March 19 – Saint Joseph, Martyr of Grandeur

March 18, 2013

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira To have an idea of what Saint Joseph—the Patron of the Church—was like, we must consider two prodigious facts: he was the foster father of the Child Jesus and he was the spouse of Our Lady. The husband must be proportional to the wife. Now who is Our Lady? She […]

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March 20 – Homeless Noble Poet

March 18, 2013

Blessed Baptista Mantuanus (Or SPAGNOLI). Carmelite and Renaissance poet, born at Mantua, 17 April, 1447, where he also died, 22 March, 1516. The eldest son of Peter Spagnoli, a Spanish nobleman at the court of Mantua, Baptista studied grammar under Gregorio Tifernate, and philosophy at Pavia under Polo Bagelardi. The bad example of his schoolfellows […]

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March 20 – St. Wulfram

March 18, 2013

St. Wulfram Bishop of Sens, missionary in Frisi, born at Milly near Fontainebleau, probably during the reign of Clovis II (638-56); died 20 March, before 704, in which year a translation of his body took place (Duchesne, “Fastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule”, II, Paris, 1900, 413). His father Fulbert stood high in the esteem of […]

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March 20 – Vendor of Learning

March 18, 2013

St. Clement of Ireland Also known as Clemens Scotus (not to be confounded with Claudius Clemens). Born in Ireland, towards the middle of the eighth century, died perhaps in France, probably after 818. About the year 771 he set out for France. His biographer, an Irish monk of St. Gall, who wrote his Acts, dedicated […]

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For Marie Antoinette, it was a baby, not a blob of tissue

March 14, 2013

Struggling to disguise her happiness over her first pregnancy, Marie Antoinette quipped with her husband, King Louis XVI: “Your Majesty, I feel compelled to register a complaint against one of your subjects, a brash one, who gives himself permission to give me kicks in my womb.”   Vicente Vega, Diccionario ilustrado de frases célebres y […]

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Meditation on our Crusade

March 14, 2013

   (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   When Urban II challenged the knights at Clermont, asking them if they preferred their serenity or go to fight for the Church, they did not hesitate. They were true servants of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They had the Catholic Church alive in their […]

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March 14 – Patroness of Those Falsely Accused

March 14, 2013

St. Matilda, Queen of Saxony Queen of Germany, wife of King Henry I (The Fowler), b. at the Villa of Engern in Westphalia, about 895; d. at Quedlinburg, 14 March, 968. She was brought up at the monastery of Erfurt. Henry, whose marriage to a young widow, named Hathburg, had been declared invalid, asked for […]

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March 15 – Her nuns earned the name “Angels of the Battlefield”

March 14, 2013

St. Louise de Marillac Le Gras Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, born at Paris, 12 August, 1591, daughter of Louis de Marillac, Lord of Ferrieres, and Marguerite Le Camus; died there, 15 March, 1660. Her mother having died soon after the birth of Louise, the education of the latter […]

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March 15 – Pope St. Zachary

March 14, 2013

Pope St. Zachary (ZACHARIAS.) Reigned 741-52. Year of birth unknown; died in March, 752. Zachary sprang from a Greek family living in Calabria; his father, according to the “Liber Pontificalis”, was called Polichronius. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732. […]

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March 16 – Chancellor to Italy and Germany

March 14, 2013

St. Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne Born at Worms, c. 970; died at Cologne, 16 March, 1021. His father was Duke Hugo of Worms. After receiving his education at the cathedral school of Worms, he spent some time as guest at the monastery of Gorze, after which he became provost at the cathedral of Worms. In […]

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March 17 – Roman Patrician, Slave, and Saint

March 14, 2013

St. Patrick Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 493. He had for his parents Calphurnius and Conchessa. The former belonged to a Roman family of high rank and held the office of decurio in Gaul or Britain. Conchessa was a […]

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March 17 – St. Gertrude of Nivelles

March 14, 2013

St. Gertrude of Nivelles Virgin, and Abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles; born in 626; died 17 March, 659. She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and a younger sister of St. Begga, Abbess of Andenne. One day, when she was about ten years of old, her father invited King Dagobert and […]

