July 30 – St. Peter Chrysologus

July 28, 2022

St. Peter Chrysologus Born at Imola, 406; died there, 450. His biography, first written by Agnellus (Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis) in the ninth century, gives but scanty information about him. He was baptised, educated, and ordained deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, and was elevated to the Bishopric of Ravenna in 433. There are indications […]

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July 31 – Soldier of Jesus

July 28, 2022

St. Ignatius Loyola Youngest son of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda. Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556. The saint was baptized Iñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña: the name Ignatius was assumed […]

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July 31 – St. Germain

July 28, 2022

St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles […]

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July 31 – St. Helen of Sköfde

July 28, 2022

St. Helen of Sköfde Martyr in the first half of the twelfth century. Her feast is celebrated 31 July. Her life (Acta SS., July, VII, 340) is ascribed to St. Brynolph, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden (d. 1317). She was of noble family and is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Jarl […]

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August 1 – Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity

July 28, 2022

Faith, Hope and Charity, Saints, the names of two groups of Roman martyrs around whom a considerable amount of legendary lore has gathered; though the extent of sound historical data possessed concerning them is so slight, that until very recent times the most eminent scholars failed to distinguish between them. However, the extent and antiquity […]

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August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

July 28, 2022

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

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August 1 – Saint Ethelwold

July 28, 2022

Saint Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester. Born born there of good parentage in the early years of the tenth century; died August 1, 984. After a youth spent at the court of King Athelstan, Ethelwold placed himself under Elphege the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, who gave him the tonsure and ordained him priest along with Dunstan. […]

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July 26 – In memoriam: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich – who called Hitler a “stuffed doll”

July 25, 2022

According to The Telegraph: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich, who died…on July 26, 2006, aged 91, was…one of the most beautiful women of her day… …she witnessed the effect of Nazism on Germany, was close to those involved in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler in 1944, and was forced to make a 600-kilometre trek across […]

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July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 25, 2022

Blessed John Ingram English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594. He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at […]

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July 26 – St. Joachim and Confidence

July 25, 2022

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (*) The excerpts about Our Lady’s father, Saint Joachim, are taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Gueranger, OSB. Joachim’s wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God’s blessing upon it. But the greatest of […]

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July 26 – St. Anne

July 25, 2022

Anne (Hebrew, Hannah, grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna) is the traditional name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. All our information concerning the names and lives of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, is derived from apocryphal literature, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and […]

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July 27 – Hunted Priest

July 25, 2022

John Gerard Jesuit; born 4 October, 1564; died 27 July, 1637. He is well known through his autobiography, a fascinating record of dangers and adventures, of captures and escapes, of trials and consolations. The narrative is all the more valuable because it sets before us the kind of life led by priests, wherever the peculiar […]

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July 27 – St. Pantaleon

July 25, 2022

St. Pantaleon Martyr, died about 305. According to legend he was the son of a rich pagan, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, and had been instructed in Christianity by his Christian mother, Eubula. Afterwards he became estranged from Christianity. He studied medicine and became physician to the Emperor Maximianus. He was won back to Christianity by the […]

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July 27 – Wanted: Noble Men for the Missions, Never to Return Home

July 25, 2022

Martyrs of Cuncolim On Monday, 25 July, 1583, the village of Cuncolim in the district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India, was the scene of the martyrdom of five religious of the Society of Jesus: Fathers Rudolph Acquaviva, Alphonsus Pacheco, Peter Berno, and Anthony Francis, also Francis Aranha, lay brother… Read more here.

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July 28 – St. Samson

July 25, 2022

St. Samson Bishop and confessor, born in South Wales; died 28 July, 565 (?). The date of his birth is unknown. His parents whose names are given as Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwynedd, were of noble, but not royal, birth. While still an infant he was dedicated to God and entrusted to the […]

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July 28 – Nepotism Sometimes Bears Good Fruit

July 25, 2022

Pope Victor II (GEBHARD, COUNT OF CALW, TOLLENSTEIN, AND HIRSCHBERG.) Born about 1018; died at Arezzo, 28 July, 1057. The papal catalogues make him a native of the Bavarian Nordgau, while most German sources designate Swabia as his birthplace. His parents were Count Hartwig and Countess Baliza; the Emperor Henry III recognized him as a […]

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The Almoravid King of Seville Attacks El Cid in Valencia and Is Routed

July 21, 2022

Now the news spread everywhere how the Cid had won the noble city of Valencia. When Ali Abenaxa, the chief of the Almoravids, knew this, he sent his son-in-law, the king of Seville, with thirty thousand men to besiege the Cid in his city; and the Cid made ready with all his people, and went […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: INTRODUCTION – Continued

July 21, 2022

[previous] However, the benefit that can be derived from the study of Revolution and Counter-Revolution goes far beyond this limited objective. To demonstrate this, we need but glance at the religious scene of our country. Statistically speaking, the situation of Catholics is excellent: According to the latest official data, we comprise 94 percent of the […]

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July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 21, 2022

St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot [Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.]  He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. […]

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July 22 – The Siege of Belgrade (1456)

July 21, 2022

The Siege of Belgrade (or Battle of Belgrade, or Siege of Nándorfehérvár) occurred from July 4 to July 22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of […]

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July 23 – The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdom

July 21, 2022

St. Bridget of Sweden The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373. She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep […]

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July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 21, 2022

Saint Kinga of Poland (also known as Cunegunda, Kunigunda, Kunegunda, Cunegundes, Kioga, Zinga; Polish: Święta Kinga, Hungarian: Szent Kinga) Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her […]

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July 24 – She Was Fearless, Courageous, and Unswerving

July 21, 2022

Matilda of Canossa Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114. In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in […]

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July 24 – St. John Boste

July 21, 2022

St.  John Boste (Or JOHN BOAST.) Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went […]

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July 25 – St. Apollinaris

July 21, 2022

St. Apollinaris The most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and unhappily Valence, which was the central see of the recently founded Kingdom of Burgundy, had been scandalized by the dissolute Bishop Maximus, and the see in consequence […]

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July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 18, 2022

St. Macrina the Younger Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a […]

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July 19 – Penitent Nobility

July 18, 2022

St. Arsenius Anchorite; born 354, at Rome; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus to find him in the West a tutor for his son Arcadius, they made choice of Arsenius, a man well read in Greek literature, member of a noble Roman family, and […]

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July 19 – The knight who was afraid of water, but not afraid of martyrdom

July 18, 2022

Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia Founder of the Monasteries of Teplá and Chotěšov, born (c) 1170, died July 14, 1217. In the happy reign of Premysl, – also called Ottacar, – king of Bohemia, among the other magnates of the kingdom the first place at court, next to the king’s magnificence, was held by Hroznata, the […]

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July 20 – Carolingian Reformer

July 18, 2022

St. Ansegisus Born about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834. At the age of eighteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Fontanelle (also called St. Vandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. St. Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle. From the beginning […]

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July 21 – Fearless in every sense

July 18, 2022

St. Lorenzo da Brindisi (Also: Lawrence, or Laurence, of Brindisi.) Born at Brindisi in 1559; died at Lisbon on 22 July, 1619. In baptism he received the names of Julius Caesar. Guglielmo de Rossi — or Guglielmo Russi, according to a contemporary writer — was his father’s name; his mother was Elisabetta Masella. Both were […]

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July 21 – He raised the king’s son back to life, but wished to be buried among the criminals

July 18, 2022

St. Arbogast (Gaelic Arascach). St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name “Scotia”, which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled […]

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Notice of the Death of Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil

July 16, 2022

✧                    ✠                    ✧ Notice of the Death of   Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza   Head of the Imperial House of   Brazil, Princess Isabel’s   great-grandson and outstanding   member of Plinio Corrêa   de Oliveira Institute   ✧                    ✠                    ✧ The Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute sadly announces the news of the death of Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza with […]

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Montmagny, a Knight of Malta, Becomes Governor of New France

July 14, 2022

Quebec was without a governor. Who should succeed Champlain; and would his successor be found equally zealous for the Faith, and friendly to the mission? These doubts, as he himself tells us, agitated the mind of the Father Superior, Le Jeune; but they were happily set at rest, when, on a morning in June [1636], […]

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Revolution and Counter-Revolution: INTRODUCTION

July 14, 2022

Today, Catolicismo publishes its hundredth issue.1 To mark the event it wished to give this number a special note that might deepen the already profound communication of soul between it and its readers. For this, nothing seemed more appropriate than the publication of an essay on the subject of Revolution and Counter-Revolution. The selection of […]

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July 15 – Saint Pompilio Maria Pirrotti

July 14, 2022

Saint Pompilio Maria Pirrotti (29 September 1710 – 15 July 1766), born Domenico Michele Giovan Battista, was born on 29 September 1710 as the sixth of eleven children to the nobleman Girolamo Pirrotti and Orsola Bozzuti – his father was a Doctor of Law. One brother was named Pompilio Maria Pirrotti. He was baptized the […]

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July 15 – After conversion, he ordered the statues of the pagan gods chopped up and burned

July 14, 2022

St. Vladimir the Great Grand Duke of Kiev (Kieff) and All Russia, grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity, b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and brought up his son Vladimir […]

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July 16 – Founder of Louisiana

July 14, 2022

Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville Founder of the colony of Louisiana, b. at Villemarie, Montreal, 16 July, 1661; d. at Havana, 9 July, 1706. He was the third son of Charles Le Moyne, a native of Dieppe Sieur de Longueuil in Canada, and of Catharine Primot. Several of his brothers distinguished themselves greatly as explorers […]

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July 16 – Of the noble family of Odrowatz

July 14, 2022

St. Ceslaus Born at Kamien in Silesia, Poland (now Prussia), about 1184; died at Breslau about 1242. He was of the noble family of Odrowatz and a relative, probably a brother, of St. Hyacinth. Having studied philosophy at Prague, he pursued his theological and juridical studies at the University of Bologna, after which he returned […]

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July 16 – Catholic Spain’s fate in the balance at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

July 14, 2022

The following year was a memorable one for all Spain. King Alfonso of Castile, in face of the Almohade danger, had launched an alert to Christendom; answering it, the Christian princes had assembled not only from Spain but also from other countries. Pope Innocent III proclaimed a Crusade against the Moors of Spain and bestowed […]

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July 16 – Alfonso VIII of Castile crushes the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa

July 14, 2022

The Almohads, the new dynasty of Moroccan fanatics who had subdued all the Moslems in al Andalus, launched an all-out attack on the Christians by moving a huge army north into south central Spain. The impetuous Alfonso VIII of Castile, without waiting for reinforcements, attempted to bar the way at Alarcos. On July 18, 1195, […]

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July 16 – St. Eustathius

July 14, 2022

St. Eustathius Bishop of Antioch, b. at Side in Pamphylia, c. 270; d. in exile at Trajanopolis in Thrace, most probably in 360, according to some already in 336 or 337. He was at first Bishop of Beroea in Syria, whence he was transferred to Antioch c. 323. At the Council of Nicaea (325), he […]

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July 17 – When the Saracens attacked Rome…

July 14, 2022

Pope St. Leo IV (Reigned 847-55) A Roman and the son of Radoald, was unanimously elected to succeed Sergius II, and as the alarming attack of the Saracens on Rome in 846 caused the people to fear for the safety of the city, he was consecrated (10 April, 847) without the consent of the emperor. […]

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July 17 – The day the Tsar was murdered

July 14, 2022

Execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family’s safety — that anti-Bolshevik forces were […]

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July 17 – Martyred in the Name of Equality

July 14, 2022

The Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne Guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), Paris, 17 July, 1794. They are the first sufferers under the French Revolution on whom the Holy See has passed judgment, and were solemnly beatified 27 May, 1906. Before their execution they knelt and chanted […]

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July 18 – A soldier of hell who became a soldier of heaven

July 14, 2022

Godfrey of Bouillon Duke of Lower Lorraine and first King of Jerusalem, son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine; born probably at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1060; died at Jerusalem, 18 July, 1100 (according to a thirteenth-century chronicler, he was born at Baisy, in Brabant; see […]

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July 18 – “Don’t drink water, drink beer” said the bishop

July 14, 2022

Saint Arnulf of Metz Statesman, bishop under the Merovingians, born c. 580; died c. 640. His parents belonged to a distinguished Frankish family, and lived in Austrasia, the eastern section of the kingdom founded by Clovis. In the school in which he was placed during his boyhood he excelled through his talent and his good […]

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July 18 – She Married a Man to Change Him and He Did

July 14, 2022

Saint Hedwig, Queen of Poland Born, 1371. Died, 17 July 1399 during child birth. Hedwig was the youngest daughter of King Louis I of Hungary. Because she was great-niece to King Casimir III of Poland, she became Queen of Poland in 1382 upon her father‘s death. She was engaged to William, Duke of Austria, whom […]

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July 18 – Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future

July 14, 2022

St. Camillus de Lellis Born at Bacchianico, Naples, 1550; died at Rome, 14 July, 1614. He was the son of an officer who had served both in the Neapolitan and French armies. His mother died when he was a child, and he grew up absolutely neglected. When still a youth he became a soldier in […]

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July 12 – St. John Gualbert and the Vallumbrosan Order

July 11, 2022

The name is derived from the motherhouse, Vallombrosa (Latin Vallis umbrosa, shady valley), situated 20 miles from Florence on the northwest slope of Monte Secchieta in the Pratomagno chain, 3140 feet above the sea. I. THE FOUNDER St. John Gualbert, son of the noble Florentine Gualbert Visdomini, was born in 985 (or 995), and died […]

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July 12 – Thomas Tunstall

July 11, 2022

Ven. Thomas Tunstall Martyred at Norwich, 13 July, 1616. He was descended from the Tunstalls of Thurland, an ancient Lancashire family who afterwards settled in Yorkshire. In the Douay Diaries he is called by the alias of Helmes and is described as Carleolensis, that is, born within the ancient Diocese of Carlisle. He took the […]

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July 12 – Aristocrat Missionary to the United States of America

July 11, 2022

Comte de Charles-Auguste-Marie-Joseph Forbin-Janson A Bishop of Nancy and Toul, founder of the Association of the Holy Childhood, born in Paris, France, 3 Nov., 1785; died near Marseilles, 12 July, 1844. He was the second son of Count Michel Palamède de Forbin-Janson and of his wife Cornélie Henriette, princess of Galéan. He was a Knight […]

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July 13 – Saintly Elite

July 11, 2022

St. Marie-Azélie “Zélie” Martin née Guérin (23 December 1831 – 28 August 1877) was a French laywoman and the mother of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Her husband was Saint Louis Martin. Marie-Azélie Guérin was born in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Orne, France and was the second daughter of Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé. She had an older sister, […]

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July 13 – Saint Mildthryth

July 11, 2022

Saint Mildthryth (694–716 or 733), also Mildrith, Mildryth or Mildred, was an Anglo-Saxon abbess. Mildthryth was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, a sub-kingdom of Mercia, and Eormenburh (Saint Eormenburga), herself the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent, and as such appearing in the so-called Kentish royal legend… Read more here.

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July 13 – The Crusaders attack Jerusalem

July 11, 2022

The attack began the night of July 13, [1099,] and the defenders let loose a hail of stones and rivers of Greek fire…. The battle hung in the balance during the morning hours of July 15. Archers shot blazing firebrands to drive the defenders from the walls, but the siege towers were battered and burned. […]

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July 13 – Good King Henry

July 11, 2022

St. Henry II German King and Holy Roman Emperor, son of Duke Henry II (the Quarrelsome) and of the Burgundian Princess Gisela; b. 972; d. in his palace of Grona, at Gottingen, 13 July, 1024. Like his predecessor, Otto III, he had the literary education of his time. In his youth he had been destined […]

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July 13 – Author of “The Golden Legend”

July 11, 2022

Bl. Jacopo de Voragine (Also DI VIRAGGIO). Archbishop of Genoa and medieval hagiologist, born at Viraggio (now Varazze), near Genoa, about 1230; died 13 July, about 1298. In 1244 he entered the Order of St. Dominic, and soon became famous for his piety, learning, and zeal in the care of souls. His fame as a […]

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July 14 – St. Francis Solanus

July 11, 2022

South American missionary of the Order of Friars Minor; born at Montilla, in the Diocese of Cordova, Spain, 10 March, 1549; died at Lima, Peru, 14 July, 1610. His parents, Matthew Sanchez Solanus and Anna Ximenes, were distinguished no less for their noble birth than for their virtue and piety. When Francis was twenty years […]

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July 14 – St. Vincent Madelgarius

July 11, 2022

St. Vincent Madelgarius (MALDEGARIUS). Founder and abbot of the monasteries of Hautmont and Soignies, born of a noble family at Strepy les Binche, Hainault, early in the seventh century; died at Soignies, 14 July, 677. That he was not of Irish descent, as stated by Jean du Pont and some Irish writers, has been proved […]

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July 14 – Ardent Ultramontane

July 11, 2022

Louis-François Richer Laflèche French-Canadian bishop, b. 4 Sept., 1818, at Ste-Anne de la Perade, Province of Quebec; d. 14 July, 1898. He studied the classics and theology at Nicolet College. Having offered his services to the pioneer Bishop Provencher of Red River, he was ordained in 1844, and traveled 750 leagues by canoe to reach […]

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July 14 – The Lily of the Mohawks

July 11, 2022

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks Kateri Tekakwitha was daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a devout Roman Catholic Algonquian woman. She was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York, in 1656. Kateri’s mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many of Abenaki […]

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