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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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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November 12 – Four years in Stalin’s concentration camp

November 11, 2013

Blessed Hryhorij Lakota Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church auxiliary bishop who suffered religious persecution and was martyred by the Soviet Government. Hryhorij Lakota was born 31 January 1893 in Holodivka, Lviv Oblast. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Przemyśl on 16 May 1926. On 9 June 1946, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, as […]

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November 12 – Fearless and Bold

November 11, 2013

St. Lebwin (LEBUINUS or LIAFWIN). Apostle of the Frisians and patron of Deventer, born in England of Anglo-Saxon parents at an unknown date; died at Deventer, Holland, about 770. Educated in a monastery and fired by the example of St. Boniface, St. Willibrord, and other great English missionaries, Lebwin resolved to dovote his life to […]

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November 12 – Kidnapped, sold as a slave, ransomed by a bishop, and confidante of the emperor

November 11, 2013

St. Nilus (Neilos) Nilus the elder, of Sinai (died circa 430), was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. We know him first as a layman, married, with two sons. At this time he was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, and is said to have been one of […]

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November 12 – Noble Ruthenian Stock

November 11, 2013

St. Josaphat Kuncevyc Martyr, born in the little town of Volodymyr in Lithuania (Volyn) in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk, Russia, 12 November, 1623. The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine […]

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November 13 – Pure and noble, he received Holy Communion from the hands of angels

November 11, 2013

St. Stanislas Kostka Born at Rostkovo near Prasnysz, Poland, about 28 October, 1550; died at Rome during the night of 14-15 August, 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rome, 28 October, 1567, and is said to have foretold his death a few days before it occurred. His father, John Kostka, was a senator […]

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November 13 – One of the Great Popes of the Middle Ages

November 11, 2013

Pope St. Nicholas I Born at Rome, date unknown; died 13 November, 867; one of the great popes of the Middle Ages, who exerted decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe. He was of a distinguished family, being the son of the Defensor […]

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Anarchist Fire Outside Buckingham Palace

November 7, 2013

According to AFP: Hundreds of Anonymous protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks protested outside Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s London home, as part of a global demonstration against austerity on Tuesday. Protesters threw bottles at police in riot gear and a fire was lit outside the palace. The demonstration was part of a pre-arranged “million mask” […]

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London Housing Authority: Evict Royals

November 7, 2013

According to the London Evening Standard: Buckingham Palace should be turned into council flats, Labour’s London housing spokesman has suggested. Tom Copley’s controversial call to evict the Queen from her landmark residence was made at the annual Class conference held in London. His speech, made as Labour’s housing spokesman on the London Assembly, came days […]

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Republican Movement Admits Low Numbers and International Scope

November 7, 2013

According to The Guardian: Opinion polling consistently shows that 20-25% of the British people want a democratic alternative to hereditary monarchy…. “When mild criticism of our hereditary monarchy provokes such a storm in the media, it’s no wonder that politicians tend to avoid straying into the debate. But we shouldn’t be cowed. On Saturday I […]

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

November 7, 2013

[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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The Natural Leadership of Bourdon Souls

November 7, 2013

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira likened society to a carillon. The carillon is a large musical instrument consisting of at least twenty-three cast bronze bells often suspended in bell towers and arranged to play music. To apply his metaphor, the carillon is a society or social unit, and each person is a different bell. The representative […]

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November 7 – He Went on Crusade to Atone for His Sins

November 7, 2013

Saint Engelbert of Cologne Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); born at Berg, about 1185; died near Schwelm, 7 November 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to an abuse of […]

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November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 7, 2013

Born     December 29, 1811, in Aitona, Lleida, Spain Died     20 March 1872, in Tarragona, Spain Beatified     April 24, 1988 Feast     November 7 Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching for adult persons—at Barcelona. In 1860-61, he also founded a […]

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November 7 – Martyred in Mecca

November 7, 2013

Saint Ernest of Mecca Abbot of the abbey of Zwiefalten Died     1148 AD in Mecca Feast     November 7 Saint Ernest (died 1148) was the abbot of the Benedictine Zwiefalten Abbey at Zwiefalten, Germany during the 12th century. He participated in the Second Crusade fought by Christians between 1145 and 1149 to regain the […]

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November 7 – St. Willibrord and the Dancing Procession

November 7, 2013

St. Willibrord Bishop of Utrecht, Apostle of the Frisians, and son of St. Hilgis, born in Northumbria, 658; died at Echternach, Luxemburg, 7 Nov., 739. Willibrord made his early studies at the Abbey of Ripon near York, as a disciple of St. Wilfrid, and then entered the Benedictine Order. When twenty years old he went […]

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November 7 – Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

November 7, 2013

Bl. Bernardine of Fossa Of the Order of Friars Minor, historian and ascetical writer, b. at Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November, 1503. Blessed Bernardine belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Amici, and sometimes bears the name of Aquilanus on account of his long […]

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November 8 – Four Crowned Martyrs

November 7, 2013

Four Crowned Martyrs The old guidebooks to the tombs of the Roman martyrs make mention, in connection with the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana, of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Quatuor Coronati), at whose grave the pilgrims were wont to worship (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 178-79). One of these itineraries, […]

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November 8 – Saint Tysilio of Wales

November 7, 2013

Saint Tysilio (died 640) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar, son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor Iscoed and an ecclesiastic who took a prominent part in the affairs of Wales during the distressful period at the opening of the 7th century. Prince […]

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November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 7, 2013

St. Willehad Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He […]

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November 10 – Who Was the First Pope to Be Called “Great,” and Why?

November 7, 2013

Pope St. Leo I (the Great) Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. (Reigned 440-61). Leo’s pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity. At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in consequence of the hastening […]

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Who Carries the Longest Sword in the British Army?

November 4, 2013

According to Pooley Sword: Because British cavalry officers always led their men from the front, the officer’s charger was the most imposing horse on the battlefield – a larger, more powerful animal than the ordinary trooper’s horse. This called for a weapon of comparable dimensions, and the Household Cavalry Officer’s sword is the longest in […]

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Former Government Official: Queen Elizabeth Does Not Represent New Zealand Interests

November 4, 2013

According to Royalty News: Peter Hamilton, former secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, spoke out at the NZ Republican Movement’s annual meeting…, saying his 35 year career had brought home the missed opportunities caused by having the Queen as the country’s titular head… Mr Hamilton also said that when he was invited, during his time […]

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An elite American lady’s sublime attraction to the Catholic Church

November 4, 2013

My sister, Mimoli Crawford, had several times in her life wanted to become a Catholic. My mother had always done her best to prevent it. I remember at one time Mimoli wrote her a long letter with a list of “plain reasons for joining the Church of Rome.” My mother had an old friend, an […]

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Leaders are called to higher virtue

November 4, 2013

For these [leadership] characters to be truly representative, they cannot be just good administrators. They must practice not only common virtue but the extraordinary valor found in those who sacrifice for the common good. It is especially found in those who love their neighbor for the love of God when practicing Christian charity. We might […]

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St. Hubert, patron of the hunt and some liqueurs

November 4, 2013

As the pleasure-loving firstborn son of the Duke of Aquitaine, Hubert loved the chase. Little did he realize though, that God would use his favorite pastime to bring about his spiritual conversion. He was hot in the pursuit of a noble stag when, upon reaching a forest clearing, it turned and faced him. Suspended in […]

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November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 4, 2013

St. Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died […]

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November 6 – Duchess d’Alençon

November 4, 2013

Blessed Margaret of Lorraine Duchess d’Alencon, religious of the order of Poor Clares, born in 1463 at the castle of Vaudémont (Lorraine); died at Argentan (Brittany) 2 November, 1521. The daughter of Ferri de Vaudimont and of Yolande d’Anjou, little Margaret became an orphan at an early age and was brought up at Aix-en-Provençe, by […]

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November 6 – St. Winnoc

November 4, 2013

St. Winnoc Abbot or Prior or Wormhoult, died 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist […]

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Who Missed the Royal Christening?

October 31, 2013

According to Postmedia News: While other members of the Royal Family were sitting down to tea and a slice of traditional wedding cake after Prince George’s christening…, the Princess Royal was hard at work — in Canada. “The Princess Royal’s no-nonsense approach to royal life and duty explain a lot about the lack of official […]

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British Monarchy: First Photograph of Four Generations Since Queen Victoria

October 31, 2013

According to The Telegraph: One picture…shows the Queen posing with the next three kings of Britain…the first such photograph for 114 years. The last similar occasion was in 1899, when an 80-year-old Queen Victoria posed with her direct successors Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII. This time, the Queen, who is 87, is pictured […]

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Franciscan missionaries of Texas who paid the ultimate price

October 31, 2013

We do well and practice the virtues of justice and gratitude when we honor our fallen soldiers; the warriors who gave their lives on the field of battle to defend the nation. We do well to honor policemen when they are killed in the carrying out of their law enforcement duties. Similarly, we honor firemen […]

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