April 19 – Hostage of the Danes

April 18, 2013

St. Alphege (or Elphege), Saint, born 954; died 1012; also called Godwine, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, left his widowed mother and patrimony for the monastery of Deerhurst (Gloucestershire). After some years as an anchorite at Bath, he there became abbot, and (19 Oct., 984) was made Bishop of Winchester. In 994 Elphege administered confirmation to […]

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April 21 – The Noble Saint who tamed William the Conqueror, abolished slavery in England, and founded Scholasticism; his prayer to Saint Mary Magdalene

April 18, 2013

Saint Anselm, Confessor, Archbishop Of Canterbury (A. D. 1109) If the Norman conquerors stripped the English nation of its liberty and many temporal advantages, it must be owned that by their valor they raised the reputation of its arms and deprived their own country of its greatest men, both in church and state, with whom […]

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Arundel Castle has announced the death of Anne, Duchess of Norfolk – Bognor Regis Observer

April 15, 2013

According to the Bognor Regis Observer: Arundel Castle has announced the death of Anne, Duchess of Norfolk. She died peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire on Tuesday (April 8), aged 85, surrounded by her family, including her son, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the 18th Duke of Norfolk. The Duchess is survived by her two sons and three […]

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Environmentalists say balloons for the king are a danger to nature – DutchNews.nl

April 15, 2013

According to DutchNews.nl: Environmental groups have called on Amsterdam city council to abandon plans to release 150,000 balloons into the air at the end celebrations to mark the investiture of King Willem-Alexander. The city’s mayor Eberhard van der Laan says the balloons are biodegradable, but the groups say it still takes considerable time before the […]

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Patton’s Leadership Demanded Discipline

April 15, 2013

On 6 March 1943 Patton was assigned as Commanding General II Corps and he hit them like “Moses descending from Mount Ararat.” But instead of the Ten Commandments he brought his own personal text of severe, unrelenting discipline. He motored around all the units, down to the battalion level, escorted by siren-screeching scout cars and […]

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The Institution of the Family

April 15, 2013

  (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   Tradition and heredity communicate a vital warmth to family life. They make of it a natural fact. They develop the psychological and affective orders. In turn, this helps enormously to accomplish the family’s goals. It is normal for relatives to have affinities, and […]

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April 16 – Martyred in the name of Equality

April 15, 2013

Just a few of the many martyrs during the French Revolution († 1792-1799) 16 April 1794 in Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire (France) Pierre Delépine layperson of the diocese of Angers born: 24 May 1732 in Marigné, Maine-et-Loire (France) Jean Ménard layperson of the diocese of Angers; married born: 16 November 1736 in Andigné, Maine-et-Loire (France) Renée Bourgeais […]

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April 17 – How a duke rescued his country out from crushing debt despite incessant war

April 15, 2013

Maximilian I Duke of Bavaria, 1598-1622, Elector of Bavaria and Lord High Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, 1623-1651; born at Munich, 17 April, 1573; died at Ingolstadt, 27 September, 1651. The lasting services he rendered his country and the Catholic Church justly entitle him to the surname of “Great”. He was the son of […]

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April 17 – One of the many nobles who spread the Cluny reform

April 15, 2013

St. Robert Founder of the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne, born at Aurilac, Auvergne, about 1000; died in Auvergne, 1067. On his father’s side he belonged to the family of the Counts of Aurilac, who had given birth to St. Géraud. He studied at Brioude near the basilica of St-Julien, in a school open to […]

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April 17 – St. Stephen Harding

April 15, 2013

St. Stephen Harding Confessor, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire, England, about the middle of the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery […]

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Queen to attend Thatcher funeral – London Evening Standard

April 11, 2013

According to the London Evening Standard: The Queen is to show her respect for Baroness Thatcher by attending the former prime minister’s funeral next week, it has been announced. It will be the first time the Queen has attended the funeral of one of her prime ministers since Sir Winston Churchill died in 1965. Lady […]

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Prince Hisahito parts ways with school tradition – The Japan Times

April 11, 2013

According to The Japan Times: Prince Hisahito, the 6-year-old son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, attended the enrollment ceremony Sunday at an elementary school affiliated with Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. It is the first time since the end of the war that a member of the Imperial family has attended an elementary school other […]

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The “Great Captain” Gonsalvo de Cordoba: an unmatched leader

April 11, 2013

The real laurels of victory [in the Italian Wars] belong indeed to Gonsalvo de Cordoba; for, though the French army could boast heroes of chivalry, such as Bayard the “knight without fear or stain,” and generals of skill and courage, such as D’Aubigny, it had no soldier who could in any way approach the genius […]

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The sin of Revolution

April 11, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)     What is the specific sin of the Revolution? It is not just the sin of pride and sensuality. Rather it is the sin of elevating pride and sensuality to supreme values according to which life must be organized. Every one of the more […]

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April 11 – He excommunicated the king, who murdered him as he celebrated Mass

April 11, 2013

Saint Stanislaus of Cracow In pictures he is given the episcopal insignia and the sword. Larger paintings represent him in a court or kneeling before the altar and receiving the fatal blow. His parents, Belislaus and Bogna, pious and noble Catholics, gave him a religious education. After the death of his parents he distributed his […]

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April 12 – St. Teresa de los Andes

April 11, 2013

St. Teresa de Jesús “de los Andes” (1900-1920) virgin, Discalced Carmelite Nuns The young woman who is today glorified by the Church with the title of Saint, is a prophet of God for the men and women of today. By the example of her life, TERESA OF JESUS OF LOS ANDES shows us Christ’s Gospel […]

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April 13 – Blessed Margaret of Castello

April 11, 2013

Blessed Margaret of Castello (1287–1320) is an Italian Roman Catholic Church patron of the poor, crippled, and the unwanted. She was born blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked and a dwarf, into a family of nobles in the castle of Metola, in southeast of Florence. As a child, her parents Parisio and Emilia imprisoned her for 14 […]

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April 13 – This Prince Defied His Family

April 11, 2013

St. Hermengild Date of birth unknown; died 13 April, 585. Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths (569-86), had two sons, Hermengild and Reccared, by his first marriage with the Catholic Princess Theodosia. Hermengild married, in 576, Ingundis, a Frankish Catholic princess, the daughter of Sigebert and Brunhilde. Led by his own inclination, and influenced […]

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April 14 – She suffered for the moral corruption and decay of her time

April 11, 2013

Saint Lydwine In 1380, Saint Lydwine was born in the small town of Schiedam in Holland. Her father was a wealthy noble named Peter, and her mother was from a poor family who worked their own farm. Her father’s family lost their fortune, and the whole family was reduced to poverty. At that time, all […]

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April 14 – St. Peter Gonzalez (aka St. Elmo)

April 11, 2013

St. Peter Gonzalez Popularly known as St. Elmo, b. in 1190 at Astorga, Spain; d. 15 April, 1246, at Tuy. He was educated by his uncle, Bishop of Astorga, who gave him when very young a canonry. Later he entered the Dominican Order and became a renowned preacher; crowds gathered to hear him and numberless […]

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The Mystic History of St Edward’s Sapphire – Royal Central

April 8, 2013

According to the Royal Central: It is said that once when Edward was on his way to dedicate a chapel to St John the Evangelist he came across an old man begging on the side of the road. The king was moved by the sight, and because he did not have any coins on him […]

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Ferdinand the Catholic exposes himself to defend his men

April 8, 2013

The capitulation of [Velez-Malaga] followed at the end of April, 1487; and then the Christian army pushed forward to Malaga, a port famous for its commerce from the days of Phoenician traders. The enthusiasm of the troops was raised to white heat by success and by the personal bravery of Ferdinand, who, on one occasion […]

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Christian Civilization

April 8, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   The course of history, contrary to the claims of so many philosophers and sociologists, is not traced exclusively or preponderantly by the dictates of matter over men. Without a doubt, these have their influence in human action, but the direction of history belongs to […]

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April 8 – Don Bosco’s Prince

April 8, 2013

Blessed Augusto Czartoryski He was born on 2 August 1858 in Paris, France, the firstborn son to Prince Ladislaus of Poland and Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the Queen of Spain. The noble Czartoryski Family had been living in exile in France for almost 30 years, in the Lambert Palace. Here, with the hope of […]

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April 9 – She persuaded her husband the Count to become a monk

April 8, 2013

St. Waltrude She was daughter to the princess St. Bertille, elder sister to St. Aldegondes, and wife to Madelgaire, count of Hainault, and one of the principal lords of King Dagobert’s court. After bearing him two sons and two daughters, she induced him to embrace the monastic state at Haumont, near Maubeuge, taking the name […]

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April 10 – Friend of Cluny

April 8, 2013

St. Fulbert of Chartres Bishop, b. between 952 and 962; d. 10 April, 1028 or 1029. Mabillon and others think that he was born in Italy, probably at Rome; but Pfister, his latest biographer, designates as his birthplace the Diocese of Laudun in the present department of Gard in France. He was of humble parentage […]

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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, is upset by oath vote – Daily Express

April 4, 2013

According to the Daily Express: …the Countess of Wessex is not relishing the quandary she has been placed in over her position as the monarch’s representative as head of the Girl Guides. The movement…is considering the extraordinary step of jettisoning its allegiance to the Queen. …if the majority decide they want to delete reference to […]

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A King With No Country – Washingtonian

April 4, 2013

According to the Washingtonian: “The [Rwandan] monarchy has come to be seen potentially as a source of moderation and ethnic reconciliation, and the regime views that very much as a threat,” Timothy Longman…says. “In Rwanda, you cannot openly embrace the king, you cannot call for the king’s return. You’ll be thrown in jail.” Royal power […]

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Love of Faith and country trump parental love

April 4, 2013

In 1475, during the siege of his city, the French sent word to Jean Blanca, Bourgeois of Perpignan and first consul, that if he did not surrender the town they would execute his son whom they held captive. In reply, the governor told the French emissaries: “—My faith and the service of my lord the […]

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The rose, orchid and tulip: three forms of beauty

April 4, 2013

The Rose: Splendor of Order with Poetry The Orchid: Unexpected Beauty The Tulip: Masterpiece of Coherence (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira – Saint of the Day, March 6, 1971) Many years ago some Dutchmen managed to bring tulip bulbs to Brazil and to plant them, since here anything will grow… […]

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April 4 – Grandmother of the Templars

April 4, 2013

Saint Aleth of Dijon Mother of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, she belonged to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Her husband, Tescelin, was lord of Fontaines. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was the third of her seven children.  At the age of nine years, Bernard was sent to a much renowned school at Chatillon-sur-Seine, kept by the […]

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April 5 – St. Æthelburh

April 4, 2013

Saint Æthelburh (died 647), also known as Ethelburga, Ædilburh and Æthelburga (Old English: Æþelburh), was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. As she was a Christian from Kent, their marriage triggered the initial phase of the conversion of the pagan north of England to Christianity. Æthelburh date of […]

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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 4, 2013

St. Vincent Ferrer Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419. He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled […]

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April 6 – Felled by an assassin’s axe, he wrote on the ground with his own blood: “Credo”

April 4, 2013

St. Peter of Verona Born at Verona, 1206; died near Milan, 6 April, 1252. His parents were adherents of the Manichæan heresy, which still survived in northern Italy in the thirteenth century. Sent to a Catholic school, and later to the University of Bologna, he there met St. Dominic, and entered the Order of the […]

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April 6 – St. William of Paris

April 4, 2013

St. William of Paris Abbot of Eskill in Denmark, born 1105; died 1202. He was born of a noble French family, and became a secular canon at Ste Geneviève-du-Mond and, after Suger’s reform, a canon regular. He was sub-prior of the monastery when Bishop Absalom of Lund, who had heard reports of William’s sanctity, sent […]

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Queen Isabel tames her quarrelsome nobles

April 1, 2013

On one occasion, when Queen Isabel was in Valladolid, high words broke out between Don Fadrique Enriquez, son of Ferdinand’s uncle the Admiral of Castile and a certain Ramir Nuñez de Guzman, Lord of Toral. In spite of the fact that his enemy had received a safe conduct from the Queen, Don Fadrique attacked him […]

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Which Is More Noble? Peacock or Swan?

April 1, 2013

by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The peacock and the swan, both having inherent superiority, symbolize nobility in different ways and degrees. The peacock, richly and intricately adorned, invites admiration and analysis. The swan on the other hand, ornamented only with white, is noble in its extreme simplicity. Yet, white is the synthesis of all […]

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April 1 – Precursor of Our Lady of Fatima

April 1, 2013

St. Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira (1360-1431) NUNO ÁLVARES PEREIRA was born in Portugal on 24th June 1360, most probably at Cernache do Bomjardin, illegitimate son of Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Hospitalier Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and prior of Crato and Donna Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his birth, […]

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April 1 – St. Hugh of Grenoble

April 1, 2013

Bishop and Confessor The first tincture of the mind is of the utmost importance to virtue; and it was the happiness of this saint to receive from his cradle the strongest impressions of piety by the example and care of his illustrious and holy parents. He was born at Chateau-neuf, in the territory of Valence […]

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April 1 – Memorial of Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

April 1, 2013

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

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April 2 – St. Francis of Paola and the Bartlett Pear

April 1, 2013

The Bartlett pear is called “The Good Christian” in France, after St. Francis of Paola introduced it “Said to have originated in Calabria in southern Italy, Bartletts probably were introduced to France by St. Francis of Paola. St. Francis brought a young tree as a gift for King Louis XI of France, who had summoned […]

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April 3 – This man was entrusted to collect the Crusader tax

April 1, 2013

St. Richard of Wyche Bishop and confessor, born about 1197 at Droitwich, Worcestershire, from which his surname is derived; died 3 April, 1253, at Dover. He was the second son of Richard and Alice de Wyche. His father died while he was still young and the family property fell into a state of great delapidation. […]

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Emperor serves the table of the poor and washes their feet in imitation of Christ

March 28, 2013

In 1850, Franz Joseph participated…as emperor in the second of the traditional Habsburg expressions of dynastic piety: the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony, part of the four-day court observance of Easter. The master of the staff and the court prelates chose twelve poor elderly men, transported them to the Hofburg, and positioned them in the ceremonial […]

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March 28 – The capture and death of the fearless Charette

March 28, 2013

On the 21st February his troop, now reduced to less than two hundred men, was attacked by General Travot, one of the ablest officers of Hoche. The Vendeans behaved with the greatest courage, but they were overwhelmed with numbers. The eldest brother of the general, Charette la Colinière, and several officers fell; and he himself […]

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The sense of the universals

March 28, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   We should seek the universality of things, not just limit ourselves to the immediate thing at hand. If we do not form an idea of the entirety, of the universality, with all its hierarchical values, we will not be able to insert what we […]

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March 28 – Grandson of King Clovis

March 28, 2013

St. Gontran, King and Confessor He was son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I and St. Clotilda. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned King of Orleans and Burgundy in 661, making Challons on the Saone his capital. When […]

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March 27 – Royal Simplicity

March 28, 2013

St. Rupert (Alternative forms, RUPRECHT, Hrodperht, Hrodpreht, Roudbertus, Rudbertus, Robert, Ruprecht). First Bishop of Salzburg, contemporary of Childebert III, king of the Franks (695-711), date of birth unknown; died at Salzburg, Easter Sunday, 27 March, 718. According to an old tradition, he was a scion of the Frankish Merovingian family. The assumption of 660 as […]

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March 29 – St. Eustace

March 28, 2013

St. Eustace Date of birth unknown, died March 29, 625. He was second abbot of the Irish monastery of Luxeuil in France, and his feast is commemorated in the Celtic martyrologies on the 29th of March. He was one of the first companions of St. Columbanus, a monk of Bangor (Ireland), who with his disciples […]

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Diana’s funeral marked return to ‘Catholic’ England, says Archbishop – The Telegraph

March 25, 2013

According to The Telegraph: Acts such as showering the Princess’s hearse with flowers show that the public is reverting to a “Catholic” approach to death after centuries of protestant reserve, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols suggested. He said that the Princess’s funeral in 1997 marked a watershed in British history and […]

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Kings should teach their people to shun sin

March 25, 2013

He [St. Louis the King] called me [John of Joinville, Seneschal of Champagne] once to him and said: “Because of the subtle mind that is in you I dare not speak to you of the things relating to God; so I have summoned these two monks that are here, as I want to ask you […]

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Mary’s Queenship

March 25, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   The queenship of Our Lady is supernatural in character because she is the first and highest of God’s creatures. She is not the first in the order of nature, for the Angels are more than she.  An angel is a pure spirit and, therefore, […]

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Animal rights MPs refuse loyalty oath to the new king – Dutch News

March 25, 2013

According to Dutch News: Party leader Marianne Thieme, MP Esther Ouwehand and senator Niko Koffieman from the animal rights party PvdD will not swear the oath of allegiance to the new king on April 30. The three announced on Tuesday they will congratulate Willem-Alexander after his inauguration but will not swear the oath which ‘implies […]

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Monarchy survives vote in Stortinget – Views and News from Norway

March 25, 2013

According to Views and News from Norway: Until now, it’s mostly just been the now-small Socialist Left party (SV) that routinely fronts proposals to turn Norway into a republic and replace the monarch, currently King Harald V, with a president. This week SV was joined by four members of the Labour Party Both proponents and […]

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The Incarnation of Christ the King

March 25, 2013

The Annunciation, by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent Out of love for us, the Eternal Word was made flesh in the chaste womb of Mary. His plan was marvelously arranged. From all eternity, He chose a man after His heart who would be the virginal spouse of His divine Mother, His adopted father on earth, and […]

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March 25 – Saint Lucy Filippini

March 25, 2013

St. Lucy Filippini (13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) She was orphaned at an early age when her parents both died. From there she went to live with her aristocratic aunt and uncle who encouraged her religious inclination by entrusting her education to the Benedictine nuns at Santa Lucia. Her career began under the […]

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March 26 – St. Ludger

March 25, 2013

St. Ludger (Lüdiger or Liudger) Missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, first Bishop of Munster in Westphalia, b. at Zuilen near Utrecht about 744; d. 26 March, 809. Feast, 26 March. Represented as a bishop reciting his Breviary, or with a swan at either side. His parents, Thiadgrim and Liafburg, were wealthy Frisians of noble […]

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December 4 – From a Muslim court, he opposed the Christian Emperor, and won

March 25, 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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The privilège du blanc and God’s love for inequality

March 21, 2013

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that God filled Creation with inequalities as the best way to reflect His infinite perfections. Creation’s immense variety, ordered in hierarchical fashion, helps men love God more profoundly—this love being man’s ultimate end. Thus, it is perfectly understandable that the Catholic Church would help inculcate an appreciation and admiration for inequalities, […]

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Richard III would want Catholic funeral, says Dr John Ashdown-Hill – BBC News

March 21, 2013

  According to BBC News: The academic whose research led to the discovery of Richard III’s remains said he should be given a Roman Catholic rather than Anglican funeral. Dr John Ashdown-Hill, from Colchester, has now entered the fray saying King Richard would want a Catholic burial. “If Richard III had not have died, maybe […]

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Over a quarter of Russians would welcome new monarchy – Russia Today

March 21, 2013

According to Russia Today: 28 percent of Russians say they would not mind a revival of the monarchy in the country, a …survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) discovered. 2013 marks 400 years after the Romanov dynasty ascended to the Russian throne in 1613, reigning for over three centuries, until the abdication […]

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