Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor

October 28, 2024

By Jeremias Wells When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a debt of gratitude is a moral […]

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October 29 – One of the Martyrs of Douai

October 28, 2024

Blessed Edward Waterson Born at London; martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7 January 1594 (1593 old style). A romantic episode marks this martyr’s early career, for as a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants, and attracted the attention of a wealthy Turk, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would embrace […]

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October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 28, 2024

The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity. Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain of the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself with taking part in those […]

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Baroness Herbert of Lea: a convert to the Catholic Faith

October 28, 2024

Mary Elizabeth Ashe à Court-Repington was born in Richmond, Surrey, on July 21, 1822. She was the only daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Ashe à Court-Repington, member of Parliament, and the niece of William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury, British Ambassador to the Russian Imperial Court at St. Petersburg. In August 1846, at the age of […]

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What Is the Fire of Chivalry?

October 28, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira It is to have the resolution of soul to wage any battle, at any cost, in any way, facing every sacrifice, to attain the victory of Our Lady over the devil. Now, we cannot say that this spirit is as pure and unstained in us as what I am describing, […]

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How Saint Anthony Mary Claret Engaged the Culture of His Times

October 24, 2024

by Plinio Maria Solimeo October 23, 2024 How Saint Anthony Mary Claret Engaged the Culture of His Times The history of nineteenth-century Spain cannot be understood without studying the life of this great Catholic missionary.  Saint Anthony Mary Claret was one of the great pillars of the Holy Catholic Church in the nineteenth century. When […]

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October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 24, 2024

St. Antonio María Claret y Clará Spanish prelate and missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec., 1807; died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct., 1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he […]

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Maria Feodorovna, Tsarina of all the Russias, Patron of the Impoverished Nobility

October 24, 2024

Maria Feodorovna, Tsarina of all the Russias, was born princess of Württemberg on October 25, 1758. She was the second wife of Tsar Paul I, who fought against Napoleon Bonaparte, when the latter began to expand the egalitarian tenets of the French Revolution militarily to the rest of Europe. Among her numerous accomplishments, Tsarina Maria […]

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October 25 – St. Cuthbert Mayne

October 24, 2024

St. Cuthbert Mayne Martyr, born at Yorkston, near Barnstaple, Devonshire (baptized 20 March, 1543-4); died at Launceston, Cornwall, 29 Nov., 1577. He was the son of William Mayne; his uncle was a schismatical priest, who had him educated at Barnstaple Grammar School, and he was ordained a Protestant minister at the age of eighteen or […]

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The Hummingbird

October 24, 2024

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira  October 26, 1980 Once as I was sitting in the small porch of a farmhouse, a hummingbird suddenly stopped in the air and began sucking nectar from the flowers of climbing ivy. He ‘kissed’ each flower in turn. The hummingbird’s flight was similar to an arrow’s trajectory — so inflexible […]

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The Necessary Spirit of the Crusader

October 24, 2024

In general, medieval men understood the role of fortitude in maintaining their Christian culture. They had no illusions about their own weaknesses and vices. They understood the need to confront the disorders and evils that will always plague this vale of tears. Calling upon God, the faithful in varying degrees summoned from themselves the strength […]

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Bl. Celina Chludzińska v. Borzęcka

October 24, 2024

 (1833-1913) Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection Celine Chludzinska Borzecka was born on 29 October 1833 in Antowil, Orsza (formerly Polish territory, today Belarus), to Ignatius and Petronella Chludzinski, whose families were wealthy landowners. One of three children, she grew up in an environment of sound Catholic and patriotic traditions, and […]

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October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 24, 2024

Sts. Edesius and Frumentius Tyrian Greeks of the fourth century, probably brothers, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; the latter a saint and first Bishop of Axum, styled the Apostle of Abyssinia, d. about 383. When still mere boys they accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Abyssinia. When their ship stopped at one of […]

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The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 21, 2024

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might […]

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Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 21, 2024

(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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Hammer of Muslim invaders

October 21, 2024

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only […]

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October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 21, 2024

St. Wendelin of Trier Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. […]

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Abbé Edgeworth: King Louis’ Irish Confessor

October 21, 2024

by Rev. George W. Rutler Among the singularities of the French monarchy was the tradition of having Scottish bodyguards. Scottish history has not been riddled with pacifism, and the Scots along with the fiery Castilians, were used as mercenaries as early as Charlemagne. An “Auld Alliance” between Scotland and France was sealed in 1295, and in […]

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October 23 – Made eunuch because he was prince

October 21, 2024

St. Ignatius of Constantinople Born about 799; died 23 October, 877; son of Emperor Michael I and Procopia. His name, originally Nicetas, was changed at the age of fourteen to Ignatius. Leo the Armenian having deposed the Emperor Michael (813), made Ignatius a eunuch and incarcerated him in a monastery, that he might not become […]

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Knight, Lawyer, Governor, Ambassador, Friar, Prisoner, Reformer, Crusader General, Renaissance Saint

October 21, 2024

St. John of Capistrano Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456. His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his […]

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Australia does not want to become republic under King Charles, poll suggests

October 17, 2024

Source: Reuters Australia does not want to become a republic under the King, a new poll has suggested. The survey found that one in four respondents had a more favourable view of the monarch now than they did before he was crowned in 2023. Of the 1,049 Australians who responded to the survey by NewsCorp’s […]

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The Battle of Cholet

October 17, 2024

The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d’Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; […]

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Be Faithful to Your Duty and Fight, But Never Surrender the City

October 17, 2024

The victory of the Carizmians delivered up the greater part of Palestine to the most redoubtable enemies of the Christian colonies. The Egyptians took possession of Jerusalem, Tiberias, and the cities ceded to the Franks by the prince of Damascus. The hordes of Carismia ravaged all the banks of the Jordan, with the territories of […]

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A Lesson From A French Revolution Martyrdom: Combating Evil Is an Obligation of Every True Catholic

October 17, 2024

September (aka September Massacres; On October 17, 1926, Pope Pius XI beatified 191 of them.) By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira … This is also the feast of the 191 priests martyred on this day in 1792 by the French revolutionaries for refusing to swear the so-called Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Civil Constitution of […]

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Colonel José de Escandón is ennobled for establishing settlers in South Texas

October 17, 2024

[D]on José [de Escandón] lost little time in acting but did not sacrifice effectiveness to haste. Working with his lieutenants to conduct a publicity campaign along the frontier, he and his officers had little difficulty recruiting potential settlers….Among those recruited as settlers in the new province were ranchers who already owned large herds of livestock […]

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Amidst the Revolution, the women of Paris acclaim Marie Antoinette as their Queen

October 17, 2024

The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She took away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du-Pin, to whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted “pro tempore,” came and gave orders […]

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The day that sparked the Crusades

October 17, 2024

Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre On October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, orders for the complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection, were carried out. The measures against the church were part of a more general campaign against Christian places […]

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October 19 – Founding Fathers

October 17, 2024

St. Isaac Jogues French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at […]

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October 19 – Prayer was his crime

October 17, 2024

Saint Philip Howard Martyr, Earl of Arundel; born at Arundel House, London, 28 June 1557, died in the Tower of London, 19 October, 1595. He was the grandson of Henry, Earl of Surrey, the poet, executed by Henry VIII in 1547, and son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk executed by Elizabeth 1572. Philip II of […]

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Emperor Marcian

October 17, 2024

Marcian (Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457. He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan […]

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Grand Duchy of Luxembourg begins transition

October 14, 2024

royalwatcherblog Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg was appointed the ‘Lieutenant Répresentant’ of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on October 8th… The title of Lieutenant Répresentant has a unique place in Luxembourg’s royal tradition. The role allows the heir apparent to the crown to temporarily take over the duties of the reigning monarch without requiring […]

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October 14 – Barber Family

October 14, 2024

Daniel Barber Daniel Barber, soldier of the Revolution, Episcopalian minister and convert, b. at Simsbury, Connecticut, U.S.A., 2 October, 1756; d. at Saint Inigoes, Maryland, 1834. The conversion of the Barber family, despite the prejudices of a Puritan education and environment, was one of the most notable and far-reaching in its results of any recorded […]

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After almost five centuries, St. Teresa of Avila’s body is still incorrupt

October 14, 2024

According to Catholic News Agency: “Today the tomb of St. Teresa was opened and we have verified that it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914,” said the postulator general of the Discalced Carmelite Order, Father Marco Chiesa of the Carmelite Monastery of Alba de Tormes, where the remains […]

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Interior Castle

October 14, 2024

St. Teresa of Avila Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582. The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda by his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when the saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa […]

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October 15 – Second Apostle of the Prussians

October 14, 2024

St. Bruno of Querfurt (Also called BRUN and BONIFACE). Second Apostle of the Prussians and martyr, born about 970; died 14 February, 1009. He is generally represented with a hand cut off, and is commemorated on 15 October. Bruno was a member of the noble family of Querfurt and is commonly said to have been […]

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On this day, 31 years ago…

October 14, 2024

Book Launching, Milan, October 15, 1993 Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility  Pius XII: Great Goals and Immense Means to Bring About the Restoration of the Christian Social Order Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira One of the most important results of the First World War, […]

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October 16 – St. Bercharius

October 14, 2024

St. Bercharius (BERERUS). Abbot of Hautvillers in Champagne, b. 636; d. 28 March, 696. Descended from a distinguished Aquitanian family, he received his instruction from St. Nivard (Nivo), Archbishop of Reims, under whose charge he advaneed rapidly in virtue and learning. Believing himself called to the sacred ministry, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil under […]

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October 16 – Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 14, 2024

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. […]

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October 16 – Marie Antoinette

October 14, 2024

Queen of France. Born at Vienna, 2 November, 1755; executed in Paris, 16 October, 1793. She was the youngest daughter of Francis I, German Emperor, and of Maria Theresa. The marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was one of the last acts of Choiseul’s policy; but the Dauphiness from the first shared the unpopularity […]

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Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 14, 2024

(A lecture by Plinio Correa de Oliveira) Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians: A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Hapsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make […]

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Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee statue unveiled

October 10, 2024

Source: BBC The first of two life-size bronze sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II has been unveiled. The statue in Riverside Park in Andover, Hampshire, was commissioned by Test Valley Borough Council to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Its “sister” statue is due to be placed in Romsey next year. The sculpture depicts the monarch […]

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The Crusades – Part VIII

October 10, 2024

VIII. THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY CRUSADE AND THE OTTOMAN INVASION The loss of Saint-Jean d’Acre did not lead the princes of Europe to organize a new crusade. Men’s minds were indeed, as usual, directed towards the East, but in the first years of the fourteenth century the idea of a crusade inspired principally the works of […]

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How General Lee shared his meager rations with his prisoners

October 10, 2024

That General Lee was a “square” fighter was evidenced time and again during the great conflict for the Union. When his army invaded the North in the campaign that culminated at Gettysburg he gave strict orders that no harm should be done to private property, and General Lee was once seen to get down from […]

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How to overcome bad ancestry

October 10, 2024

St. Francis Borgia (also known as Francisco de Borja y Aragon), born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome […]

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October 11 – Model Archduke, both spiritual and temporal

October 10, 2024

St. Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne Bruno the Great (or Bruno I) (925–965) was Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, from 953 until his death, and Duke of Lotharingia from 954. He was the brother of Otto I, king of Germany and later Holy Roman Emperor. Bruno was the youngest son of Henry the Fowler and […]

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Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

October 10, 2024

When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on October 12, 1492–a feat that earned for him the title of Admiral of the Indies and for his grandson Louis and his descendants in perpetuity the noble title of Duke of Veragua–he introduced into the Americas the greatest treasure possible: the Catholic Faith. However, his epic Atlantic […]

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Difficulties in his youth prepared him for later trials

October 10, 2024

St. Wilfrid Bishop of York, son of a Northumbrian thegn, born in 634; died at Oundle in Northamptonshire, 709. He was unhappy at home, through the unkindness of a stepmother, and in his fourteenth year he was sent away to the Court of King Oswy, King of Northumbria. Here he attracted the attention of Queen […]

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King Confessor

October 10, 2024

St. Edward the Confessor Saint, King of England, born in 1003; died January 5, 1066. He was the son of Ethelred II and Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, being thus half-brother to King Edmund Ironside, Ethelred’s son by his first wife, and to King Hardicanute, Emma’s son by her second marriage with Canute. […]

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Protestant Monarchies and Catholic Republics

October 10, 2024

[previous] B. Protestant Monarchies and Catholic Republics An objection could be made to our theses: If the universal republican movement is a fruit of the Protestant spirit, then why is there only one Catholic king in the world today1 while so many Protestant countries continue to be monarchies? The explanation is simple. England, Holland, and […]

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October 13 – They denounced the religion of Mahomet

October 10, 2024

St. Daniel and Companions Friars Minor and martyrs; dates of birth unknown; died 10 October, 1227. The martyrdom of St. Berard and his companions in 1219 had inflamed many of the religious of the Order of Friars Minor with the desire of preaching the Gospel in heathen lands; and in 1227, the year following St. […]

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How Don John went into battle

October 7, 2024

Ali Pasha had disposed his fleet in an identical manner; he also spread out his right wing, composed of fifty-six galleys, towards the land, under Mahomet Scirocco. The left, formed of ninety-three galleys, also went to sea, under the orders of Aluch Ali; and in the midst of the centre division, formed of ninety-five galleys, […]

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October 7 – How the Rosary saved Christendom

October 7, 2024

by Jeremias Wells The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Here is but a small fraction of the victories directly obtained from God through the Holy Rosary: The Battle of Lepanto which saved Rome and Vienna, and thus the Pope and the Emperor, from Moslem subjugation The deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski The victory […]

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Lepanto: Turkish might buckles in the grandest naval battle of History

October 7, 2024

The Turkish fleet came on imposing and terrible, all sails set, impelled by a fair wind, and it was only half a mile from the line of galliasses and another mile from the line of the Christian ships. D. John waited no longer; he humbly crossed himself, and ordered that the cannon of challenge should […]

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

October 7, 2024

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 […]

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Don John of Austria used an ivory crucifix to inspire his men before Lepanto

October 7, 2024

Calmness in the presence of danger had always been one of D. John of Austria’s great qualities, and it did not fail him in this crisis. He refrained from telling anyone of the fears and anxieties that Cecco Pizano’s information had inspired in him, and without wasting a second he at once began to take […]

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Devotion to the Holy Rosary

October 7, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira    February 12th 1964 As we all know, one great value of devotion to the Rosary is that it was revealed by Our Lady to Saint Dominic as a means for reviving the Faith in regions heavily devastated by the Albigensian heresy. Indeed, the general practice of the Rosary revived the […]

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Catholic and Muslim Reactions to the News of the Turkish Defeat at Lepanto

October 7, 2024

[King] Philip was attending vespers in Madrid—or the Escorial—when the Venetian Ambassador—or an aide, as the case may be—slipped into his chapel to acquaint him with the news. The imperturbable monarch displayed neither pleasure nor annoyance at the interruption, and impassively resumed his devotions. Only when vespers ended did he reveal any emotion. Summoning the […]

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D. John’s calm assessment as the Turkish Armada is sighted: “There’s no time for anything but fighting”

October 7, 2024

At daybreak on the 7th of October, 1571, D. John of Austria ordered the fleet to leave the port of Petala, and very carefully to go along the channel between the coast of Greece and Oxia, the last island of the Curzolari; in the latitude of Cape Scropha the watch on the “Real” made signals […]

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Pope Saint Pius V has a vision announcing the victory of Lepanto

October 7, 2024

In the afternoon of that same day, the 7th of October, 1571, the Pope was walking about his room, listening to the relation by his treasurer, Mons. Busotti de Bibiana, of various businesses committed to his care; the Pope suffered terribly from stone, and as usually the pain attacked him while seated, he had to […]

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The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World – Conclusion

October 3, 2024

Continued from Part II Contradiction between everyday life and the statistics – What a terrible phenomenon that undermines the Catholic population itself, and which leads the Brazilian spirit, unfortunately so accommodating, to a monstrous situation. We are a nation with an overwhelming Catholic majority. Statistics in fact show a near unanimity of Catholics in Brazil. […]

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