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Battle lines are drawn over the historic heart of England – The Telegraph

March 11, 2013

According to The Telegraph: One of the two most important centres of ancient Wessex – alma mater of Alfred the Great – Sherborne has leapt into the forefront of a growing campaign to protect the special character of historic towns against the spread of drab uniformity. Wessex’s other great centre, Winchester, whose original street plan […]

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St. Louis: Kings should make themselves loved by their people, and never lie, not even to the enemy

March 11, 2013

This holy man [St. Louis the King] loved God with all his heart, and followed Him in His acts; and this appeared in that, as God died for the love He bore His people, so did the king put his body in peril, and that several times, for the love he bore to his people; […]

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St. Gregory VII’s struggle against Henry IV (Holy Roman Empire)

March 11, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   The Middle Ages was not—as some naïve people imagine—an epoch when everyone was good. It was an epoch in which the number of the good was more considerable than in any other time, to the point that the good managed to impose themselves on […]

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Recipe: Celebrating 150 Year Anniversary of D.O.M. Benedictine

March 11, 2013

  150 year anniversary of D.O.M. Benedictine Though shrouded in mystery, the origins of D.O.M. Benedictine are linked to the ancient Benedictine abbey of  Fécamp on the French side of the English Channel, some 20 miles north of Le Havre. Founded in 658, this ancient Benedictine abbey weathered trials and tribulations for centuries. Destroyed by Vikings, it was […]

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March 13 – Happiness Cannot Be Bought

March 11, 2013

St. Euphrasia (aka Eupraxia) Virgin, born in 380; died after 410. Antigonus, the father of this saint, was a nobleman of the first rank and quality in the court of Theodosius the younger, nearly allied in blood to that emperor, and honored by him with several great employments in the state. He was married to […]

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March 13 – Though not a learned man, he established a school known today as Oxford

March 11, 2013

Bl. Agnellus of Pisa Friar Minor and founder of the English Franciscan Province, born at Pisa c. 1195, of the noble family of the Agnelli; died at Oxford, 7 May, 1236. In early youth he was received into the Seraphic Order by St. Francis himself, during the latter’s sojourn in Pisa, and soon became an […]

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Queen Isabel meets her confessor

March 7, 2013

“He is a gentle-natured priest, somewhat narrow of mind perhaps, but a sound theologian without bitterness or passion.” Thus wrote Peter Martyr of Fra Fernando de Talavera, Isabel’s confessor… At their first confessional, the Friar, seating himself on a low stool, bade his companion kneel before him; but she, unwilling to lower her dignity, reminded […]

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Faith brings harmony to family, society and State

March 7, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   I believe that the patriarchal society, like everything that exists in this valley of tears, becomes stronger over time, in proportion to its existence and production. However, at the same time, it grows older and older. Both institutions and families age. And, gradually, glory […]

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March 7 – Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

March 7, 2013

Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart Born July 15, 1747. Died March 7, 1770 in Florence. She was born Anna Maria Redi to a large noble family in Arezzo, Italy. She was the daughter of Count Ignatius Redi and Camilla Billeti. After attending the boarding school of the Benedictine nuns of St. Apollonia’s in […]

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March 8 – They buried him with all the honors of a prince

March 7, 2013

St. John of God Born at Montemor o Novo, Portugal, 8 March, 1495, of devout Christian parents; died at Granada, 8 March, 1550. The wonders attending the saints birth heralded a life many-sided in its interests, but dominated throughout by implicit fidelity to the grace of God. A Spanish priest whom he followed to Oropeza, […]

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March 9 – She Could Detect Diabolical Plots

March 7, 2013

St. Frances of Rome One of the greatest mystics of the fifteenth century; born at Rome, of a noble family, in 1384; died there, 9 March, 1440. Her youthful desire was to enter religion, but at her father’s wish she married, at the age of twelve, Lorenzo de’ Ponziani. Among her children we know of […]

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March 9 – The Nun who was expert in war

March 7, 2013

St. Catherine of Bologna Poor Clare and mystical writer, born at Bologna, 8 September, 1413; died there, 9 March, 1463. When she was ten years old, her father sent her to the court of the Marquis of Ferrara, Nicolò d’Este, as a companion to the Princess Margarita. Here Catherine pursued the study of literature and […]

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March 10 – “I want no prayers from heretics!”

March 7, 2013

St. John Ogilvie Ogilvie, the son of a wealthy noble, was born into a Calvinist family near Keith in Banffshire, Scotland and was educated in mainland Europe where he attended a number of Roman Catholic educational establishments, under the Benedictines at Regensburg in Germany and with the Jesuits at Olomouc and Brno in the present […]

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“Your Honor, was St. Augustine also a traitor?” – March 4 feastday

March 4, 2013

Blessed Christopher Bales (Or Bayles, alias Evers) Priest and martyr, b. at Coniscliffe near Darlington, County Durham, England, about 1564; executed 4 March, 1590. He entered the English College at Rome, 1 October, 1583, but owing to ill-health was sent to the College at Reims, where he was ordained 28 March, 1587. Sent to England […]

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How a Pope buys firewood from a poor beggar girl

March 4, 2013

During his recent stay in Rome, Don Bosco had taken notes of incidents which threw light on Pius IX’s personality, especially on his jovial, kindly, generous character…. The cleric Michael Rua faithfully recorded two such incidents as described by Don Bosco one night after prayers:   (…) “Another curious incident took place last year [1857] […]

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Dignity

March 4, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   A magistrate has a dignity that is proper to him. A servant does not have it. Dignity and mutual respect in dealing with men make social life bearable and even agreeable. Without this, because of the sad consequences of Original Sin plus the vulgarity […]

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March 4 – This Prince had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin

March 4, 2013

St. Casimir Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at Cracow, 3 October, 1458; died at the court of Grodno, 4 March, 1484. He was the grandson of Wladislaus II Jagiello, King of Poland, who introduced Christianity into Lithuania, and the second son of King Casimir IV and Queen Elizabeth, an Austrian princess, the […]

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March 5 – St. John Joseph of the Cross

March 4, 2013

St. John Joseph of the Cross Born on the Island of Ischia, Southern Italy, 1654; died 5 March, 1739. From his earliest years he was given to prayer and virtue. So great was his love of poverty that he would always wear the dress of the poor, though he was of noble birth. At the […]

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March 6 – Of Kings and Princesses

March 4, 2013

Saints Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba The two first were daughters of Penda, the cruel pagan king of Mercia, and sisters to three successive Christian Kings, Peada, Wulfere, and Ethelred, and to the pious prince Merowald. Kyneburge, as Bede informs us, (1) was married to Alcfrid, eldest son of Oswi, and in his father’s life-time king […]

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March 6 – Prime Minister Bishop

March 4, 2013

St. Chrodegang Bishop of Metz, born at the beginning of the eighth century at Hasbania, in what is now Belgian Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; died at Metz, 6 March, 766. He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, […]

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“The Dragon-Slayer” Knight of Rhodes

February 28, 2013

Two years after the Knights [of St. John of Jerusalem]  had occupied Rhodes a battle took place which was quite unconnected with the Moslem enemy. It has passed, if not into history, at least into legend. A Provençal knight, Dieudonné de Gozon, slew a dragon… In a valley below Mount St. Stephen, a little south […]

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Equilibrium and the medieval soul

February 28, 2013

(based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira) The virtue of equilibrium was the cornerstone of happiness in the Middle Ages. In this equilibrium, all licit states of soul were balanced and lived side by side in harmony. As a result, the soul felt secure, calm, and grounded. The soul had the psychological distance […]

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Kunigundenringe-recipe for Saint Cunegund rings

February 28, 2013

This recipe is from Bamberg, a city in northern Bavaria, where the feast day of St. Cunegund (March 3rd) is celebrated by baking these special pastry rings that are normally not available during other times of the year. This recipe comes from an old bakery in Bamberg that was established in the 1800’s. Reprinted with […]

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July 18 – She Married a Man to Change Him and It Worked

February 28, 2013

Saint Hedwig, Queen of Poland Born, 1371. Died, 17 July 1399 during child birth. Hedwig was the youngest daughter of King Louis I of Hungary. Because she was great-niece to King Casimir III of Poland, she became Queen of Poland in 1382 upon her father‘s death. She was engaged to William, Duke of Austria, whom […]

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March 1 – St. David

February 28, 2013

St. David (DEGUI, DEWI). Bishop and Confessor, patron of Wales. He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David’s day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in […]

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March 2 – This Princess Refused to Marry the Emperor

February 28, 2013

St. Agnes of Bohemia (Also called Agnes of Prague). Born at Prague in the year 1200; died probably in 1281. She was the daughter of Ottocar, King of Bohemia and Constance of Hungary, a relative of St. Elizabeth. At an early age she was sent to the monastery of Treinitz, where at the hands of […]

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March 2 – Warrior Bishop Prince

February 28, 2013

St. John Maron Origin of St. John Maron John Maron was born in Sarum, a prosperous town located south of the city of Antioch. His date of birth is not mentioned but many historians place it around the third decade of the seventh century. He descended from a Frankish royal family which governed Antioch, a […]

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March 3 – St. Cunegundes, Empress

February 28, 2013

(c. 975 – 3 March 1040 at Kaufungen), also called Cunegundes and Cunegonda ST. CUNEGUNDES was the daughter of Sigefride, the first count of Luxemburgh, and Hadeswige his pious wife. They instilled into her from her cradle the most tender sentiments of piety, and married her to St. Henry, duke of Bavaria, who, upon the […]

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Patton on keeping the enemy running

February 25, 2013

“To hell with taking three days to regroup! We will regroup on the run. Let the women and children consolidate our gains. When we get the enemy on the run, we must keep him on the run. We must run faster than he does! We’ll not need food when we are winning! We will eat […]

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The epic spirit

February 25, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)     We need to define well what we mean by epopee and the epic spirit. Epopee is the marvelous, not only the aesthetic marvelous, but the marvelous placed in battle array and exposed to risk, even imminent risk. Epopee is the marvelous of heroism. […]

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February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 25, 2013

St. Walburga Born in Devonshire, about 710; died at Heidenheim, 25 Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West […]

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February 26 – St. Isabel of France

February 25, 2013

St. Isabel of France Daughter of Louis VIII and of his wife, Blanche of Castille, born in March, 1225; died at Longchamp, 23 February, 1270. St. Louis IX, King of France (1226-70), was her brother. When still a child at court, Isabel, or Elizabeth, showed an extraordinary devotion to exercises of piety, modesty, and other […]

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February 26 – Blessed Robert Drury

February 25, 2013

Blessed Robert Drury Martyr (1567-1607), was born of a good Buckinghamshire family and was received into the English College at Reims, 1 April, 1588. On 17 September, 1590, he was sent to the new College at Valladolid; here he finished his studies, was ordained priest and returned to England in 1593. He laboured chiefly in […]

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February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest?

February 25, 2013

St. Anne Line English martyr, died 27 Feb., 1601. She was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a gentleman of means and an ardent Calvinist, and when she and her brother announced their intention of becoming Catholics both were disowned and disinherited. Anne married Roger Line, a convert like herself, and shortly after […]

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How much would it cost to replace the Queen and her family? – Daily Express

February 21, 2013

According to the Daily Express: In a bit of fun we asked three financial gurus to work out how much the royals could command in personal appearances if they were A­list celebrities rather than a dutiful family. One former trader believes the Queen would pull in £42.5million a year, while the senior royals could command […]

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Fury over Sandhurst”s insult to Mons heroes: Hall renamed after 3million gift from Bahrain king – Lebanon Times

February 21, 2013

According to the Lebanon Times: Sandhurst is renaming a hall which commemorates the fallen of a major First World War battle following a 3 million donation from the king of Bahrain. The Mons Hall was named to honour thousands of British soldiers who died during the battle in Belgium in 1914. But despite the 100th […]

