General MacArthur: 1942 Father of the Year

September 16, 2013

“Arthur,” the General admitted, “is the only one who can tolerate my singing.” Arthur learned the old army songs fast, and Mrs. MacArthur would hurry breakfast along when she heard, down the hall, the bellowed duet of “Old soldiers never dieeee—” followed by shrieks of boyish laughter. Thus the Commander in Chief of the Southwest […]

Read the full article →

Defining the Misunderstood Feudal Bond

September 16, 2013

The feudal bond is any of a broad range of mutually beneficial relationships within the rule of law that bind individuals together in society from top to bottom. It is characterized by one party that seeks protection and another that seeks service. It often involved the distribution of land and offices in return for these […]

Read the full article →

September 16 – The pope who exacted tribute from the Mohammedan ruler of Tunis

September 16, 2013

Pope Blessed Victor III Born in 1026 or 1027 of a non-regnant branch of the Lombard dukes of Benevento; died in Rome, 16 Sept., 1087. Being an only son his desire to embrace the monastic state was strenuously opposed by both his parents. After his father’s death in battle with the Normans, 1047, he fled […]

Read the full article →

Turkish war tents turned into Mass vestments after 1683 victory in Vienna

September 16, 2013

The spoils of war from King Jan Sobieski’s great victory on September 12, 1683, against the 150,000 Muslim Turks outside Vienna were immense, but perhaps none received a better fate than the war tents. They were brought back to Poland, where loving and pious hands turned some of them into rich Mass vestments, as can […]

Read the full article →

September 17 – Noble calm in all controversy, even when correcting the pope

September 16, 2013

St. Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine (Also, “Bellarmino”). A distinguished Jesuit theologian, writer, and cardinal, born at Montepulciano, 4 October, 1542; died 17 September, 1621. His father was Vincenzo Bellarmino, his mother Cinthia Cervini, sister of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, afterwards Pope Marcellus II. He was brought up at the newly founded Jesuit college in his native […]

Read the full article →

September 17 – Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi

September 16, 2013

Early in August, 1224, Francis retired with three companions to “that rugged rock ‘twixt Tiber and Arno”, as Dante called La Verna, there to keep a forty days fast in preparation for Michaelmas. During this retreat the sufferings of Christ became more than ever the burden of his meditations; into few souls, perhaps, had the […]

Read the full article →

Military, Social, and Religious History of Chivalry and Knighthood

September 16, 2013

Chivalry (derived through the French cheval from the Latin caballus) as an institution is to be considered from three points of view: 1) the military, 2) the social, 3) and the religious. We shall also here consider: 4) the history of chivalry as a whole. 1) MILITARY In the military sense, chivalry was the heavy […]

Read the full article →

In her anguish, the Marchioness of Cadiz appeals to her husband’s mortal enemy to rush to his aid

September 12, 2013

The perilous situation of the Christian cavaliers pent up and beleaguered within the walls of Alhama, spread terror among their friends, and anxiety throughout all Andalusia. Nothing, however, could equal the anguish of the Marchioness of Cadiz, the wife of the gallant Roderigo Ponce de Leon. In her deep distress, she looked round for some […]

Read the full article →

Buckingham Palace exhibit displays the gowns, robes, jewels and floral arrangements from Queen Elizabeth’s coronation 60 years ago

September 12, 2013

According to The New York Times: “The Queen’s Coronation 1953” (until Sept. 29) …exhibition’s most extraordinary elements are the queen’s…21-foot, violet velvet train, which was held up by her six maids of honor, and the peers’ costumes tipped with ermine tails. • The purple velvet Robe of Estate was embroidered…using 18 different types of gold […]

Read the full article →

September 12 – The Holy Name of the Virgin Mary; in thanksgiving for the victory over the Turks at Vienna

September 12, 2013

The Festival of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the universal Church as a solemn thanksgiving for the relief of Vienna, when it was besieged by the Turks in 1683. The Turks had formerly laid siege to Vienna, under Solyman the Magnificent, in 1529, in the reign […]

Read the full article →

September 12 – Simon de Montfort Crushes the Albigensians at Muret

September 12, 2013

At the Battle of Muret on 12 September 1213 the Crusading army of Simon IV de Montfort defeated the Catharist, Aragonese and Catalan forces of Peter II of Aragon, at Muret near Toulouse. Simon IV de Montfort was the leader of the Albigensian Crusade to destroy the Cathar heresy and incidentally to join the Languedoc […]

Read the full article →

Video – Redefeating the Turks: the Battle of Vienna, September 12, 1683

September 12, 2013

Before he set out, Sobieski had sent a letter to Innocent XI, in which he wrote: “When the good of the Church and Christianity is concerned I shed my blood to the last drop, together with the whole kingdom. Since my kingdom and I are two bulwarks of Christianity”. To commemorate Sobieski’s victory Pope Innocent […]

Read the full article →

September 13 – He had a mouth of gold

September 12, 2013

St. John Chrysostom (Chrysostomos, “golden-mouthed” so called on account of his eloquence). Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, c. 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, 407. John — whose surname “Chrysostom” occurs for the first time in the “Constitution” of Pope Vigilius (cf. P.L., LX, 217) in the year 553 — is […]

Read the full article →

September 14 – His gallant defeat saved Canada from the French Revolution

September 12, 2013

Marquis de Louis-Joseph Montcalm-Gozon A French general, born 28 Feb., 1712, at Candiac, of Louis-Daniel and Marie-Thérèse de Lauris; died at Quebec 14 Sept., 1759. He was descended from Gozon, Grand Master of Rhodes of legendary fame, The warlike spirit of his ancestors had given rise to the saying: “War is the tomb of the […]

Read the full article →

September 14 – Formerly a sign of abject disgrace, it now adorns even crowns and crests

September 12, 2013

The Cross could not be decently mentioned amongst Romans, who looked upon it as an unlucky omen, and as Cicero says, not to be named by a freeman. However, the Emperor Constantine attributed his victory in the Quintian fields, near the bridge Milvius, to the Cross of the Christians, the inscription of which he caused […]

Read the full article →

September 15 – This Saint Felt the Pains of Purgatory

September 12, 2013

St. Catherine of Genoa (also known as Caterina Fieschi Adorno.) Born at Genoa in 1447, died at the same place 15 September, 1510. The life of St. Catherine of Genoa may be more properly described as a state than as a life in the ordinary sense. When about twenty-six years old she became the subject […]

Read the full article →

September 15 – Grandmother of Good King Wenceslaus

September 12, 2013

St. Ludmilla Wife of Boriwoi, the first Christian Duke of Bohemia, born at Mielnik, circa 860; died at Tetin, near Beraun, 15 September, 921. She and her husband were baptized, probably by St. Methodius, in 871. Pagan fanatics drove them from their country, but they were soon recalled, and after reigning seven more years they […]

Read the full article →

September 11 – Italian army invades the Papal State without a declaration of war

September 9, 2013

The King of Italy sends an ultimatum to Blessed Pope Pius IX As the French military situation deteriorated [in the Franco-Prussian War], the government in Florence grew bolder. Near the end of August [1870], the Italian cabinet issued a circular letter to all the governments of Europe, in which it declared that the time had […]

Read the full article →

September 11 – Burned slowly to death at Nagasaki

September 9, 2013

Blessed Charles Spinola Born in Genoa in 1564, he was the son of the Count of Tassarolo, and the nephew of Cardinal Philip Spinola. He was educated in Spain and in the Jesuit school in Nola, Italy. He entered the noviatiate in 1584, and was ordained in 1594. In 1596, he received a letter appointing […]

Read the full article →

Left-wing protesters burn Queen Elizabeth in effigy

September 9, 2013

According to Sky News: Left-wing protesters have staged a demonstration against Britain’s involvement in the International Olympics Committee in Buenos Aires. Around 250 demonstrators chanted anti-British slogans and burned an effigy of the Queen and a Union Flag outside the committee. The protest was the latest by the Quebracho group that in April last year […]

Read the full article →

Princess Royal threatened during visit to Argentina

September 9, 2013

According to The Telegraph: The five-day visit is being made in Princess Anne’s capacity as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Protest group Quebracho…has vowed to disrupt proceedings, claiming it will be able to enter the theatre. Quebracho, a far left-wing group, not only wants the return of the Falklands to Argentina but also […]

Read the full article →

Cambodia opposition party appeal to King to resolve election impasse

September 9, 2013

According to AFP: Cambodia’s opposition party has called on the nation’s king to resolve a festering dispute over elections in July which saw strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen retain power. …opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) …allege massive vote-rigging. …its leader Sam Rainsy on Monday sent a letter to Cambodia’s constitutional monarch King Norodom Sihamoni […]

Read the full article →

Alfred the Great’s dying words to his son

September 9, 2013

The last of the works attributed to Alfred which need be specially mentioned, is the collection of proverbs, or sayings, in verse and prose, found amongst the Cotton manuscripts…. In almost the last of the series, the King addresses his son: “Thus quoth Alfred: My dear son, sit thou now beside me, and I will […]

Read the full article →

The Family Spirit and the State

September 9, 2013

This family spirit permeated the truly Christian State, which assumed images and customs by which “people soon began to conceive of the State as a kind of family.”(*) The Christian State came to be governed with great family-like affection and even by families themselves. This sentiment of affection is actually a most important element of […]

Read the full article →

September 10 – Arrested while preaching

September 9, 2013

St. Edward Ambrose Barlow (Alias RADCLIFFE and BRERETON.) Priest and martyr, born at Barlow Hall, 1585; died 10 September, 1641. He was the fourth son of Sir Alexander Barlow, Knight of Barlow Hall, near Manchester, by Mary, daughter of Sir Uryan Brereton, Knight of Handforth Hall, Co. Chester, and was baptized at Didsbury Church 30 […]

Read the full article →

Bethlehemites: Military and Religious Orders

September 9, 2013

Bethlehemites I. MILITARY ORDERS There were two military orders dedicated to Our Lady of Bethlehem and known under the name of Bethlehemites. Mathew Paris calls attention to the former in his “Grande Chronique” (tr. Huillard-Bréholles, Paris, 1840, 8vo, III, 300) where he mentions that Henry III of England authorized them to open a house in […]

Read the full article →

Heredity’s role in the making of General Douglas MacArthur

September 5, 2013

The story behind General Douglas MacArthur—what makes his gallant stand in World War II one of the great fighting epics of history—is told here for the first time. There are more than a thousand years of Fighting MacArthurs in his blood. One of the oldest proverbs in Scotland is: “There is nothing older, unless the […]

Read the full article →

He pledged on his honor to return to prison, and amazingly, he did

September 5, 2013

According to the Metro: Capt Robert Campbell wrote to Kaiser Willhelm II during World War I begging to be released so he could see his mother, Louise, for the final time. The German leader granted him two weeks’ compassionate leave as long as he kept his word as an officer to go back to the […]

Read the full article →

Scottish independents voice disdain for hereditary head of state

September 5, 2013

According to the Daily Express: Some 63 per cent of voters called for a ballot on Scotland’s next head of state in the event of separation, with only 22 per cent saying the royals should be retained without question. …repeated demands for an independent Scotland to become a republic have obviously shaken confidence in the […]

Read the full article →

The Family and Intermediary Associations

September 5, 2013

Leo XIII speaks of the family as a social matrix when he states that “the family may be regarded as the cradle of civil society, and it is in great measure within the circle of family life that the destiny of the States is fostered.”(1) Hence, we see the spirit of the family mirrored in […]

Read the full article →

September 5 – Unashamed to beg alms even from his noble family

September 5, 2013

St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor, First Patriarch of Venice Bishop and first Patriarch of Venice, born in 1381, and died 8 January, 1456. He was a descendant of the Giustiniani, a Venetian patrician family which numbered several saints among its members. Lawrence’s pious mother sowed the seeds of a devout religious life in the […]

Read the full article →

September 6 – Blessed Thomas Tsuji

September 5, 2013

Born to the Japanese nobility in Sonogi on the island of Kyushu about the year 1571. Educated by Jesuits at Arima, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1587. He traveled all over Japan and became known for his eloquent, persuasive preaching. After the publication of an edict banning Catholic priests, he followed eighty of […]

Read the full article →

September 7 – The Outrage of Anagni

September 5, 2013

It had been the practice to speak of the spiritual and temporal powers in terms of pope and emperor, and it was long before it was realized, at least on the papal side, that the civil power, defeated as emperor, had returned to the attack with more aggressive vigour as the Monarchy and the State. […]

Read the full article →

September 7: Richard the Lionheart defeats Saladin at Arsuf – Video

September 5, 2013

If video does not load, please click here.

Read the full article →

September 7 – Grandson of Queen St. Clotilda

September 5, 2013

St. Cloud, Confessor A.D. 560. St. Cloud, called in Latin Chlodoardus, is the first and most illustrious saint among the princes of the royal family of the first race in France. He was son of Chlodomir, king of Orleans, the eldest son of St. Clotilda, and was born in 522. He was scarcely three years […]

Read the full article →

September 8 – The Davidic ancestry of Mary

September 5, 2013

As we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us recall her Davidic ancestry. St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled, “because he was of the house and family of David”. As if to exclude all doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist […]

Read the full article →

Knights of the Cross

September 5, 2013

Knights of the Cross (Ordo Militaris Crucigerorum cum Rubea Stella.) A religious order famous in the history of Bohemia, and accustomed from the beginning to the use of arms, a custom which was confirmed in 1292 by an ambassador of Pope Nicholas IV. The grand master is still invested with a sword at his induction […]

Read the full article →

September 8 – He added the Agnus Dei to the Mass

September 5, 2013

Pope St. Sergius I (Reigned 687-701), date of birth unknown; consecrated probably on 15 Dec., 687; died 8 Sept., 701. While Pope Conon lay dying, the archdeacon Pascal offered the exarch a large sum to bring about his election as his successor. Through the exarch’s influence the archdeacon was accordingly elected by a number of […]

Read the full article →

Clare Boothe Luce argues vigorously against birth control

September 2, 2013

Ann Clare Boothe was born on April 10, 1903, in a dismal apartment house on Riverside Drive in New York City…. Clare herself once succinctly pictured her unpropitious prospects as a baby. Shortly after her conversion to Catholicism, she was attacked by an ardent disciple of Mrs. Sanger for the Catholic stand against birth control. […]

Read the full article →

Trust in new King of the Belgians jumps 18% in two months

September 2, 2013

According to Flanders News: Since he became the new King of the Belgians on 21 July, people are putting more trust in Filip. That’s according to a poll carried out by De Morgen, Le Soir and the commercial TV stations RTL and VTM. In June, the then crown prince Filip obtained a score of 51 […]

Read the full article →

Egyptian Prince marries Afghan Princess

September 2, 2013

According to NettyRoyal.nl: On 30 August 2013 Prince Muhammad Ali of Egypt and Princess Noal Zaher of Afghanistan got married at the Çirağan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. To read the entire post in NettyRoyal.nl, please click here. _______________________ Also of interest: Egyptian prince and Afghan princess will marry this month Islamists desire to topple the […]

Read the full article →

Preserving the Continuity of the Family

September 2, 2013

[In] pre-modern times, the family took measures to ensure a continuity that spanned the centuries. Family members became trustees who shared not only a common blood of heredity, but a common spiritual and material inheritance that each generation must hold as a sacred trust to be safeguarded and increased. The Christian family, regardless of social […]

Read the full article →

September 3 – All the principles of Catholicism can be found in his life

September 2, 2013

Pope St. Gregory I (“the Great”) Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604. Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church. To him we […]

Read the full article →

September 4 – She predicted the speedy death of the emperor

September 2, 2013

St. Rose of Viterbo (also Rosalia, and in Sicily affectionately nicknamed La Santuzza) Virgin, born at Viterbo, 1235; died 6 March, 1252. The chronology of her life must always remain uncertain, as the Acts of her canonization, the chief historical sources, record no dates. Those given above are accepted by the best authorities. Born of […]

Read the full article →

Military Orders

September 2, 2013

Military Orders Including under this term every kind of brotherhood of knights, secular as well as religious, historians of the military orders have enumerated as many as a hundred, even after eliminating the apocryphal and stillborn. This great number is explained by the eagerness with which the Middle Ages welcomed an institution so thoroughly corresponding […]

Read the full article →

St. Bernard and the Templar warrior-monks: a new vocation

August 29, 2013

St. Bernard took a strong liking to Hugues, promising to compile a rule for him and find recruits. “They can fight the battle of the Lord and indeed be soldiers of Christ.” In 1128 a council was convened at Troyes and, on Bernard’s advice, Hugues attended it. Though the abbot was not present he sent […]

Read the full article →

The Stability of Generations

August 29, 2013

When speaking of the traditional family, we must see it as more than just the sum of living members composed of a father, mother, and children. Throughout history, the family has always been understood to mean the unity of the whole lineage of ancestors and descendants. It was only with the Enlightenment that this universally […]

Read the full article →

August 30 – Gallant Lady

August 29, 2013

St. Margaret Ward Martyr, born at Congleton, Cheshire; executed at Tyburn, London, 30 Aug., 1588. Nothing is known of her early life except that she was of good family and for a time dwelt in the house of a lady of distinction named Whitall then residing in London. Knowing that William Watson, the priest who […]

Read the full article →

August 30 – Saved by the cross

August 29, 2013

Blessed Bronislava (or Bronislawa) of Poland Born in 1230 to an important Polish family, her grandfather had founded the Premonstratensian monastery at Zwierzyniec near Cracow where Bronislava’s aunt Gertrude had entered, later becoming prioress at Imbramowice. Bronislava was also a cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth and related to Saint Jacek and Blessed Czeslaw. Bronislava entered the convent at Zwierzyniec at the […]

Read the full article →

August 31 – Born of a dead mother

August 29, 2013

St. Raymond Nonnatus (Not-Born) (In Spanish SAN RAMON). Born 1200 or 1204 at Portello in the Diocese of Urgel in Catalonia; died at Cardona, 31 August, 1240. His feast is celebrated on 31 August. He is pictured in the habit of his order surrounded by ransomed slaves, with a padlock on his lips. He was […]

Read the full article →

Teutonic Order

August 29, 2013

Teutonic Order A medieval military order modeled on the Hospitallers of St. John, which changed its residence as often as the latter. These residences, marking as many stages in its development, are: (1) Accon (Acre), its cradle in Palestine (1190-1309); (2) Marienburg, Prussia, the centre of its temporal domination as a military principality (1309-1525); (3) […]

Read the full article →

First official photographs of Prince George released

August 26, 2013

According to Hello! Magazine: The world was treated to the first official photographs of Prince George on Monday. The snaps of the newest addition to the British royal family were surprisingly informal and relaxed. Taken at the Middleton home, the cameraman was none other than Kate’s dad Michael Middleton. William and Kate are seen smiling […]

Read the full article →

Son of Maori King Calls for Inspirational Leadership

August 26, 2013

According to the Waikato Times: The heir to the Kingitanga throne made his inaugural speech at Turangawaewae Marae and used the opportunity to send a message to tribal elders to…work for the future. Illness forced the Maori King, Tuheitia, to hand official duties to Whatumoana Paki, 22, and he watched as his eldest son addressed […]

Read the full article →

Duchess of Medinaceli – RIP

August 26, 2013

According to The Telegraph: Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Henestrosa was born in Madrid on April 16 1917, the eldest daughter of Don Luis Jesús Fernández de Córdoba y Salabert, 17th Duke of Medinaceli, and Doña Ana María Fernández de Henestrosa y Gayoso de los Cobos. The Dukedom of Medinaceli, one of […]

Read the full article →

In Forming the Holy League, St. Pius V Prepares for Victory at Lepanto

August 26, 2013

The Holy League agreement announced on 25 May had been solemnized five days earlier in the presence of [Saint] Pius V in his capacity as Pope, and signed by representatives of himself as ruler of the Papal State, King Philip of Spain, the republics of Venice and Genoa, Grand Duke Cosimo of Tuscany, Duke Emanuele […]

Read the full article →

The Family: The Most Basic Institution

August 26, 2013

Although the modern world has glorified the individual, we can have no illusions. Isolated man accomplishes very little by himself. It is upon man in association with others that a civilization is built. That is why the family is so important. The family is the first and most basic social, political, and economic unit without […]

Read the full article →

August 26 – This noblewoman survived the Terror and founded the Daughters of the Cross

August 26, 2013

Saint Elizabeth Bichier des Ages She was born of a rich, noble family on July 5, 1773, at the Château des Ages, France. Raised in a pious home, she developed at an early age a close relationship with God and a genuine love for the poor. She was twenty-five when she first met André Hubert […]

Read the full article →

August 28 – Restless Heart

August 26, 2013

St. Augustine of Hippo The great St. Augustine’s life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the “Confessions,” which relate the touching story of his soul, the “Retractations,” which give the history of his mind, and the […]

Read the full article →

Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

August 26, 2013

Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem The military order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital founded in the twelfth century by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom. Without doubt there had been before this date leper hospitals in the East, of which the Knights of St. Lazarus claimed to be the […]

Read the full article →

Lord Moran on Churchill’s State Funeral

August 22, 2013

He was taken at night to Westminster, to the Hall of William Rufus, and there for three days he lay in state, while the people gathered in crowds that stretched over Lambeth Bridge to the far side of the river, to do honor to the man they loved for his valor. On the fourth day […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →