Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites — In the Allocutions of Pius XII

March 17 – St. Gertrude of Nivelles

March 16, 2020

St. Gertrude of Nivelles Virgin, and Abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles; born in 626; died 17 March, 659. She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and a younger sister of St. Begga, Abbess of Andenne… Read more here.

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March 18 – Martyr King

March 16, 2020

Saint Edward the Martyr King of England, son to Edgar the Peaceful, and uncle to St. Edward the Confessor; born about 962; died March 18, 979. His accession to the throne on his father’s death, in 975, was opposed by a party headed by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who was bent on securing the crown […]

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March 19 – St. Joseph

March 16, 2020

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. LIFE Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch’s life, as on many other […]

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March 19 – Saint Joseph, Martyr of Grandeur

March 16, 2020

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira To have an idea of what Saint Joseph—the Patron of the Church—was like, we must consider two prodigious facts: he was the foster father of the Child Jesus and he was the spouse of Our Lady. The husband must be proportional to the wife. Now who is Our Lady? She […]

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Saint John Ogilvie: Hero For Our Times

March 12, 2020

by Neil McKay “In times of great crisis there are two types of men: those who are overwhelmed by the crisis and those who resist the trend of events and so change the course of history.”—Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira “REFORM THE CHURCH!” “MARRIED PRIESTS NEEDED!” “70% OF CATHOLICS DENY REAL PRESENCE!” “SECRET […]

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Any Knight Could Dub Another Knight

March 12, 2020

To whom belonged the privilege of making knights? It is necessary to ascertain this. Every knight has the power to create knights.—This is the principle which we must first lay down and which is predominant: it was the ancient and primordial custom, the spirit, the life, the very essence of the institution. Chivalry was a […]

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March 13 – Though not a learned man, he established a school known today as Oxford

March 12, 2020

Bl. Agnellus of Pisa Friar Minor and founder of the English Franciscan Province, born at Pisa c. 1195, of the noble family of the Agnelli; died at Oxford, 7 May, 1236. In early youth he was received into the Seraphic Order by St. Francis himself, during the latter’s sojourn in Pisa, and soon became an […]

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March 13 – There Is No Price Tag on Happiness

March 12, 2020

St. Euphrasia (aka Eupraxia) Virgin, born in 380; died after 410. Antigonus, the father of this saint, was a nobleman of the first rank and quality in the court of Theodosius the younger, nearly allied in blood to that emperor, and honored by him with several great employments in the state. He was married to […]

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March 13 – St. Leander of Seville

March 12, 2020

St. Leander of Seville Bishop of that city, born at Carthage about 534, of a Roman family established in that city; died at Seville, 13 March, 600 or 601. Some historians claim that his father Severian was duke or governor of Carthage, but St. Isidore simply states that he was a citizen of that city. […]

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March 13 – St. Nicephorus

March 12, 2020

St. Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople, 806-815, b. about 758; d. 2 June, 829. This champion of the orthodox view in the second contest over the veneration of images belonged to a noted family of Constantinople. He was the son of the imperial secretary Theodore and his pious wife Eudoxia. Eudoxia was a strict adherent of […]

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March 14 – Patroness of Those Falsely Accused

March 12, 2020

St. Matilda, Queen of Saxony Queen of Germany, wife of King Henry I (The Fowler), born at the Villa of Engern in Westphalia, about 895; died at Quedlinburg, 14 March, 968. She was brought up at the monastery of Erfurt. Henry, whose marriage to a young widow, named Hathburg, had been declared invalid, asked for […]

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March 15 – Her nuns earned the name “Angels of the Battlefield”

March 12, 2020

St. Louise de Marillac Le Gras Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, born at Paris, 12 August, 1591, daughter of Louis de Marillac, Lord of Ferrieres, and Marguerite Le Camus; died there, 15 March, 1660. Her mother having died soon after the birth of Louise, the education of the latter […]

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March 15 – Pope St. Zachary

March 12, 2020

Pope St. Zachary (ZACHARIAS.) Reigned 741-52. Year of birth unknown; died in March, 752. Zachary sprang from a Greek family living in Calabria; his father, according to the “Liber Pontificalis”, was called Polichronius. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732. […]

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March 15 – The baker who defeated the Emperor

March 12, 2020

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer (JOHN DVORÁK) The second founder of the Redemptorist Congregation, called “the Apostle of Vienna”, born at Tasswitz in Moravia, 26 December, 1751; died at Vienna 15 March, 1821. The family name of Dvorak was better known by its German equivalent, Hofbauer. The youngest of twelve children, and son of a grazier […]

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March 15 – The Pope made him Abbot, but not priest

March 12, 2020

Baron Ferdinand de Géramb In religion, Brother Mary Joseph; Abbot and procurator-general of La Trappe, came of a noble and ancient family in Hungary; b. in Lyons, 14 Jan., 1772; d. at Rome, 15 March, 1848. Some historians wrongfully call in question both the place and date of his birth, as also his noble descent. […]

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March 15 – Explorer missionary

March 12, 2020

Eusebius Kino A famous Jesuit missionary of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; b. 10 August, 1644, in Welschtirol (Anauniensis); d. 15 March, 1711. Kühn (his German name; Kino representing the Italian and Spanish form) entered the Upper German Province of the Society of Jesus on 20 November, 1665. He was professor of mathematics for some […]

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March 16 – Chancellor to Italy and Germany

March 12, 2020

St. Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne Born at Worms, c. 970; died at Cologne, 16 March, 1021. His father was Duke Hugo of Worms. After receiving his education at the cathedral school of Worms, he spent some time as guest at the monastery of Gorze, after which he became provost at the cathedral of Worms. In […]

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March 10 – “I want no prayers from heretics!”

March 9, 2020

St. John Ogilvie Ogilvie, the son of a wealthy noble, was born into a Calvinist family near Keith in Banffshire, Scotland and was educated in mainland Europe where he attended a number of Roman Catholic educational establishments, under the Benedictines at Regensburg in Germany and with the Jesuits at Olomouc and Brno in the present […]

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March 11 – Saint Sophronius

March 9, 2020

Saint Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem and Greek ecclesiastical writer, b. about 560 at Damascus of noble parentage; d. probably March 11, 638, at Jerusalem. In company with John Moschus he traveled extensively through the East and also went to Rome. He probably became a monk in Egypt about 580 and later removed to Palestine. From […]

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March 11 – Constantine the Great

March 9, 2020

His coins give his name as M., or more frequently as C., Flavius Valerius Constantinus. He was born at Naissus, now Nisch in Servia [Nis, Serbia —Ed.], the son of a Roman officer, Constantius, who later became Roman Emperor, and St. Helena, a woman of humble extraction but remarkable character and unusual ability. The date […]

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March 11 – Saint under the Caliphs

March 9, 2020

St. Eulogius of Cordova Spanish martyr and writer who flourished during the reigns of the Cordovan Caliphs, Abd-er-Rahman II and Mohammed I (822-886). It is not certain on what date or in what year of the ninth century he was born; it must have been previous to 819, because in 848 he was a priest […]

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March 12 – The Mistaken Chronicler

March 9, 2020

St. Theophanes Chronicler, born at Constantinople, about 758; died in Samothracia, probably 12 March, 817, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. He was the son of Isaac, imperial governor of the islands of the White Sea, and of Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. After the early death of his […]

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Queen Isabella the Catholic – Irresistible to the Good and Terrifying to the Wicked

March 5, 2020

At a critical moment the Catholic Jew governor decided for her, and on Saint Lucy’s day she rode on a white palfrey, with Cabrera on one side of her and the Archbishop on the other, to a platform on the Plaza Mayor, where the great crown of San Fernando was placed upon her fair auburn […]

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Highly Aristocratic Institutions

