December 22 – “I swear by St. Eimhin’s bell…”

December 19, 2013

St. Eimhin Abbot and Bishop of Ros-mic-Truin (Ireland), probably in the sixth century. He came of the royal race of Munster, and was brother of two other saints, Culain and Dairmid. Of the early part of his religious life little is known. When he became abbot of the monastery of Ros-mic-Truin, in succession to its […]

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Our Christmas gift to you

December 19, 2013

Return to Order for Kindle is available FREE as our Christmas gift and THANK YOU for your friendship. We are delighted to offer a complimentary Kindle copy of the book to you. Even better, you can send the link to your friends, and they can get a Kindle copy of Return to Order FREE, too! […]

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The Effect of the Queen’s Speech

December 16, 2013

According to the Daily Express: …there was a massive sales rise in both broaches (83%) and pearls (47%) during the Queen’s Speech in 2012 after she wore one for the annual television appearance. With a combined viewing figure of 8.3million…, a lot of people sat down to listen to the Queen’s round-up of the previous […]

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December 16 – St. Adelaide: Most Important Woman of Her Century

December 16, 2013

St. Adelaide (ADELHEID). Born 931; died 16 December, 999, one of the conspicuous characters in the struggle of Otho the Great to obtain the imperial crown from the Roman Pontiffs. She was the daughter of Rudolph II, King of Burgundy, who was at war with Hugh of Provence for the crown of Italy. The rivals […]

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The Empty Reliquary

December 16, 2013

According to The Telegraph: …the Stone of Scone…ripped from the chair made for it …the Lord Chancellor…ignored the donation of the stone by Edward I in 1297 to the shrine of Edward the Confessor. The chair then made for it, still surviving, was used liturgically there by priests during Mass. When Edward III…tried to give […]

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King and Queen allowed to live in their own country

December 16, 2013

According to Royal News 24: Their Majesties King Constantine II and Queen Anne Marie of the Hellenes are to return to live in Athens for the first time in 46 years. … To read the entire post on Royal News 24, please click here.  

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St. John Chrysostom challenges the Roman Empress

December 16, 2013

Eudoxia, Empress of Constantinople, hated St. John Chrysostom, because he always spoke to her of her faults, which she did not try to correct. One day, being very angry, she said to him: “I am going to banish you from this city, and send you into the most distant parts of my empire. In this […]

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The State: The Highest Good in the Temporal Order

December 16, 2013

Since the State deals with the common good of all its members, Aristotle and Catholic authors from Saint Augustine onward have long regarded the State as the highest and most important earthly form of social union. That is why so many go even to the point of sacrificing their lives for its continuance. A State […]

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December 16 – Can Whistleblowers Be Saints? This One Was…

December 16, 2013

St. Ado, Archbishop of Vienne, Confessor Born about 800, in the diocese of Sens; died 16 December, 875. He was brought up at the Benedictine Abbey of Ferrières, and had as one of his masters the Abbot Lupus Servatus, one of the most celebrated humanists of those times. By his brilliant talents and assiduous application […]

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December 17 – St. Olympias

December 16, 2013

Born 360-5; died 25 July, 408, probably at Nicomedia. This pious, charitable, and wealthy disciple of St. John Chrysostom came from an illustrious family in Constantinople. Her father (called by the sources Secundus or Selencus) was a “Count” of the empire; one of her ancestors, Ablabius, filled in 331 the consular office, and was also […]

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December 17 – St. Begga, Widow and Abbess

December 16, 2013

This saint was daughter of Pepin of Landen, eldest sister to St. Gertrude of Nivelle, and married Ansegise, son to St. Arnoul, who was some time mayor of the palace, and afterwards bishop of Metz. Her husband being killed in hunting, she dedicated herself to a penitential state of retirement, and, after performing a pilgrimage […]

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December 17 – St. Sturmius and the diocese of Fulda

December 16, 2013

To systematize the work of evangelizing Germany, St. Boniface organized a hierarchy on the usual ecclesiastical basis; in Bavaria the Dioceses of Salzburg, Freising, Ratisbon, and Passau; in Franconia and Thuringia, Würzburg, Eichstätt, Buraburg near Fritzlar, and Erfurt. To facilitate missionary work farther north, especially among the Saxons, he sought a suitable spot for the […]

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December 12 – Guadalupe: She Who Smashes the Serpent

December 12, 2013

by Cesar Franco Pope Pius XII gave Our Lady of Guadalupe the title of “Empress of the Americas” in 1945. Since December 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, this is a propitious moment to recall how She reigns over our nation from Heaven, protecting and guiding us with Motherly solicitude and tenderness. […]

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Bad elites hastened the fall of Constantinople

December 12, 2013

Resolved to defend the capital unto the very last breath, Constantine [XII] searched for help on all sides. He first turned his gaze to Rome. Shortly before his death, the Emperor John had distanced himself from unity with the Catholic Church. Constantine implored Pope Nicholas V for assistance and offered to bring about this Union […]

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Representative Figures and the State

December 12, 2013

[T]here is little need for big government in the organic State since shared authority is expressed everywhere. In such an atmosphere, representative figures at all social levels play their important role. In fact, this model of the State relies much more on human relationships than on money contracts. It governs more by influence than by […]

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December 13 – Elected Pope to Fight the Emperor

December 12, 2013

Pope Callistus II Date of birth unknown; died 13 December, 1124. His reign, beginning 1 February, 1119, is signalized by the termination of the Investiture controversy which, begun in the time of Gregory VII, had raged with almost unabated bitterness during the last quarter of the eleventh century and the opening years of the twelfth. […]

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December 13 – “The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from here”

December 12, 2013

St. Jane Frances de Chantal Born at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641. Her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy, and leader of the royalist party during the League that brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry IV. In 1592 she married Baron […]

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December 13 – St. Odilia

December 12, 2013

St. Odilia Patroness of Alsace, born at the end of the seventh century; died about 720. According to a trustworthy statement, apparently taken from an earlier life, she was the daughter of the Frankish lord Adalrich (Aticus, Etik) and his wife Bereswinda, who had large estates in Alsace. She founded the convent of Hohenburg (Odilienberg) […]

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Saint Lucy candle ceremony video and recipes

December 12, 2013

  Saint Lucy Day and Saint Lucy Buns   Sadly, Scandinavia joined the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century and thus lost that link with the Papacy forged in 960 with the baptism of Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, king of Denmark and Norway. With Protestantism, devotion to most saints was abandoned, but among the few that […]

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December 13 – The girl named Lucy, opposite of Lucifer

December 12, 2013

St. Lucy A virgin and martyr of Syracuse in Sicily, whose feast is celebrated by Latins and Greeks alike on 13 Dec. According to the traditional story, she was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin, but his early death left her dependent upon her mother, […]

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Royal Wedding diadem goes on display

December 9, 2013

According to AFP: …the royal diadem worn by Kate Middleton at her wedding [and] hundreds of glimmering treasures go on show this week in a major Paris exhibit…running until February 16 under the famous glass roof of the Grand Palais exhibition hall… Queen Elizabeth II…made available the tiara…which the queen lent to Prince William’s bride […]

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“Royal Stardust” as Prince William distributes medals to soldiers returning from Afghanistan

December 9, 2013

According to the News and Diary of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall: The Duke of Cambridge has presented medals to members of the Irish Guards who have recently returned from operations in Afghanistan. The Duke, who is Colonel of the regiment, presented operational service medals to soldiers of No. 2 Company, […]

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St. Elizabeth of Hungary instructs her ladies on Christian charity

December 9, 2013

Among the Saints of the Middle Ages there is no one better known or better loved than St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The people used to call her the “dear St. Elizabeth,” because she was so charitable to the poor, and was so kind to all who were in affliction. Of all the works of charity […]

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Keeping the State Within Its Proper Limits

December 9, 2013

When the State’s sovereign power stays within its limits, less force and money are needed to maintain it. There is, for example, little need for huge budgets, since much of this federation of autonomous associations is in private or quasi-private hands. “Perhaps the most striking character of the feudal State was its almost absolute lack […]

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The Immaculate Conception: The Celebration of Privilege

December 9, 2013

Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire […]

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December 9 – Banker and Saint

December 9, 2013

St. Peter Fourier Known as LE BON PÈRE DE MATTAINCOURT (Good Father of Mattaincourt), born at Mirecourt, Lorraine, 30 Nov., 1565 died at Gray, Haute-Saône, 9 Dec., 1640. At fifteen he was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson. His piety and learning led many noble families to ask him to educate their sons. He became […]

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December 10 – To protest the emperor, he paid special honor images and relics

December 9, 2013

Pope St. Gregory III (Reigned 731-741.) Pope St. Gregory III was the son of a Syrian named John. The date of his birth is not known. His reputation for learning and virtue was so great that the Romans elected him pope by acclamation, when he was accompanying the funeral procession of his predecessor, 11 February, […]

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December 10 – The First Pope to Live in a Palace

December 9, 2013

Pope St. Miltiades The year of his birth is not known; he was elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January, 314. After the banishment of Pope Eusebius, the Roman See was vacant for some time, probably because of the complications which has arisen on account of the apostates (lapsi), and […]

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December 11 – Pope Falsely Accused of Adultery

December 9, 2013

Pope St. Damasus I Born about 304; died 11 December, 384. His father, Antonius, was probably a Spaniard; the name of his mother, Laurentia, was not known until quite recently. Damasus seems to have been born at Rome; it is certain that he grew up there in the service of the church of the martyr […]

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December 11 – Her Name Was “Mother Marvelous”

December 9, 2013

St. María de las Maravillas de Jesús Pidal y Chico de Guzmán was born in Madrid, Spain, on 4 November 1891. She was the daughter of Luis Pidal y Mon, Marquis of Pidal, and Cristina Chico de Guzmán y Munoz. At the time her father was the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See and she grew […]

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Prince Hans Adam of Liechtenstein: Leadership starts with having a gift for it

December 5, 2013

According to the Financial Times: Prince Hans Adam of Liechtenstein on leadership: “I think it can be taught, but of course, to be successful, you have to be at least gifted to a certain extent. When I was a boy I was taught to play the piano. The teacher gave up soon because I was […]

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Corrupt democracy spurs Thai monarchists to protest in the streets

December 5, 2013

According to the Royal News Blog: Their [the protesters] leader, Suthep Thuagsuban, a veteran Democrat party MP who resigned to spearhead the protests, has publicly indicated that the protesters’ goal is to replace Yingluck with a “people’s government” and to elevate the role of the monarchy in Thailand’s electoral democracy. The protesters are fed up […]

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Lady Amelia Windsor as débutante in Paris

December 5, 2013

According to the Royal Forums: Lady Amelia Windsor, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of St Andrews, made her début into society at the Bal des Débutantes in Paris…. Lady Amelia Windsor was born on 24 August 1995….  She is the granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. To read the full post […]

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At age 5, St. Jane Frances de Chantal stands up for the Faith

December 5, 2013

A gentleman, who followed the heresy of Calvin, came to pay a visit to the parents of St. Jane Frances de Chantal. She was then only five years old. One day, while she was playing in the room where the gentleman was conversing with another person, she heard him say that he did not believe […]

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The State—the Protector of the General Order

December 5, 2013

As the supreme power of last appeal, this organic State gives unity and a framework to this federation. Far from assuming the modern State’s monopoly of supreme power, the organic State does not smash or reduce these lesser groups to subservience. Rather, it is the preserver and protector of the overall order upon which they […]

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Recipe in Honor of a Saint

December 5, 2013

The veneration of the 4th century Saint and bishop, Nicholas of Myra (also “of Bari,” the resting place of most of his relics), is widespread in both the Christian East and West. In Russia it seems that only the Blessed Virgin Mary is more popular. Few historical records on him survived the harsh test of […]

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December 6 – Good St. Nicholas

December 5, 2013

Life of Saint Nicholas from Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine Here beginneth the Life of Saint Nicholas the Bishop. Nicholas is said of Nichos, which is to say victory, and of laos, people, so Nicholas is as much as to say as victory of people, that is, victory of sins, which befoul people. Or […]

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December 6 – Martyr of the Muslims

December 5, 2013

St. Peter Paschal, Bishop and Martyr This saint was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1227, and descended of the ancient family of the Paschals, which had edified the Church by the triumphs of five glorious martyrs, which it produced under the Moors. Peter’s parents were virtuous and exceedingly charitable; and St. Peter Nolasco often lodged […]

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December 7 – The People Acclaimed Him as Bishop Even Though He Was Unbaptized

December 5, 2013

St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably 340, at Trier, Arles, or Lyons; died 4 April, 397. He was one of the most illustrious Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and fitly chosen, together with St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Athanasius, to uphold the venerable Chair of the Prince […]

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Little Prince George – the most popular search item on Yahoo

December 2, 2013

2013 was half gone when little Prince George was born to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Nevertheless, he still made #1. He was Yahoo’s most popular search item  He was more popular than the Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray, the prices for homes, Nelson Mandela, iPhone or Kindle. He also beat his mother, the Duchess […]

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Secularists on the attack in royal and Catholic Luxembourg

December 2, 2013

According to Wort.lu: Luxembourg government “formateur” Xavier Bettel on Tuesday evening met Grand Duke Henri… The coalition partners had suggested earlier this week that Luxembourg’s national day should be celebrated with a secular ceremony, rather than the official “Te Deum”, traditionally held on the morning of June 23 at the Notre Dame Cathedral…. At the […]

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Queen Elizabeth to preside over D-Day 70th in France

December 2, 2013

According to the Telegraph: France will honour Britain’s role in D-Day by inviting the Queen to preside over the main international ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings on Sword beach, according to plans disclosed on Wednesday. Government sources in Paris said that some 16 heads of state would be invited, including the Queen and US […]

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The Colonel who would not defend his King

December 2, 2013

There was once a young Colonel in the army who owed his promotion to the goodwill of his Sovereign. A short time before he had been raised to that rank, there had been a war between his country and one of the other kingdoms of Europe; but it was now at an end, and there […]

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The State Should Respect Regional Customs, Traditions, and Self-Government

December 2, 2013

Our proposal of a State is one where the principle of subsidiarity is practiced to a high degree. As a result, the State respects individual social units oriented towards the common good and recognizes certain rights, functions, and privileges that allow them their own autonomy, or even quasi-sovereign rights. Thus each region develops its own […]

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December 2 – Cause of Our Joy

December 2, 2013

Our Lady of Joy (aka Notre Dame de Liesse, or Causa Nostrae Laetitiae) In 1134 three Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, prisoners of the Muslims in Egypt, miraculously found or received in their prison a statue of Our Lady, which they named Our Lady of Joy, or Notre Dame de Liesse. […]

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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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