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St. Louis the King urged his nobles to virtue and to never quarrel among themselves

February 21, 2013

He [St. Louis] asked me [the Seneschal of Joinville] if I wished to be honored in this world, and to go into paradise at my death? And I said “Yes.” And he said: “Keep yourself then from knowingly doing or saying anything which, if the whole world heard thereof, you would be ashamed to acknowledge, […]

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True joy

February 21, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)   We must serve God with joy and communicate this joy in doing holy things.  St. Thomas Aquinas named this weariness for holy things and the subsequent sadness of living in the service of God, acedia, which means weariness and lack of joy and desire […]

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February 21 – Hanged for the faith

February 21, 2013

Saint Robert Southwell Poet, Jesuit, martyr; born at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, England, in 1561; hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 21 February, 1595. His grandfather, Sir Richard Southwell, had been a wealthy man and a prominent courtier in the reign of Henry VIII. It was Richard Southwell who in 1547 had brought the poet Henry […]

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February 21 – Terror of the Wicked, Supporter of the Weak

February 21, 2013

Blessed Pepin of Landen Mayor of the Palace to the Kings Clotaire II, Dagobert, and Sigebert. He was son of Carloman, the most powerful nobleman of Austrasia, who had been mayor to Clotaire I, son of Clovis I. He was grandfather to Pepin of Herstal, the most powerful mayor, whose son was Charles Martel, and […]

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February 21 – He Fearlessly Denounced Homosexual Clergy

February 21, 2013

St. Peter Damian Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna “five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III,” 1007; died at Faenza, 21 Feb., 1072. He was the youngest of a large family. His parents were noble, but poor. At his birth an elder brother protested against this new charge […]

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February 24 – First Christian King Among the English

February 21, 2013

St. Ethelbert, King of Kent Born, 552; died, 24 February, 616; son of Eormenric, through whom he was descended from Hengest. He succeeded his father, in 560, as King of Kent and made an unsuccessful attempt to win from Ceawlin of Wessex the overlordship of Britain. His political importance was doubtless advanced by his marriage […]

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Our Lord Jesus Christ as King of the Church Militant

February 18, 2013

 (based on a talk by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira)     In his meditation about the Kingdom of Christ, St. Ignatius compares Our Lord Jesus Christ to an earthly king who is at war and addresses his subjects, inviting them to join the war for His sake. Note that this is a spiritual situation […]

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February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 18, 2013

St. Conrad of Piacenza Hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, date of birth uncertain; died at Noto in Sicily, 19 February, 1351. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged […]

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MPs will refuse to swear oath of allegiance to new king – Dutch News

February 18, 2013

According to Dutch News: At least two MPs from the Socialist Party have said they will not swear allegiance to King Willem-Alexander at his investiture in April because they are republicans. Willem-Alexander will be inaugurated as king in front of all the members of the upper and lower houses of parliament. During the ceremony, all […]

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Royal wedding raises over €150,000 for charity – Luxemburger Wort

February 18, 2013

According to the Luxemburger Wort: As part of their wedding celebrations last October, Prince Guillaume and Princess Stéphanie asked people not to give gifts but to make donations to the Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse. Their philanthropic gesture helped raise 157,810 euros to fund a series of social projects managed by the Fondation. […]

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The death of the de la Metairie sisters ends the Terror of Nantes

February 18, 2013

Another execution [in Nantes] also tended to change the tide of popular feeling—that of four sisters, the Demoiselles Mello de la Metairie. Deprived of both their parents, these young ladies had continued to live in their native city, devoting their lives to the care of the sick and the consolation of the poor and afflicted. […]

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Nine Hundred Years of Chivalry for the Knights of Malta

February 14, 2013

by Raymond Drake Nine hundred years ago, on February 15, 1113, Pope Paschal II issued the bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis approving a hospitaller religious order that today is Christendom’s oldest order of chivalry: The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. The Pope made the order independent from […]

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