The Protection of a Mother

July 27, 2023

But the person who had the greatest attraction for the queen was her daughter. She rejoiced in the child with all the ardour and vivacity of a first attachment. The education of her daughter was the constant object of her thought. This woman who everyone thought was only occupied with amusements and frivolities, had meditated […]

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Incapacity to Provide for Its Own Members

July 27, 2023

The family was not only affected in its moral, psychological, and social aspects by urbanisation and industrialisation. Its economic activities were also changed. No longer capable of providing services and exercising functions as before, the family stopped being a production unit. In his essay “Sociological Study of the Spanish Family”, José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado explains: […]

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Pierre Toussaint Pays His Noble Mistress’s Debts With the Fruit of His Own Labor

July 20, 2023

At another time, the hairdresser of whom Toussaint had learnt his trade called on Madame Bérard for the stipulated sum. Toussaint heard her reply, with faltering voice, “It was not in her power to pay him; he must wait.” Toussaint followed him out, and entered into an engagement to pay the sum himself, by installments, […]

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Urbanisation Favours Juvenile Delinquency

July 20, 2023

One of the most striking aspects of the accelerated and disordered urbanisation is the formation of sprawling housing estates where nuclear families are confined to small flats where they have no desire to spend their leisure hours. As a result, most of their time is spent on the street. This happens with both the parents […]

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A Joyous Celebration

July 13, 2023

On January 18, she [Marie Antoinette] celebrated her recovery in the sacristy of the chapel of Versailles, and resumed her court duties in their usual form. On February 8, accompanied by the king, Monsieur Madame, and the Comte and Comtesse d’Artois, she went to Paris to render thanks to God for her happy deliverance. She […]

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Loss of Purpose with the Nuclear Family

July 13, 2023

This egalitarian and liberal transformation of the family deprived it of one of its more characteristic purposes: education. The so-called generation gap contributed greatly to this. This was not only caused by the frequent absence of the parents from the home, but also by the tense atmosphere created by the limited space. To this was […]

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A Royal Kick

July 6, 2023

[Marie Antoinette] she bore the fatigues of her pregnancy marvelously well. “My health is always excellent,” she wrote on August 14. “My child made its first movement on Wednesday, July 31, at half-past ten in the evening; since then it often moves, which gives me much joy. I cannot tell my dear mamma how each […]

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The Urbanised Nuclear Family: A New Mentality and Behaviour

July 6, 2023

Urban and industrial society, in turn, is not guided by coherent and stable principles. Everything is unstable, conflicting, competitive, and aggressive. There is no place for the traditional family. This brought the advent of the nuclear family made up of parents and one or two children where affectionate understanding and mutual communication between generations is […]

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Venerable Pierre Toussaint: Acclaimed in Death as the Extraordinary Man He Was

June 29, 2023

The following is part of a notice in the Home Journal, which, a few days after [Toussaint’s death], proceeded from the pen of Mr. Henry T. Tuckerman: “Died on Thursday, June 30th, [1853,] at his residence in this city, Pierre Toussaint, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. “We cannot allow this brief announcement to […]

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The Opinion of the Catholic Church

June 29, 2023

The old and rural society, with its patriarchal families, merited the following words from Pope Pius XII in his speech to the Men of Italian Catholic Action: Especially in some regions a magnificent example is given by those families, rightly called patriarchal, in which the spirit of the deceased grandfather still survives. It is a […]

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A Dying Madame Nicolas Gives Venerable Pierre Toussaint His Freedom

June 22, 2023

But not all this affectionate solicitude, nor the cares of a kind husband, for such was Monsieur Nicolas, could stay the approach of death. Her strength rapidly declined, and every day Toussaint perceived a change. At length she was confined to her bed. One day she said to him, “My dear Toussaint, I thank you […]

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Normal Development of the Child without the Phenomenon of “Adolescence”

June 22, 2023

The phenomenon “adolescence”, with its crises and problems, is typical of modern society and practically did not exist before. Paul Landis, in his book Adolescence and Youth: The Process of Maturing, says that in a traditional system: The child grows up in the tradition of the family, taking over the family occupation, maintaining throughout his […]

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King Charles III revives riding on horseback tradition in the first Trooping the Colour of his reign

June 18, 2023

According to The Telegraph: King Charles III… is the first monarch to have ridden at Trooping the Colour since Elizabeth II did so in 1986. Also riding on horseback were Prince William, Princess Anne and Prince Edward. The King was treated to an extended military flypast following Trooping the Colour after his Coronation day display […]

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Crown Prince of Jordan marries

June 16, 2023

According to the Royal Hashemid court: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein married Miss Rajwa Khalid Alseif on Thursday, 1 June 2023. A Royal Decree was issued, bestowing the title of Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein on Miss Rajwa, on the occasion of her marriage to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al […]

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Though Already Dead, the Cid Defeats King Bucar of Morocco

June 15, 2023

Three days after the death of the Cid, King Bucar came with his host. There came with him thirty-six kings and one Moorish queen, who was a negress, and she brought with her two hundred horsewomen, negresses like herself; and they were all armed in coats of mail and with Turkish bows. King Bucar ordered […]

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Institutional Seriousness of Marriage

June 15, 2023

One of the most powerful factors that gave solidity and stability to the traditional family was its public and institutional character. Mariano Yela states in his Prologue to José Gonzalez’s book Family Guidance and Therapy: It used to be that, at least in the West and from Roman times, the family was above all an […]

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Venerable Pierre Toussaint, the Devoted Slave, Supports Madame Nicolas, His Impoverished Noble Mistress

June 8, 2023

Toussaint, in the meantime, was industriously pursuing his business as a hairdresser, and denying himself all but the neat apparel necessary for his occupation, never appropriating the smallest sum of his earnings to his own amusement, though at that season of youth which inclines the heart to gaiety and pleasure. Belonging to a race proverbially […]

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Part II Chapter 1: The Traditional Family

June 8, 2023

Let us first look at some of the characteristics of a traditional family unit. In former times, when a rural tone of life prevailed, many conditions existed that favoured the harmonic development of the child until it reached adulthood. The crisis of adolescence was almost non-existent. In those days, society was guided by stable and […]

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After Years of Banishment and Having Conquered Valencia, El Cid Meets With King Alfonso VI of Castile

June 1, 2023

Then the Cid sent letters to the king saying that he would meet him as he commanded, and whatever the king wished he would do. When the king saw the letters, he was well pleased, and sent a reply appointing a meeting three weeks later upon the river Tagus. The preparations for this meeting on […]

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

June 1, 2023

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 […]

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The Symbolic Detonation of the Revolution(*): Sciarra Colonna and Nogaret, Philip the Fair’s Emissary, Slap Pope Boniface VIII in Anagni

May 25, 2023

Boniface immeditely proceeded to that further action he threatened, and began to draft the bull solemnly excommunicating Philip and threatening his deposition if, within a fixed time, he had not submitted and sought absolution. It was arranged that the bull should be promulgated in the cathedral at Anagni, where Boniface then was, on September 8 […]

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Part II – Introduction

May 25, 2023

INTRODUCTION Much has been said of the relationship problems between parents and children. “Crisis of Adolescence”, “The Generation Gap” and other expressions indicate that this relationship and the conditions of life within the family are not going through a period of great harmony and understanding. The hard reality is that the institution of the family […]

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Robert the Magnificent, duke of Normandy: “Go and Tell My People, That You Have Seen a Christian Prince Being Carried to Paradise by Devils”

May 18, 2023

Among the celebrated pilgrims of this age, we observe the name of Robert . . . duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. History accuses him of having caused his brother Richard to be poisoned. Remorse urged him to make the pilgrimage to Palestine; and he set out accompanied by a great number of knights and […]

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Part I Conclusion

May 18, 2023

We have just seen how the word “family” is not an empty word. It is the leaven of life, it is a condition for existence, an essential element for progress. Supported by the values of tradition, it is the very breath of life of everything society affirms, develops, and tends towards for the future. The […]

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Letter of the Venerable Pierre Toussaint to William Schuyler*

May 11, 2023

New York, November 5, 1823 SIR, I have received your charming letter which has truly afforded me the greatest pleasure in the world and I see well that you are a young man of word. Yes, my dear sir, I believe I am the happiest of all mortals when I receive letters from Madame la […]

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Hearing the heartbeat of Doña Lucilia

May 11, 2023

I find it admirable that the sound a newborn child likes most to hear is the heartbeat of its mother. Inclusive from the viewpoint of such interactions and instincts, of the affinities that continue throughout life in its entirety. These are the harmonies that form dynasties. I felt what Mamãe felt. What she didn’t feel, […]

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May 12 – Defender of feudal rights

May 11, 2023

Ethelhard (AETHELHEARD, ETHELHEARD), fourteenth Archbishop of Canterbury, England, date of birth unknown; d. May 12, 805. Much obscurity surrounds the details of his life previous to his election. He is described by Symeon of Durham as “Abbas Hludensis Monasterii”, but it is uncertain what monastery is thus designated. It has been variously located at Louth […]

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Video highlights of the coronation of King Charles III

May 8, 2023

Despite occasionally heavy rain, hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the route of the procession along The Mall, through Whitehall, past the Houses of Parliament. The Coronation of King Charles III.    

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Saint Helena of Skövde: A Medieval Pilgrim to Jerusalem

May 4, 2023

The weak and timid sex was not deterred by the difficulties and the perils of a long voyage. Helena, born of a noble family of Sweden, quitted her country, which was buried in idolatry, and traveled on foot into the East. When, after having visited the holy places, she returned to her country, she was […]

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At the State Level

May 4, 2023

Previous If a family can dominate a region, a town, and a profession, then no matter what the form of government may be, it will be influenced by families. This influence comes from below and moves upwards, penetrating in thousands of ways the organism of the State. Having penetrated the organism of the State and […]

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Pierre Toussaint Prevents the Sale of His Noble Mistress’s Jewels

April 27, 2023

Melancholy letters arrived from Monsieur Bérard. His property was irreclaimably lost; and he wrote that he must return, and make the most of what he had placed in New York. This letter was soon followed by another, announcing his sudden death by pleurisy. Madame Bérard had not recovered from this terrible shock, when the failure […]

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At the Regional Level

April 27, 2023

Previous Going up another level, this family life that formed cities also formed regions. There are many places where this pyramid structure of families formed a region dominated by the influence of a certain family. A famous French sociologist, when asked what he thought a region was, responded, “The only possible definition of a region […]

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Like Others Before Him, the Sultan of Persia’s Ambassador Becomes Speechless Before the Cid

April 20, 2023

Some time after this, the great Sultan of Persia, who had heard of the greatness of the Cid and of his wonderful feats at arms, and how he had never been vanquished by any man, and how he had conquered many kings, Moors and Christians, and had won the great city of Valencia, and had […]

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At the Town Level

April 20, 2023

Previous Let us now go up one level to see how towns were formed. These towns very frequently would be expressed as groups of families linked to other groups of families that constituted a small town of families of families. One could object: “Here you go again talking about small towns. Can nothing be done […]

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April 27 – His artillery instructions saved Goa

April 20, 2023

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 […]

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April 27 – Intimate friend of St. Philip Neri

April 20, 2023

Pope Leo XI (ALESSANDRO OTTAVIANO DE’ MEDICI). Born at Florence in 1535; died at Rome 27 April, 1605, on the twenty-seventh day after his election to the papacy. His mother, Francesca Salviati, was a daughter of Giacomo Salviati and Lucrezia Medici, the latter being a sister of Leo X. From his boyhood he led a […]

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April 27 – Prince-Bishop Reformer

April 20, 2023

Roman Sebastian Zängerle Prince-Bishop of Seekan, born at Ober-Kirchberg near Ulm, 20 January, 1771; died at Seekau, 27 April, 1848. Having studied the Humanities with the Benedictines at Wiblingen, he became novice at that monastery in 1788, took vows, 5 Feb., 1792, and was ordained priest, 21 Dec., 1793. From 1794-5 he studied Oriental languages […]

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April 27 – Medieval statesman

April 20, 2023

Nicolò Albertini (Aubertini) Medieval statesman, b. at Prato in Italy, c. 1250; d. at Avignon, 27 April, 1321. His early education was directed by his parents, both of whom belonged to illustrious families of Tuscany. At the age of sixteen (1266) he entered the Dominican Order in the Convent of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, […]

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

April 20, 2023

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 […]

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April 24 – Heinrich Blyssen

April 20, 2023

Heinrich Blyssen Born at Cologne or Bonn, Germany in 1526; died at Graz, 24 April, 1586. He entered the Society of Jesus, and St. Ignatius, appreciating his logic and knowledge of theology, sent him with eleven other Jesuits to Bohemia to combat heresy there, and to sustain a public discussion with the disciples of Luther […]

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April 24 – St. Mellitus

April 20, 2023

St. Mellitus Bishop of London and third Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 24 April, 624. He was the leader of the second band of missionaries whom St. Gregory sent from Rome to join St. Augustine at Canterbury in 601. Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, vii) describes him as of noble birth, and as he is styled […]

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April 24 – Gregory Bæticus

April 20, 2023

Gregory Bæticus, Bishop of Elvira, in the province of Baetica, Spain, from which he derived his surname; d. about 392. Gregory is first met with as Bishop of Elvira (Illiberis) in 375; he is mentioned in the luciferian “Libellus precum ad Imperatores” (Migne, P.L., XIII, 89 sq.) as the defender of Nicean creed, after Bishop […]

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April 24 – Richard de Bury

April 20, 2023

Richard de Bury Bishop and bibliophile, b. near Bury St. Edmund’s, Suffolk, England, 24 Jan., 1286; d. at Auckland, Durham, England, 24 April, 1345. He was the son of Sir Richard Aungerville, but was named after his birthplace. He studied at Oxford and became a Benedictine. Having been appointed tutor to Prince Edward, son of […]

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April 24 – Battle of Mühlberg

April 20, 2023

The Battle of Mühlberg took place near Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony in 1547, during the Schmalkaldic War. The Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under the command of Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and […]

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April 24 – James Beaton

April 20, 2023

James Beaton (Or Bethune) Archbishop of Glasgow, b. 1517; d. 24 April, 1603; the son of James Beaton of Balfarg (a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour) and nephew to Cardinal David Beaton. He was elected to the archbishopric in 1551, on the resignation of the archbishop-elect Andrew Gordon, and not being yet in […]

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April 24 – Pope Benedict XII

April 20, 2023

Pope Benedict XII (Jacques Fournier) Third of the Avignon popes, b. at Saverdun in the province of Toulouse, France, elected 20 December, 1334; d. at Avignon 24 April, 1342. Nothing is known of his parentage or boyhood. In youth he became a Cistercian monk in the monastery of Boulbonne, whence he moved to that of […]

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St. Ambrose Defends the Church’s Rights and Publicly Rebukes the Roman Emperor Theodosius

April 13, 2023

Even before Theodosius succeeded to the rule of the Empire in the West he had had experience of the saint’s limitless and courageous solicitude for the rights of religion. In distant Osroene a synagogue had been destroyed in a riot. Theodosius ordered that it should be rebuilt at the expense of the local bishop, and […]

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The Family Is the Soul of Both Society and the State

April 13, 2023

Previous Chapter 6 Just as the family produces a profound interrelationship among souls that gives it a magnificent organicity, it also tends to overflow its own boundaries and project its influence onto several fields of human activity. What fields of activity are these? It is normal for relatives to have affinities and, therefore, to have […]

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April 13 – Two English Martyrs

April 10, 2023

Blessed John Lockwood Priest and martyr, born about 1555; died at York, 13 April, 1642. He was the eldest son of Christopher Lockwood, of Sowerby, Yorkshire, by Clare, eldest daughter of Christopher Lascelles, of Sowerby and Brackenborough Castle, Yorkshire. With the second son, Francis, he arrived at Reims on 4 November, 1579, and was at […]

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April 13 – Paulus Diaconus

April 10, 2023

Paulus Diaconus (also called Casinensis, Levita, and Warnefridi). Historian, born at Friuli about 720; died 13 April, probably 799. He was a descendant of a noble Lombard family, and it is not unlikely that he was educated at the craft of King Rachis at Pavia, under the direction of Flavianus the grammarian. In 763 we […]

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April 13 – Henry James Coleridge

April 10, 2023

Henry James Coleridge A writer and preacher, b. 20 September 1822, in Devonshire, England; d. at Roehampton, 13 April 1893. He was the son of Sir John Taylor Coleridge, a Judge of the King’s Bench, and brother of John Duke, Lord Coleridge, Chief Justice of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother to Samuel […]

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El Cid Routs the Muslim King Bucar, Driving Him Into the Sea

April 6, 2023

On the next morning, at cock-crow, they, according to their custom, received the sacrament; and before the dawn broke they went forth from Valencia. When they had got through the narrow passes among the gardens, the Cid set his army in array. The front he gave to Alvar Fanez and to Pero Bermudez, who carried […]

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End of Chapter 5

April 6, 2023

Previous In short, the family, strengthened by heredity, naturally creates an environment of understanding, homogeneity, and spontaneity that helps the individual to blossom and develop. There is also tradition. Each family transmits its way of being to the next generation, and in the act of transmission there is an increase in the strength of the […]

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April 6 – Pope St. Sixtus I

April 3, 2023

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 6 – Persecuted by her own general superior

April 3, 2023

St. Juliana of Liège Nun, b. at Retinnes, near Liège, Belgium, 1193; d. at Fosses, 5 April, 1258. At the age of five she lost her parents and was placed in the convent of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège. She made rapid progress, and read with pleasure the writings of St. Augustine and St. Bernard. She also […]

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April 6 – Girolamo Francesco Tornielli

April 3, 2023

Girolamo Francesco Tornielli Italian Jesuit, preacher and writer, b. at Cameri, 1 February, 1693, of a distinguished family from Novara; d. at Bologna, 6 April or 12 May, 1752. He entered the Society in 1710, and manifested oratorical powers; after teaching classics, he entered upon a career of preaching, which lasted for almost twenty years. […]

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April 6 – The “Soul of St. Thomas”

April 3, 2023

John Capreolus A theologian, born towards the end of the fourteenth century, (about 1380), in the diocese of Rodez, France; died in that city 6 April, 1444. He has been called the “Prince of Thomists”, but only scanty details of his personal history are known. He was a Dominican affiliated to the province of Toulouse, […]

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April 6 – Robert Aston Coffin

April 3, 2023

Robert Aston Coffin An ecclesiastical writer and bishop, b. at Brighton, England, 19 July, 1819; d. at Teignmouth, Devonshire, 6 April, 1885. He received his secondary education at Harrow and in 1837 went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree with honours in 1840. He then prepared himself for the ministry and, […]

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April 6 – John Dobree Dalgairns

April 3, 2023

(In religion FATHER BERNARD). Born in the island of Guernsey, 21 Oct., 1818; d. 6 April, 1876, at St. George’s Retreat, Burgess Hill, near Brighton, England. He matriculated at Exeter college, Oxford, 1836, and took a second class in literis humanioribus, 1839. Already an ardent follower of Newman, he had written (1838) to the Paris […]

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April 6 – Son of the great Hunyady

April 3, 2023

Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary, son of Janos Hunyady and Elizabeth Szilagyi of Horogssey, was born at Kolozsvar 23 Feb., 1440; d. at Vienna, 6 April, 1490. In the house of his father he received along with his brother Ladislaus, a careful education under the supervision of Gregor Sanocki, who taught him the humanities. Johann […]

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