

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June 11 – Blessed Ignatius Maloyan

June 10, 2024

Ignatius Maloyan (Shoukrallah), son of Melkon and Faridé, was born in 1869, in Mardin, Turkey. His parish priest, noticed in him signs of a priestly vocation, so he sent him to the convent of Bzommar-Lebanon; he was fourteen years old. After finishing his superior studies in 1896, the day dedicated to the Sacred Heart of […]

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Saint Guido of Acqui

June 10, 2024

Saint Guido of Acqui (also Wido) (c. 1004 – 12 June 1070) was Bishop of Acqui (now Acqui Terme) in north-west Italy from 1034 until his death. He was born around 1004 to a noble family of the area of Acqui, the Counts of Acquesana, in Melazzo where the family’s wealth was concentrated. He completed […]

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June 12 – He Crowned Charlemagne

June 10, 2024

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

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June 7 – The Crusaders reach the walls of Jerusalem

June 6, 2024

In June of 1099 [the First Crusade] arrived before the walls of Jerusalem, which was then held by the Fatimid Arabs of Egypt. With their usual religious zeal and grim determination, the Christians prepared to attack the walls. Their fighting force had been reduced to 1,200 knights and 10,000 foot soldiers, with a similar number […]

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True Sanctity Lies in Strength of Soul and Not in Sentimental Softness

June 6, 2024

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Church teaches that true and complete sanctity is the heroism of virtue. The honor of the altars is not granted to weak, hypersensitive souls that flee from profound thoughts, from acute suffering, from the fight, in short, from the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful of the […]

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She did what St. Ignatius could not

June 6, 2024

Ven. Anne de Xainctonge Foundress of the Society of the Sisters of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin, born at Dijon, 21 November, 1567; died at Dôle, 8 June, 1621. She was the daughter of Jean de Xainctonge, councillor in the Dijon Parliament, and of Lady Marguerite Collard, both of noble birth and virtuous life. […]

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June 8 – Saint Cloud

June 6, 2024

Saint Chlodulf (Clodulphe or Clodould) or more commonly Saint Cloud (605 – June 8, 696 or June 8, 697, others say May 8, 697) was bishop of Metz approximately from 657 to 697. Chlodulf was the son of Arnulf, bishop of Metz, and the younger brother of Ansegisel, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. Before […]

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Venerable Marina de Escobar

June 6, 2024

June 9 – Mystic Venerable Marina de Escobar, Mystic and foundress of a modified branch of the Brigittine Order b. at Valladolid, Spain, February 8, 1554; d. there June 9, 1633. Her father, Iago de Escobar, was professor of civil and canon law and for a time governor of Osuna, a man noted for his […]

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He celebrated the first Mass in Quebec

June 6, 2024

Jean Dolbeau Recollect friar, born in the Province of Anjou, France, 12 March, 1586; died at Orléans, 9 June, 1652. He entered the order at the age of nineteen at Balmette, near Angers, and was one of the four Recollects who were the first missionaries of Canada. He landed at Quebec in May, 1615, and […]

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June 9 – Nurse and foundress

June 6, 2024

Frances Margaret Taylor (MOTHER M. MAGDALEN TAYLOR) Superior General, and foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, born 20 Jan., 1832; died in London, 9 June, 1900. Her father was a Protestant clergyman, the vicar of a Lincolnshire parish where her early years were spent in works of charity among the poor. […]

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Gabriel Bucelin – Historian

June 6, 2024

(Buzlin). A Benedictine historical writer, born at Diessenhofen in Thurgau, 29 December, 1599, died at Weingarten, 9 June, 1681. A scion of the distinguished line of Bucellini counts, Gabriel, at the age of thirteen, entered the Benedictine monastery at Weingarten. After a course in Philosophy and theology at Dillingen he was ordained priest 23 April, […]

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June 9 – French opponent to Jansenism and Gallicanism

June 6, 2024

Louis Gaston de Ségur Prelate and French apologist, born 15 April, 1820, in Paris; died 9 June, 1881, in the same city. He was descended on his paternal side form the Marquis of Ségur — Marshal of France and Minister of Louis XVI, who occupied this position during the participation of France in the war […]

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St. Francis Caracciolo

June 3, 2024

St. Francis Caracciolo Co-founder with John Augustine Adorno of the Congregation of the Minor Clerks Regular; born in Villa Santa Maria in the Abrusso (Italy), 13 October, 1563; died at Agnone, 4 June, 1608. He belonged to the Pisquizio branch of the Caracciolo and received in baptism the name of Ascanio. From his infancy he […]

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To Establish Absolute Equality Would Be to Destroy the Social Organism

June 3, 2024

Pius XII declares in a speech to a group of parishioners of Marsciano, Perugia, Italy, on June 4, 1953: “It is necessary that you truly feel like brothers. “It is not a matter of mere appearance; you are truly sons of God, so you are really brothers to one another. “Now, brothers are not born […]

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June 5 – Classmate of the Emperor

June 3, 2024

James of Edessa A celebrated Syrian writer, b. most likely in A.D. 633; d. 5 June, 708. He was a native of the village of `En-debha, in the district of Gumyah, in the province of Antioch. During several years he studied Greek and Holy Writ at the famous convent of Kennesrhe, on the left bank […]

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