June 12 – Saint Guido of Acqui

June 11, 2026

Saint Guido of Acqui (also Wido) (c. 1004 – 12 June 1070) was Bishop of Acqui (now Acqui Terme) in north-west Italy from 1034 until his death. He was born around 1004 to a noble family of the area of Acqui, the Counts of Acquesana, in Melazzo where the family’s wealth was concentrated. He completed […]

Read the full article →

June 12 – A certain nobleman had a concubine

June 11, 2026

St. John of Sahagun Hermit, born 1419, at Sahagun (or San Fagondez) in the Kingdom of Leon, in Spain; died 11 June, 1479, at Salamanca; feast 12 June. In art he is represented holding a chalice and host surrounded by rays of light. John, the oldest of seven children, was born of pious and respected […]

Read the full article →

June 12 – He Crowned Charlemagne

June 11, 2026

Pope St. Leo III Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of […]

Read the full article →

June 13 – He Lived Only 36 Years, But the Whole World Knows Him

June 11, 2026

St. Anthony of Padua Franciscan Thaumaturgist, born at Lisbon, 1195; died at Vercelli, 13 June, 1231. He received in baptism the name of Ferdinand. Later writers of the fifteenth century asserted that his father was Martin Bouillon, descendant of the renowned Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First Crusade, and his mother, Theresa Taveira, descendant […]

Read the full article →

June 13 – Who Is the Real Saint Anthony?

June 11, 2026

There is a tendency nowadays to depict saints as people who bypass the realities of life and somehow attain sanctity with little effort. Here we have two pictures of Saint Anthony of Padua. The first is a fresco in the basilica dedicated to the saint in Padua, Italy, and it is the oldest known depiction […]

Read the full article →

June 14 – The entire population was slaughtered, except those who embraced Islam

June 11, 2026

Croia A titular see of Albania. Croia (pronounced Kruya, Albanian, “Spring”) stands on the site of Eriboea, a town mentioned by Ptolemy (III, xiii, 13, 41). Georgius Acropolites (lxix) mentions it as a fortress in 1251. A decree of the Venetian senate gave it in 1343 to Marco Barbarigo and his wife. In 1395 it […]

Read the full article →

True Glory Can Only Be Born of Pain

June 11, 2026

by Plinio Correa de Oliveira From every side of the parade grounds, with habitual and quite natural enthusiasm, a huge crowd watches a trooping of the Queen’s Royal Grenadiers in their ceremonial uniforms. New military tactics forced uniforms like these into obsolescence long ago. Nevertheless, these black trousers, red coats with white belts, gloves, and […]

Read the full article →

When the Foundation Is Unstable

June 8, 2026

by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The word “social” has never been used as much as it is today. It has also never been so much abused. This phenomenon is typical of epochs in crises: that is, to use and abuse words that express grand and august concepts by distorting them and even glorifying them […]

Read the full article →

June 8 – The Noble Countess Who Dedicated Her Life to Bringing Dissolute Women to Repentance

June 8, 2026

Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart (died in Porto, Portugal, June 8, 1899), born Maria Droste zu Vischering, was a noble of Germany and Roman Catholic nun best known for influencing Pope Leo XIII’s consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Leo XIII called this consecration “the greatest act of my […]

Read the full article →

June 8 – Accused of theft and sexual misconduct

June 8, 2026

St. William of York (WILLIAM FITZHERBERT, also called WILLIAM OF THWAYT). Archbishop of York. Tradition represents him as nephew of King Stephen, whose sister Emma was believed to have married Herbert of Winchester, treasurer to Henry I. William became a priest, and about 1130 he was canon and treasurer of York. In 1142 he was […]

Read the full article →

Nurse and foundress – June 9

June 8, 2026

Frances Margaret Taylor (MOTHER M. MAGDALEN TAYLOR) Superior General, and foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, born 20 Jan., 1832; died in London, 9 June, 1900. Her father was a Protestant clergyman, the vicar of a Lincolnshire parish where her early years were spent in works of charity among the poor. […]

Read the full article →

Pope Gregory XVI – June 9

June 8, 2026

Pope Gregory XVI (Mauro, or Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari), b. at Belluno, then in the Venetian territory, 8 September, 1765; d. at Rome, 9 June, 1846. His father, Giovanni Battista, and his mother, Giulia Cesa-Pagani, were both of the minor nobility of the district and the families of both had in former times been prominent in […]

Read the full article →

French opponent to Jansenism and Gallicanism – June 9

June 8, 2026

Louis Gaston de Ségur Prelate and French apologist, born 15 April, 1820, in Paris; died 9 June, 1881, in the same city. He was descended on his paternal side form the Marquis of Ségur — Marshal of France and Minister of Louis XVI, who occupied this position during the participation of France in the war […]

Read the full article →

June 10 – Anti-pagan Renaissance Saint

June 8, 2026

Bl. Giovanni Dominici (BANCHINI or BACCHINI was his family name). Cardinal, statesman and writer, born at Florence, 1356; died at Buda, 10 July, 1420. He entered the Dominican Order at Santa Maria Novella in 1372 after having been cured, through the intercession of St. Catherine of Siena, of an impediment of speech for which he […]

Read the full article →

June 10 – Most Sublime Figure of Portuguese Literature

June 8, 2026

Luis Vaz de Camões (OR CAMOENS) Born in 1524 or 1525; died 10 June, 1580. The most sublime figure in the history of Portuguese literature, Camões owes his lasting fame to his epic poem “Os Lusiadas,” (The Lusiads); he is remarkable also for the degree of art attained in his lyrics, less noteworthy for his […]

Read the full article →

June 4 – St. Francis Caracciolo

June 4, 2026

St. Francis Caracciolo Co-founder with John Augustine Adorno of the Conregation of the Minor Clerks Regular; born in Villa Santa Maria in the Abrusso (Italy), 13 October, 1563; died at Agnone, 4 June, 1608. He belonged to the Pisquizio branch of the Caracciolo and received in baptism the name of Ascanio. From his infancy he […]

Read the full article →

June 5 – Friendship is tested in adversity

June 4, 2026

Blessed Ferdinand of Portugal Prince of Portugal, born in Portugal, 29 September, 1402; died at Fez, in Morocco, 5 June, 1443. He was one of five sons, his mother being Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his father King John I, known in history for his victories over the Moors and […]

Read the full article →

June 5 – My God Is Greater Than Your Tree

June 4, 2026

St. Boniface (WINFRID, WYNFRITH). Apostle of Germany, date of birth unknown; martyred 5 June, 755 (754); emblems: the oak, axe, book, fox, scourge, fountain, raven, sword. He was a native of England, though some authorities have claimed him for Ireland or Scotland. The place of his birth is not known, though it was probably the […]

Read the full article →

June 5 – Genesius, Count of Clermont

June 4, 2026

Genesius, Count of Clermont Died 725. Feast, 5 June. According to the lessons of the Breviary of the Chapter of Camaleria (Acta SS. June, I, 497), he was of noble birth; his father’s name is given as Audastrius, and his mother’s is Tranquilla. Even in his youth he is said to have wrought miracles—to have […]

Read the full article →

June 6 – Patron and Protector of Bohemia

June 4, 2026

St. Norbert Born at Xanten on the left bank of the Rhine, near Wesel, c. 1080; died at Magdeburg, 6 June, 1134. His father, Heribert, Count of Gennep, was related to the imperial house of Germany, and his house of Lorraine. A stately bearing, a penetrating intellect, a tender, earnest heart, marked the future apostle. […]

Read the full article →

June 6 – St. Claudius

June 4, 2026

The Life of St. Claudius, Abbot of Condat, has been the subject of much controversy. Dom Benott says that he lived in the seventh century; that he had been Bishop of Besançon before being abbot, that he was fifty-five years an abbot, and died in 694. He left Condat in a very flourishing state to […]

Read the full article →

Death of a true knight

June 4, 2026

Loyalty and service were what he recommended to Alvaro in their last talk, and gratitude for the royal benefits. Alvaro must prove himself worthy of the favors bestowed…. Then D. João de Castro blessed his son and said good-bye forever….Four holy men were his only attendants at this time: they were the Vicar General Father […]

Read the full article →

June 1 – Kidnapped for Christ

June 1, 2026

Bl. John Story (Or Storey.) Martyr; born 1504; died at Tyburn, 1 June, 1571. He was educated at Oxford, and was president of Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College, from 1537 to 1539. He entered Parliament as member for Hindon, Wilts, in 1547, and was imprisoned for opposing the Bill of Uniformity, 24 Jan.-2 March, 1548-9. […]

Read the full article →

June 1 – The Aristocrat Who Gave His Life for the Poor

June 1, 2026

Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia (1851-1927)  (sometimes written as Annibale Maria Di Francia) Hannibal Mary Di Francia was born in Messina, Italy, on July 5, 1851. His father Francis was a knight, the Marquis of St. Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy. His mother, Anna Toscano, also belonged to an […]

Read the full article →

June 2 – Saved from the Byzantine Emperor’s roaster, ironically, by the Moslems

June 1, 2026

Pope Saint Eugene I Elected August 10, 654, and died at Rome, June 2, 657. Because he would not submit to Byzantine dictation in the matter of Monothelism, St. Martin I was forcibly carried off from Rome (June 18, 653) and kept in exile till his death (September, 655). What happened in Rome after his […]

Read the full article →

June 3 – She eventually won her husband’s heart to the faith, but then had to witness her children kill each other.

June 1, 2026

St. Clotilda, Queen of France Was daughter of Chilperic, younger brother to Gondebald, the tyrannical king of Burgundy, who put him, his wife, and the rest of his brothers, except one, to death, in order to usurp their dominions. In this massacre he spared Chilperic’s two fair daughters, then in their infancy. One of them […]

Read the full article →

June 3 – Genesius (Bishop of Clermont)

June 1, 2026

Twenty-first Bishop of Clermont, d. 662. Feast, 3 June. The legend, which is of a rather late date (Acta SS., June, I, 315), says that he was descended from a senatorial family of Auvergne. Having received a liberal education he renounced his worldly prospects for the service of the Church, became archdeacon of Clermont under […]

Read the full article →

May 28 – St. Germain of Paris

May 28, 2026

St. Germain Bishop of Paris; born near Autun, Saône-et-Loire, c. 496; died at Paris, 28 May, 576. He studied at Avalon and also at Luzy under the guidance of his cousin Scapilion, a priest. At the age of thirty-four he was ordained by St. Agrippinus of Autun and became Abbot of Saint-Symphorien near that town. […]

Read the full article →

May 28 – Upstairs, Downstairs, Ever Steady

May 28, 2026

Blessed Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury, martyr; born at Castle Farley, near Bath, 14 August, 1473; martyred at East Smithfield Green, 28 May, 1541. She was the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick (the king-maker), and the sister of Edmund of Warwick who, under Henry […]

Read the full article →

Captain John Barry, Father of the American Navy, fights and wins a prize

May 28, 2026

Not until May 28th [1781] was there another opportunity found, when early on that morning an armed ship and a brig were discovered about a league distant. At sunrise they hoisted the English colors and beat drums. At the same time Captain Barry displayed the American colors. By eleven o’clock Captain Barry hailed the ship […]

Read the full article →

May 29 – Assassinated in the castle of St. Andrews

May 28, 2026

David Beaton (Or Bethune) Cardinal, Archbishop of St. Andrews, b. 1494; d. 29 May, 1546. He was of an honourable Scottish family on both sides, being a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour Fife, by Isabel, daughter of David Monypenny of Pitmilly, also in Fife. Educated first at St. Andrews, he went in his […]

Read the full article →

May 29 – Intimate friend of St. Athanasius

May 28, 2026

St. Maximinus Bishop of Trier, born at Silly near Poitiers, died there, 29 May, 352 or 12 Sept., 349. He was educated and ordained priest by St. Agritius, whom he succeeded as Bishop of Trier in 332 or 335. At that time Trier was the government seat of the Western Emperor and, by force of […]

Read the full article →

The virgin-warrior urged her men to righteousness

May 28, 2026

“Joan was chaste, and she loathed those women who follow the soldiers. I once saw her at Saint Denis, on the way back from the King’s coronation, chase a girl who was with the soldiers so hard, with her sword drawn, that she broke her sword. She was furious when she heard soldiers swearing, and […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – When God chose sides in war between two Christian nations, He sent her to win it

May 28, 2026

St. Joan of Arc In French Jeanne d’Arc; by her contemporaries commonly known as la Pucelle (the Maid). Born at Domremy in Champagne, probably on 6 January, 1412; died at Rouen, 30 May, 1431. The village of Domremy lay upon the confines of territory which recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of Burgundy, but in […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – Most Valiant King

May 28, 2026

Saint Ferdinand III of Castile King of Leon and Castile, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, born in 1198 near Salamanca; died at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and of Berengeria, the daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, and sister of Blanche, the […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – She was sent by God to save France

May 28, 2026

Joan of Arc in Real Life Saint Joan of Arc is far more than a worthy subject for stained-glass windows, although that is how her biographers often portray her. Fortunately, we have the records of two judgments to set the record straight. As is common with heroes deemed “larger than life,” Joan is seen through […]

Read the full article →

May 31 – St. Mechtildis of Edelstetten

May 28, 2026

St. Mechtildis was a Benedictine abbess and renowned miracle worker. Mechtildis was the daughter of Count Berthold of Andechs, whose wife, Sophie, founded a monastery on their estate at Diessen, Bavaria, and placed their daughter there at the age of five. In 1153, the Bishop of Augsburg placed her as Abbess of Edelstetten Abbey. Mechtildis […]

Read the full article →

May 31 – St. Camilla Battista da Varano

May 28, 2026

St. Baptista Varano (Varani). An ascetical writer, born at Camerino, in the March of Ancona, 9 Apr., 1458; died there, 31 May, 1527. Her father, Julius Caesar Varano or de Varanis, Duke of Camerino, belonged to an illustrious family; her mother, Joanna Malatesta, was a daughter of Sigismund, Prince of Rimini. At baptism Baptista received […]

Read the full article →

Eggs Florentine – Stimulating the love of excellence in society is an important element of the nobility’s mission

May 28, 2026

When Catherine de Medici―who became Queen of France 465 years ago, on March 31, 1547―left behind her native Florence in order to marry Henry, the second son of Francis I, she brought some expert chefs with her. Their culinary productions were well received at the French court and the French nobility helped spread their fame […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – The Emperor Must Wait in the Snow

May 25, 2026

Pope St. Gregory VII (HILDEBRAND). One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020 and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno. The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His name, […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – He Forced the Emperor To Wait Three Days in the Snow

May 25, 2026

Pope St. Gregory VII (HILDEBRAND). One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020 and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno. The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His name, […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – First Pope to transform a pagan temple of Rome into a Christian church

May 25, 2026

Pope St. Boniface IV Son of John, a physician, a Marsian from the province and town of Valeria; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine months; consecrated 25 August, 608; d. 8 May, 615 (Duchesne); or, 15 September, 608-25 May, 615 (Jaffé). In the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great he […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – She suffered terrible inward desolation and temptations, and by external diabolic attacks

May 25, 2026

St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi Carmelite Virgin, born 2 April, 1566; died 25 May, 1607. Of outward events there were very few in the saint’s life. She came of two noble families, her father being Camillo Geri de’ Pazzi and her mother a Buondelmonti. She was baptized, and named Caterina, in the great baptistery. Her […]

Read the full article →

May 26 – Saint Bruno of Würzburg

May 25, 2026

Saint Bruno of Würzburg (c. 1005 – 26 May 1045) Also known as Bruno of Carinthia, he was imperial chancellor of Italy from 1027 to 1034 for Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, to whom he was related, and from 1034 until his death prince-bishop of Würzburg. Bruno was the son of Conrad I, Duke of […]

Read the full article →

May 26 – He converted a young nobleman by showing him a vision of hell, and called the City of Rome his “Desert”

May 25, 2026

THE APOSTLE OF ROME St. Philip Romolo Neri Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595. Philip’s family originally came from Castelfranco but had lived for many generations in Florence, where not a few of its members had practised the learned professions, and therefore took rank with the Tuscan nobility. Among these […]

Read the full article →

May 27 – St. Augustine of Canterbury

May 25, 2026

St. Augustine of Canterbury First Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; died 26 May, 604. Symbols: cope, pallium, and mitre as Bishop of Canterbury, and pastoral staff and gospels as missionary. Nothing is known of his youth except that he was probably a Roman of the better class, and that […]

Read the full article →

May 21 – The last of his noble lineage, he started a spiritual one

May 21, 2026

St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod Bishop of Marseilles, and founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, b. at Aix, in Provence, 1 August, 1782; d. at Marseilles 21 May, 1861. De Mazenod was the offspring of a noble family of southern France, and even in his tender years he showed unmistakable […]

Read the full article →

De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 21, 2026

The next day, upon which De Soto was hoping to see the chief, a large company of Indians came, fully armed and in war-paint, with the purpose of attacking the Christians. But when they saw that the Governor had drawn up his army in line of battle, they remained a cross-bow shot away for half […]

Read the full article →

May 22 – St. Rita of Cascia

May 21, 2026

St. Rita of Cascia Born at Rocca Porena in the Diocese of Spoleto, 1386; died at the Augustinian convent of Cascia, 1456. Feast, 22 May. Represented as holding roses, or roses and figs, and sometimes with a wound in her forehead. According to the “Life” (Acta SS., May, V, 224) written at the time of […]

Read the full article →

May 22 – Hanged for Publishing

May 21, 2026

Blessed James Duckett Martyr, b. at Gilfortrigs in the parish of Skelsmergh in Westmoreland, England, date uncertain, of an ancient family of that county; d. 9 April, 1601. He was a bookseller and publisher in London. His godfather was the well-known martyr James Leybourbe of Skelsmergh. He seems, however, to have been brought up a […]

Read the full article →

May 23 – Appointed bishop to replace a corrupt one, then imprisoned for defending the King’s legitimate wife

May 21, 2026

St. Ivo of Chartres (YVO, YVES). One of the most notable bishops of France at the time of the Investiture struggles and the most important canonist before Gratian in the Occident, born of a noble family about 1040; died in 1116. From the neighbourhood of Beauvais, his native country, he went for his studies first […]

Read the full article →

May 23 – Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

May 21, 2026

Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet Missionary among the North American Indians, born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium, 30 Jan., 1801; died at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., 23 May, 1873. He emigrated to the United States in 1821 through a desire for missionary labours, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Whitemarsh, Maryland. In 1823, however, at the suggestion […]

Read the full article →

May 24 – St. Vincent of Lérins

May 21, 2026

St. Vincent of Lérins Feast on 24 May, an ecclesiastical writer in Southern Gaul in the fifth century. His work is much better known than his life. Almost all our information concerning him is contained in Gennadius, “De viris illustribus” (lxiv). He entered the monastery of Lérins (today Isle St. Honorat), where under the pseudonym […]

Read the full article →

May 24 – Our Lady Help of Christians, to commemorate the liberation of the Pope from Napoleon’s prison

May 21, 2026

This commemoration was introduced in the liturgical calendar by decree of Pope Pius VII on September 16, 1815, in thanksgiving for his happy return to Rome after a long and painful captivity in Savona and France due to Napoleon’s tyrannical power. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a […]

Read the full article →

The Noble Religious Brother

May 21, 2026

During the terrible Commune at Paris in the year 1871 a company of armed Communists entered a house of a community of religious Brothers at Picpus, near that city. As soon as they entered the house the first person they met was Brother Stanislaus, who was only twenty-six years old, whom they at once seized […]

Read the full article →

On returning from exile, Pope Pius VII is welcomed by the Dukes of Modena

May 21, 2026

The palace of the Archbishop of Modena-Nonantola is located at Corso Duomo, 34, immediately across from the front entrance of the cathedral. In the entrance corridor of the first floor is a painting recording the visit of Pope Pius VII to Modena in 1815. 1 The painting shows Pius VII extending his hand to a […]

Read the full article →

May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 18, 2026

Pope St. John I Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days. We […]

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

May 18, 2026

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 →

May 18 – St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

May 18, 2026

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr Eric [1] was descended of a most illustrious Swedish family: in his youth he laid a solid foundation of virtue and learning, and took to wife Christina, daughter of Ingo IV, king of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smercher in 1141, he was, purely for his extraordinary virtues […]

Read the full article →

May 19 – Patron of lawyers

May 18, 2026

St. Ives (St. Yves) St. Ives, born at Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, 17 October, 1253; died at Louannee, 19 May, 1303, was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ives was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →