April 6 – Thomas Bourchier

April 3, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

April 6 – Albrecht Dürer

April 3, 2023

Albrecht Dürer Celebrated painter and engraver, born at Nuremberg, Germany, 21 May, 1471; died there, 6 April, 1528. Dürer left his native city, then famous for its commerce, learning, and art, but three times in his life. His first journey was undertaken after he had completed his apprenticeships both to his father, a goldsmith, and […]

Read the full article →

April 6 – Pope St. Celestine I

April 3, 2023

Pope St. Celestine I Nothing is known of his early history except that he was a Roman and that his father’s name was Priscus. He is said to have lived for a time at Milan with St. Ambrose; the first notice, however, concerning him that is known is in a document of St. Innocent I, […]

Read the full article →

April 6 – Richard the Lionheart

April 3, 2023

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, […]

Read the full article →

In the Middle Ages One Had Great Sinners, But Also Great Penitents—The Case of Foulque Nerra, Count of Anjou

March 30, 2023

Foulque-Nerra [Fulk III, the Black], count of Anjou, charged with crimes, and stained with blood, thought to efface all his cruelties by a voyage to Jerusalem. His brother, whom he had caused to perish in a dungeon, presented himself wherever he went, before his eyes; it appeared to him that the numerous victims sacrificed to […]

Read the full article →

The Virtue of Aseity and Family Life

March 30, 2023

Previous Chapter 5 Having defined the word aseity and explained its importance, let us now understand what aseity or personality, to use a more common term, receives and how it benefits from family life. In fact, it receives almost everything. Personality is a profound force within us. Even so, in its first manifestations, it evidently […]

Read the full article →

The Prince and Princess of Wales Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

March 30, 2023

According to The Royal Forums: …the Prince and Princess of Wales were present at the 1st Battalion Irish Guards’ St. Patrick’s Day Parade held at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. For the Princess it was the first parade since becoming Colonel of the Regiment while the Prince is outgoing Colonel. The Prince in his speech stated […]

Read the full article →

A Spanish General Testifies to Saint José de Anchieta’s Spiritual Majesty

March 23, 2023

The force of Anchieta’s personality in influencing strangers is well illustrated by his contact with a Spanish General, Diogo Flores Valdéz. In March, 1582, the Provincial was in Rio [de Janeiro] when a fleet of sixteen sails appeared unexpectedly in the bay. The inhabitants of Rio were naturally alarmed at the sight of so many […]

Read the full article →

Relationship of Aseity and Impurity

March 23, 2023

Previous In the famous and never sufficiently discussed subject of chastity, a great number of souls practice impurity because, as children, they did not have the courage to oppose the dominant opinion and affirm that impurity is evil. The principle thus dies in their souls and they end up surrendering themselves to impurity. This is […]

Read the full article →

Louis XVI Gives a Marriage Dowry to 100 Poor French Girls

March 16, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

Laziness, Pride, and Public Opinion

March 16, 2023

Previous The capital sin of laziness is the cause of every lack of aseity. It produces a kind of softness by which an individual does not want to make the effort to enter into conflict with everyone else. Much to the contrary, a noble spirit, an individual with aseity, ascertains the truth and rejects the […]

Read the full article →

March 16 – Sylvester Norris

March 13, 2023

Sylvester Norris (Alias SMITH, NEWTON). Controversial writer and English missionary priest; b. 1570 or 1572 in Somersetshire; d. 16 March, 1630. After receiving minor orders at Reims in 1590, he went to the English College, Rome, where he completed his studies and was ordained priest. In May, 1596, he was sent on the English mission, […]

Read the full article →

March 16 – St. Jean de Brébeuf

March 13, 2023

Jean de Brébeuf Jesuit missionary, born at Condé-sur-Vire in Normandy, 25 March, 1593; died in Canada, near Georgian Bay, 16 March, 1649. His desire was to become a lay brother, but he finally entered the Society of Jesus as a scholastic, 8 November, 1617. According to Ragueneau it was 5 October. Though of unusual physical […]

Read the full article →

March 16 – François de Crépieul

March 13, 2023

François de Crépieul Jesuit missionary in Canada and vicar Apostolic for the Montagnais Indians; b. at Arras, France, 16 March, 1638; d. at Quebec in 1702. As a youth he studied in the Jesuit college of his native town and in that of Douai, becoming a member of the order at Tournay in 1659. He […]

Read the full article →

March 16 – Edmund O’Donnell

March 13, 2023

The first Jesuit executed by the English government; b. at Limerick in 1542, executed at Cork, 16 March, 1575. His family had held the highest civic offices in Limerick since the thirteenth century, and he was closely related to Father David Woulfe, Pope Pius IV’s legate in Ireland. He entered the Society of Jesus at […]

Read the full article →

El Cid Gives King Alfonso the Tent of King Yucef

March 9, 2023

Then the Cid sent Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez with a present to King Alfonso. He sent two hundred horses saddled and bridled, each with a sword hanging from the saddle-bow; he also sent the splendid tent which he had taken from the king of Morocco. He gave this present because the king had sent […]

Read the full article →

Aseity and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

March 9, 2023

Previous A truly horrific example of how the masses control people can be found during the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is the perfect model of virtue. He showed this through preaching and performing miracles. The masses who saw and acclaimed Him as king changed on a whim. Many of them acclaimed […]

Read the full article →

March 12 – St. Gorgonius

March 9, 2023

Martyr, suffered in 304 at Nicomedia during the persecution of Diocletian. Gorgonius held a high position in the household of the emperor, and had often been entrusted with matters of the greatest importance. At the breaking out of the persecution he was consequently among the first to be charged, and, remaining constant in the profession […]

Read the full article →

Australia is removing the British monarchy from its bank notes

March 2, 2023

According to APNews: The nation’s central bank said… its new $5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. The $5 bill was Australia’s only remaining bank note to still feature an image of the monarch. … Labor Party is seeking to make Australia a republic with an Australian […]

Read the full article →

Though Born a Slave, the Ladies Considered Venerable Pierre Toussaint “A Finished Gentleman”

March 2, 2023

It was a striking trait in his character, that everything in which he engaged was thoroughly done; there was a completeness in his plans, and their execution, which commanded confidence, and which perhaps was one of the causes of the respect which he inspired. This sometimes led ladies to say, that Toussaint “was a finished […]

Read the full article →

Slavery: Public Opinion, Authority, and Aseity

March 2, 2023

Previous With the “planet-satellite” relationship, a person practices virtue in a habitual state of independence that does not clash with obedience. He is independent from the attraction souls feel to accept and conform to the prevailing opinion. He is not one who lets himself be intimidated, mistreated, and dragged along. Whoever does not practice this […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – William Maxwell

February 27, 2023

William Maxwell Fifth Earl of Nithsdale (Lord Nithsdale signed as Nithsdaill) and fourteenth Lord Maxwell, b. in 1676; d. at Rome, 2 March, 1744. He succeeded his father at the early age of seven. His mother, a daughter of the House of Douglas, a clever energetic woman, educated him in sentiments of devotion to the […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – Ercole Gonzaga

February 27, 2023

(Hercules.) Cardinal; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the Son of the Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo renounced in his favour the See […]

Read the full article →

March 2 – Duc de Saint-Simon

February 27, 2023

Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon Born 16 January, 1675; died in Paris, 2 March, 1755. Having quitted the military service in 1702, he lived thereafter at the Court, becoming the friend of the Ducs de Chevreuse and de Beauvilliers, who, with Fenelon, were interested in the education of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of […]

Read the full article →

Dutch Royals to remain tax exempt

February 23, 2023

According to DutchNews.nl, A motion to make the royal family pay tax will not be carried out because it would require a change in the constitution for which there is not the required majority… King Willem-Alexander, queen Máxima, princess Amalia and princess Beatrix are currently exempt from paying tax, based on article 40 of the […]

Read the full article →

El Cid Defeats King Yusuf and His Moorish Army Outside Valencia

February 23, 2023

Then the Cid assembled his chief captains and knights and people, and said: “Kinsmen and friends and vassals, today has been a good day, but tomorrow shall be a better. Be all armed and ready in the dark of the morning. Then we will to horse, and go out and smite our enemies. But let […]

Read the full article →

Obedience, Grace, and Free Will

February 23, 2023

Previous No one can force a man to do something good when he does not want to do so. As for forcing someone to do evil, this could be discussed. For example, among certain gangs there are those who are enslaved and are unable to break this relationship. However, it is very different when dealing […]

Read the full article →

King Constantine II of The Hellenes Dies at 82

February 16, 2023

According to The Royal Forums: Constantine II, the last king of Greece, has died at the age of 82. Constantine was king from 1964 to 1973, when Greece turned into a republic. Constantine was born on June 2, 1940 as the second child of King Paul and Queen Frederika, née Princess of Hannover. Because Constantine […]

Read the full article →

Pope Callixtus III Hails Skanderbeg’s Heroic Resistance to Islam

February 16, 2023

Excerpt: “Christians will see that in the midst of the greatest furor and onslaught of the most powerful enemy, Your Lordship did not waver but with presence of mind you kept your fortitude and manly strength. All know what you performed and with the greatest praise extol you to heaven and speak of you as […]

Read the full article →

Aseity and Obedience

February 16, 2023

Previous The same position applies when utilising the means to attain Heaven. Aseity leads us to certain legitimate and judicious submissions, such as the relationship between certain souls. We will refer to this metaphorically as the relationship between a planet and its satellite. The idea of this relationship cannot be limited to an outdated vision, […]

Read the full article →

February 13 – John Fowler

February 13, 2023

John Fowler Scholar and printer, b. at Bristol, England, 1537; d. at Namur, Flanders, 13 Feb., 1578-9. He studied at Winchester School from 1551 to 1553, when he proceeded to New College, Oxford where he remained till 1559. He became B.A. 23 Feb., 1556-7 and M.A. in 1560, though Antony a Wood adds that he […]

Read the full article →

February 13 – Soldier of Christ

February 13, 2023

Alphonsus Salmeron Jesuit Biblical scholar, born at Toledo, 8 Sept., 1515; died at Naples, 13 Feb., 1585. He studied literature and philosophy at Alcala, and thereafter went to Paris for philosophy and theology. Here, through James Lainez, he met St. Ignatius of Loyola; together with Lainez, Faber, and St. Francis Xavier he enlisted as one […]

Read the full article →

A Jesuit and Governor Montmagny Save the Lives of Two Iroquois Prisoners of War

February 9, 2023

As the successful warriors approached the little settlement of Sillery, immediately above Quebec, they [the Algonquin warriors] raised their song of triumph, and beat time with their paddles on the edges of their canoes; while, from eleven poles raised aloft, eleven fresh scalps fluttered in the wind. The Father Jesuit and all his flock were […]

Read the full article →

Aseity, the Church, and the Planet-Satellite Relationship

February 9, 2023

Previous Practicing aseity makes man immediately realize he cannot progress alone, and thus needs help and support. He senses his intellectual and moral weakness. He will never obtain a complete knowledge of his sublime ideal by himself. Indeed, he needs the support of another. For a man to put in motion that interior drive toward […]

Read the full article →

February 9 – Patroness of those suffering from toothaches

February 9, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

February 9 – The bishop who converted the son of Penda

February 9, 2023

St. Finan Second Bishop of Lindisfarne; died 9 February, 661. He was an Irish monk who had been trained in Iona, and who was specially chosen by the Columban monks to succeed the great St. Aidan (635-51). St. Bede describes him as an able ruler, and tells of his labours in the conversion of Northumbria. […]

Read the full article →

February 9 – Mother of the Orphans

February 9, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

February 9 – Marianus Scotus

February 9, 2023

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, […]

Read the full article →

February 9 – Johann Georg von Eckhart

February 9, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

El Cid Is Besieged in Valencia by King Yusuf of Morocco and a Large Army of Moors

February 2, 2023

Doña Ximena had been in Valencia three months, and March was coming, when news came to the Cid from beyond the sea that King Yucef, the son of the Miramamolin, who lived in Morocco, was setting out with fifty thousand men to besiege Valencia. When the Cid heard this, he gave orders that all his […]

Read the full article →

A Rough Draft to Be Completed by an Ideal Model

February 2, 2023

Previous According to the doctrine of the primordial light, at birth, man could be compared to a rough draft. He must finish it based on an ideal model. That ideal model is his primordial light. A man truly sanctifies himself when he strives to know, accept, and form himself according to his primordial light. So […]

Read the full article →

February 6 – St. Dorothea

February 2, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

February 6 – Pope Clement XII

February 2, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

February 6 – “No priest, no Mass”

February 2, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

John Hunyadi’s Death: An Unforgettable Lesson for Today’s Secularist Postchristian West

January 26, 2023

Twenty days after this crowning victory of his career [the Siege of Belgrade]—while “all Europe was ringing with his name and bonfires in his honour were blazing in every city in Hungary”—John Hunyadi breathed his last. As often happened in besieged cities, a plague had broken out at Belgrade, and the fifty-year-old warrior-general had at […]

Read the full article →

Knowledge of Truth, Grace, and Primordial Light

January 26, 2023

Previous What is true aseity? Just because one strongly exerts his individuality does not mean aseity is subjective. By the help of grace and use of reason, man knows truth. He especially perceives truth when the salvation of his soul is at stake. From this he discerns a notion of his primordial light. If faithful […]

Read the full article →

January 30 – Sir Everard Digby

January 26, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

January 30 – Dom Guéranger

January 26, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

January 30 – Pope St. Felix IV

January 26, 2023

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 […]

Read the full article →

January 26 – Godfrey Giffard

January 23, 2023

Bishop of Worcester, b. about 1235; d. 26 Jan., 1301. He was the son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton in Wiltshire, and Sybil, the daughter and coheiress of Walter de Cormeilles. His elder brother Walter became Archbishop of York (d. 1279). During the earlier part of his life his success was bound up with that […]

Read the full article →

January 26 – St. Bathilde

January 23, 2023

(Or BATILDE). Wife of Clovis II, King of France, time and place of birth unknown; d. January; 680. According to some chronicles she came from England and was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings, but this is a doubtful statement. It is certain that she was a slave in the service of the wife of […]

Read the full article →

How a Fairy Tale Prince Became an Anti-Hero

January 19, 2023

by John Horvat II If there is a figure that is not a role model, it is Prince Harry, son of Charles III of the United Kingdom. His ghostwriter-assisted memoir, Spare, presents not a fairy tale prince but a postmodern anti-hero intent upon destroying the ancient structures around him. The sordid details of the author’s […]

Read the full article →

After Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Meghan remain Britain’s most unpopular royals

January 19, 2023

According to YouGov: the proportion of people who say they have a positive opinion of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has dropped significantly…as a Netflix documentary purporting to give the officially sanctioned inside scoop on their lives began to air. In the weeks ahead of its launch, however, public opinion of Prince Harry slumped […]

Read the full article →

El Cid’s Wife and Daughters Join Him in Valencia

January 19, 2023

Then Alvar and Martin went to the monastery, where Doña Ximena and her daughters were like people beside themselves with the great joy they had, and they came out running on foot, weeping plenteously for joy. When the men saw them coming, they jumped off their horses and Alvar embraced his cousins, and their pleasure […]

Read the full article →

Liberalism and Aseity

January 19, 2023

Previous Let us analyse liberalism. Although it seems to promote individual opinion, liberalism actually destroys true aseity. There was a time when to be liberal meant to state one’s opinions and display personality. The liberals argued about politics and confronted opposing opinions. Someone might even claim liberalism was an exaggerated aseity, since it stressed extreme […]

Read the full article →

January 20 – A dove landed on his head, and you would not believe what happened next!

January 19, 2023

Pope St. Fabian (FABIANUS) Pope (236-250), the extraordinary circumstances of whose election is related by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., VI, 29). After the death of Anterus he had come to Rome, with some others, from his farm and was in the city when the new election began. While the names of several illustrious and noble persons […]

Read the full article →

January 20 – St. Sebastian

January 19, 2023

A.D. 288. St. Sebastian was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, but his parents were of Milan, in Italy, and he was brought up in that city. He was a fervent servant of Christ, and though his natural inclinations gave him an aversion to a military life, yet, to be better able, without suspicion, to assist […]

Read the full article →

January 21 – Pope Paschal II

January 19, 2023

Pope Paschal II (RAINERIUS). Succeeded Urban II, and reigned from 13 Aug., 1099, till he died at Rome, 21 Jan., 1118. Born in central Italy, he was received at an early age as a monk in Cluny. In his twentieth year he was sent on business of the monastery to Rome, and was retained at […]

Read the full article →

January 21 – None was held in such high honor

January 19, 2023

St. Agnes of Rome Of all the virgin martyrs of Rome none was held in such high honour by the primitive church, since the fourth century, as St. Agnes. In the ancient Roman calendar of the feasts of the martyrs (Depositio Martyrum), incorporated into the collection of Furius Dionysius Philocalus, dating from 354 and often […]

Read the full article →

January 21 – He was put to death, just for being a king

January 19, 2023

His Last Will and Testament The last Will and Testament of Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, given on Christmas day, 1792. In the name of the Very holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To-day, the 25th day of December, 1792, I, Louis XVI King of France, being for more than four months […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →