December 13 – St. Odilia

December 13, 2012

St. Odilia Patroness of Alsace, born at the end of the seventh century; died about 720. According to a trustworthy statement, apparently taken from an earlier life, she was the daughter of the Frankish lord Adalrich (Aticus, Etik) and his wife Bereswinda, who had large estates in Alsace. She founded the convent of Hohenburg (Odilienberg) […]

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December 13 – Elected Pope to Fight the Emperor

December 13, 2012

Pope Callistus II Date of birth unknown; died 13 December, 1124. His reign, beginning 1 February, 1119, is signalized by the termination of the Investiture controversy which, begun in the time of Gregory VII, had raged with almost unabated bitterness during the last quarter of the eleventh century and the opening years of the twelfth. […]

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Americans love news of Britain’s bouncing royal baby – AFP

December 10, 2012

According to AFP: “I think there is an aspect (of the British monarchy) that fascinates Americans, the whole notion of people who live in castles and palaces,” Susan Kelley…told AFP. Fascination with the British royals has been part of American celebrity culture since the storybook wedding of William’s parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana… From […]

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Empress Sisi’s secret visits to the poor

December 10, 2012

Ever-ready to propagate cruel absurdities concerning the Empress, the short-sighted, frivolous, and superficial society of the Austrian capital remained only too often blind to her innumerable acts of charity. Often, in the early hours of the morning, she would glide out of her palace on errands of mercy, accompanied by a trusted, confidential attendant. Elizabeth […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 19, 1944

December 10, 2012

Little was your worry, beloved Sons and Daughters, that the present trials, which interrupt and disturb the calm continuation of family and social life, might prevent you from coming, as in past years, to offer Us, with filial devotion, the homage of your best wishes. This tragic, sorrowful time, so full of anxieties and cares, […]

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December 11 – Mother Marvelous, Madre Maravillas

December 10, 2012

St. María de las Maravillas de Jesús Pidal y Chico de Guzmán was born in Madrid, Spain, on 4 November 1891. She was the daughter of Luis Pidal y Mon, Marquis of Pidal, and Cristina Chico de Guzmán y Munoz. At the time her father was the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See and she grew […]

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December 12 – Guadalupe: She Who Smashes the Serpent

December 10, 2012

by Cesar Franco Pope Pius XII gave Our Lady of Guadalupe the title of “Empress of the Americas” in 1945. Since December 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, this is a propitious moment to recall how She reigns over our nation from Heaven, protecting and guiding us with Motherly solicitude and tenderness. […]

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Duke Paul in Luxembourg before the country’s fatal legalization of abortion on demand

December 6, 2012

LUXEMBOURG, November 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The tiny principality of Luxembourg has adopted abortion on demand in a vote yesterday of 39 to 21 in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill’s promoters in the Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg said that the relaxation of the law will provide “punishment-free termination” and […]

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Bravery and charity in a French Prince: the Duke of Berry

December 6, 2012

The Duke of Berry appreciated his happiness all the more because his youth had been so full of trials and difficulties. Exiled from France in 1789, at the age of eleven, he did not see his native land again until 1814. He was barely sixteen when he enlisted as a volunteer in Condé’s army, and […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 11, 1943

December 6, 2012

How, beloved Sons and Daughters, could the warm and heartfelt greetings that the lofty words of your illustrious representative conveyed to Us in your name fail to find their response in the offerings We now raise to God on your behalf? Unvanquished by the sorrows of the present hour, We feel, at this moment, a […]

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December 6 – Good St. Nicholas

December 6, 2012

Golden Legend – Life of Saint Nicholas Here beginneth the Life of Saint Nicholas the Bishop. Nicholas is said of Nichos, which is to say victory, and of laos, people, so Nicholas is as much as to say as victory of people, that is, victory of sins, which be foul people. Or else he is […]

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December 6 – Martyr of the Muslims

December 6, 2012

St. Peter Paschal, Bishop and Martyr This saint was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1227, and descended of the ancient family of the Paschals, which had edified the Church by the triumphs of five glorious martyrs, which it produced under the Moors. Peter’s parents were virtuous and exceedingly charitable; and St. Peter Nolasco often lodged […]

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December 7 – Noble Made Bishop by Acclamation

December 6, 2012

St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably 340, at Trier, Arles, or Lyons; died 4 April, 397. He was one of the most illustrious Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and fitly chosen, together with St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Athanasius, to uphold the venerable Chair of the Prince […]

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December 8 – Why We Should Celebrate Privilege

December 6, 2012

Pope Pius IX’s definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception had varied but profound repercussions from all over the civilized world. The new dogma deeply shocked the essentially egalitarian mentality of the French Revolution, which since 1789 had despotically held sway in the West. The Blessed Virgin Mary “in the first instance of her […]

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December 9 – The Banker Who Could Recite the Summa

December 6, 2012

St. Peter Fourier Known as LE BON PÈRE DE MATTAINCOURT (Good Father of Mattaincourt), born at Mirecourt, Lorraine, 30 Nov., 1565 died at Gray, Haute-Saône, 9 Dec., 1640. At fifteen he was sent to the University of Pont-à-Mousson. His piety and learning led many noble families to ask him to educate their sons. He became […]

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Duchess of Cambridge pregnant, admitted to hospital – The Telegraph

December 3, 2012

According to The Telegraph, A spokesman for St James’s Palace said: “Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby. “The Duchess was admitted this afternoon to King Edward VII Hospital in Central London with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. As the pregnancy is […]

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December 3 – St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies

December 3, 2012

St. Francis Xavier Born in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, 7 April, 1506; died on the Island of Sancian near the coast of China, 2 December, 1552. In 1525, having completed a preliminary course of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to Paris, where he entered the collège de Sainte-Barbe. […]

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The deathbed advice Louis XIV gave his great-grandson and heir

December 3, 2012

Madame the Ventadour set [the Dauphin] in an armchair. For a while, [Louis XIV] looked intently at this frail successor, and then, with tears in his eyes, he said: “Dear child, you are going to be the greatest King in the world; never forget the duty you owe to God. Do not follow my example […]

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Pius XII: Allocution of January 5, 1942

December 3, 2012

Beloved Sons and Daughters, the loftily worded message of greeting that your illustrious representative has communicated to Us, wishes, it seems to us, to manifest above all that filial attachment to the Apostolic See which spurs your faith and is the finest glory of the Roman Patriciate and Nobility. With great joy and exaltation, We […]

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

December 3, 2012

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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December 4 – Saint Osmund

December 3, 2012

Saint Osmund Bishop of Salisbury, died 1099; his feast is kept on 4 December. Osmund held an exalted position in Normandy, his native land, and according to a late fifteenth-century document was the son of Henry, Count of Séez, and Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was the father of William the Conqueror […]

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December 4 – Saint Barbara

December 3, 2012

Saint Barbara Virgin and Martyr. There is no reference to St. Barbara contained in the authentic early historical authorities for Christian antiquity, neither does her name appear in the original recension of St. Jerome’s martyrology. Veneration of the saint was common, however, from the seventh century. At about this date there were in existence legendary […]

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December 1 – The Virgin Mary appears to General Gaston de Sonis after his army’s losses at Patay promising that France would survive

November 29, 2012

On the night of December 1 [1870], the Zouaves were ordered to advance to Patay [France], where Joan of Arc had won a renowned victory against the English. [General Louis-Gaston de] Sonis asked [Colonel Athanase de] Charette, who had no flag of his own, to lend him the Zouaves’. This banner had a curious history….  […]

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Siege of Jasna Góra, November 28-December 27, 1655

November 29, 2012

This account of the siege of  Częstochowa is based on the Memoirs of the Siege of Czestochowa by Father Augustine Kordecki (Pamietnik oblezenia Częstochowy, edited and with a preface by Jan Tokarski, London, Veritas, 1956.) Written by Friar Kordecki in response to a wish of King Casimir, these memoirs were originally published in Latin in […]

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Louis XVIII’s policy of peaceful coexistence paves the way for the French Republic

November 29, 2012

In bringing men of the most widely diverse parties around him, Louis XVIII had required them to respect each other. Any allusion to former disputes would have been severely repressed. Political quarrels, so heated elsewhere, were extinguished on the threshold of the Tuileries, where reigned those ancient traditions of politeness, so long the boast of […]

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November 29 – Grandson of the one who defeated Charles Martel in battle

November 29, 2012

St. Radbod, Bishop of Utrecht, Confessor This holy prelate was, by his father, of noble French extraction; and, by his mother, Radbod, the last king or prince of the Frisons was his great grandfather, whose name was given him by his mother. The first tincture of learning and piety he received under the tuition of […]

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December 1 – He Hid Priests in His Manorhouse

November 29, 2012

Blessed Richard Langley Ruined transept of Roche Abbey 1810 Painting by John Buckler Most of England’s medieval abbeys and monasteries were destroyed during the Protestant Reformation.   Layman and martyr, b. probably at Grimthorpe, Yorks, England, date unknown; d. at York, 1 Dec., 1586. From his father, Richard Langley, of Rathorpe Hall, Walton, he probably […]

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December 2 – Cause of Our Joy

November 29, 2012

Our Lady of Joy (aka Notre Dame de Liesse, or Causa Nostrae Laetitiae) In 1134 three Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, prisoners of the Muslims in Egypt, miraculously found or received in their prison a statue of Our Lady, which they named Our Lady of Joy, or Notre Dame de Liesse. […]

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November 26 – How a Catholic Queen gave Spain its Golden Age

November 26, 2012

Queen Isabella I (“The Catholic”) Queen of Castile; born in the town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 22 April, 1451; died a little before noon, 26 November, 1504, in the castle of La Mota, which still stands at Medina del Campo (Valladolid). She was the daughter of John II, King of Castile, by his […]

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Perfume for Queen’s diamond jubilee – The Guardian

November 26, 2012

According to The Guardian: With compounds extracted from across the Commonwealth, a unique scent has been created especially for the Queen to mark her diamond jubilee. The chemist and perfumer Angela Stavrevska… said: “The blooming bouquet at the heart of the fragrance combines the freshness of lily-of-the-valley with classic touches of rose, Indian jasmine oil […]

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Belgian prince inspects lions of Menin Gate at memorial – The Canberra Times

November 26, 2012

According to The Canberra Times: Tens of thousands of Australian soldiers marched past the Menin Gate lions on their way to the battlefields of Belgium’s Ypres during World War I. Many never returned. Almost 100 years later Belgium’s crown prince has marched past those same stone lions – which now stand at the main entrance […]

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A French heir to the throne saves a man from suicide

November 26, 2012

As [the Duke of Berry] was out walking, he saw a very animated group of charcoal-burners, who were trying to prevent one of their number from throwing himself into the Seine. Without being recognized, he approached them and inquired the cause of the despair of the poor devil who wanted to kill himself. It was […]

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The Jacksonian Era of Popular Democracy

November 26, 2012

Andrew Jackson, elected president in 1828, was the first president of the United States who did not come from the traditional elites. His rise to the presidency marked the end of the aristocratic republic, and the beginning of a broader and more profound diffusion of the democratic ideology into the country’s political, social, and cultural […]

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November 25 & 26 – Blessed Hugh Taylor & Blessed Marmaduke Bowes

November 26, 2012

Blessed Hugh Taylor English martyr, born at Durham; hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, 25 (not 26) November, 1585. He arrived at Reims on 2 May, 1582, and having been ordained a priest was sent thence on the mission on 27 March, 1585. He was the first to suffer under the Statute 27 Eliz. c. […]

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November 27 – The king who made France “First-born daughter of the Church”

November 26, 2012

Clovis Son of Childeric, King of the Salic Franks; born in the year 466; died at Paris, 27 November, 511. He succeeded his father as the King of the Franks of Tournai in 481. His kingdom was probably one of the States that sprang from the division of Clodion’s monarchy like those of Cambrai, Tongres […]

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November 25 – The Battle of Montgisard

November 22, 2012

The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Ayyubids and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on November 25, 1177. The 16 year old King Baldwin IV, seriously afflicted by leprosy, led an out-numbered Christian force against the army of Saladin. The Islamic force was routed and their casualties were massive, only a fraction managed to flee […]

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November 22 – The Eternal Glory of the Caecilia Family

November 22, 2012

St. Cecilia Virgin and martyr, patroness of church music, died at Rome. This saint, so often glorified in the fine arts and in poetry, is one of the most venerated martyrs of Christian antiquity. The oldest historical account of St. Cecilia is found in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”; from this it is evident that her feast […]

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A French Prince becomes the Good Samaritan of a hurt soldier

November 22, 2012

[The Duke of Berry] was a good husband, a good friend, and a good master. Much beloved in his own house, he established perfect order there, When he learned that one of his servants had deposited money in the savings bank, he doubled the sum, so as to encourage his domestics to practice economy and […]

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November 23 – St. Trudo

November 22, 2012

St. Trudo (also called TRON, TROND, TRUDON, TRUTJEN, TRUYEN). Apostle of Hasbein in Brabant; died 698 (or perhaps 693). Feast 23 November. He was the son of Blessed Adela of the family of the dukes of Austrasia. Devoted from his earliest youth to the service of God, Trudo came to St. Remaclus, Bishop of Liège […]

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Video – Royal Wedding: H.R.H Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, November 20, 1947

November 19, 2012

 

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Riots Erupt in Jordan: The End of Absolute Monarchy

November 19, 2012

According to The Daily Beast: The blue-eyed king and beautiful queen of Jordan are facing the biggest crisis of their reign. On Tuesday night, riots and protests broke out in many of the country’s cities. Some in the crowd shouted “the people want the fall of the regime.” Others burned the monarch’s portrait. One longtime […]

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Empress Sissi was fearless in epidemics

November 19, 2012

She dried the tears of countless wretches, and brought comfort and consolation with her to many and many a stricken home. During the typhus epidemic which raged in the Hernalser-Mädchen Institute she insisted upon visiting the stricken girls, and upon personally encouraging and consoling them, quite regardless of the danger which she ran; and when […]

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Democratic Ideological Gains in the First Forty Years of the American Republic

November 19, 2012

During the four decades of national life under the Constitution which ended with the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828, the country underwent great transformations. From an insular society, predominantly agrarian and strongly rooted in family and interpersonal communitarian ties, it became a society of continental proportions marked by a great urban […]

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A mistake while catering for elites gives rise to the famous Tarte Tatin

November 19, 2012

Just forty minutes south of Orleans, and two hours south of Paris is the town of Lamotte-Beuvron. In 1852, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, bought the chateau. Starting then and continuing after his 1853 wedding to Eugénie de Montijo, Napoleon III made the town one of his country escapes. He renovated the chateau, built […]

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November 20 – St. Edmund the Martyr

November 19, 2012

St. Edmund the Martyr King of East Anglia, born about 840; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, November 20, 870. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent St. Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia, though, according to later legends, he was born at Nuremberg (Germany), son to an otherwise unknown King Alcmund of […]

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November 21 – St. Albert

November 19, 2012

St. Albert Cardinal, Bishop of Liège, died 1192 or 1193. He was a son of Godfrey III, Count of Louvain, and brother of Henry I, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant, and was chosen Bishop of Liège in 1191 by the suffrages of both people and chapter. The Emperor Henry VI violently intruded his own venal […]

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Saint Margaret of Scotland: In the Middle Ages, the Marvelous Was Something Achievable

November 15, 2012

Commentaries made by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira … Sovereign and patroness of Scotland, 11th century. Although it is a very good intention to comment on the life of St. Margaret, at times one does not have the slightest biographical data on a saint. For lack of a better biography, I will read here the […]

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The Aristocratic Republic (1788-1828)

November 15, 2012

The four decades following the ratification of the federal Constitution could well be called an aristocratic era when the presidency was occupied by a succession of gentlemen, whether Virginia planters or Massachusetts lawyers. As the new republic took on an aristocratic cultural character, criticisms against the aristocratic form of government waned and tolerance for elites […]

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November 15 – St. Albert the Great

November 15, 2012

St. Albert the Great Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called “the Great”, and “Doctor Universalis” (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and […]

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November 16 – St. Margaret of Scotland

November 15, 2012

St. Margaret of Scotland Born about 1045, died 16 Nov., 1092, was a daughter of Edward “Outremere”, or “the Exile”, by Agatha, kinswoman of Gisela, the wife of St. Stephen of Hungary. She was the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. A constant tradition asserts that Margaret’s father and his brother Edmund were sent to Hungary for […]

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November 16 – St. Agnes of Assisi

November 15, 2012

St. Agnes of Assisi Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three […]

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November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 15, 2012

St. Mechtilde (MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA). Benedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families, while here sister was the saintly and illustrious Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn. Some writers […]

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November 17 – St. Hugh of Lincoln

November 15, 2012

St. Hugh of Lincoln Born about the year 1135 at the castle of Avalon, near Pontcharra, in Burgundy; died at London, 16 Nov., 1200. His father, William, Lord of Avalon, was sprung from one of the noblest of Burgundian houses; of his mother, Anna, very little is known. After his wife’s death, William retired from […]

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November 13 – Pure and noble, he received Holy Communion from the hands of angels

November 12, 2012

St. Stanislas Kostka Born at Rostkovo near Prasnysz, Poland, about 28 October, 1550; died at Rome during the night of 14-15 August, 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rome, 28 October, 1567, and is said to have foretold his death a few days before it occurred. His father, John Kostka, was a senator […]

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Henry the Navigator Inaugurates the Age of Discovery

November 12, 2012

Henry the Navigator Inaugurates the Age of Discovery by Jeremias Wells At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Europe lived in splendid isolation. The existence of North and South America, sub-Saharan Africa and the islands off the coast of southeastern Asia was completely unknown in Europe. Moreover, since the Arabs controlled the Red and Arabian […]

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November 13 – Grand Master of the Order of Christ

November 12, 2012

Prince Henry the Navigator Born 4 March, 1394; died 13 November, 1460; he was the fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, by Queen Philippa, a daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1415 he commanded the expedition which captured Ceuta, Portugal’s first oversea conquest, and there won his knightly spurs. Three years later he […]

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November 11 – Patron of Veterans and Soldiers

November 8, 2012

St. Martin of Tours Bishop; born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Pannonia (Hungary), about 316; died at Candes, Touraine, most probably in 397. In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him thither, and when he reached adolescence was, in […]

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A saint amidst New York’s high society during the Washington presidency

November 8, 2012

The New York of these years was ablaze with pleasure and merriment. His Excellency, the President of the United States and his Lady were in residence, and this added great excitement to the life of the city. Although Mr. Washington was a man of simple tastes, the people, used to monarchy, even though it lay […]

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How elites today shirk their responsibility to “set the tone” for society

November 8, 2012

“My proposition is that the hollow elite is as dysfunctional in its way as the new lower class is in its way. Personally and as families, its members are successful. But they have abdicated their responsibility to set and promulgate the standards. “The most powerful and successful members of their class increasingly trade on the […]

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New Royal Collection Trust publication Dressing The Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe

November 8, 2012

According to The Royal Collection Trust: In celebration of the Diamond Jubilee year, the unique publication Dressing The Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe explores how Her Majesty The Queen has stood out from the crowd on her many engagements and maintained her unfailing sense of style. [T]he book, published by Royal Collection Trust, opens the door to the […]

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