August 23: He brought peace to Italy’s war-torn city-states in the Middle Ages

August 22, 2011

Saint Philip Benizi, Servite Priest (1233-1285) Saint Philip Benizi was born in Florence on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233. That same day the Order of Servites was founded by the Mother of God. As an infant one year old, Philip spoke when in the presence of these new religious, and announced the Servants of […]

Read the full article →

The Great Siege of Malta, May 18–September 11, 1565, was won because of one man: Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette

August 18, 2011

On the morning of August 18th the excessively heavy bombardment of Senglea warned them that an attack was imminent. It was not slow to develop. The moment that the rumble of the guns died down, the Iayalars and Janissaries were seen streaming forward across the no-man’s-land to the south. The attack developed in the same […]

Read the full article →

TFP: Tradition

August 18, 2011

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira When we speak of tradition, many people think of England, the Queen, the House of Lords, Rolls Royces, top hats and British distinction and poise… All of these impressions, considered as a whole, cause divergent reactions in people’s minds. Very many see tradition under different hues as time goes […]

Read the full article →

August 18 – She lead the search for the True Cross

August 18, 2011

Saint Helena (also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople) The mother of Constantine the Great, born about the middle of the third century, possibly in Drepanum (later known as Helenopolis) on the Nicomedian Gulf; died about 330. She was of humble parentage; St. Ambrose, in his “Oratio de obitu Theodosii”, referred […]

Read the full article →

August 19 – The prince who was made bishop at age 22

August 18, 2011

St. Louis of Toulouse Bishop of Toulouse, generally represented vested in pontifical garments and holding a book and a crosier, b. at Brignoles, Provence, Feb., 1274; d. there, 19 Aug., 1297. He was the second son of Charles II of Anjou, called the Lame, King of Naples (1288- 1309), and nephew of St. Louis IX […]

Read the full article →

“God Save the Queen” – sung on the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation

August 18, 2011

In 2003 , the United Kingdom celebrated the Golden Anniversary of the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. In this video clip, the British National Anthem is sung at Westminster Abbey.

Read the full article →

The Revolution’s barbarism is highlighted by a sister’s heroic offer

August 15, 2011

The narrations of affecting suffering, of Christian fortitude, of providential escapes that have been recorded are innumerable. Some of them we will here set down. In the midst of all the cruelty of the terrorists, they awarded to the pregnant woman and nursing mother a respite from death. But this show of mercy only concealed […]

Read the full article →

The Importance of Tradition Today

August 15, 2011

While walking downtown I happened to bump into an acquaintance who challenged me by way of a greeting: “In your latest article you proved quite well that tradition is an indispensable survival of the past in the present. But is tradition important enough for you to have placed it before property and family in the […]

Read the full article →

August 16 – His nobles and subjects mourned him for three years

August 15, 2011

St. Stephen of Hungary First King of Hungary, b. at Gran, 975; d. 15 August, 1038. He was a son of the Hungarian chief Géza and was baptized, together with his father, by Archbishop St. Adalbert of Prague in 985, on which occasion he changed his heathen name Vaik (Vojk) into Stephen. In 995 he […]

Read the full article →

Unwisely, King Ferdinand lays siege to Loja—death of the youthful Don Roderigo Tellez Giron, Grand Master of Calatrava

August 11, 2011

It was about the end of June that King Ferdinand departed from Cordoba, to sit down before the walls of Loja. So confident was he of success, that he left a great part of the army at Ecija, and advanced with but five thousand cavalry and eight thousand infantry. The Marques of Cadiz, a warrior […]

Read the full article →

The French Revolution implemented socio-political egalitarianism

August 11, 2011

[previous] The profound action of humanism and the Renaissance among Catholics spread unceasingly throughout France in a growing chain of consequences. Favored by the weakening of piety in the faithful caused by Jansenism and the other leavens sixteenth-century Protestantism had unfortunately left in the Most Christian Kingdom, this action gave rise in the eighteenth century […]

Read the full article →

August 11 – As soldiers scaled the walls of the convent, she met them with ciborium in hand and put them to flight

August 11, 2011

St. Clare of Assisi Cofoundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Clares, and first Abbess of San Damiano; born at Assisi, 16 July, 1194; died there 11 August, 1253. She was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, the wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in […]

Read the full article →

August 12 – His pontificate was spent in opposing royal absolutism

August 11, 2011

Pope Blessed Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi) Born at Como, 16 May, 1611; died at Rome, 11 August, 1689. He was educated by the Jesuits at Como, and studied jurisprudence at Rome and Naples. Urban VIII appointed him successively prothonotary, president of the Apostolic Camera, commissary at Ancona, administrator of Macerata, and Governor of Picena. Innocent […]

Read the full article →

August 12 – St. Jane Frances de Chantal

August 11, 2011

Born at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641. Her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy, and leader of the royalist party during the League that brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry IV. In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, and lived in […]

Read the full article →

The reconquista of Granada begins: Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon chooses Alhama as his target

August 8, 2011

The Marques of Cadiz had vast possessions in the most fertile parts of Andalusia, including many towns and castles, and could lead forth an army into the field from his own vassals and dependents. On receiving the orders of the King, he burned to signalize himself by some sudden incursion into the kingdom of Granada, […]

Read the full article →

Omnifarious Liberty and Absolute Equality: Foolish and Even Monstruous Concepts

August 8, 2011

In the decretal of March 10, 1791, to the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld and to the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence, Pius VI expressed himself concerning the principles of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. “For indeed, that Assembly [the French Constituent Assembly] has decreed that it was laid down in natural law that a man established […]

Read the full article →

August 8 – The Persian noble promised his king that anyone who betrays Jesus could betray their king

August 8, 2011

St. Hormisdas (Martyred c. 420) Isdegerdes, king of Persia, renewed the persecution which Cosroes II had raised against the church. It is not easy, says Theodoret, to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the disciples of Christ. Some were flayed alive, others had the skin torn from off their backs only, […]

Read the full article →

August 8 – St. Dominic

August 8, 2011

St. Dominic Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221. His parents, Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, undoubtedly belonged to the nobility of Spain, though probably neither was connected with the reigning house of Castile, as some of […]

Read the full article →

Jean Chouan’s widowed mother obtains the King’s pardon for her son

August 4, 2011

In Maine there existed a heavy impost on salt, called the gabelle, which was not levied in Brittany. Salt, therefore, the sugar of the poor, as the poet Beranger called it, cost only a sous per pound in the latter province, while in the former the price was thirteen sous…. [T]he poor were compelled not […]

Read the full article →

God’s plan for men pressuposes inequality

August 4, 2011

While God could have made all men strong, wise, and rich, he was unwilling to do so. He wished instead that these men should be strong, those weak; these wise, those foolish; these rich and those poor. For if all were strong, wise and wealthy, one would not be in need of the other. The […]

Read the full article →

August 6 – Garcia Moreno: Heroic President of Ecuador

August 4, 2011

by José Maria dos Santos Manly Catholic of intransigent principles, slain by the enemies of the Faith because of his consistency and courage in defense of the Church and Papacy Gabriel Garcia Moreno was born in Guayaquil, in southern Ecuador on December 24, 1821. His father, Gabriel Garcia Gómez was Spanish, while his mother, Doña […]

Read the full article →

August 5 – The valiant king who waged just war to defend his people

August 4, 2011

St. Oswald of Northumbria, King and Martyr The English Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was founded by Ida in 547. After his death the northern part called Bernicia was preserved by his children; but Deira, that is, the southern part, comprising Yorkshire and Lancashire, was occupied by Ælla or Alla, and after his death was recovered […]

Read the full article →

One Queen – How Many Presidents?

August 1, 2011

  Clinton   George H. W. Bush   hint and the one before him   Lest we forget former President Hoover…

Read the full article →

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

August 1, 2011

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. […]

Read the full article →

The Church Does Not Manifest Any Preference for Political Systems or Institutional Solutions

August 1, 2011

[previous] John Paul II says in the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (December 30, 1987):   “The Church does not propose economic and political systems or programs nor does she show preference for one or another, provided that human dignity is properly respected and promoted, and provided she herself is allowed the room she needs to […]

Read the full article →

August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

August 1, 2011

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – When he finished preaching, the nobles and knights responded with a thunderous “Deus Vult”

July 28, 2011

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

Read the full article →

July 29 – He only regained the hearts of his people after his death

July 28, 2011

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), b. 995; d. 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

Read the full article →

Montenegro passes legislation that paves the way to restore Monarchy

July 25, 2011

Montenegro, independent from Serbia since 2006 declared through an Act of Parliament passed by the Montenegrin Parliament that the rights and privileges of Crown Prince Nicholas and the Royal House of Petrović-Njegoš. The legislation sets aside several provisions which could lead the way to a full royal restoration in Montenegro. Although the legislation fell short […]

Read the full article →

The French Revolution pitted brother against brother

July 25, 2011

There lived at Nantes two brothers, of whom the revolution found one a fencing master, and the other a student in a seminary, destined for the ecclesiastical state. The former became a Jacobin, and the latter joined the flag of the insurrection in La Vendée. In one of the successful engagements of the Vendeans, the […]

Read the full article →

The Revolutionary Principles of 1789 Contained the Synthesis of All the Teachings of the False Prophets

July 25, 2011

When promulgating the decree on the heroic virtue of Blessed Marcellin Champagnat on July 11, 1920, Benedict XV pronounced an allocution from which we borrow the following passages: “One need only turn one’s thoughts to the early nineteenth century to recognize that many false prophets appeared in France at that time, and from there aimed […]

Read the full article →

July 18 – After he captured Jerusalem, he refused the crown

July 25, 2011

Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lower Lorraine and first King of Jerusalem, son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine; b. probably at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1060; d. at Jerusalem, 18 July, 1100 (according to a thirteenth-century chronicler, he was born at Baisy, in Brabant; see […]

Read the full article →

Video: Queen Elizabeth watches her swans being counted for the first time

July 21, 2011
Read the full article →

The Best Way to Moderate and Fortify Monarchy Is to Surround It with Aristocracy and Democracy

July 21, 2011

[previous] Commenting on the thinking of Saint Thomas Aquinas regarding the mixed form of government, Father Rodriguez writes: “On mixed regimes, theoretically the optimum form of government—In this work [De Regimine Principum], and more specifically in this seventh chapter*, following an analysis of the three kinds of governments (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy), Saint Thomas leans toward […]

Read the full article →

A mother’s agony of soul during the Terror at Nantes

July 21, 2011

Although a great number of children were sacrificed, the republicans seem to have made some attempts to save them. The entrepôt was a huge building, used before the revolution as a storehouse for merchandise. During the reign of terror it was turned into a prison, as its proximity to the river adapted it for the […]

Read the full article →

July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 21, 2011

St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot [Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.]  He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. […]

Read the full article →

Video clips from Requiem for HIRH Otto of Hapsburg-Lorraine in Vienna

July 18, 2011

Requiem Introit and Kyrie (Michael Haydn) Emperor’s Hymn (Kaiserhymnus) Burial in the Imperial Crypt of the Capuchin Church, Vienna

Read the full article →

An officer of the Pontifical Zouaves defends Congo Catholics and defeats the Arab slave traders

July 18, 2011

A veteran of Castelfidardo, Mentana, Rome and Loigny, [Leopold Louis] Joubert went about the Lord’s work with a will. Arriving at Mulwewa mission in the present-day Congo in 1880, with his brother Zouaves, he fortified the place and began to train the locals as a home guard to fight Arab slave traders. Joubert had hit […]

Read the full article →

The Monarchy Is in Itself the Best Regime, for It is the One that More Easily Favors Peace

July 18, 2011

[previous] To the pontifical texts quoted in testimony of the Church’s social doctrine on this subject, it is fitting to add some representative texts of Saint Thomas Aquinas, given the prominence of his thinking in traditional Catholic teaching. In De Regimine Principum, “having set forth these preliminary points” (that it behooves men to live in […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 18, 2011

St. Macrina the Younger Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a […]

Read the full article →

July 19 – The knight who was too afraid to sail, but died a martyr’s death

July 18, 2011

Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia Founder of the Monasteries of Teplá and Chotěšov, born (c) 1170, died July 14, 1217. In the happy reign of Premysl, – also called Ottacar, – king of Bohemia, among the other magnates of the kingdom the first place at court, next to the king’s magnificence, was held by Hroznata, the […]

Read the full article →

Video – Coffins of Archduke Otto and Archduchess Regina arrive in Mariazell, July 12, 2011

July 14, 2011
Read the full article →

Moving God, Moving History

July 14, 2011

Written by John Horvat II There are times when history is seen from an all-too-human perspective. Granted, man is the principal agent in history. His great deeds and misdeeds fill the history books, blending fact, myth, and legend to intrigue future generations. However, man is not the only agent. There are times when men perform […]

Read the full article →

Marie Antoinette’s dulcimer player

July 14, 2011

La Joueuse de Tympanum (the dulcimer player) is a famed music box/android made by Peter Kintzing, a clockmaker, and David Roentgen, a cabinetmaker. According to tradition, the musician represents Marie Antoinette. The fact is that the Queen did buy the charming production in 1784 and gifted it to the Academy of Science in the following […]

Read the full article →

July 14 – The Lily of the Mohawks

July 14, 2011

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks Kateri Tekakwitha was daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a devout Roman Catholic Algonquian woman. She was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York, in 1656. Kateri’s mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many of Abenaki […]

Read the full article →

July 15 – After conversion, he ordered the statues of the pagan gods chopped up and burned

July 14, 2011

St. Vladimir the Great Grand Duke of Kiev (Kieff) and All Russia, grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity, b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and brought up his son Vladimir […]

Read the full article →

The Traditional Burial Ceremony of a Hapsburg Prince

July 11, 2011

This traditional ceremony for the burial of Hapsburg emperors and princes is a glorious specimen of the profound influence of Christianity on this “first family of Christendom” and a luminous example of faith for Christians not just in Austria, but throughout the world. It will be used on July 16, 2011 for the burial of […]

Read the full article →

Requiem for HIRH Archduke Otto of Hapsburg-Lorraine in Munich, July 11, 2011

July 11, 2011
Read the full article →

The portress who forgave the revolutionary murderer of her only son

July 11, 2011

When the Chouans first took up arms, there lived as portress in the chateau of Thuré a poor widow woman named Madame Huneau. She was known to all the country round for her works of mercy. Having acquired some practical knowledge of medicine, she was a constant attendant upon the sick-beds of the poor; and […]

Read the full article →

The Catholic Church Finds No Difficulties in Adapting to the Various Forms of Government

July 11, 2011

previous Pius XI writes in the encyclical Dilectissima nobis (June 3, 1933):   “The Catholic Church is never bound to one form of government more than to another, provided the Divine rights of God and of Christian consciences are safe. She does not find any difficulty in adapting herself to various civil institutions, be they […]

Read the full article →

July 11 – The noble saint who fled the world, but the world ran after him

July 11, 2011

Saint Benedict of Nursia Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of Saint Gregory’s “Dialogues”. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number […]

Read the full article →

Duke Paul of Oldenburg calls for World Day against Christianophobia

July 7, 2011

During a June 22 street campaign before the European Parliament, Duke Paul of Oldenburg, Director of the Brussels Office of the Pro Europa Christiana Federation, launched a petition drive requesting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to declare March 2 as the “World Day against Christianophobia.” March 2 was selected because it is the day that […]

Read the full article →

Queen Isabella the Catholic resolves to hold Alhama whatever the cost

July 7, 2011

King Ferdinand held a council of war at Cordoba, where it was deliberated what was to be done with Alhama. Most of the council advised that it should be demolished, inasmuch as being in the center of the Moorish kingdom, it would be at all times liable to attack, and could only be maintained by […]

Read the full article →

Solicitude of Saint Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, Toward the Impoverished Nobility

July 7, 2011

In the life of Saint Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal (1274-1336), we read the following facts that manifest an edifying trace of her character: She took particular care in assisting people who, having lived under the norm of nobility with property, found themselves ruined, their necessity and misery increasing, and ashamed to beg. She aided these […]

Read the full article →

In memoriam HIRH Otto of Hapsburg-Lorraine (1912-2011)

July 4, 2011

His Imperial and Royal Highness Otto of Hapsburg-Lorraine passed away in the early hours of July 4. Born on November 20, 1912, Archduke Otto of Austria was the firstborn of the last monarchs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Blessed Karl and Empress Zita. As head of the Hapsburg imperial family, Archduke Otto presided over what Prof. […]

Read the full article →

Following the Divine Lamb: The de la Biliais family is immolated by revolutionary Nantes

July 4, 2011

So utterly prostrate was [Nantes], that none dreamed of resistance. To withstand Carrier, or to be thought desirous of withstanding him, was to incur instant death. When everyone feared for his own life, no one was bold enough to attempt the defense of others; and when the Marats appeared with their summons, those who were […]

Read the full article →

The Fundamental Structure of the Political Community: A Fruit of Each People’s Genius and History

July 4, 2011

[previous] The Constitution Gaudium et spes (1965) of the Second Vatican Council says: “Individuals, families, and various groups which compose the civic community are aware of their own insufficiency in the matter of establishing a fully human condition of life. They see the need for that wider community in which each would daily contribute his […]

Read the full article →

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

July 4, 2011

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal Feast day: July 4 A.D. 1336. ST. ELIZABETH was daughter of Peter III,  king of Aragon, and granddaughter of James I, who had been educated under the care of St. Peter Nolasco, and was surnamed the Saint, and from the taking of Majorca and Valentia, Expugnator or the Conqueror. Her […]

Read the full article →

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

June 30, 2011

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

June 30, 2011

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

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →