May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 5, 2025

Pope St. Benedict II Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of John. Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself by his knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity. […]

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May 7 – Bl. Agnellus of Pisa

May 5, 2025

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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Post-mortem of a Revolution

May 5, 2025

French Revolution The last thirty years have given us a new version of the history of the French Revolution, the most diverse and hostile schools having contributed to it. The philosopher, Taine, drew attention to the affinity between the revolutionary and what he calls the classic spirit, that is, the spirit of abstraction which gave […]

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The Memorare: Unlimited Contrition and Confidence

May 1, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Memorare is perhaps the most hope-filled prayer in the Catholic Church, for the affirmation it makes is the most categorical possible: “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection…was left unaided.” If it was never known that anyone was […]

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May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

May 1, 2025

This saint was son of Gondebald, the Arian king of the Burgundians; but embraced the Catholic faith through the instructions of St. Alcimus Avitus, bishop of Vienne. (1) He succeeded to the kingdom of his father in 516, and in the midst of barbarism lived humble, mortified, penitent, devout, and charitable, even on the throne; […]

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May 2 – St. Athanasius

May 1, 2025

St. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of “Father of Orthodoxy”, by which he has been […]

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May 2 – Economist

May 1, 2025

St. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his baptismal name Antoninus (Anthony), which is found in his autographs, in some manuscripts, in printed editions of his works, and in the Bull of canonization, but which has been finally rejected for the diminutive form given […]

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May 3 – Finding of the Holy Cross

May 1, 2025

In the year 326 the mother of Constantine, Helena, then about 80 years old, having journeyed to Jerusalem, undertook to rid the Holy Sepulchre of the mound of earth heaped upon and around it, and to destroy the pagan buildings that profaned its site. Some revelations which she had received gave her confidence that she […]

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May 4 – St. Godard

May 1, 2025

St. Godard (Also spelled GOTHARD, GODEHARD). Bishop of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony; born about the year 960, in a village of Upper Bavaria, near the Abbey of Altaich, in the Diocese of Passau; Nassau; died on 4 May, 1038 canonized by Innocent II in 1131. After a lengthy course of studies he received the Benedictine […]

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April 28 – Saint Egbert

April 28, 2025

Saint Egbert Northumbrian monk, born of noble parentage c. 639; d. 729. In his youth he went for the sake of study to Ireland, to a monastery, says the Venerable Bede, “called Rathmelsigi”, identified by some with Mellifont in what is now County Louth. There, when in danger of death from pestilence, he prayed for […]

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Titanic: Looking back a century later

April 28, 2025

Three priests gave spiritual comfort to the anxious and doomed on April 14, 1912 A century [113 years] now has passed since the British luxury liner, S. S. Titanic, sank in mid-Atlantic after striking an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Other sea disasters have cost more lives, but none has retained the popular interest as […]

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April 29: St. Hugh the Great – In 11th century Christendom, no king or bishop dare oppose him

April 28, 2025

Saint Hugh the Great, Abbot of Cluny, born at Semur (Brionnais in the Diocese of Autun), 1024; died at Cluny, 28 April, 1109. His early life The eldest son of Count Dalmatius of Semur and Aremberge (Aremburgis) of Vergy, Hugh was descended from the noblest families in Burgundy. Dalmatius, devoted to war and the chase, […]

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April 29 – The Templars, Knights of Calatrava, of St. Lazarus, of Alcantara, of Avis, of St. Maurice, all trace their existence to this austere monk

April 28, 2025

St. Robert of Molesme Born about the year 1029, at Champagne, France, of noble parents who bore the names of Thierry and Ermengarde; died at Molesme, 17 April, 1111. When fifteen years of age, he commenced his novitiate in the Abbey of Montier-la-Celle, or St. Pierre-la-Celle, situated near Troyes, of which he became later prior. […]

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April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 28, 2025

Pope Saint Pius V Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was […]

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April 30, 2017 – 170th anniversary of the Archduke who discovered how to defeat Napoleon

April 28, 2025

Today in History – April 30th, 1847 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen Archduke Charles (full name in German: Karl Ludwig Johann Joseph Lorenz) of Austria was born on September 5th. 1771 in Florence (then the Grand Duchy of Tuscany). His parents were Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria Luisa of […]

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April 24 – Heinrich Blyssen

April 24, 2025

Heinrich Blyssen Born at Cologne or Bonn, Germany in 1526; died at Graz, 24 April, 1586. He entered the Society of Jesus, and St. Ignatius, appreciating his logic and knowledge of theology, sent him with eleven other Jesuits to Bohemia to combat heresy there, and to sustain a public discussion with the disciples of Luther […]

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St. Mellitus

April 24, 2025

St. Mellitus Bishop of London and third Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 24 April, 624. He was the leader of the second band of missionaries whom St. Gregory sent from Rome to join St. Augustine at Canterbury in 601. Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, vii) describes him as of noble birth, and as he is styled […]

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James Beaton

April 24, 2025

James Beaton (Or Bethune) Archbishop of Glasgow, b. 1517; d. 24 April, 1603; the son of James Beaton of Balfarg (a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour) and nephew to Cardinal David Beaton. He was elected to the archbishopric in 1551, on the resignation of the archbishop-elect Andrew Gordon, and not being yet in […]

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April 25 – Builder

April 24, 2025

Blessed Meinwerk Tenth Bishop of Paderborn, d. 1036: Meinwerk (Meginwerk) was born of the noble family of the Immedinger and related to the royal house of Saxony. His father was Imad (Immeth), Count of Teisterbant and Radichen, and his mother’s name was Adela (Adala, Athela). In early youth he was dedicated by his parents to […]

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April 25-26 – Mother of Good Counsel, who inspired the Albanians to resist the Turks

April 24, 2025

January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader, George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people. Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania. With Scanderbeg’s death, the Turkish army, finally […]

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April 26 – His ears were nailed to the pillory

April 24, 2025

Venerable Edward Morgan Welsh priest, martyr, b. at Bettisfield, Hanmer, Flintshire, executed at Tyburn, London, 26 April, 1642. His father’s Christian name was William. Of his mother we know nothing except that one of her kindred was Lieutenant of the Tower of London. From the fact that the martyr was known at St. Omer as […]

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April 27 – Jesuit missionary in Scotland in the time of the persecutions

April 24, 2025

Robert Abercromby Sometimes known as Sanders and as Robertson, a Jesuit missionary in Scotland in the time of the persecutions, born 1532; died at Braunsberg, in Prussia, 27 April, 1613. He was brought into prominence chiefly by the fact that he converted the Queen of James I of England, when that monarch was as yet […]

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Abused by her noble patrons, she remained a model of harmony

April 24, 2025

St. Zita Model and heavenly patroness of domestic servants, born early in the thirteenth century of a poor family at Montsegradi, a little village near Lucca, in Tuscany; died at Lucca, 27 April, 1271. A naturally happy disposition and the teaching of a virtuous mother, aided by Divine grace, developed in the child’s soul that […]

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April 27 – Medieval statesman

April 24, 2025

Nicolò Albertini (Aubertini) Medieval statesman, b. at Prato in Italy, c. 1250; d. at Avignon, 27 April, 1321. His early education was directed by his parents, both of whom belonged to illustrious families of Tuscany. At the age of sixteen (1266) he entered the Dominican Order in the Convent of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, […]

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April 27 – Prince-Bishop Reformer

April 24, 2025

Roman Sebastian Zängerle Prince-Bishop of Seekan, born at Ober-Kirchberg near Ulm, 20 January, 1771; died at Seekau, 27 April, 1848. Having studied the Humanities with the Benedictines at Wiblingen, he became novice at that monastery in 1788, took vows, 5 Feb., 1792, and was ordained priest, 21 Dec., 1793. From 1794-5 he studied Oriental languages […]

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April 27 – Intimate friend of St. Philip Neri

April 24, 2025

Pope Leo XI (ALESSANDRO OTTAVIANO DE’ MEDICI). Born at Florence in 1535; died at Rome 27 April, 1605, on the twenty-seventh day after his election to the papacy. His mother, Francesca Salviati, was a daughter of Giacomo Salviati and Lucrezia Medici, the latter being a sister of Leo X. From his boyhood he led a […]

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Buckingham Palace exhibits necklace with relic of the True Cross

April 21, 2025

From royalcentral.co.uk The Edwardians: Age of Elegance is a new exhibition opening at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace on Friday, 11 April.  The exhibition includes the Dagmar Necklace, one of Alexandra’s 1863 wedding gifts. Her father, King Frederik VII of Denmark, gave his daughter the necklace when she married the Prince of Wales. The cross […]

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The Pizza That Was Named For A Queen – Recipe

April 21, 2025

Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, was born in Turin, on November 20, 1851. On April 21, 1868, when just sixteen years old, she married her first cousin, Umberto, Crown Prince of Italy. Pizza Margherita was named after her. This is how it happened… In June 1898, Margherita accompanied her husband, now Umberto I, King of […]

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April 21 – Pioneer missionary of Kentucky

April 21, 2025

Stephen Theodore Badin The first Catholic priest ordained within the limits of the original thirteen States of the Union, pioneer missionary of Kentucky, b. at Orléans, France, 17 July, 1768; d. at Cincinnati, Ohio, 21 April, 1853. Educated at Montaigu College, Paris, he entered the Sulpician Seminary of his native city in 1789. He was […]

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April 21 – The emperor placed unlimited confidence in him

April 21, 2025

Garcia de Loaisa Cardinal and Archbishop of Seville, b. in Talavera, Spain, c. 1479; d. at Madrid, 21 April, 1546. His parents were nobles; at a very early age he entered the Dominican convent at Salamanca. Its severe discipline, however, affected his delicate constitution and he was transferred to the convent of St. Paul in […]

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April 21 – Martyred by Danish vikings

April 21, 2025

St. Maelrubha (MA-RUI, MOLROY, ERREW, SUMMARYRUFF, also SAGART-RUADH) An abbot and martyr, founder of Abercrossan, b. 642; d. 21 April, 722. He was descended from Niall, King of Ireland, on the side of his father Elganach. His mother, Subtan, was a niece of St. Comgall the Great, of Bangor. St. Maelrubha was born in the […]

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April 21 – Adventurous in youth and adulthood

April 21, 2025

St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church; born at Aosta a Burgundian town on the confines of Lombardy, died 21 April, 1109. His father, Gundulf, was a Lombard who had become a citizen of Aosta, and his mother, Ermenberga, came of an old Burgundian family. Like many other saints, Anselm learnt the first […]

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How the Knights Templar Elected Their Grand Master

April 21, 2025

On the instruction of the grand commander, the commander of the election and his companion chose two more brothers, and then those four together chose two others, and so on, until their number reached twelve “in honor the twelve Apostles.” Next, these twelve appointed a brother chaplain who “will take the place of Jesus Christ” […]

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The untold story of the Titanic’s Catholic priest who went down hearing confessions

April 21, 2025

By Patrick B. Craine – Associate Editor and Canadian Bureau Chief for LifeSiteNews.com Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told. It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to […]

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April 22 – Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 21, 2025

Pedralvarez Cabral (Pedro Alvarez.) A celebrated Portugese navigator, generally called the discoverer of Brazil, born probably around 1460; date of death uncertain. Very little is known concerning the life of Cabral. He was the third son of Fernao Cabral, Governor of Beira and Belmonte, and Isabel de Gouvea, and married Isabel de Castro, the daughter […]

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April 23 – Archbishop author of war-song

April 21, 2025

St. Adalbert of Bohemia Born 939 of a noble Bohemian family; died 997. He assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert (his name had been Wojtech), under whom he studied at Magdeburg. He became Bishop of Prague, whence he was obliged to flee on account of the enmity he had aroused by his efforts to […]

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April 23 – The Original Knight in Shining Armor

April 21, 2025

St. George Martyr, patron of England, suffered at or near Lydda, also known as Diospolis, in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. According to the very careful investigation of the whole question recently instituted by Father Delehaye, the Bollandist, in the light of modern sources of information, the above statement sums up all that […]

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The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World

April 21, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Conference on April 23th 1955 (*) Defining concepts:  “world” and “modern” The theme I was asked to speak about —“The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World”— is rich in ideas. It contains four concepts, each of them important, but very unequal in precision and clarity. For if […]

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On Holy Thursday, King Saint Ferdinand washes the feet of twelve poor men

April 17, 2025

Lent passed, and Holy Week came. That year, the love of Christ inflamed the holy King’s heart more than ever. At times he would spend the whole night in contemplation of the sorrows that Our Lord suffered to redeem us; he slept so little that his nobles, worried, reached the point of telling him that […]

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Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, washes the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday

April 17, 2025

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

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Contemplating Christ in the Perfection of His Person – Part 1

April 17, 2025

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” (John 4:20). I dare say that most of us have meditated, though no doubt insufficiently, on […]

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Video – Almsgiving on Maundy Thursday

April 17, 2025

If the above video does not play, you can watch it by clicking here.

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Queen Mary washes the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday

April 17, 2025

… and on Holy Thursday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the most Serene Queen performed the ceremony of feet-washing, thus – Her Majesty being accompanied by the Right Reverend Legate and by the Council, entered a large hall, at the head of which was my Lord Bishop of Ely as Dean (come Decano) of […]

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For Contrast: Two Royal Attitudes to Washing the Feet of the Poor

April 17, 2025

In February, he returned to Castile, arriving in time to observe Holy Week at San Lorenzo, and to wash the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday “with his usual great tenderness and humility.” On Good Friday he adored the wood of the True Cross and pardoned several men who had been condemned to death, […]

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Queen Mary Welcomes the Sick on Good Friday

April 17, 2025

On [Good] Friday morning the offertory was performed according to custom in the Church of the Franciscan Friars, which is contiguous to the palace. After the Passion, the Queen came down from her oratory for the adoration of the Cross, accompanied by my lord the right reverend Legate, and kneeling at a short distance from […]

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Every year, on Good Friday

April 17, 2025

Baldwin the Second, Emperor of Constantinople, having come to France to solicit the king’s aid against the Greeks, who were besieging that imperial city, thought he would gain the heart of King Louis by making him a present of the Holy Crown of Thorns. He was not mistaken: the king assisted with money and troops, […]

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Contemplating Christ in the Perfection of His Person – Part 2

April 17, 2025

Part 1 by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Man of Sorrows Just as a fruit exudes its sweetest nectar and displays its most beautiful color when it is ripe, so does Our Lord express His full grandeur in suffering. In suffering, we see human misery most clearly. Crushed by suffering, man groans, moans, cries, flees, weeps, […]

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Easter in Imperial Russia: the Royal Doors

April 17, 2025

The time to arrive was about 11:30 p.m., when the great church, packed to its doors by a vast throng, was wrapped in almost total darkness…. As the eyes grew accustomed to the shadows, tens of thousands of unlighted candles, outlining the arches, cornices, and other architectural features of the cathedral, were just visible. These […]

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A king, a queen, and England’s Easter dilemma

April 17, 2025

When Finan died, leaving Bishop Coman—like himself, Irish by birth and a monk of Iona—as his successor at Lindisfarne, the dispute became at once open and general. Wilfrid had succeeded in sowing agitation and uncertainty in all minds; and the Northumbrians had come so far as to ask themselves whether the religion which had been […]

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Sublime Civilizations

April 17, 2025

Like individuals, civilizations and cultures can also seek and appreciate the sublime. This happens when any social grouping subconsciously elaborates and appreciates together splendorous works such as art, architecture, political achievements, or religious devotions. To the degree that members of social units appreciate the sublime together, the greater is the culture or civilization. We ignore […]

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The Jewel Fabergé Eggs – Video

April 17, 2025

Video:   Nobility.org Editorial Comment: — Created in the years immediately preceding the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Fabergé eggs will always serve as a reminder of Russia’s imperial splendor and the bloody, egalitarian, and unnatural revolution that destroyed it.

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

April 14, 2025

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

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

April 14, 2025

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

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April 14 – Apostle of the Detroit Hurons

April 14, 2025

Jean Baptiste Marchand Second principal in order of succession of the Sulpician College of Montreal and missionary of the Detroit Hurons at Sandwich, Ont.; b. at Verchères, Que., 25 Feb. 1760, son of Louis Marchand and Marguerite de Niverville; d. at Sandwich, 14 Apr., 1825. Marchand was ordained 11 March, 1786, affiliated to the Sulpician […]

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April 15 – The Notkers of St. Gall

April 14, 2025

Notker.—Among the various monks of St. Gall who bore this name, the following are the most important: (1) Notker Balbulus (Stammerer), Blessed, monk and author, b. about 840, at Jonswil, canton of St. Gall (Switzerland); d. 912. Of a distinguished family, he received his education with Tuotilo, originator of tropes, at St. Gall’s, from Iso […]

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The nations will form new constellations

April 14, 2025

As regards France, I am like a Jew in relation to the Chosen People. I love the Temple, I love the ruins of the Temple, and if these ruins were to turn to dust, I would love the dust that came from these ruins. I have the impression that France will continue to be key […]

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A Democratic Constitution Should Assume and Protect the Values of the Christian Faith, Without Which It Will Not Be Able to Survive

April 14, 2025

[previous] In view of the peculiar circumstances of our day, it is opportune to quote a judicious analysis of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [Nobility.org: and presently, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI], in an interview to the newspaper El Mercurio of Santiago, Chile (June 12, 1988): […]

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Martyred in the name of Equality

April 14, 2025

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

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Medieval Paternalism and Progressivist Neo-Slavery

April 10, 2025

“Whereas the interest in and tendency toward maximum productivity continue to be dominant and absolute, private property has ceased to be a projection of the individual, a kind of necessary support of his individuality in the world of things, to become – this is something Christians especially should keep in mind – a negative conditioner […]

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April 10 – Pope Gregory XIII

April 10, 2025

Pope Gregory XIII (UGO BUONCOMPAGNI). Born at Bologna, 7 Jan., 1502; died at Rome, 10 April, 1585. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Bologna, from which he was graduated at an early age as doctor of canon and of civil law. Later, he taught jurisprudence at the same university, and had among his pupils […]

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