RCR – Chapter VIII

May 20, 2024

CHAPTER VIII  The Intelligence, the Will, and the Sensibility in the Determination of Human Acts The previous considerations call for an explication on the role of the intelligence, the will, and the sensibility in the relations between error and passion. It could seem that we are affirming that every error is conceived by the intelligence […]

Read the full article →

Christopher Columbus Dies But His Glory Remains

May 20, 2024

In May, 1505, [Christopher Columbus] set out for the court of the Catholic King. The glorious Queen Isabella had passed to a better life the previous year. Her death caused the Admiral much grief; for she had always aided and favored him, while the King he always found somewhat reserved and unsympathetic to his projects. […]

Read the full article →

May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 20, 2024

St. Bernardine of Siena Friar Minor, missionary, and reformer, often called the “Apostle of Italy”, b. of the noble family of Albizeschi at Massa, a Sienese town of which his father was then governor, 8 September, 1380; d. at Aquila in the Abruzzi, 20 May, 1444. Left an orphan at six Bernardine was brought up […]

Read the full article →

De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 20, 2024

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

May 20, 2024

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 →

May 22 – St. Rita of Cascia

May 20, 2024

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 →

Louis XV risks his life for the morale of his troops

May 16, 2024

During the battle of Fontenoy, some officers urged Louis XV to leave the battlefield, thus avoiding unnecessary exposure of his royal person to the dangers. He turned down their advice concerned with the harmful effect his leaving would have on the morale of his troops. Right then, the Marshal de Saxe rode up and the […]

Read the full article →

Catholic, Crusader, Leper and King: The Life of Baldwin IV and the Triumph of the Cross

May 16, 2024

Modern society obsessively avoids suffering, risk and danger. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer heat, prints warnings on coffee cups and advises that that safety glasses should be used while working with hammers. Certainly such precautions have prevented misfortune. However, since heroism and excellence are born from confronting rather […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – His tireless zeal earned him the name of “Hunter of Souls,” and martyrdom by the Cossacks. Today he is Patron of Poland.

May 16, 2024

Martyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; died at Janów, 16 May, 1657. Having entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Wilno (1611), he was ordained in 1622, and appointed preacher in the Church of St. Casimir, Wilno. After making his solemn vows, 2 June, […]

Read the full article →

Queen and Patroness of Alaska

May 16, 2024

Bishop Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J. (1858-1945), Bishop of Alaska, was from France and he knew members of St. Therese of the Child Jesus’ family. He said Mass in the Infirmary where St. Therese had died twenty-eight years before. At the Mass the Little Flower’s three sisters received Communion from the Bishop. Earlier in the summer […]

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 16, 2024

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 – Martyr of Envy

May 16, 2024

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 →

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

May 16, 2024

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 – He saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events

May 16, 2024

Jan Dlugosz (Lat. LONGINUS). An eminent medieval Polish historian, b. at Brzeznica, 1415; d. 19 May, 1480, at Cracow. He was one of the twelve sons born to John and Beata. He received his primary education in Nowy Korczyn, then entered the Academy of Cracow, where he studied literature and philosophy. He was ordained priest […]

Read the full article →

May 19 – Patron of lawyers

May 16, 2024

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 →

Prince perplexed by reception of communists in Vatican

May 13, 2024

10 years ago, Prince Bertrand wrote this article…Worth reading again… According to TFP.org: Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza expressed his perplexity and concern in a reverent and filial letter to Pope Francis. “Brazilians are largely aware that it was thanks to the entreaties of Pope Leo XIII, and in spite of the serious political drawbacks that […]

Read the full article →

Medieval Noble Parents Gave Their Boys Heroic Role Models

May 13, 2024

“Your mother, my child, has correctly quoted the familiar sayings which are in vogue amongst young people. But it is with the prouder words which have sprung forth from the hearts of our poets, and which will one day attain to the dignity of proverbs, that I would have you to do. These are more […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – “Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

May 13, 2024

Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants. Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, the only child of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi. Her parents were devout Catholics and were known for their charity and generosity to the underprivileged of Bologna. As a very young girl, […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac

May 13, 2024

Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac (December 27, 1556 – February 2, 1640) was founderess of the order The Company of Mary Our Lady. She was born in Bordeaux, France in 1556 to a prominent family. Her father, Richard de Lestonnac, was a member of the French Parliament while her mother, Jeanne Eyquem, was the sister of […]

Read the full article →

May 14, 1264: Simon de Montfort Defeats King Henry III at Battle of Lewes

May 13, 2024

The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons’ War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the “uncrowned King of England”. The […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – William Lockhart

