King Albert II of Belgium announces he will abdicate on July 21

July 4, 2013

The Royal Forums reports: Come July 21st, Belgium will have a new monarch – King Philippe. King Albert II, the current monarch, announced his pending abdication earlier this evening, Belgian time, in a live address to the nation. The King cited health issues and his age as reasons for his decision. For the full story […]

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“A people without a king is not to be feared” – a Muslim general

July 4, 2013

These things happened on the first day of Lent (the 9th of February, 1250). On that very day a valiant Saracen—made sheik by our enemies in the place of Scecedin, the sheik’s son, whom they had lost in the battle on Shrove Tuesday—took the Count of Artois’s coat of arms, and showed it to all […]

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The Highest Social Function of the Nobility: To Preserve, Defend, and Spread the Christian Teachings Contained in Its Distinctive Noble Traditions

July 4, 2013

In his 1958 allocution, the Pontiff mentions the moral duty to resist modern corruption as a general charge to the upper classes, which include the Roman Patriciate and Nobility: “We would like, finally, for your influence on society to save it from a grave danger inherent in modern times. It is well known that society […]

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July 4 – Patroness of victims of adultery, jealousy and unfaithfulness

July 4, 2013

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal A.D. 1336. ST. ELIZABETH was daughter of Peter III,  king of Aragon, and granddaughter of James I, who had been educated under the care of St. Peter Nolasco, and was surnamed the Saint, and from the taking of Majorca and Valentia, Expugnator or the Conqueror. Her mother, Constantia, was daughter […]

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July 5 – He founded the Barnebites and reformed two religious orders, but only lived 37 years

July 4, 2013

St. Antonio Maria Zaccaria Founder of the Clerks Regular of St. Paul, commonly known as the Barnabites; born in Cremona, Italy, 1502; died 5 July, 1539. While he was still an infant his father died, leaving the care of the child’s education to his mother, who taught him compassion for the poor and suffering by […]

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 4, 2013

St. Godelina Born at Hondeforte-lez-Boulogne, c. 1049; died at Ghistelles, 6 July, 1070. The youngest of the three children born to Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy, and his wife Ogina, Godelina was accustomed as a child to exercises of piety and was soon distinguished for a solidity of virtue extraordinary for one of her years. The […]

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July 6 – The King Had Three Daughters, All Saints

July 4, 2013

St. Sexburga of Ely Died about 699. Her sisters, Sts. Ethelburga and Saethrid, were both Abbesses of Faremontier in Brie, St. Withburga was a nun at Ely, and St. Etheldreda became Abbess of Ely. Sexburga was the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and was married about 640 to Earconbert, King of Kent. […]

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July 6 – Nobility dedicated to the eradication of slavery

July 4, 2013

Blessed Maria Teresia Ledóchowska (29 April 1863 – 6 July 1922) was a Roman Catholic nun and African missionary. She was the eldest of seven children. Members of the Polish nobility, she and her siblings – including Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Ursula Ledóchowska and Ignacy Kazimierz Ledóchowski were born on the estate of their father, Count Antoni […]

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July 1 – Found guilty of “high treason” for promoting the Catholic faith, he responded “Deo gratias”

July 1, 2013

Saint Oliver Plunket Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, born at Loughcrew near Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland, 1629; died 11 July, 1681. His is the brightest name in the Irish Church throughout the whole period of persecution. He was connected by birth with the families which had just then been ennobled, the Earls […]

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Teacups and mugs: quality and quantity

July 1, 2013

For generations, we have taken teacups for granted. They were a happy part of family life. But today, due to our egalitarian culture, the teacup is coming under some pressure. While formal dining sets are still widely available, many dishware sets, and not just the cheaper ones, feature only mugs. This is a disturbing trend, […]

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The Marquis of Lescure destroys two thirds of Westermann’s army and saves the lives of captured enemy soldiers

July 1, 2013

While the grand army were under the walls of Nantes, several engagements had taken place in La Vendée. Westermann, at the head of a German legion, advanced into the heart of the Bocage, after making himself master of Parthenay, on the 20th June. On the 1st July he burned the town of Amaillon; he then […]

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July 1 – Born to Gallic nobility, he renounced all to embrace religious poverty

July 1, 2013

Saint Gal (Gall) of Clermont Saint Gal was born at Clermont in Auvergne, about the year 489. His father was of the first houses of that province, and his mother was descended from the family of Vettius Apagatus, the celebrated Roman who suffered at Lyons for the faith of Christ. They both took special care […]

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July 1 – Venerable Thomas Maxfield

July 1, 2013

Ven. Thomas Maxfield (Vere Macclesfield) English priest and martyr, born in Stafford gaol, about 1590, martyred at Tyburn, London, Monday, 1 July, 1616. He was one of the younger sons of William Macclesfield of Chesterton and Maer and Aston, Staffordshire (a firm recusant, condemned to death in 1587 for harbouring priests, one of whom was […]

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July 2 – Caught Between Two Masters

July 1, 2013

Saint Otto Bishop of Bamberg, born about 1060; died 30 June, 1139. He belonged to the noble, though not wealthy, family of Mistelbach in Swabia, not to the Counts of Andechs. He was ordained priest, but where he was educated is not known. While still young he joined the household of Duke Wladislaw of Poland; […]

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New Exhibition reveals the real Mary, Queen of Scots – The Scotsman

June 27, 2013

According to The Scotsman: Mary will be revealed through documents, artefacts and letters, from her first note…to her final missive on the morning of her execution, asking that her servants be paid. There’s her prized Jesus crown thorn relic, an ivory and mother-of-pearl crossbow, and…an astrolabe like the ones mariners used to cross the Atlantic […]

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Head of Royal Family on Hunger Strike – The Independent

June 27, 2013

According to The Independent: The head of a once-powerful royal family in the north-east of India is on hunger-strike after state authorities announced plans to force him from his palace and seize control of the building. …the titular King of Manipur, Leisemha Sanajaob, said he was beginning the fast after the state government…announced its decision […]

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Capitalising on the Monarchy – The Observer

June 27, 2013

According to The Observer: A visit to Hampton Court may make one think about capitalising on the monarchy During the Jubilee last summer, keen believers in democracy were inclined to be sniffy about the monarchy… Monarchies such as ours…are just an excellent centrepiece of anyone’s affection for the land they live in – symbols, not […]

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The magnificent splendor of Isabella the Catholic’s dress and jewels

June 27, 2013

“A King must outshine his subjects,” says Pulgar with a conviction born of his intimate knowledge of Spanish character…. [A]nd Ferdinand and Isabel, children of their race, were fully alive to the appeal of surroundings suitable to their rank. Of the impression made by their magnificence on foreigners we can gather from the diary of […]

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A Sublime Example: The Couple of Royal Lineage in Whose House the God-Man Was Born and Dwelt

June 27, 2013

This elevated teaching takes examples from the public administration of government and from other offices usually held by the bourgeoisie. But it also brings to mind the couple of the royal line of David in whose house, at once princely and working-class, the God-Man was born and lived for thirty years. Such a reflection is […]

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

June 27, 2013

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

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June 28 – He fought to preserve the Pope’s independence

June 27, 2013

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

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June 30 – How the New York Upper Class Was Transformed by One Humble Servant

June 27, 2013

Servant of God Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) Born to slavery in Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti), Toussaint came to New York in 1789 with his master, Jean Bérard du Pithon, a French noble and prosperous planter who was fleeing the turmoil unleashed in Saint Domingue by the French Revolution. Two years later, his master died without having […]

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Sovereign Military Order of Malta – 900 years

June 24, 2013

On Saturday Pope Francis I met with Fra’ Matthew Festing,the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta marking the 900th anniversary of Papal recognition of the Order’s sovereignty. _____________________ Also of interest: Nine Hundred Years of Chivalry for the Knights of Malta April 30 – Crusader Pope Don John of Austria runs away […]

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The Lord of Joinville’s chaplain routs eight Saracen chiefs

June 24, 2013

At nightfall we returned, the king [St. Louis IX of France] and all of us, from the perilous battle aforementioned, and lodged in the place from which we had driven our enemies. My people, who had remained in the camp whence we started, brought me a tent which the Templars had given me, and pitched […]

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The Specific Virtues and Qualities of the Nobility Imbue Its Work

June 24, 2013

[Pius XII states:] “It is clear, however, that vigor and fruitful works cannot still manifest themselves today in forms that have been eclipsed. This does not mean that the field of your activities has been reduced; on the contrary, it has been broadened in the total number of professions and functions. The entire range of […]

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June 25 – Simon de Montfort

June 24, 2013

Simon de Montfort An Earl of Leicester, date of birth unknown, died at Toulouse, 25 June, 1218. Simon (IV) de Montfort was descended from the lords of Montfort l’Amaury in Normandy, being the second son of Simon (III), and Amicia, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third Earl of Leicester. Having succeeded his father as Baron […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 24, 2013

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

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June 22 – He Confronted the Mandate

June 20, 2013

St. Thomas More Saint, knight, Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr, born in London, 7 February, 1477-78; executed at Tower Hill, 6 July, 1535. He was the sole surviving son of Sir John More, barrister and later judge, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Thomas Graunger. While still a child Thomas was sent […]

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King Abdullah II warns that Syrian civil war may embroil Jordan

June 20, 2013

According to the Los Angeles Times: Amid escalating concern about spillover effects of the war in neighboring Syria, Jordan’s King Abdullah II has warned that his kingdom is able “at any moment” to protect its national interests. Addressing a group of cadets in a graduation ceremony at Mutah Military Academy on Sunday, the king, in full battle […]

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Spanish town visited by Samurai 400 years ago receives Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito

June 20, 2013

According to the Bangkok Post: Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito on Friday honored a 17th-century samurai who established the first ties between his country and Spain 400 years ago, in a small town where to this day hundreds of local Spaniards bear the name “Japon”. Naruhito, the 53-year-old son and heir of Emperor Akihito, planted a […]

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Shame: Girl Guides remove God and country from 103 year-old pledge, but keep Queen

June 20, 2013

According to The Guardian: God, Queen and country – the foundations of the Girl Guides were trumpeted from the very first days of the organisation’s existence in 1910. But now, following a consultation with members, God and country are out – leaving just the Queen. In one of the biggest overhauls undergone by guiding in […]

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Queen Isabel the Catholic pawns her crown jewels to keep up the siege of Baeza

June 20, 2013

[I]n the next spring, [Ferdinand the Catholic] and Queen Isabel appeared in Jaen, determined on the reduction of Baeza, the most important town in eastern Granada. The preparations were on a scale that surpassed all former efforts of the kind; for the neighboring country with its thick orchards and easily flooded rivers was difficult and […]

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Even Those Who Show Disdain for the Old Ways of Life Are Not Totally Immune to the Splendor of the Nobility

June 20, 2013

Pius XII emphasizes vigor and fertility of works as characteristic of genuine nobility and encourages the nobles to contribute such qualities to the common good. “Vigor and fruitful works! Behold two characteristics of true nobility, to which heraldic symbols, stamped in bronze or carved in marble, are a perennial testimony, for they represent as it […]

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June 21 – He Was More Angel than Man

June 20, 2013

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

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June 22 – St. John Fisher

June 20, 2013

St. John Fisher Cardinal, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr; born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1459 (?1469); died 22 June, 1535. John was the eldest son of Robert Fisher, merchant of Beverley, and Agnes his wife. His early education was probably received in the school attached to the collegiate church in his native town, whence in […]

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June 22 – St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola

June 20, 2013

St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola (Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus.) Born at Bordeaux about 354; died 22 June, 431. He sprang from a distinguished family of Aquitania and his education was entrusted to the poet Ausonius. He became governor of the Province of Campania, but he soon realized that he could not find in public life […]

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June 23 – After her death, her sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens, followed her as abbesses of Ely

June 20, 2013

St. Etheldreda Queen of Northumbria; born (probably) about 630; died at Ely, 23 June, 679. While still very young she was given in marriage by her father, Anna, King of East Anglia, to a certain Tonbert, a subordinate prince, from whom she received as morning gift a tract of land locally known as the Isle […]

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Queen Visits Prince Philip After Trooping The Colour – Sky News

June 17, 2013

According to Sky News: The Queen has visited the Duke of Edinburgh in hospital after she earlier attended the annual Trooping the Colour parade without him. Prince Philip is recovering from exploratory abdominal surgery It was thought to be only the third time that Philip has missed the event after not attending in 1962 and […]

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Diamond Jubilee portrait defaced – Royal News Blog

June 17, 2013

According to the Royal News Blog: A man…will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court charged with criminal damage over £5,000. The 3.3m by 2.7m (9ft by 11ft) oil painting…had been on display…since last month. In a statement on Thursday the abbey said: “In an incident at lunchtime today, a visitor to the abbey sprayed paint on […]

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Video: Royals visit Order of Fishers on Horseback – Flanders News

June 17, 2013

According to Flanders News: Oostduinkerke is the only place in the world where fishers on horseback catch shrimps. On Thursday King Albert and Queen Paola visited the town at the invitation of the Order of Fishers on Horseback. King Albert was clearly fascinated by the phenomenon. Video link is here:

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A lesson from a Polish princess: to be faithful, we must ever be vigilant

June 17, 2013

When her marriage with Louis XV was being negotiated—a sacred bond that would bring her the French crown—the Polish princess Marie Leszczyńska confided to an aunt: —“I fear greatly that this crown I am being offered may yet deprive me of my heavenly one.”   Jacques Necker, Galerie de l’ancienne cour (Maestricht: J. E. Dufour, […]

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June 17 – Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski

June 17, 2013

Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski In Igołomia, on the outskirts of Cracow (Poland), the noble family of Adalbert Chmielowski and Josephine Borzysławska announced on August 20, 1845, the birth of their son Adam (Brother Albert). Mr Chmielowski together with his wife, raised their children in an atmosphere of patriotic ideals, strong faith in God and a […]

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June 19 – Love Accepts No Limitations

June 17, 2013

St. Juliana Falconieri Born in 1270; died 12 June, 1341. Juliana belonged to the noble Florentine family of Falconieri. Her uncle, St. Alexis Falconieri, was one of the seven founders of the Servite Order. Through his influence she also consecrated herself from her earliest youth to the religious life and the practices of Christian perfection. […]

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

June 17, 2013

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

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June 19 – The murderer’s saintly son

June 17, 2013

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

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June 13 – He Died Aged 36, But the Whole World Knows Him

June 13, 2013

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

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Video: Debate on Succession rules – BBC News

June 13, 2013

According to BBC News: A bid to allow aristocratic daughters to inherit a country estate over their younger brothers was “bogusly egalitarian” said the former editor in chief of Burke’s Peerage. Charles Mosley said it would lead to age discrimination which he reckoned was “just as evil, just as wicked” as sexual discrimination, and he […]

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Canada’s bid to block Duchess of Cambridge’s daughter from becoming Queen – The Daily Express

June 13, 2013

According to the Daily Express: Prince William and Kate’s first child may be unable to inherit the throne because of a legal challenge in Canada. …constitutional experts at Laval University in Quebec City, lodged a case in Quebec Superior Court on Friday. They allege that the ­Canadian government acted unconstitutionally by failing to seek the […]

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Prince Charles on why he doesn’t think monarchs should retire – The Observer

June 13, 2013

From the Observer archive, 9 June 1974 interview with Prince Charles: …I certainly don’t think monarchs should retire and be pensioned off, say at 60, as some professions and businesses stipulate. The nature of being a monarch is different. Take Queen Victoria. In her 80s, she was more loved, more revered than she had ever […]

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How King Abdullah has kept his crown amid the Arab uprisings – The Star

June 13, 2013

According to The Star: As revolutions sweep the Middle East, toppling a cast of cruel and corrupt presidents-for-life and strongmen, King Abdullah, 51, has managed to keep his crown — and his head. “The Jordanian tribal system is the protector of this country and if the tribes left this role it would be the end […]

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Prince Philip Kiril of Prussia: “Germany needs moral guidance of a monarchy” – The Local: Germany’s News in English

June 13, 2013

According to The Local: Germans…desperately need the moral guidance of a re-instated royal family, the great-great grandson of the last Kaiser, Prince Philip Kiril of Prussia… For the prince, a country guided by politicians and a ceremonial president means not only is there no strong family to look up to, nor is there anyone to […]

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Sir Winston Churchill is moved at America’s sublime disinterestedness

June 13, 2013

We had hardly taken our seats when [Sir Winston Churchill] said without warning: “What other nation in history, when it became supremely powerful, has had no thought of territorial aggrandizement, no ambition but to use its resources for the good of the world? I marvel at America’s altruism, her sublime disinterestedness.” All at once I […]

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To Fulfill the Hopes Placed in It, the Nobility Should Shine in the Gifts Specific to It

June 13, 2013

After emphasizing once again the importance of the nobility’s fidelity to Catholic morals, Pius XII outlines a fascinating picture of the qualities that the nobility should manifest in order to correspond to the hopes he places in it. It especially interests the present study to note that these qualities should shine in the nobility as […]

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June 15 – The Northern Crusades

June 13, 2013

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

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June 15 – St. Bernard dogs carry his name

June 13, 2013

St. Bernard of Menthon Born in 923, probably in the castle Menthon near Annecy, in Savoy; died at Novara, 1008. He was descended from a rich, noble family and received a thorough education. He refused to enter an honorable marriage proposed by his father and decided to devote himself to the service of the Church. […]

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June 15 – Magna Carta

June 13, 2013

Magna Carta The charter of liberties granted by King John of England in 1215 and confirmed with modifications by Henry III in 1216, 1217, and 1225. The Magna Carta has long been considered by the English-speaking peoples as the earliest of the great constitutional documents which give the history of England so unique a character; […]

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June 16 – The Saint for Father’s Day: death threats meant nothing to him

June 13, 2013

Saint John Francis Regis Born 31 January, 1597, in the village of Fontcouverte (department of Aude); died at la Louvesc, 30 Dec., 1640. His father Jean, a rich merchant, had been recently ennobled in recognition of the prominent part he had taken in the Wars of the League; his mother, Marguerite de Cugunhan, belonged by […]

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Afternoon tea: a custom that helped bond an empire ― Diamond Jubilee scone recipe

June 10, 2013

Tea was first introduced to Europe by the Portuguese Jesuit, Father Jasper de Cruz, in 1560, and it was a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, who introduced it to Britain. In fact, part of her dowry was a chest of tea from China. A lover of tea since her childhood, Queen […]

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Ferdinand the Catholic conquers the impregnable Ronda from the Moslems

June 10, 2013

The culminating moment of the campaign was the capture of Ronda in May, 1485. This town, believed by its defenders impregnable, stood on the summit of a precipice six hundred feet high…. To this stronghold Hamet “El Zegri” had retired after his crushing defeat at Lopera; but, being informed that the Christians were meditating a […]

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Through a Judicious Adaptation to the Modern World, the Nobility Does Not Disappear in the General Leveling

June 10, 2013

In accordance with these observations, an adaptation to the modern world—so much more egalitarian than pre-World War II Europe—does not mean that the nobility should renounce its traditions and disappear in the general leveling. Rather, it means that it should courageously continue a past inspired by perennial principles. The Pontiff emphasizes the highest among these, […]

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