March 5, 2020

In the documents of Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), the word democracy took on a new, original meaning worthy of in-depth study. Those who undertake the study soon see how democracy differs from what is considered as democratic in many political circles today. Take for example what the Pontiff affirmed in a speech to the Roman […]

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March 6 – Bishop Prime Minister

March 5, 2020

St. Chrodegang Bishop of Metz, born at the beginning of the eighth century at Hasbania, in what is now Belgian Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; died at Metz, 6 March, 766. He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, […]

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March 6 – Of Kings and Princesses

March 5, 2020

Saints Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba The two first were daughters of Penda, the cruel pagan king of Mercia, and sisters to three successive Christian Kings, Peada, Wulfere, and Ethelred, and to the pious prince Merowald… Read more here.

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March 6 – Friend of the Stuarts

March 5, 2020

Guilo Cesare Cordara Historian and littérateur, b. at Alessandra in Piedmont, Italy, 14 Dec., 1704; died there 6 March, 1785. The scion of an illustrious and ancient family that came originally from Nice, young Cordara studied at Rome under the Jesuits, and became a Jesuit himself at the age of fourteen. Subsequently he taught in […]

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March 6 – God gave him the great grace of “unsuitability for government”

March 5, 2020

Ven. Gonçalo Da Silveira Pioneer missionary of South Africa, b. 23 Feb, 1526, at Almeirim, about forty miles from Lisbon; martyred 6 March, 1561. He was the tenth child of Dom Luis da Silveira, first count of Sortelha, and Dona Beatrice Coutinho, daughter of Dom Fernando Coutinho, Marshal of the Kingdom of Portugal. Losing his […]

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March 7 – Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

March 5, 2020

Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart Born July 15, 1747. Died March 7, 1770 in Florence. She was born Anna Maria Redi to a large noble family in Arezzo, Italy. She was the daughter of Count Ignatius Redi and Camilla Billeti. After attending the boarding school of the Benedictine nuns of St. Apollonia’s in […]

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March 7 – Martyred for entertainment on the birthday of the Emperor

March 5, 2020

Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas Martyrs, suffered at Carthage, 7 March 203, together with three companions, Revocatus, Saturus, and Saturninus. The details of the martyrdom of these five confessors in the North African Church have reached us through a genuine, contemporary description, one of the most affecting accounts of the glorious warfare of Christian martyrdom in […]

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March 7 – Pope Innocent XIII

March 5, 2020

Pope Innocent XIII (Michelangelo Dei Conti) Born at Rome, 13 May, 1655; died at the same place, 7 March, 1724. He was the son of Carlo II, Duke of Poli. After studying at the Roman College he was introduced into the Curia by Alexander VIII, who in 1690 commissioned him to bear the blessed hat […]

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March 7 – Stoic Emperor

March 5, 2020

Antoninus Pius (TITUS ÆLIUS HADRIANUS ANTONINUS PIUS). Roman Emperor (138-161), born 18 September, A.D. 86 at Lanuvium, a short distance from Rome; died at Lorium, 7 March, 161. Most of his youth was spent at Lorium, which was only twelve miles from Rome. Later on he built a villa there, to which he would frequently […]

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March 7 – Last cruelties of Henry VIII

March 5, 2020

Bl. German Gardiner Last martyr under Henry VIII; date of birth unknown; died at Tyburn, 7 March, 1544; secretary to, and probably a kinsmen of, Stephen Gardiner, and an able defender of the old Faith, as his tract against John Frith (dated 1 August, 1534) shows. During the years of fiery trial, which followed, we […]

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March 8 – He was not a prince, but they buried him as one

March 5, 2020

St. John of God Born at Montemor o Novo, Portugal, 8 March, 1495, of devout Christian parents; died at Granada, 8 March, 1550. The wonders attending the saints birth heralded a life many-sided in its interests, but dominated throughout by implicit fidelity to the grace of God. A Spanish priest whom he followed to Oropeza, […]

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March 8 – Classmate of Innocent III

March 5, 2020

Bl. Vincent Kadlubek (KADLUBO, KADLUBKO). Bishop of Cracow, chronicler, born at Karnow, Duchy of Sandomir, Poland, 1160; died at Jedrzejow, 8 March, 1223. The son of a rich family in Poland, he made such progress in his studies that in 1189 he could sign his name as Magister Vincentius (Zeissberg, in “Archiv fur osterreichische Geschichte”, […]

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March 9 – She Could Detect Diabolical Plots

March 5, 2020

St. Frances of Rome One of the greatest mystics of the fifteenth century; born at Rome, of a noble family, in 1384; died there, 9 March, 1440. Her youthful desire was to enter religion, but at her father’s wish she married, at the age of twelve, Lorenzo de’ Ponziani. Among her children we know of […]

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March 9 – Incorrupt

March 5, 2020

St. Catherine of Bologna Poor Clare and mystical writer, born at Bologna, 8 September, 1413; died there, 9 March, 1463. When she was ten years old, her father sent her to the court of the Marquis of Ferrara, Nicolò d’Este, as a companion to the Princess Margarita. Here Catherine pursued the study of literature and […]

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March 3 – The work of Mother Drexel

March 2, 2020

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament One of the…congregations of religious women in the Catholic Church and one of entirely American origin, founded by Miss Katharine Drexel at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1889, for missionary work among the Indians and coloured people of the United States. The formal approbation of the Holy See was given to the […]

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March 3 – Empress Saint

March 2, 2020

St. Cunegundes, Empress (c. 975 – 3 March 1040 at Kaufungen), also called Cunegundes and Cunegonda ST. CUNEGUNDES was the daughter of Sigefride, the first count of Luxemburgh, and Hadeswige his pious wife. They instilled into her from her cradle the most tender sentiments of piety, and married her to St. Henry, duke of Bavaria, […]

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March 4 – “Your Honor, was St. Augustine also a traitor?”

March 2, 2020

Blessed Christopher Bales (Or Bayles, alias Evers) Priest and martyr, b. at Coniscliffe near Darlington, County Durham, England, about 1564; executed 4 March, 1590. He entered the English College at Rome, 1 October, 1583, but owing to ill-health was sent to the College at Reims, where he was ordained 28 March, 1587… Read more here.

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March 4 – This Prince had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin

March 2, 2020

St. Casimir Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at Cracow, 3 October, 1458; died at the court of Grodno, 4 March, 1484. He was the grandson of Wladislaus II Jagiello, King of Poland, who introduced Christianity into Lithuania, and the second son of King Casimir IV and Queen Elizabeth, an Austrian princess, the […]

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March 5 – St. John Joseph of the Cross

March 2, 2020

St. John Joseph of the Cross Born on the Island of Ischia, Southern Italy, 1654; died 5 March, 1739. From his earliest years he was given to prayer and virtue. So great was his love of poverty that he would always wear the dress of the poor, though he was of noble birth. At the […]

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Queen Elizabeth II visits MI5

February 27, 2020

According to the Royal Household: The Queen visited MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency. [She said] “Because of the nature of your work, it is without public recognition, so it is on behalf of the country that I say to you all, thank you.” From convincing Hitler the D-Day landings were going to […]

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D-Day: The King Who Fooled Hitler

February 27, 2020

According to the University of Warwick: Research by Professor Richard Aldrich of Warwick’s Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) played a central part in a new Channel 4 documentary, broadcast this weekend, exploring how British intelligence enlisted the Royal Family as part of its scheme to mislead the Nazis about plans for the liberation […]

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Doolin’s Story

February 27, 2020

Now, we find that the old Count Guy de Maience used to live in a castle on the bank of the Rhine, low down-near the mouth of the river, not very far from the “salt sea.” This gentleman was an indefatigable sportsman, and a mighty hunter; in the whole course of his existence he had […]

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The Love of Tradition In The Most Famous Brazilian Festival

February 27, 2020

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira One of the most audacious deceptions of the Revolution is the way they present the people as an obscure, agitated and disordered “mare magnum,” always on the verge of exploding, in the unfathomable mysterious depths of the people, the Revolution says, there is hatred, envy and ruthlessness continually fermenting and […]

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February 28 – One of the many men who spent their lives building a Christian Civilization

February 27, 2020

St. Romanus Abbot of Condat, now St. Claude in the French Jura, born about 400; died in 463 or 464. When thirty-five years old he went into the lonely region of Condat to live as a hermit, where after a while his younger brother Lupicinus followed him. A large number of scholars, among whom was […]

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February 28 – St. Oswald

February 27, 2020

St. Oswald Archbishop of York, died on 29 February, 992. Of Danish parentage, Oswald was brought up by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and instructed by Fridegode. For some time he was dean of the house of the secular canons at Winchester, but led by the desire of a stricter life he entered the […]

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February 28 – Pope Saint Hilarus

February 27, 2020

Pope Saint Hilarus [Also spelled HILARIUS, or HILARY]Elected 461; the date of his death is given as 28 Feb., 468. After the death of Leo I, an archdeacon named Hilarus, a native of Sardinia, according to the “Liber Pontificalis”, was chosen to succeed him, and in all probability received consecration on 19 November, 461. Together […]

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February 28 – The Gentleman instructed in the conduct of a virtuous and happy life

February 27, 2020

William Darrell Theologian, b. 1651, in Buckinghamshire, England; d. 28 Feb., 1721, at St. Omer’s, France. He was a member of the ancient Catholic family of Darrell of Scotney Castle, Sussex, being the only son of Thomas Darrell and his wife, Thomassine Marcham. He joined the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept., 1671, was professed […]

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February 29 – The Church in China

February 27, 2020

Part I Ancient Christians The introduction of Christianity into China has been ascribed not only to the Apostle of India, St. Thomas, but also to St. Bartholomew. In the third century, Arnobius, in “Adversus Gentes”, speaks of the Seres, with the Persians and the Medes, as among the nations reached by “that new power which […]

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March 1 – St. David of Wales

February 27, 2020

St. David (DEGUI, DEWI). Bishop and Confessor, patron of Wales. He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David’s day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in […]

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March 1 – Apostle of the Frisians

February 27, 2020

St. Suitbert (Suidbert). Apostle of the Frisians, b. in England in the seventh century; d. at Suitberts-Insel, now Kaiserswerth, near Dusseldorf, 1 March, 713. He studied in Ireland, at Rathmelsigi, Connacht, along with St. Egbert (q. v.). The latter, filled with zeal for the conversion of the Germans, had sent St. Wihtberht, or Wigbert, to […]

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March 2 – This Princess Refused to Marry the Emperor

February 27, 2020

St. Agnes of Bohemia (Also called Agnes of Prague). Born at Prague in the year 1200; died probably in 1281. She was the daughter of Ottocar, King of Bohemia and Constance of Hungary, a relative of St. Elizabeth. At an early age she was sent to the monastery of Treinitz, where at the hands of […]

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March 2 – Warrior Bishop Prince

February 27, 2020

St. John Maron Origin of St. John Maron John Maron was born in Sarum, a prosperous town located south of the city of Antioch. His date of birth is not mentioned but many historians place it around the third decade of the seventh century. He descended from a Frankish royal family which governed Antioch, a […]

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February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 24, 2020

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, 2020

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, 2020

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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February 26 – St. Alexander (of Alexandria)

February 24, 2020

St. Alexander (of Alexandria) Patriarch of Alexandria, date of birth uncertain; died 17 April, 326. He is, apart from his own greatness, prominent by the fact that his appointment to the patriarchial see excluded the heresiarch Arius from that post. Arius had begun to teach his heresies in 300 when Peter, by whom he was […]

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February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest?

February 24, 2020

St. Anne Line English martyr, died 27 Feb., 1601. She was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a gentleman of means and an ardent Calvinist, and when she and her brother announced their intention of becoming Catholics both were disowned and disinherited. Anne married Roger Line, a convert like herself, and shortly after […]

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