May 13, 2024

William Lockhart Son of the Rev. Alexander Lockhart of Waringham, Surry; b. 22 Aug., 1820; d. at St. Etheldreda’s Priory, Eby Place, Holborn, London, 15 May, 1892. He was a cousin of J. G. Lockhart, the well-known biographer of Sir Walter Scott. After studying first at Bedford Grammar School and, afterwards under various tutors, he […]

Read the full article →

The Queen’s German prince and the beef recipe in his honor

May 9, 2024

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, when they were both 20. Contrary to today’s contraceptive culture, nine children blessed their marriage. He administered ably and expanded the patrimony of the British royal family. He championed the abolition of slavery and strove to eliminate child labor […]

Read the full article →

Longing For The Marvelous and Sacralizing Daily Life as a Way of Drawing Closer To God

May 9, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   I have insisted many times here that we should have a longing for the marvelous. The series on Europeanization, which I do here about once a month, are aimed precisely at awakening in us a taste for the marvelous, which, in the artistic field, Europe has developed to an […]

Read the full article →

Noblesse Oblige – Part 2

May 9, 2024

By Anthony Charette Part I Spiritual Tug-of-War Katharine’s correspondence in this period clearly indicates a frustrated soul on fire with love of God and trying to fly over all the obstacles standing in the way of her vocation. Bishop O’Connor, still her spiritual advisor, initially advised caution and patience. Eventually, he revealed his conclusions: She […]

Read the full article →

May 9 – Isaias, Prophet and Historian, Sawn in Two

May 9, 2024

From the Prophet himself (i, 1; ii, 1) we learn that he was the son of Amos. Owing to the similarity between Latin and Greek forms of this name and that of the Shepherd-Prophet of Thecue, some Fathers mistook the Prophet Amos for the father of Isaias. St. Jerome in the preface to his “Commentary […]

Read the full article →

Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau

May 9, 2024

May 10 – French or American? Marshal, born at Vendôme, France, 1 July, 1725; died at Thoré, 10 May, 1807. At the age of sixteen he entered the army and in 1745 became an aid to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, subsequently commanding a regiment. He served with distinction in several important battles, notably those […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 9, 2024

Blessed John Rochester Priest and martyr, born probably at Terling, Essex, England, about 1498; died at York, 11 May, 1537. He was the third son of John Rochester, of Terling, and Grisold, daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. He joined the Carthusians, was a choir monk of the Charterhouse in London, and strenuously opposed the […]

Read the full article →

Carthusian Martyrs, the Third Group

May 9, 2024

The Third Group The next move was to seize four more monks of community, two being taken to the Carthusian house at Beauvale in Nottinghamshire, while Dom John Rochester and Dom James Walworth were taken to the Charterhouse of St. Michael in Hull in Yorkshire. They were made an “example” of on 11 May 1537, […]

Read the full article →

The Dauphin’s heroism at Fontenoy

May 9, 2024

During the battle of Fontenoy, when French soldiers were being mowed down, the Dauphin positioned himself at the front of some troops and, sword in hand, shouted: —   “Frenchmen, forward! Let’s fight for the honor of France!” Some who were close to the Crown Prince cautioned that his life was too precious to risk in […]

Read the full article →

What Is the Symbol of Nobility and Power? And Why?

May 6, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In our day, the sword has been surpassed as a weapon of war by far more potent arms. The modern soldier gives little thought to sharpening his sword for battle. Inadequate to defend its bearer against more lethal weaponry, the sword has been virtually eliminated from twentieth-century arsenals. Yet, on […]

Read the full article →

Blessed Francis de Montmorency Laval

May 6, 2024

Blessed Francis de Montmorency Laval First bishop of Canada, born at Montigny-sur-Avre, 30 April, 1623, of Hughes de Laval and Michelle de Péricard; died at Quebec on 6 May, 1708. He was a scion of an illustrious family, whose ancestor was baptized with Clovis at Reims, and whose motto reads: “Dieu ayde au primer baron […]

Read the full article →

Noblesse Oblige – Part 1

May 6, 2024

By Anthony Charette In recent years tons of printed material have been expended to criticize and commiserate with the social condition of the American Indian. Given all the accounts in the liberal press, their condition during these years has deteriorated and the selfsame pres offers no viable solution, other than more welfare dollars and the […]

Read the full article →

May 7 – St. John of Beverley

May 6, 2024

St. John of Beverley Bishop of Hexham and afterwards of York; b. at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire; d. at Beverley, 7 May, 721. In early life he was under the care of Archbishop Theodore, at Canterbury, who supervised his education, and is reputed to have given him the name of John. He […]

Read the full article →

May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 6, 2024

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

Read the full article →

May 8 – Patron in War

May 6, 2024

Well known is the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel (a. 494 or 530-40), as related in the Roman Breviary, 8 May, at his renowned sanctuary on Monte Gargano, where his original glory as patron in war was restored to him. To his intercession the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia) attributed their victory over the Greek […]

Read the full article →

COMMENTARY – The Vatican Ostpolitik

May 2, 2024

[previous] On reading these lines about Ostpolitik, someone could ask if the enormous changes that took place in Russia resulted from an ingenious move by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Perhaps the Vatican, on the basis of the best information, foresaw that communism, corroded by internal crises, would begin in its turn to self-destruct. And to encourage […]

Read the full article →

May 2 – Economist

May 2, 2024

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

Read the full article →

May 2 – St. Athanasius

May 2, 2024

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

Read the full article →

May 3 – Élisabeth Leseur

May 2, 2024

Élisabeth Leseur Servant of God Born     16 October 1866 Paris, France Died     3 May 1914 (aged 47) Paris, France Élisabeth Arrighi Leseur (October 16, 1866–May 3, 1914), born Pauline Élisabeth Arrighi, was a French mystic best known for her spiritual diary and the conversion of her husband, Félix Leseur (1861–1950), a medical doctor […]

Read the full article →

May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

May 2, 2024

The Carthusian Martyrs were the monks of the London Charterhouse, the monastery of the Carthusian Order in central London, who were put to death by the English state in a period lasting from the 19 June 1535 till the 20 September 1537. The method of execution was hanging, disembowelling while still alive and then quartering. […]

Read the full article →

May 5 – Arrested for refusing Napoleon a “Te Deum”

May 2, 2024

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli Composer, born at Naples, 4 April, 1752; died at Torre del Greco, 5 May, 1837. Having studied at the Loreto Conservatory under Fenaroli and Speranza, his first opera, “Montesuma”, was given at San Carlo, 13 August, 1781. He then went to Milan, where he remained until 1794, when he took up the […]

Read the full article →

Post-mortem of a Revolution

May 2, 2024

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

Read the full article →

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

April 29, 2024

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

Read the full article →

A Knight’s Tenth Commandment: Combat All Evil, Defend All That Is Good

April 29, 2024

We must confess that the Tenth Commandment of chivalry has not been clearly formulated by our poets, and that we owe it to the Church as a matter of fact. “To combat all evil, to defend all good,” would not have come naturally to the minds of those descendants of Germans who had not been […]

Read the full article →

April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 29, 2024

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

Read the full article →

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

April 29, 2024

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

Read the full article →

May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

April 29, 2024

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

Read the full article →

Did Cervantes Kill Chivalry?

April 25, 2024

By Ben Broussard *   Four hundred years ago, the famous Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra passed away. He has since been heralded as one of the greatest writers in the Spanish language. However, word of his death had little impact on Castilian society. No public honors or national mourning marked the funeral of […]

Read the full article →

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

April 25, 2024

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

Read the full article →

MacArthur warns Congress of military defeat’s dire consequences for America

April 25, 2024

General MacArthur, sitting before the Committee of Military Affairs in the House of Representatives, on April 26, 1933, spoke in firm tones… If ever there were more prophetic words, they are not recorded in history…. “There is nothing more expensive than an insufficient army. To build an army to be defeated by some other fellow’s […]

Read the full article →

April 26 – His ears were nailed to the pillory

April 25, 2024

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

Read the full article →

April 27 – His artillery instructions saved Goa

April 25, 2024

Giacomo Rho Missionary, born at Milan, 1593; died at Peking 27 April, 1638. He was the son of a noble and learned jurist, and at the age of twenty entered the Society of Jesus. While poor success attended his early studies, he was later very proficient in mathematics. After his ordination at Rome by Cardinal […]

Read the full article →

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

April 25, 2024

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

Read the full article →

April 27- Abused by her noble patrons, she remained a model of harmony

April 25, 2024

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

Read the full article →

How many were lost to birth control?

April 25, 2024

Ann Clare Boothe was born on April 10, 1903, in a dismal apartment house on Riverside Drive in New York City…. Clare herself once succinctly pictured her unpropitious prospects as a baby. Shortly after her conversion to Catholicism, she was attacked by an ardent disciple of Mrs. Sanger for the Catholic stand against birth control. […]

Read the full article →

April 28 – Saint Egbert

April 25, 2024

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

Read the full article →

Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 22, 2024

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

Read the full article →

St. Adalbert of Bohemia

April 22, 2024

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

Read the full article →

April 23 – The Original Knight in Shining Armor

April 22, 2024

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

Read the full article →

The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World

April 22, 2024

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

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →