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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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February 16 – Ven. Luis de Lapuente

February 15, 2024

Ven. Luis de Lapuente (Also, D’Aponte, de Ponte, Dupont). Born at Valladolid, 11 November, 1554; died there, 16 February 1624. Having entered the Society of Jesus, he studied under the celebrated Suarez, and professed philosophy at Salamanca. Endowed with exceptional talents for government and the formation of young religious, he was forced by impaired health […]

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February 17 – He established the first charitable loan-institution for the poor

February 15, 2024

Barnabas of Terni (Interamna) Friar Minor and missionary, d. 1474 (or 1477). He belonged to the noble family of the Manassei and was a man of great learning, being Doctor of Medicine and well versed in letters and philosophy. Despising the honours and vanities of the world, he entered the Order of Friars Minor in […]

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February 17 – He suffered a three-fold death agony

February 15, 2024

Blessed Francis Regis Clet A Lazarist missionary in China; b. 1748, martyred, 18 Feb., 1820. His father was a merchant of Grenoble in France, his mother’s name was Claudine Bourquy. He was the tenth of fifteen children. The family was deeply religious, several members of it having consecrated themselves to God. Francis attended the Jesuit […]

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February 18 – Fra Angelico brought part of heaven to earth

February 15, 2024

Blessed Fra Angelico A famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of Mugello, Tuscany, 1387; died at Rome, 1455. He was christened Guido, and his father’s name being Pietro he was known as Guido, or Guidolino, di Pietro, but his full appellation today is that of “Blessed Fra […]

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St. Frideswide – February 12

February 12, 2024

St. Frideswide (FRIDESWIDA, FREDESWIDA, Fr. FRÉVISSE, Old Eng. FRIS). Virgin, patroness of Oxford, lived from about 650 to 735. According to her legend, in its latest form, she was the child of King Didan and Safrida, and was brought up to holiness by Algiva. She refused the proffered hand of King Algar, a Mercian, and […]

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Tadeusz Kosciuszko – February 12

February 12, 2024

Tadeusz Kosciuszko Polish patriot and soldier, b. near Novogrudok, Lithuania, Poland, 12 February, 1752; d. at Solothurn, Switzerland, 15 October, 1817. He was educated at the military schools of Warsaw and Versailles, and attained the rank of captain in the Polish army. When the American Revolution broke out he embarked for the scene of conflict […]

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Saint Eulalia of Barcelona – February 12

February 12, 2024

Saint Eulalia of Barcelona A Spanish martyr in the persecution of Diocletian (February 12, 304), patron of the cathedral and city of Barcelona, also of sailors. The Acts of her life and martyrdom were copied early in the twelfth century, and with elegant conciseness, by the learned ecclesiastic Renallus Grammaticus (Bol. acad. hist., Madrid, 1902, […]

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February 13 – St. Catherine de Ricci

February 12, 2024

St. Catherine de Ricci, Virgin (AD 1522 – 1589) The Ricci are an ancient family, which still subsists in a flourishing condition in Tuscany. Peter de Ricci, the father of our saint, was married to Catherine Bonza, a lady of suitable birth. The saint was born at Florence in 1522, and called at her baptism […]

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St. Fulcran – February 13

February 12, 2024

St. Fulcran Bishop of Lodève; died 13 February, 1006. According to the biography which Bernard Guidonis, Bishop of Lodève (died 1331), has left us his saintly predecessor, Fulcran came of a distinguished family, consecrated himself at an early age to the service of the Church, became a priest, and from his youth led a pure […]

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February 14 – Renounced Earthly Nobility To Obtain Heavenly Nobility

February 12, 2024

Sts. Cyril and Methodius These brothers, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Though belonging to a senatorial family they renounced secular honors and became priests. They were living in a monastery on the Bosphorus, when the Khazars sent to Constantinople for a Christian teacher. Cyril was selected […]

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Louis XVI Gives a Marriage Dowry to 100 Poor French Girls

February 8, 2024

On February 9th, 1779 (in the narrative of Louise de Grandpré, to whom the study of Notre Dame has been a veritable passion), a large crowd pressed towards the cathedral; the ground was strewed with fresh grass and flowers and leaves; the pillars were decorated with many coloured banners. In the choir the vestments of […]

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Even higher…

February 8, 2024

The principals that exist in the various orders of being are a repetition of the higher principles that exist in the general order of beings. Therefore, in order to know well the order of a being it is necessary to know the order of beings superior to it, because the order of one level of […]

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February 8 – Mary Queen of Scots

February 8, 2024

Mary Queen of Scots Mary Stuart, born at Linlithgow, 8 December, 1542; died at Fotheringay, 8 February, 1587. She was the only legitimate child of James V of Scotland. His death (14 December) followed immediately after her birth, and she became queen when only six days old. The Tudors endeavored by war to force on […]

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February 8 – Saint John of Matha, a strong and mighty Angel

February 8, 2024

Saint John of Matha Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. He was born into Provencal nobility in 1154 at Faucon-de-Barcelonnette, France. As a youth, he was educated at Aix-en-Provence, and later studied theology at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he was urged by a vision during his first Mass to […]

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February 9 – Johann Georg von Eckhart

February 8, 2024

Eckhart, Johann Georg von (called Eccard before he was ennobled), German historian, b. at Duingen in the principality of Kalenberg, September 7, 1664; d. at Würzburg, February 9, 1730. After a good preparatory training at Schulpforta he went to Leipzig, where at first, at the desire of his mother, he studied theology, but soon turned […]

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February 9 – Marianus Scotus

February 8, 2024

MARIANUS SCOTUS, Abbot of St. Peter’s at Ratisbon, born in Ireland before the middle of the eleventh century; died at Ratisbon towards the end of the eleventh century, probably in 1088. In 1067 he left his native country, intending to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Like many of his countrymen, however, who visited the Continent, […]

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February 9 – Mother of the Orphans

February 8, 2024

Margaret Haughery, “the mother of the orphans”, as she was familiarly styled, b. in Cavan, Ireland, about 1814; d. at New Orleans, Louisiana, 9 February, 1882. Her parents, Charles and Margaret O’Rourke Gaffney, died at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1822 and she was left to her own resources and was thus deprived of acquiring a knowledge […]

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February 9 – Patroness of those suffering from toothaches

February 8, 2024

St. Apollonia A holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians previous to the persecution of Decius (end of 248, or beginning of 249). During the festivities commemorative of the first millenary of the Roman Empire, the agitation of the heathen populace rose to a great height, and when […]

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February 11 – St. Benedict of Aniane

February 8, 2024

St. Benedict of Aniane Born about 745-750; died at Cornelimünster, 11 February, 821. Benedict, originally known as Witiza, son of the Goth, Aigulf, Count of Maguelone in Southern France, was educated at the Frankish court of Pepin, and entered the royal service. He took part in the Italian campaign of Charlemagne (773), after which he […]

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February 10 – He fought socialism in both its Nazi and Soviet form, and paid for it with his life

February 8, 2024

BL. ALOJZIJE STEPINAC was born into a large Catholic family on 8 May 1898 in Krasic. After graduation from high school in 1916, he completed military service during World War I. In 1924 he decided to study for the priesthood and was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Germanicum-Hungaricum College. He earned doctorates […]

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February 10 – God Gave Her What Her Brother Would Not

February 8, 2024

St. Scholastica, Virgin (c. 480 – 10 February 547) This saint was sister to the great St. Benedict. She consecrated herself to God from her earliest youth, as St. Gregory testifies. Where her first monastery was situated is not mentioned; but after her brother removed to Mount Cassino, she choose her retreat at Plombariola, in […]

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February 5 – St. Agatha

February 5, 2024

St. Agatha   One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her legendary life, composed at a later […]

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February 5 – He put the Bible to verse and prose

February 5, 2024

St. Avitus (Alcimus Ecdicius). A distinguished bishop of Vienne, in Gaul, from 490 to about 518, though his death is place by some as late as 525 or 526. He was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman family closely related to the Emperor Avitus and other illustrious persons, and in which episcopal honors were hereditary. In […]

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February 6 – St. Dorothea

February 5, 2024

St. Dorothea Virgin and martyr, suffered during the persecution of Diocletian, 6 February, 311, at Caesarea in Cappadocia. She was brought before the prefect Sapricius, tried, tortured, and sentenced to death. On her way to the place of execution the pagan lawyer Theophilus said to her in mockery: “Bride of Christ, send me some fruits […]

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February 6 – Pope Clement XII

February 5, 2024

Pope Clement XII (LORENZO CORSINI). Born at Florence, 7 April, 1652; elected 12 July, 1730; died at Rome 6 February, 1740. The pontificate of the saintly Orsini pope, Benedict XIII, from the standpoint of the spiritual interests of the Church, had left nothing to be desired. He had, however, given over temporal concerns into the […]

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February 6 – “No priest, no Mass”

February 5, 2024

Edmund Plowden Born 1517-8; died in London, 6 Feb., 1584-5. Son of Humphrey Plowden of Plowden Hall, Shropshire, and Elizabeth his wife, educated at Cambridge, he took no degree. In 1538 he was called to the Middle Temple where he studied law so closely that he became the greatest lawyer of his age, as is […]

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February 7 – Liberal to Anti-liberal

February 5, 2024

Pope Blessed Pius IX (GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI-FERRETTI). Pope from 1846-78; born at Sinigaglia, 13 May, 1792; died in Rome, 7 February, 1878. BEFORE HIS PAPACY His early years. After receiving his classical education at the Piarist College in Volterra from 1802-09 he went to Rome to study philosophy and theology, but left there in 1810 […]

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Teach Them Young

February 1, 2024

Another time, the winter having been excessively severe in Vienna, and all work consequently suspended, the suffering among the working classes was very great. As they were discussing it one evening at the palace in the family drawing-room, Marie Antoinette approached her mother, and gave her a box. “There are fifty-five ducats,” she said; “’t […]

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Two ways: using or despising creatures

February 1, 2024

God Our Lord gave us creatures that they may serve us in our attaining Himself. Thus, it is fitting that culture and art, inspired by the Faith, make evident all the beauties of irrational creation and the splendors of talent and virtue possessed by the human soul. This is what is called Christian Culture and […]

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February 1 – “The sublime genius of the man”

February 1, 2024

Saint Ephraem (Ephrem, Ephraim) Born at Nisibis, then under Roman rule, early in the fourth century; died June, 373. The name of his father is unknown, but he was a pagan and a priest of the goddess Abnil or Abizal. His mother was a native of Amid. Ephraem was instructed in the Christian mysteries by […]

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February 1 – She and Saint Patrick were “one heart and one mind”

February 1, 2024

Saint Brigid of Ireland Born in 451 or 452 of princely ancestors at Faughart, near Dundalk, County Louth; d. 1 February, 525, at Kildare. Refusing many good offers of marriage, she became a nun and received the veil from St. Macaille. With seven other virgins she settled for a time at the foot of Croghan […]

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February 2 – “Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird”

February 1, 2024

St. Théophane Vénard (JEAN-THÉOPHANE VÉNARD.) French missionary, born at St-Loup, Diocese of Poitiers, 1829; martyred in Tonkin, 2 February, 1861. He studied at the College of Doue-la-Fontaine, Montmorillon, Poitiers, and at the Paris Seminary for Foreign Missions which he entered as a sub-deacon. Ordained priest 5 June, 1852, he departed for the Far East, 19 […]

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February 3 – His crime was to call the queen a schismatic

February 1, 2024

Blessed John Nelson English Jesuit martyr, b. at Skelton, four miles from York, in 1534; d. at Tyburn, 3 February, 1577-78. He went to Douay in 1573, and two of his four brothers followed his example and became priests. He was ordained priest at Binche, in Hainault, by Mgr Louis de Berlaymont, Archbishop of Cambrai, […]

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February 4 – Probably the most learned man of his age

February 1, 2024

  (Hrabanus, Rhabanus) Abbot of Fulda, Archbishop of Mainz, celebrated theological and pedagogical writer of the ninth century, born at Mainz about 776 (784?); died at Winkel (Vinicellum) near Mainz on 4 February, 856. He took vows at an early age in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda, and was ordained deacon in 801. A year […]

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February 4 – Patron of Armenia

February 1, 2024

Gregory the Illuminator Born 257?; died 337?, surnamed the Illuminator (Lusavorich). Gregory the Illuminator is the apostle, national saint, and patron of Armenia. He was not the first who introduced Christianity into that country. The Armenians maintain that the faith was preached there by the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddaeus. Thaddaeus especially (the hero of the […]

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February 4 – Sent into Muslim lands, he sought to preach to the Sultan

February 1, 2024

St. Joseph of Leonessa In the world named Eufranio Desiderio, born in 1556 at Leonessa in Umbria; died 4 February, 1612. From his infancy he showed a remarkably religious bent of mind; he used to erect little altars and spend much time in prayer before them, and often he would gather his companions and induce […]

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January 29 – Noble enough to cover five contemporary kings with invective

January 29, 2024

St. Gildas Surnamed the Wise; born about 516; died at Houat, Brittany, 570. Sometimes he is called “Badonicus” because, as he tells us, his birth took place the year the Britons gained a famous victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon, near Bath, Somersetshire (493 or 516). The biographies of Gildas exist — one written […]

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January 30 – Dom Guéranger

January 29, 2024

Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger Benedictine and polygraph; b. 4 April, 1805, at Sablé-sur-Sarthe; d. at Solesmes, 30 January, 1875. Ordained a priest 7 October, 1827, he was administrator of the parish of the Missions Etrangères until near the close of 1830. He then left Paris and returned to Mans, where he began to publish various […]

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January 30 – Pope St. Felix IV

January 29, 2024

Pope St. Felix IV (Reigned 526–530). On 18 May, 526, Pope John I (q.v.) died in prison at Ravenna, a victim of the angry suspicions of Theodoric, the Arian king of the Goths. When, through the powerful influence of this ruler, the cardinal-priest, Felix of Samnium, son of Castorius, was brought forward in Rome as […]

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January 30 – Sir Everard Digby

January 29, 2024

Sir Everard Digby Born 16 May, 1578, died 30 Jan., 1606. Everard Digby, whose father bore the same Christian name, succeeded in his fourteenth year to large properties in the Counties of Lincoln, Leicester, and Rutland. Arrived at man’s estate, he was distinguished for his great stature and bodily strength as well as for his […]

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January 30 – St. Martina

January 29, 2024

St. Martina Roman virgin, martyred in 226, according to some authorities, more probably in 228, under the pontificate of Pope Urban I, according to others. The daughter of an ex-consul and left an orphan at an early age, she so openly testified to her Christian faith that she could not escape the persecutions under Alexander […]

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January 31 – St. John Bosco Meets His First Noble Patroness

January 29, 2024

Juliette Colbert, a native of Vendée, had married Marquis Tancredi Falletti of Barolo, and of her it could be said, even as we read of Tabitha in the Acts of the Apostles: “This woman had devoted herself to good works and acts of charity.” Indeed, she used her abundant wealth to help the working classes […]

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