July 11 – The noble saint who fled the world, but the world ran after him

July 7, 2022

Saint Benedict of Nursia Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of Saint Gregory’s “Dialogues”. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number […]

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July 5 – St. Michael de Sanctis

July 4, 2022

St. Michael de Sanctis (DE LOS SANTOS). Born at, Vich in Catalonia, 29 September, 1591; died at Valladolid, 10 April, 1625. At the age of twelve years he came to Barcelona, and asked to be received into the monastery of the Trinitarians, in which order, after a three years’ novitiate, he took vows in the […]

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July 5 – He founded the Barnebites and reformed two religious orders, but only lived 37 years

July 4, 2022

St. Antonio Maria Zaccaria Founder of the Clerks Regular of St. Paul, commonly known as the Barnabites; born in Cremona, Italy, 1502; died 5 July, 1539. While he was still an infant his father died, leaving the care of the child’s education to his mother, who taught him compassion for the poor and suffering by […]

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July 6 – Nobility dedicated to the eradication of slavery

July 4, 2022

Blessed Maria Teresia Ledóchowska (29 April 1863 – 6 July 1922) was a Roman Catholic nun and African missionary. She was the eldest of seven children. Members of the Polish nobility, she and her siblings – including Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Ursula Ledóchowska and Ignacy Kazimierz Ledóchowski were born on the estate of their father, Count Antoni […]

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 4, 2022

St. Godelina Born at Hondeforte-lez-Boulogne, c. 1049; died at Ghistelles, 6 July, 1070. The youngest of the three children born to Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy, and his wife Ogina, Godelina was accustomed as a child to exercises of piety and was soon distinguished for a solidity of virtue extraordinary for one of her years. The […]

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July 6 – The King Had Three Daughters, All Saints

July 4, 2022

St. Sexburga of Ely Died about 699. Her sisters, Sts. Ethelburga and Saethrid, were both Abbesses of Faremontier in Brie, St. Withburga was a nun at Ely, and St. Etheldreda became Abbess of Ely. Sexburga was the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and was married about 640 to Earconbert, King of Kent. […]

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July 6 – Bl. Thomas Alfield

July 4, 2022

Bl. Thomas Alfield (AUFIELD, ALPHILDE, HAWFIELD, OFFELDUS; alias BADGER). Priest, born at Gloucestershire; martyred at Tyburn, 6 July, 1585. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge (1568). He was afterwards converted and came to Douai College in 1576, but the troubles there compelled him to intermit his studies for four years, and he was eventually […]

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July 7 – The Princess who left court and entered a forest monastery

July 4, 2022

St. Edelburga, Virgin, also called St. Æthelburh of Faremoutiers. She was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of which she succeeded […]

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July 7 – Only two cardinals dared to stand with the pope

July 4, 2022

Blessed Pope Benedict XI (Nicholas Boccasini) Born at Treviso, Italy, 1240; died at Perugia, 7 July, 1304. He entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. After fourteen years of study, he became lector of theology, which office he filled for several years. In 1296 he was elected Master General of the Order. As […]

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July 7 – Prince Abbots

July 4, 2022

Sts. Willibald and Winnebald (WUNIBALD, WYNNEBALD). Members of the Order of St. Benedict, brothers, natives probably of Wessex in England, the former, first Bishop of Eichstätt, born on 21 October, 700 (701); died on 7 July, 781 (787); the latter, Abbot of Heidenheim, born in 702; died on 18 (19) December, 761. They were the […]

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Holyrood Week 2022

June 30, 2022

According to The Royal Household: Holyrood Week is a chance for Members of The Royal Family to visit various regions in Scotland, meet Scots from all walks of life and host thousands at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in recognition of their good work. Known in Scotland as ‘Royal Week’, and to others as ‘Holyrood Week’, […]

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The King’s Procession

June 30, 2022

The queen, from the tribune, followed all the phases of the ceremony. At the moment of the crowning, and throning, touched to the heart by the beauty of the Church Rites, and still more by the popular acclamations, which interrupted the order of them and emphasized the details, she could not control herself, and shed […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Foreword

June 30, 2022

Since its first publication in the Brazilian cultural journal Catolicismo in 1959, Revolution and Counter-Revolution has gone through a number of editions in Portuguese, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. The present edition is the first to be published digitally in the United States. It includes recent commentaries on Revolution and Counter-Revolution’s third part, which was […]

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July 1 – The Marquis of Lescure destroys two thirds of Westermann’s army and saves the lives of captured enemy soldiers

June 30, 2022

While the grand army were under the walls of Nantes, several engagements had taken place in La Vendée. Westermann, at the head of a German legion, advanced into the heart of the Bocage, after making himself master of Parthenay, on the 20th June… Read more here.

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July 1 – Condemned to death for promoting the Catholic faith, he responded “Deo gratias”

June 30, 2022

Saint Oliver Plunket Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, born at Loughcrew near Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland, 1629; died 11 July, 1681. His is the brightest name in the Irish Church throughout the whole period of persecution. He was connected by birth with the families which had just then been ennobled, the Earls […]

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July 1 – Venerable Thomas Maxfield

June 30, 2022

Ven. Thomas Maxfield (Vere Macclesfield) English priest and martyr, born in Stafford gaol, about 1590, martyred at Tyburn, London, Monday, 1 July, 1616. He was one of the younger sons of William Macclesfield of Chesterton and Maer and Aston, Staffordshire (a firm recusant, condemned to death in 1587 for harbouring priests, one of whom was […]

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July 1 – St. Gal

June 30, 2022

St. Gal Of the ninety-eight bishops who have occupied the see of Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne) the sixteenth and twenty-third bore the name of Gal, and both are numbered among the twenty-nine bishops of this church who are honoured as saints. The first and most illustrious was bishop from 527 to 551, the second, form 640 to […]

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July 2 – Caught Between Two Masters

June 30, 2022

Saint Otto Bishop of Bamberg, born about 1060; died 30 June, 1139. He belonged to the noble, though not wealthy, family of Mistelbach in Swabia, not to the Counts of Andechs. He was ordained priest, but where he was educated is not known. While still young he joined the household of Duke Wladislaw of Poland; […]

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July 2 – St. Swithin

June 30, 2022

(SWITHUN) Bishop of Winchester; died 2 July, 862. Very little is known of this saint’s life, for his biographers constructed their “Lives” long after his death and there is hardly any mention of him in contemporary documents. Swithin was one of the two trusted counsellors of Egbert, King of the West Saxons (d. 839), helping […]

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July 3 – The Pope Who Condemned His Predecessor for Not Opposing Heresy

June 30, 2022

Pope St. Leo II Pope (682-83), date of birth unknown; d. 28 June, 683. He was a Sicilian, and son of one Paul. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho (10 June, 681), he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months (17 Aug., 682). […]

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July 3 – The Twin

June 30, 2022

St. Thomas the Apostle Little is recorded of St. Thomas the Apostle, nevertheless thanks to the fourth Gospel his personality is clearer to us than that of some others of the Twelve. His name occurs in all the lists of the Synoptists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but in St. John […]

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July 4 – Unsung American Hero

June 30, 2022

St. Anthony Daniel Huron missionary, born at Dieppe, in Normandy, 27 May 1601, slain by the Iroquois at Teanaostae, near Hillsdale, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, 4 July, 1648. After two years’ study of philosophy and one of law, he entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, 1 October, 1621. Sent to Canada in 1633 he […]

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June 30 – Thomas Whitbread

June 30, 2022

Ven. Thomas Whitbread (Alias HARCOURT). Born in Essex, 1618; martyred at Tyburn, 30 June, 1679. He was educated at St. Omer’s, and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 7 September, 1635. Coming upon the English mission in 1647, he laboured for more than thirty years, mostly in the eastern counties. On 8 […]

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July 4 – St. Bertha of Blangy

June 30, 2022

St. Bertha (Abbess of Blangy in Artois) Died about 725. She was the daughter of Rigobert, Count of the Palace under Clovis II, and married Siegfried, a relation of the king. After twenty years, when he died, she determined to found a nunnery. Two buildings which she constructed fell down, but an angel in a […]

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July 4 – Patroness of victims of adultery, jealousy and unfaithfulness

June 30, 2022

St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal A.D. 1336. ST. ELIZABETH was daughter of Peter III,  king of Aragon, and granddaughter of James I, who had been educated under the care of St. Peter Nolasco, and was surnamed the Saint, and from the taking of Majorca and Valentia, Expugnator or the Conqueror. Her mother, Constantia, was daughter […]

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July 4 – Martyrs

June 30, 2022

Ven. William Andleby Martyred at York 4 July, 1597. He was born at Etton in Yorkshire of a well-known gentle family. At twenty-five he went abroad to take part in the Dutch war (see ARMADA, SPANISH), and called at Douay to interview Dr. Allen, whom he attempted to confute in argument. Next day he recognized […]

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July 4 – St. Ulrich

June 30, 2022

St. Ulrich Bishop of Augsburg, born at Kyburg, Zurich, Switzerland, in 890; died at Augsburg, 4 July, 973. He was the son of Count Hucpald and Thetbirga, and was connected with the dukes of Alamannia and the imperial family of the Ottos. As a child he was sickly; when old enough to learn he was […]

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July 4 – Chaplain and servants of the Arundell family

June 30, 2022

Venerables John Cornelius and Companions John Cornelius (called also Mohun) was born of Irish parents at Bodmin, in Cornwall, on the estate of Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, in 1557; martyred at Dorchester, 4 July, 1594. Sir John Arundell took an interest in the talented boy and sent him to Oxford. Not satisfied with the […]

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July 4 – Pope in Very Critical Circumstances

June 30, 2022

Pope Benedict V Date of birth unknown; died 4 July, 965. Benedict V was elected pope (May, 964) in very critical circumstances. The powerful emperor, Otho I, had forcibly deposed the unworthy John XII, and had replaced him by a nominee of his own who took the title of Leo VIII. But at the first […]

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July 4 – St. Andrew of Crete

June 30, 2022

St. Andrew of Crete (Sometimes called Andreas in English biography), theologian, homilist, hymnographer, b. at Damascus about the middle of the seventh century; d. 4 July, 740 (or 720), on which day his feast is celebrated in the Greek Church. At the age of fifteen he repaired to Jerusalem, entered a monastery, was enrolled amongst […]

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July 4 – Elias of Jerusalem

June 30, 2022

Elias of Jerusalem Died 518, one of the two Catholic bishops (with Flavian of Antioch) who resisted the attempt of the Emperor Anastasius I (491-518) to abolish the Council of Chalcedon (451). Anastasius spent the greater part of his reign in a vain attempt to impose Monophysitism on his subjects. Unlike his predecessors, who favored […]

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British vs. French for longest reigning monarch in world history

June 27, 2022

According to NPR: It’s a record fit for a queen. The head of the British royal family, Queen Elizabeth II, just became the second-longest reigning monarch in world history. French King Louis XIV remains in the top spot, having served as monarch for more than 72 years after taking the throne at age four and […]

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June 28 – St. Irenaeus

June 27, 2022

St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons, and Father of the Church. Information as to his life is scarce, and in some measure inexact. He was born in Proconsular Asia, or at least in some province bordering thereon, in the first half of the second century; the exact date is controverted, between the years 115 and 125, […]

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June 28 – He fought to preserve the Pope’s independence

June 27, 2022

Pope Saint Paul I Date of birth unknown; died at Rome, 28 June, 767. He was a brother of Pope Stephen II. They had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace. Stephen entrusted his brother, who approved of the pope’s course in respect to King Pepin, with many important ecclesiastical affairs, among others […]

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June 30 – He began a crusade against the immorality of his time

June 27, 2022

Blessed Januarius Maria Sarnelli One of S. Alphonsus’s earliest companions, fourth son of Baron Angelo Sarnelli of Ciorani, born in Naples 12 Sept., 1702; died 30 June, 1744. From his childhood he was remarkable for modesty, self-denial, piety, and great diligence in his studies. At the age of fourteen he desired to become a Jesuit, […]

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June 30 – How One Humble Servant Transformed the New York Upper Class

June 27, 2022

Servant of God Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) Born to slavery in Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti), Toussaint came to New York in 1789 with his master, Jean Bérard du Pithon, a French noble and prosperous planter who was fleeing the turmoil unleashed in Saint Domingue by the French Revolution. Two years later, his master died without having […]

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June 30 – Father of Ecclesiastical History

June 27, 2022

Ven. Cesare Baronius Cardinal and ecclesiastical historian, born at Sora in the Kingdom of Naples, 30 August, 1538; died at Rome, 30 June, 1607; author of “Annales Ecclesiatici”, a work which marked an epoch in historiography and merited for its author, after Eusebius, the title of a Father of Ecclesiastical History. Baronius was descended from […]

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June 30 – Philip Powel

June 27, 2022

Ven. Philip Powel (alias MORGAN, alias PROSSER) Martyr, b. at Tralon, Brecknockshire, 2 Feb., 1594; d. at Tyburn 30 June, 1646. He was the son of Roger and Catherine Powel, and was brought up to the law by David Baker, afterwards Dom Augustine Baker, O.S.B. At the age of sixteen he became a student in […]

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June 30 – Franciscus Sonnius

June 27, 2022

Franciscus Sonnius Theologian, b. at Zon in Brabant, 12 August, 1506; d. at Antwerp, 30 June, 1576. His real name was Van de Velde, but in later years he called himself after his native place. He went to school at Bois-le-Duc and Louvain, and afterwards studied medicine for a time, then theology; in 1536 he […]

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June 30 – Diplomatist and Historian

June 27, 2022

Daniel O’Daly A diplomatist and historian, born in Kerry, Ireland, 1595; died at Lisbon, 30 June. 1662. On his mother’s side he belonged to the Desmond branch of the Geraldines, of which branch his paternal ancestors were the hereditary chroniclers or bards. He be came a Dominican in Tralee, Co. Kerry; took his vows in […]

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Queen Elizabeth II Breaks New Record As The Second-Longest Reigning Monarch In History

June 23, 2022

According to the International Business Times: …the 96-year-old queen is already the second-longest reigning monarch in the world, having served the U.K. and Commonwealth for at least 70 years and 127 days. …she surpassed King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who ruled the Asian country for 70 years and 126 days before he died in 2016. […]

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History and chivalry combine in the Order of the Garter

June 23, 2022

According to Royal Central: The Prince of Wales acts as an ex-officio member, while the Dukes of Kent, Gloucester, York and Cambridge, as well as the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra are supernumerary Royal Knights or Ladies of the Garter. In 2022, the Duchess of Cornwall will be installed as the […]

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The King’s Coronation

June 23, 2022

On Sunday, the 11th, at six o’clock in the morning, the canons, in their copes, entered their stalls in the choir of the basilica; they were soon followed by the archbishop, the cardinals, the ministers, etc. At half-past six the lay peers took their places. At seven o’clock, the king, led by the bishop-duke of […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Postface (continued)

June 23, 2022

[previous] Amid this chaos, only one thing will not fail, namely, the prayer transcribed a little earlier and which is in my heart and on my lips, just as it is in the heart of all who see and think as I do: Unto thee I lift up my eyes, unto thee, who dwellest in […]

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June 24 – He denounced the king’s adultery

June 23, 2022

St. John the Baptist The principal sources of information concerning the life and ministry of St. John the Baptist are the canonical Gospels. Of these St. Luke is the most complete, giving as he does the wonderful circumstances accompanying the birth of the Precursor and items on his ministry and death. St. Matthew’s Gospel stands […]

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June 25 – Servant of God Maria Clotilde of Savoy

June 23, 2022

by Antonio Borrelli Maria Clotilde of Savoy is one of the most striking examples of how to achieve union with Christ while remaining in the world in environments which by their nature lead instead to distraction, pride of power, luxury and a worldly lifestyle, things once usually abundant in the royal and imperial courts of […]

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June 25 – St. Maximus of Turin

June 23, 2022

St. Maximus of Turin Bishop and theological writer, b. probably in Rhaetia, about 380; d. shortly after 465. Only two dates are historically established in his life. In 451 he was at the synod of Milan where the bishops of Northern Italy accepted the celebrated letter (epistola dogmatica) of Leo I, setting forth the orthodox […]

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June 25 – St. William of Vercelli

June 23, 2022

(Or WILLIAM OF MONTE VERGINE.) The founder of the Hermits of Monte Vergine, or Williamites, born 1085; died 25 June, 1142. He was the son of noble parents, both of whom died when he was still a child, and his education was entrusted to one of his kinsmen. At the age of fifteen he made […]

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June 25 – Simon de Montfort

June 23, 2022

Simon de Montfort An Earl of Leicester, date of birth unknown, died at Toulouse, 25 June, 1218. Simon (IV) de Montfort was descended from the lords of Montfort l’Amaury in Normandy, being the second son of Simon (III), and Amicia, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, third Earl of Leicester. Having succeeded his father as Baron […]

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June 26 – Chartreuse is not only a drink

June 23, 2022

St. Anthelm of Belley (1107 – 1178) Prior of the Carthusian Grand Chartreuse and bishop of Belley. He was born near Chambéry in 1107. He would later receive an ecclesiastical benefice in the area of Belley. When he was thirty years old, he resigned from this position to become a Carthusian monk at Portes. Only […]

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June 27 – Chivalrous King

June 23, 2022

St. Ladislaus King of Hungary, born 1040; died at Neutra, 29 July, 1095; one of Hungary’s national Christian heroes. He was the son of Béla I; the nobles, after the death of Geisa I, passed over Solomon, son of Andrew I, and chose Ladislaus to be their king in 1077. It is true that he […]

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June 27- In the East he was always honoured as one of the greatest of the Doctors

June 23, 2022

St. Cyril of Alexandria Doctor of the Church. St. Cyril has his feast in the Western Church on the 28th of January; in the Greek Menaea it is found on the 9th of June, and (together with St. Athanasius) on the 18th of January… Read more here.

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June 21 – He Was More Angel than Man

June 20, 2022

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Aloysius Gonzaga was son of Ferdinand Gonzaga, prince of the holy empire, and marquis of Castiglione, removed in the third degree of kindred from the duke of Mantua. His mother was Martha Tana Santena, daughter of Tanus Santena, lord of Cherry, in Piedmont. She was lady of honor to Isabel, the wife […]

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June 22 – Battle of Sisak

June 20, 2022

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Sisak in Croatia. The Battle of Sisak was the Croatian Siege of Vienna. On June 22nd 1593 Ban Tomas Erdődy faced off an army of 16,000 Ottomans with his army of 4,500-5,000 men. When the battle was over Erdődy lost 500 men and the Ottomans had lost […]

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June 22 – St. Thomas More

June 20, 2022

St. Thomas More Saint, knight, Lord Chancellor of England, author and martyr, born in London, 7 February, 1477-78; executed at Tower Hill, 6 July, 1535. He was the sole surviving son of Sir John More, barrister and later judge, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Thomas Graunger. While still a child Thomas was sent […]

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June 22 – St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola

June 20, 2022

St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola (Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus.) Born at Bordeaux about 354; died 22 June, 431. He sprang from a distinguished family of Aquitania and his education was entrusted to the poet Ausonius. He became governor of the Province of Campania, but he soon realized that he could not find in public life […]

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June 22 – St. John Fisher

June 20, 2022

St. John Fisher Cardinal, Bishop of Rochester, and martyr; born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1459 (?1469); died 22 June, 1535. John was the eldest son of Robert Fisher, merchant of Beverley, and Agnes his wife. His early education was probably received in the school attached to the collegiate church in his native town, whence in […]

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June 23 – Her sister, niece, and great-niece, all royal princesses and two of them widowed queens, followed her as abbesses of Ely

June 20, 2022

St. Etheldreda Queen of Northumbria; born (probably) about 630; died at Ely, 23 June, 679. While still very young she was given in marriage by her father, Anna, King of East Anglia, to a certain Tonbert, a subordinate prince, from whom she received as morning gift a tract of land locally known as the Isle […]

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A Knight of Malta Lends His Name to a Christian Algonquin Settlement in New France

June 16, 2022

Noel Brulart de Sillery, a Knight of Malta, who had once filled the highest offices under the Queen Marie de Médicis, had now severed his connection with his Order, renounced the world, and become a priest. He devoted his vast revenues . . . to the founding of religious establishments. Among other endowments, he had […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Postface (continued)

June 16, 2022

[previous] * * * Gorbachev is still in Moscow, where he will remain, at least as long as he does not accept the highly preferential invitations quickly extended him by the prestigious universities of Harvard, Stanford, and Boston after his downfall,1 or the regal hospitality offered by Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, in the […]

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