April 12 – St. Teresa of the Andes

April 9, 2026

Saint Teresa of the Andes, O.C.D. (July 13, 1900 – April 12, 1920), also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Spanish: Teresa de Jesús de los Andes), was a Chilean nun of the Discalced Carmelite order. She was born Juana Enriqueta Josefina de los Sagrados Corazones Fernández y Solar in Santiago, Chile […]

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April 6 – With his head split open, he wrote on the ground with his own blood: “Credo”

April 6, 2026

St. Peter of Verona Born at Verona, 1206; died near Milan, 6 April, 1252. His parents were adherents of the Manichæan heresy, which still survived in northern Italy in the thirteenth century. Sent to a Catholic school, and later to the University of Bologna, he there met St. Dominic, and entered the Order of the […]

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April 6 – Richard the Lionheart

April 6, 2026

Richard I, King Of England Born at Oxford, 6 Sept, 1157; died at Chaluz, France, 6 April, 1199; was known to the minstrels of a later age, rather than to his contemporaries, as “Coeur-de-Lion”. He was only the second son of Henry II, but it was part of his father’s policy, holding, as he did, […]

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April 6 – Thomas Bourchier

April 6, 2026

Thomas Bourchier Born 1406; died 1486, Cardinal, was the third son of William Bourchier, Earl of Eu, and of Lady Anne Plantagenet, a daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III. At an early age he entered the University of Oxford, and in due course, embracing a clerical career, was […]

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April 6 – Pope St. Sixtus I

April 6, 2026

Pope St. Sixtus I (in the oldest documents, Xystus is the spelling used for the first three popes of that name), succeeded St. Alexander and was followed by St. Telesphorus. According to the “Liberian Catalogue” of popes, he ruled the Church during the reign of Adrian “a conulatu Nigri et Aproniani usque Vero III et […]

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April 7 – St. Brenach

April 6, 2026

An Irish missionary in Wales, a contemporary of St. Patrick, and among the earliest of the Irish saints who laboured among the Celts of that country. About the year 418 he travelled to Rome and Brittany, and thence to Milford Haven. He erected various oratories near the rivers Cleddau, Gwain, and Caman, and at the […]

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April 7 – Ven. Henry Walpole

April 6, 2026

English Jesuit martyr, born at Docking, Norfolk, 1558; martyred at York, 7 April, 1595. He was the eldest son of Christopher Walpole, by Margery, heiress of Richard Beckham of Narford, and was educated at Norwich School, Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Gray’s Inn. Converted by the death of Blessed Edward Campion, he went by way of Rouen […]

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A crusade is needed, for external and internal reasons

April 6, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Pius XII has a document in which he says that if he wanted, he would be entitled to call a crusade against communism; but he thought that for a number of reasons it was not the case to do it. As far as we are concerned, the greater the risk […]

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April 8 – Don Bosco’s Prince; nobility of blood joins nobility of spirit

April 6, 2026

Augusto Czartoryski was born on 2 August 1858 in Paris, France, the firstborn son to Prince Ladislaus of Poland and Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the Queen of Spain. The noble Czartoryski Family had been living in exile in France for almost 30 years, in the Lambert Palace. Here, with the hope of restoring unity […]

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April 8 – Together with a noble who escaped the Terror, she founded the Sisters of Notre Dame

April 6, 2026

St. Julie Billiart (Also Julia). Foundress, and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, 1751, at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy, in the Diocese of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France; died 8 April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium. She was […]

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April 2 – St. Francis of Paola and the Bartlett Pear

April 2, 2026

The Bartlett pear is called “The Good Christian” in France, after St. Francis of Paola introduced it ‘poire bon chretien’ (good Christian pear) “Said to have originated in Calabria in southern Italy, Bartletts probably were introduced to France by St. Francis of Paola. St. Francis brought a young tree as a gift for King Louis […]

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King Stanislaus and Lent

April 2, 2026

King Stanislaus of Poland was a faithful observer of the ancient discipline of the Church; he made but one meal in Lent, not even allowing himself the collation; moreover, on Fridays he denied himself the use of fish and eggs. From his dinner on Holy Thursday, till the following Saturday, at noon, he denied himself […]

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

April 2, 2026

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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Queen Mary washes the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday

April 2, 2026

… 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 2, 2026

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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Emperor serves the table of the poor and washes their feet in imitation of Christ

April 2, 2026

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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Queen Mary Welcomes the Sick on Good Friday

April 2, 2026

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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The Little Barrel

April 2, 2026

(from an old French medieval tale) Between Normandy and Brittany, next to the sea, in times of old there used to be a castle so strong and so well defended that it feared no king, prince or duke of any sort. The lord that possessed it was of great stature, beautiful bearing, rich and high […]

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Every year, on Good Friday

April 2, 2026

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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Easter in Imperial Russia: the Royal Doors

April 2, 2026

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 2, 2026

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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Fabergé’s Easter Eggs – extraordinary creations of beauty which continue to fascinate

April 2, 2026

According to Royal Central: Many of the eggs that Fabergé made were lost for years in the wake of the Russian Revolution… In 2014, the Third Imperial Easter Egg came to light by an extraordinary circumstance. Purchased at a flea market, [it] was originally commissioned in 1887 by Tsar Alexander III for his wife Empress […]

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April 4 – Grandmother of the Templars

April 2, 2026

Saint Aleth of Dijon Mother of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, she belonged to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Her husband, Tescelin, was lord of Fontaines. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was the third of her seven children.  At the age of nine years, Bernard was sent to a much renowned school at Chatillon-sur-Seine, kept by the […]

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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 2, 2026

St. Vincent Ferrer Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419. He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled […]

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March 30 – St. John Climacus

March 30, 2026

St. John Climacus Also surnamed SCHOLASTICUS, and THE SINAITA, born doubtlessly in Syria, about 525; died on Mount Sinai. 30 March, probably in 606, according the credited opinion — others say 605. Although his education and learning fitted him to live in an intellectual environment, he chose, while still young, to abandon the world for […]

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March 31 – Saint Eulogius of Alexandria

March 30, 2026

Saint Eulogius of Alexandria Patriarch of that see from 580 to 607. He was a successful combatant of the heretical errors then current in Egypt, notably the various phases of Monophysitism. He was a warm friend of St. Gregory the Great, corresponded with him, and received from that pope many flattering expressions of esteem and […]

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March 31 – St. Balbina

March 30, 2026

St. Balbina Memorials of a St. Balbina are to be found at Rome in three different spots which are connected with the early Christian antiquities of that city. In the purely legendary account of the martyrdom of St. Alexander (acta SS., Maii, I, 367 sqq.) mention is made of a tribune Quirinus who died a […]

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

March 30, 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 […]

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Dispelling the “Tyrannical” Myth

March 30, 2026

Madame Royale, older and graver than her brother, felt more deeply the anxiety of the situation. The queen, to bring a little gayety into her life, had organized in Madame de Tourzel’s apartments small informal gatherings, to which she went occasionally to drink tea, and where her daughter met young people of her own age. […]

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April 1 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

March 30, 2026

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

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April 1 – Precursor of Our Lady of Fatima

March 30, 2026

St. Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira (1360-1431)   NUNO ÁLVARES PEREIRA was born in Portugal on 24th June 1360, most probably at Cernache do Bomjardin, illegitimate son of Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Hospitalier Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and prior of Crato and Donna Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his […]

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By Abolishing the Hereditary Lords in the British Parliament, Something of England Died

March 26, 2026

by John Horvat II March 24, 2026 When the current session of the British Parliament ends this spring, the nation will abruptly bring to a close a 700-year institution. On March 10, the House of Commons voted to abolish the hereditary lords in the House of Lords. The effort ends a process started in 1999 […]

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March 26 – Sheriff’s daughter, but God’s first

March 26, 2026

St. Margaret Clitherow Martyr, called the “Pearl of York”, born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin’s church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, […]

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March 26 – St. Ludger

March 26, 2026

St. Ludger (Lüdiger or Liudger) Missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, first Bishop of Munster in Westphalia, b. at Zuilen near Utrecht about 744; d. 26 March, 809. Feast, 26 March. Represented as a bishop reciting his Breviary, or with a swan at either side. His parents, Thiadgrim and Liafburg, were wealthy Frisians of noble […]

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March 27 – The Last French Pope

March 26, 2026

Pope Gregory XI (PIERRE ROGER DE BEAUFORT). Born in 1331, at the castle of Maumont in the Dioceses of Limoges; died 27 March, 1378, at Rome. He was a nephew of Pope Clement VI, who heaped numerous benefices upon him and finally created him cardinal deacon in 1348, when he was only eighteen years of […]

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March 27 – French Missionary in the Chinese Court

March 26, 2026

Jean-François Gerbillon French missionary; born at Verdun, 4 June, 1654; died at Peking, China, 27 March, 1707. He entered the Society of Jesus, 5 Oct, 1670, and after completing the usual course of study taught grammar and humanities for seven years. His long-cherished desire to labour in the missions of the East was gratified in […]

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March 28 – “I have fought for God and king, and it is for them that I am going to die”

March 26, 2026

The capture and death of the fearless Charette On the 21st February his troop, now reduced to less than two hundred men, was attacked by General Travot, one of the ablest officers of Hoche. The Vendeans behaved with the greatest courage, but they were overwhelmed with numbers. The eldest brother of the general, Charette la […]

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March 28 – Noble deeds make noble men

March 26, 2026

Josef Speckbacher A Tyrolean patriot of 1809, born at Gnadenwald, near Hall, in the Tyrol, 13 July, 1767; died at Hall, 28 March, 1820. Speckbacher was the son of a peasant and spent his youth in roaming, and he did not learn to read and write until later in life. At the age of twelve […]

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March 28 – Preacher of Crusades

March 26, 2026

Venturino of Bergamo Preacher, b. at Bergamo, 9 April, 1304; d. at Smyrna, 28 March, 1346. He received the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers at the convent of St. Stephen, Bergamo, 22 January, 1319. From 1328 to 1335 he won fame preaching in all the cities of upper Italy. In February, 1335, he […]

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March 29 – Catholic Wife of Prince of Wales

March 26, 2026

Maria Anne Fitzherbert Wife of King George IV; b. 26 July, 1756 (place uncertain); d. at Brighton, England, 29 March, 1837; eldest child of Walter Smythe, of Bainbridge, Hampshire, younger son of Sir John Smythe, of Eshe Hall, Durham and Acton Burnell Park, Salop, a Catholic baronet. In 1775 she married Edward Weld, of Lulworth, […]

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March 29 – Peter de Honestis

March 26, 2026

Peter de Honestis Born at Ravenna about 1049; died, 29 March, 1119. Among his ancestors was the great St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks. All his life Peter fasted every Saturday in honour of Our Lady, and strongly recommended this practice to his religious. He styled himself Petrus peccator. He lived for some years […]

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March 29 – Chaplain to the Duke

March 26, 2026

Joseph Le Caron One of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada and first missionary to the Hurons (q.v.), born near Paris in 1586; died in France, 29 March, 1632 He embraced the ecclesiastical state and was chaplain to the Duke of Orléans. When that prince died, Le Caron joined the Recollects and made his profession […]

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March 23 – Generous Noble Missionary

March 23, 2026

St. Toribio Alfonso Mogrovejo (aka St. Alphonsus Turibius) Archbishop of Lima; b. at Mayorga, León, Spain, 1538; d. near Lima Peru, 23 March 1606. Of noble family and highly educated, he was professor of laws at the University of Salamanca, where his learning and virtue led to his appointment as Grand Inquisitor of Spain by […]

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March 23 – Jacques-Charles de Brisacier

March 23, 2026

Jacques-Charles de Brisacier Orator and ecclesiastical writer, b. at Bourges in 1641, d. at Paris, 23 March, 1736. At the age of twenty-five he entered the Society of the Foreign Missions at Paris, and devoted seventy years of his life to this great work. The scion of a rich and distinguished family, son of the […]

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March 23 – They sought the honour of his company

March 23, 2026

Claude Bernard A French ecclesiastic known as “the poor priest” (le pauvre prêtre), b. at Dijon 23 December, 1588; d. in Paris, 23 March, 1641. His father was a distinguished lawyer, and filled successively offices of honour and responsibility. Young Bernard was educated at the Jesuit College of Dole and was remarked for his brilliant […]

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March 24 – St. Gabriel the Archangel: “Strength of God”

March 23, 2026

“Fortitudo Dei”, one of the three archangels mentioned in the Bible. Only four appearances of Gabriel are recorded: In Dan., viii, he explains the vision of the horned ram as portending the destruction of the Persian Empire by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, after whose death the kingdom will be divided up among his generals, […]

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March 24 – A deer guarded this noble saint from the unwanted advances of men

March 23, 2026

St. Catherine of Sweden Patroness against abortion and miscarriage. The fourth child of Saint Bridget and her husband, Ulf Gudmarsson, born 1331 or 1332; died 24 March, 1381. At the time of her death Saint Catherine was head of the convent of Wadstena, founded by her mother; hence the name, Catherine Vastanensis, by which she […]

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March 24 – Blessed Bertha de Bardi

March 23, 2026

BLESSED BERTHA DE BARDI (ABBESS) Born in Florence, date uncertain; died 24 March, 1163. She was the daughter of Lothario di Ugo, Count of Vernio, and is ordinarily called Bertha de Bardi, but the name should probably be d’Alberti. She joined the order of Vallombrosa, a branch of the Benedictines, at Florence, but she was […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: “Of His Kingdom, there shall be no end.”

March 23, 2026

The Annunciation, by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent Out of love for us, the Eternal Word was made flesh in the chaste womb of Mary. His plan was marvelously arranged. From all eternity, He chose a man after His heart who would be the virginal spouse of His divine Mother, His adopted father on earth, and […]

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March 25 – The Angels of the Battlefield

March 23, 2026

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, a congregation of women with simple vows, founded in 1633 and devoted to corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Their full title is Sisters or Daughters of Charity (the founder preferred the latter term), Servants of the Sick Poor. The term “of St. Vincent de Paul” has […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: He is King by right, and also by conquest

March 23, 2026

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira We will comment on this passage taken from Saint Luke: “And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was […]

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March 25 – Gaudentius of Brescia

March 23, 2026

GAUDENTIUS BRIXIENSIS or BONTEMPS.) A theologian of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins; b. at Brescia in 1612; d. at Oriano, 25 March, 1672; descended from the noble Brescian family of Bontempi; having entered the Capuchin Order, was assigned to the duties of lector of theology. In this capacity he visited the several convents of […]

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March 25 – Saint Lucy Filippini

March 23, 2026

St. Lucy Filippini (13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) She was orphaned at an early age when her parents both died. From there she went to live with her aristocratic aunt and uncle who encouraged her religious inclination by entrusting her education to the Benedictine nuns at Santa Lucia. Her career began under the […]

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March 19 – St. Joseph

March 19, 2026

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. LIFE Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch’s life, as on many other […]

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March 19 – Jesus, Mary and Joseph Were Born of Royal Stock

March 19, 2026

From a sermon of Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) about Saint Joseph: Firstly, let us consider the nobility of the bride, that is, the Most Holy Virgin. The Blessed Virgin was more noble than any other creature that had been born in human form, that could be or could have been begotten. For Saint Matthew […]

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March 19 – Saint Joseph, Martyr of Grandeur

March 19, 2026

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira To have an idea of what Saint Joseph—the Patron of the Church—was like, we must consider two prodigious facts: he was the foster father of the Child Jesus and he was the spouse of Our Lady. The husband must be proportional to the wife. Now who is Our Lady? She […]

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March 20 – St. Cuthbert

March 19, 2026

St. Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne, patron of Durham, born about 635; died 20 March, 687. His emblem is the head of St. Oswald, king and martyr, which he is represented as bearing in his hands. His feast is kept in Great Britain and Ireland on the 20th of March, and he is patron of the […]

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March 20 – St. Wulfram

March 19, 2026

St. Wulfram Bishop of Sens, missionary in Frisi, born at Milly near Fontainebleau, probably during the reign of Clovis II (638-56); died 20 March, before 704, in which year a translation of his body took place (Duchesne, “Fastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule”, II, Paris, 1900, 413). His father Fulbert stood high in the esteem of […]

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March 20 – Saint Eithene

March 19, 2026

Saint Eithene Styled “daughter of Baite”, with her sister Sodelbia, are commemorated in the Irish calendars under March 20. They were daughters of Aidh, son of Caibre, King of Leinster, who flourished about the middle of the sixth century. The designation “daughters of Baite” usually coupled with their names would seem not to refer to […]

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March 20 – Homeless Noble Poet

March 19, 2026

Blessed Baptista Mantuanus (Or SPAGNOLI). Carmelite and Renaissance poet, born at Mantua, 17 April, 1447, where he also died, 22 March, 1516. The eldest son of Peter Spagnoli, a Spanish nobleman at the court of Mantua, Baptista studied grammar under Gregorio Tifernate, and philosophy at Pavia under Polo Bagelardi. The bad example of his schoolfellows […]

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