March 17 – Joseph of Arimathea

March 14, 2024

Joseph of Arimathea All that is known for certain concerning him is derived from the canonical Gospels. He was born at Arimathea — hence his surname — “a city of Judea” (Luke, xxiii, 51), which is very likely identical with Ramatha, the birthplace of the Prophet Samuel, although several scholars prefer to identify it with […]

Read the full article →

March 17 – Peacemaker pioneer

March 14, 2024

Armand de La Richardie Born at Perigueux, 7 June, 1686; died at Quebec, 17 March, 1758. He entered the Society of Jesus at Bordeaux, 4 Oct., 1703, and in 1725 was sent to the Canada mission. He spent the two following years helping Father Pierre Daniel Richer at Lorette, and studying the Huron language. In […]

Read the full article →

March 17 – Martyr of the seal of confession

March 14, 2024

Bl. John Sarkander Martyr of the seal of confession, born at Skotschau in Austrian Silesia, 20 Dec., 1576; died at Olmütz, 17 March, 1620. In 1603 he merited the title of master of philosophy at Prague, and after four years’ study of theology was ordained priest at Graz. He exercised his sacred functions in several […]

Read the full article →

March 17 – Enemy of Bismarck

March 14, 2024

Burghard Freiherr von Schorlemer-Alst Social reformer, b. at Heringhausen, Westphalia, 21 Oct., 1825; d. at Alst, 17 March, 1895. He received his early education at home from the domestic chaplain and then studied as a cadet at the Royal Saxon Military College at Dresden. After this he was a Prussian officer in an Uhlan regiment, […]

Read the full article →

March 17 – The Great and Noble Patrick

March 14, 2024

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

Read the full article →

March 11 – Constantine the Great

March 11, 2024

His coins give his name as M., or more frequently as C., Flavius Valerius Constantinus. He was born at Naissus, now Nisch in Servia [Nis, Serbia —Ed.], the son of a Roman officer, Constantius, who later became Roman Emperor, and St. Helena, a woman of humble extraction but remarkable character and unusual ability. The date […]

Read the full article →

March 12 – St. Gorgonius

March 11, 2024

Martyr, suffered in 304 at Nicomedia during the persecution of Diocletian. Gorgonius held a high position in the household of the emperor, and had often been entrusted with matters of the greatest importance. At the breaking out of the persecution he was consequently among the first to be charged, and, remaining constant in the profession […]

Read the full article →

St. Leander of Seville

March 11, 2024

St. Leander of Seville Bishop of that city, born at Carthage about 534, of a Roman family established in that city; died at Seville, 13 March, 600 or 601. Some historians claim that his father Severian was duke or governor of Carthage, but St. Isidore simply states that he was a citizen of that city. […]

Read the full article →

March 13 – St. Nicephorus

March 11, 2024

St. Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople, 806-815, b. about 758; d. 2 June, 829. This champion of the orthodox view in the second contest over the veneration of images belonged to a noted family of Constantinople. He was the son of the imperial secretary Theodore and his pious wife Eudoxia. Eudoxia was a strict adherent of […]

Read the full article →

March 14 – Charlemagne’s deputy

March 11, 2024

Einhard (less correctly Eginhard), historian, born c. 770 in the district watered by the River Main in the eastern part of the Frankish Empire; d. March 14, 840, at Seligenstadt. His earliest training he received at the monastery of Fulda, where he showed such unusual mental powers that Abbot Baugulf sent him to the court […]

Read the full article →

Martyr of the Albigenses

March 11, 2024

Blessed Pierre de Castelnau Born in the Diocese of Montpellier, Languedoc, now Department of Hérault, France; died 15 Jan., 1208. He embraced the ecclesiastical state, and was appointed Archdeacon of Maguelonne (now Montpellier). Pope Innocent III sent him (1199) with two Cistercians as his legate into the middle of France, for the conversion of the […]

Read the full article →

March 7 – Last cruelties of Henry VIII

March 7, 2024

Bl. German Gardiner Last martyr under Henry VIII; date of birth unknown; died at Tyburn, 7 March, 1544; secretary to, and probably a kinsmen of, Stephen Gardiner, and an able defender of the old Faith, as his tract against John Frith (dated 1 August, 1534) shows. During the years of fiery trial, which followed, we […]

Read the full article →

March 7 – Stoic Emperor

March 7, 2024

Antoninus Pius (TITUS ÆLIUS HADRIANUS ANTONINUS PIUS). Roman Emperor (138-161), born 18 September, A.D. 86 at Lanuvium, a short distance from Rome; died at Lorium, 7 March, 161. Most of his youth was spent at Lorium, which was only twelve miles from Rome. Later on he built a villa there, to which he would frequently […]

Read the full article →

March 7 – Martyred for entertainment on the birthday of the Emperor

March 7, 2024

Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas Martyrs, suffered at Carthage, 7 March 203, together with three companions, Revocatus, Saturus, and Saturninus. The details of the martyrdom of these five confessors in the North African Church have reached us through a genuine, contemporary description, one of the most affecting accounts of the glorious warfare of Christian martyrdom in […]

Read the full article →

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

March 7, 2024

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

Read the full article →

March 9 – She Could Detect Diabolical Plots

March 7, 2024

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

Read the full article →

Euthanasia Brings End to Belgian Monarchy

March 7, 2024

by Marie Meaney There has been no coup, no abdication, no revolution. It is an event that has gone largely unnoticed. The media have hardly spoken about it. Yet it is a reality. The monarchy in Belgium is done with, over, kaput. The king of Belgium has turned himself out of his royal throne by […]

Read the full article →

March 10 – St. Attala

March 7, 2024

St. Attala Born in the sixth century in Burgundy; died 627. He first became a monk at Lerins, but, displeased with the loose discipline prevailing there, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil which had just been founded by St. Columban. When Columban was expelled from Luxeuil by King Theodoric II, Attala was to succeed him […]

Read the full article →

March 10 – George Ashby

March 7, 2024

George Ashby Monk of the Cistercian Monastery of Jervaulx in Yorkshire, executed after the Pilgrimage of Grace, in the year 1537. His name is found in several English martyrologies, but there is the utmost uncertainty as to the right form of his name, and as to the place and mode of his death. After the […]

Read the full article →

Saint John Ogilvie: Hero For Our Times – Part I

March 7, 2024

by Neil McKay “In times of great crisis there are two types of men: those who are overwhelmed by the crisis and those who resist the trend of events and so change the course of history.”—Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   “REFORM THE CHURCH!” “MARRIED PRIESTS NEEDED!” “70% OF CATHOLICS DENY REAL PRESENCE!” “SECRET LIVES […]

Read the full article →

Saint John Ogilvie: Hero For Our Times – Part II

March 7, 2024

Part I Betrayal Every hero needs an antagonist, and Fr. Ogilvie had Allan Boyd, a traitorous informer. This other “Judas” told the Protestant Archbishop Spottiswoode about the “papist priest” working under his nose. Pretending that he wanted to be reconciled to the Church, Boyd arranged to meet Fr. Ogilvie in Glasgow. The trap set, Boyd […]

Read the full article →

This Prince had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin

March 4, 2024

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

Read the full article →

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

March 4, 2024

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

Read the full article →

March 5 – St. John Joseph of the Cross

March 4, 2024

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

Read the full article →

March 6 – Prime Minister Bishop

March 4, 2024

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

Read the full article →

God gave him the great grace of “unsuitability for government”

March 4, 2024

Ven. Gonçalo Da Silveira Pioneer missionary of South Africa, b. 23 Feb, 1526, at Almeirim, about forty miles from Lisbon; martyred 6 March, 1561. He was the tenth child of Dom Luis da Silveira, first count of Sortelha, and Dona Beatrice Coutinho, daughter of Dom Fernando Coutinho, Marshal of the Kingdom of Portugal. Losing his […]

Read the full article →

March 6 – Friend of the Stuarts

March 4, 2024

Guilo Cesare Cordara Historian and littérateur, b. at Alessandra in Piedmont, Italy, 14 Dec., 1704; died there 6 March, 1785. The scion of an illustrious and ancient family that came originally from Nice, young Cordara studied at Rome under the Jesuits, and became a Jesuit himself at the age of fourteen. Subsequently he taught in […]

Read the full article →

Kunigundenringe-recipe for Saint Cunegund rings

February 29, 2024

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

Read the full article →

The Holy Eucharist

February 29, 2024

Our Lord, in the Holy Eucharist, gives Himself to us in a manner that none can fathom. The manner in which He gives Himself is so worthy of admiration that, were the Seraphim to reflect on it for all of eternity, they would not be able to exhaust the idea; God gives Himself to man […]

Read the full article →

February 29 – The Church in China, part I

February 29, 2024

Part I Ancient Christians The introduction of Christianity into China has been ascribed not only to the Apostle of India, St. Thomas, but also to St. Bartholomew. In the third century, Arnobius, in “Adversus Gentes”, speaks of the Seres, with the Persians and the Medes, as among the nations reached by “that new power which […]

Read the full article →

February 29 – The Church in China, part II

February 29, 2024

Part II THE QUESTION OF RITES Father Ricci, the first superior of the Jesuits in China, had remarkable success in his work of evangelizing because of the great tolerance he showed the cult rendered by the Chinese to Heaven, to Confucius, and to ancestors. Indeed, mandarins being obliged to honor officially Heaven and Confucius on […]

Read the full article →

March 1 – Apostle of the Frisians

February 29, 2024

St. Suitbert (Suidbert). Apostle of the Frisians, b. in England in the seventh century; d. at Suitberts-Insel, now Kaiserswerth, near Dusseldorf, 1 March, 713. He studied in Ireland, at Rathmelsigi, Connacht, along with St. Egbert (q. v.). The latter, filled with zeal for the conversion of the Germans, had sent St. Wihtberht, or Wigbert, to […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – Duc de Saint-Simon

February 29, 2024

Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon Born 16 January, 1675; died in Paris, 2 March, 1755. Having quitted the military service in 1702, he lived thereafter at the Court, becoming the friend of the Ducs de Chevreuse and de Beauvilliers, who, with Fenelon, were interested in the education of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – Ercole Gonzaga

February 29, 2024

(Hercules.) Cardinal; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the Son of the Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo renounced in his favour the See […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – William Maxwell

February 29, 2024

William Maxwell Fifth Earl of Nithsdale (Lord Nithsdale signed as Nithsdaill) and fourteenth Lord Maxwell, b. in 1676; d. at Rome, 2 March, 1744. He succeeded his father at the early age of seven. His mother, a daughter of the House of Douglas, a clever energetic woman, educated him in sentiments of devotion to the […]

Read the full article →

March 3 – St. Winwallus

February 29, 2024

St. Winwallus Abbot of Landevennec; d. 3 March, probably at the beginning of the sixth century, though the exact year is not known. There are some fifty forms of his name, ranging from Wynwallow through such variants as Wingaloeus, Waloway, Wynolatus, Vinguavally, Vennole, Valois, Ouignoualey, Gweno, Gunnolo, to Bennoc. The original form is undistinguishable. In […]

Read the full article →

March 3 – James Spencer Northcote

February 29, 2024

James Spencer Northcote Born at Feniton Court, Devonshire, 26 May, 1821; d. at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, 3 March, 1907. He was the second son of George Barons Northcote, a gentleman of an ancient Devonshire family of Norman descent. Educated first at Ilmington Grammar School, he won in 1837 a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where […]

Read the full article →

February 26 – Blessed Robert Drury

February 26, 2024

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

Read the full article →

February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest?

February 26, 2024

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

Read the full article →

February 27 – Patron of Youth

February 26, 2024

St. Gabriel Possenti Passionist student; renowned for sanctity and miracles; born at Assisi, 1 March, 1838; died 27 February, 1862, at Isola di Gran Sasso, Province of Abruzzo, Italy; son of Sante Possenti and Agnes Frisciotti; received baptism on the day of his birth and was called Francesco, the name by which he was known […]

Read the full article →

February 28 – St. Oswald

February 26, 2024

Archbishop of York, died on 29 February, 992. Of Danish parentage, Oswald was brought up by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and instructed by Fridegode. For some time he was dean of the house of the secular canons at Winchester, but led by the desire of a stricter life he entered the Benedictine Monastery […]

Read the full article →

February 28 – Pope Saint Hilarus

February 26, 2024

Pope Saint Hilarus [Also spelled HILARIUS, or HILARY] Elected 461; the date of his death is given as 28 Feb., 468. After the death of Leo I, an archdeacon named Hilarus, a native of Sardinia, according to the “Liber Pontificalis”, was chosen to succeed him, and in all probability received consecration on 19 November, 461. […]

Read the full article →

How Marie Antoinette gave prestige to the potato – and a potato recipe from the French royal court

February 22, 2024

As already noted in a previous post, the potato was one of the plants brought to the Old World after Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas. While the potato is used extensively throughout Europe today–German average potato consumption is 150 lbs per person per year–in its first years, the potato struggled for acceptance. In France, wheat […]

Read the full article →

To follow grace over the mountains and through the deserts

February 22, 2024

The religious spirit is the metaphysical spirit seen in its most refined aspect, and animated by the supernatural when dealing with the truth of the Faith. “Gratius agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam:” I love God so much because He is God, I thank Him for being God, as if it were a favor for […]

Read the full article →

February 23 – St. Polycarp’s martyrdom

February 22, 2024

St. Polycarp’s martyrdom Polycarp’s martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smyrna, to the Church of Philomelium “and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church”, etc. The letter begins with an account of the persecution and the heroism of the martyrs. Conspicuous among them was one Germanicus, who encouraged […]

Read the full article →

February 23 – The responsibilities of leadership are heavy

February 22, 2024

Pope Benedict XIII (PIETRO FRANCESCO ORSINI) Born 2 February, 1649; died 23 February, 1730. Being a son of Ferdinando Orsini and Giovanna Frangipani of Tolpha, he belonged to the archducal family of Orsini-Gravina. From early youth he exhibited a decided liking for the Order of St. Dominic, and at the age of sixteen during a […]

Read the full article →

February 24 – Drink the Bitter Cup

February 22, 2024

Blessed Thomas Mary Fusco The seventh of eight children, he was born on 1 December 1831 in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy, to Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their upright moral and religious conduct, and taught their son Christian piety and charity to […]

Read the full article →

February 24 – Second Duke of Guise

February 22, 2024

FRANÇOIS DE LORRAINE Second Duke of Guise, b. at the Château de Bar, 17 Feb., 1519, of Claude de Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon; d, 24 Feb, 1563. He was the warrior of the family, el gran capitan de Guysa, as the Spanish called him. A wound which he received at the siege of Boulogne […]

Read the full article →

February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 22, 2024

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

Read the full article →

February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 19, 2024

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

Read the full article →

Romanée-Conti: symbol of tradition and nobility

February 19, 2024

We should not be surprised that a single bottle of Romanée-Conti sometimes sells for $10,000 and more, for the Domaine Romanée-Conti (aka DRC) is one of the oldest and finest vineyards of Burgundy, France, and its wines, a veritable symbol of tradition and nobility. In 1087—eight years before Blessed Urban II would call the nobility […]

Read the full article →

February 20 – Pope Martin V

February 19, 2024

Pope Martin V (Oddone Colonna) Born at Genazzano in the Campagna di Roma, 1368; died at Rome, 20 Feb., 1431. He studied at the University of Perugia, became prothonotary Apostolic under Urban VI, papal auditor and nuncio at various Italian courts under Boniface IX, and was administrator of the Diocese of Palestrina from 15 December […]

Read the full article →

February 20 – Leaders and future nobility appear in times of desperate distress

February 19, 2024

Andreas Hofer A patriot and soldier, born at St. Leonhard in Passeyrthale, Tyrol, 22 Nov., 1767; executed at Mantua, 20 Feb., 1810. His father was known as the “Sandwirth” (i. e., landlord of the inn on the sandy spit of land formed by the Passeyr. The inn had been in the family for over one […]

Read the full article →

February 21 – He Fearlessly Denounced Homosexual Clergy

February 19, 2024

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

Read the full article →

February 22 – Blessed Émilie d’Oultremont de Warfusée

February 19, 2024

(October 11, 1818 – February 22, 1878) Belgian nun. She founded the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix. She took the name Mary of Jesus. The daughter of Émile d’Oultremont (fr) and Marie-Charlotte de Lierneux de Presles, she was born at Wégimont Castle. Her father served as Belgian ambassador to the Holy See in Rome. In 1837, […]

Read the full article →

Savoir Faire, Savoir Dire

February 15, 2024

The young archduchess was the sixth daughter and ninth child of Francis of Lorraine, Emperor of Germany, and of the illustrious Maria Theresa. A story is told that one evening in the early autumn of 1755, when the empress was receiving at Schönbrunn, she laughingly asked the Duke von Tarouka, “Shall I have a boy […]

Read the full article →

A non-existent order, the level that exists between God and the angels

February 15, 2024

In order that one know the inferior orders, it is necessary to know the angelic order. Still, St. Thomas affirms that it is possible for God to create beings ab eterno. Were they to exist, these non-existent beings would form a determined order, and the inferior orders, including that of the angels, would be subordinate […]

Read the full article →

February 15 – Ferdinand II, Emperor

February 15, 2024

Ferdinand II Emperor, eldest son of Archduke Karl and the Bavarian Princess Maria, b. 1578; d. 15 February, 1637. In accordance with Ferdinand I’s disposition of his possessions, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola fell to his son Karl. As Karl died in 1590, when his eldest son was only twelve years old, the government of these […]

Read the full article →

February 15 – Pope Lucius II

February 15, 2024

Pope Lucius II (Gherardo Caccianemici dal Orso) Born at Bologna, unknown date, died at Rome, 15 February, 1145. Before entering the Roman Curia he was a canon regular in Bologna. In 1124 Honorius II created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. From 1125-1126 he was papal legate in Germany where he took part in […]

Read the full article →

February 15 – Saintly financier

February 15, 2024

Francis Anthony Drexel Banker, b. at Philadelphia, U.S.A., 20 June, 1824; d. there 15 Feb., 1885. He was the oldest son of Francis Martin Drexel, a Tyrolese by birth, and by profession a portrait-painter and musician, who in 1837 turned his attention to finance, and founded the house of Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia with […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →