May 25 – She withstood the devil

May 23, 2022

St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi Carmelite Virgin, born 2 April, 1566; died 25 May, 1607. Of outward events there were very few in the saint’s life. She came of two noble families, her father being Camillo Geri de’ Pazzi and her mother a Buondelmonti. She was baptized, and named Caterina, in the great baptistery. Her […]

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May 26 – Saint Bruno of Würzburg

May 23, 2022

Saint Bruno of Würzburg (c. 1005 – 26 May 1045) Also known as Bruno of Carinthia, he was imperial chancellor of Italy from 1027 to 1034 for Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, to whom he was related, and from 1034 until his death prince-bishop of Würzburg. Bruno was the son of Conrad I, Duke of […]

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May 26 – He converted a young nobleman by showing him a vision of hell, and called the City of Rome his “Desert”

May 23, 2022

THE APOSTLE OF ROME St. Philip Romolo Neri Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595. Philip’s family originally came from Castelfranco but had lived for many generations in Florence, where not a few of its members had practised the learned professions, and therefore took rank with the Tuscan nobility. Among these […]

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May 26 – One of the most conspicuous figures in Canadian history

May 23, 2022

Louis-Hector de Callières Thirteenth Governor of New France; born at Cherbourg, France, 1646; died 26 May, 1705. He was the son of Jacques de Callières and Madeleine Potier de Courey. He ranked as captain in the regiment of Navarre. He came to Canada in 1684, and was appointed Governor of Montreal at the demand of […]

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Queen Elizabeth Opens New Elizabeth Line

May 19, 2022

According to the Royal Household: The Queen and The Earl of Wessex…visited Paddington Elizabeth line station to mark the completion of the new railway…line named in Her honour. Accompanied by The Earl of Wessex, The Queen also met with staff who have been key to the Crossrail project, as well as Elizabeth line staff who […]

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History Attests: Marie Antoinette’s Morals Were Lily-White

May 19, 2022

“In all that concerns morality, there has never been in the conduct of the queen the slightest act which has not borne the imprint of a soul virtuous, upright, inflexible in all the principles which make for honesty of character… No one is more entirely convinced of this fact than the king.” Such is the […]

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Revolution and Counter-revolution: Ending of Part III

May 19, 2022

[previous] With these perspectives on the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution and on the future of the work that must be done in face of both, we end these considerations. Uncertain, like everyone, about tomorrow, we prayerfully raise our eyes to the lofty throne of Mary, Queen of the Universe, while addressing her in a paraphrase […]

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May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 19, 2022

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

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May 20 – Mentor of the Duke of Ferrara

May 19, 2022

Blessed Colomba of Rieti Born at Rieti in Umbria, Italy, 1467; died at Perugia, 1501. Blessed Colomba of Rieti is always called after her birthplace, though she actually spent the greater part of her life away from it. Her celebrity is based — as it was even in her lifetime — mainly on two things: […]

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May 20 – King of the East Angles

May 19, 2022

St. Ethelbert Date of birth unknown; died 794. King of the East Angles, was, according to the “Speculum Historiale” of Richard of Cirencester (who died about 1401), the son of King Ethelred and Leofrana, a lady of Mercia. Brought up in piety, he was a man of singular humility. Urged to marry, he declared his […]

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May 20 – Christopher Columbus Dies But His Glory Remains

May 19, 2022

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

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De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 19, 2022

The next day, upon which De Soto was hoping to see the chief, a large company of Indians came, fully armed and in war-paint, with the purpose of attacking the Christians. But when they saw that the Governor had drawn up his army in line of battle, they remained a cross-bow shot away for half […]

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

May 19, 2022

St. Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod Bishop of Marseilles, and founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, b. at Aix, in Provence, 1 August, 1782; d. at Marseilles 21 May, 1861. De Mazenod was the offspring of a noble family of southern France, and even in his tender years he showed unmistakable […]

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May 21 – Missionary to the Mohammedans

May 19, 2022

François Bourgade A French missionary and philosopher, b. 7 July, 1806, at Gaujan, department of Gers; d. 21 May, 1866, at Paris. He pursued his theological studies at the seminary of Auch and was ordained priest in 1832. His immediate request to be authorized to work among the infidels of Africa was granted only in […]

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May 22 – St. Rita of Cascia

May 19, 2022

St. Rita of Cascia Born at Rocca Porena in the Diocese of Spoleto, 1386; died at the Augustinian convent of Cascia, 1456. Feast, 22 May. Represented as holding roses, or roses and figs, and sometimes with a wound in her forehead. According to the “Life” (Acta SS., May, V, 224) written at the time of […]

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May 22 – Hanged for Printing a Book

May 19, 2022

Blessed James Duckett Martyr, born at Gilfortrigs in the parish of Skelsmergh in Westmoreland, England, date uncertain, of an ancient family of that county; died 9 April, 1601. He was a bookseller and publisher in London. His godfather was the well-known martyr James Leybourbe of Skelsmergh. He seems, however, to have been brought up a […]

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May 22 – Queen’s Confessor

May 19, 2022

Blessed John Forest Born in 1471, presumably at Oxford, where his surname was then not unknown; suffered 22 May, 1538. At the age of twenty he received the habit of St. Francis at Greenwich, in the church of the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, called for brevity’s sake “Observants”. Nine years later we find […]

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May 23 – Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

May 19, 2022

Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet Missionary among the North American Indians, born at Termonde (Dendermonde), Belgium, 30 Jan., 1801; died at St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., 23 May, 1873. He emigrated to the United States in 1821 through a desire for missionary labours, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Whitemarsh, Maryland. In 1823, however, at the suggestion […]

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May 23 – Appointed bishop to replace a corrupt one, then imprisoned for defending the King’s legitimate wife

May 19, 2022

St. Ivo of Chartres (YVO, YVES). One of the most notable bishops of France at the time of the Investiture struggles and the most important canonist before Gratian in the Occident, born of a noble family about 1040; died in 1116… Read more here.

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May 20 – King of the East Angles

May 19, 2022

St. Ethelbert Date of birth unknown; died 794. King of the East Angles, was, according to the “Speculum Historiale” of Richard of Cirencester (who died about 1401), the son of King Ethelred and Leofrana, a lady of Mercia. Brought up in piety, he was a man of singular humility. Urged to marry, he declared his […]

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May 23 – St. John Baptist de Rossi

May 19, 2022

St. John Baptist de Rossi (De Rubeis). Born at Voltaggio in the Diocese of Genoa, 22 February, 1698; died at Rome, 23 May, 1764; feast on 23 May. His parents, Charles de Rossi and Frances Anfossi, were not rich in earthly goods, but had solid piety and the esteem of their fellow-citizens. Of their four […]

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The Great Siege of Malta, May 18–September 11, 1565, was won because of one man: Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette

May 16, 2022

On the morning of August 18th the excessively heavy bombardment of Senglea warned them that an attack was imminent. It was not slow to develop. The moment that the rumble of the guns died down, the Iayalars and Janissaries were seen streaming forward across the no-man’s-land to the south. The attack developed in the same […]

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May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 16, 2022

Pope St. John I Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days. We […]

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

May 16, 2022

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr Eric [1] was descended of a most illustrious Swedish family: in his youth he laid a solid foundation of virtue and learning, and took to wife Christina, daughter of Ingo IV, king of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smercher in 1141, he was, purely for his extraordinary virtues […]

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May 19 – Charlemagne’s Scholar

May 16, 2022

Blessed Alcuin of York An eminent educator, scholar, and theologian born about 735; died 19 May, 804. He came of noble Northumbrian parentage, but the place of his birth is a matter of dispute. It was probably in or near York. While still a mere child, he entered the cathedral school founded at that place […]

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May 19 – He Grabbed the Devil By the Nose

May 16, 2022

St. Dunstan of Canterbury Archbishop and confessor, and one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church; born near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church […]

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May 19 – Patron of lawyers

May 16, 2022

St. Ives (St. Yves) St. Ives, born at Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, 17 October, 1253; died at Louannee, 19 May, 1303, was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ives was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 […]

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May 19 – He saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events

May 16, 2022

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

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May 19 – Fr. Marquette

May 16, 2022

Jacques Marquette, S.J. Jesuit missionary and discoverer of the Mississippi River, b. in 1636, at Laon, a town in north central France; d. near Ludington, Michigan, 19 May, 1675. He came of an ancient family distinguished for its civic and military services. At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus, and after […]

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The Cid and King Don Alfonso VI of León and Castile Conquer Toledo

May 12, 2022

Thus the Cid returned from the land of the Moors and from his exile to Castile. The king received him with many honors, and gave him seven castles with their lands. He also signed a promise that the Cid should keep forever for himself and his descendants whatever castles, towns, and places he might win […]

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The Duty of the Counter-Revolutionaries in Face of the Aborning Fourth Revolution

May 12, 2022

[previous] 3. The Duty of the Counter-Revolutionaries in Face of the Aborning Fourth Revolution When innumerable facts grouped in a reasonable way suggest hypotheses like this one on the beginning of the Fourth Revolution, what can the counter-revolutionary still do? In the light of Revolution and Counter-Revolution, it behooves him, first of all, to emphasize […]

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May 13 – St. Peter de Regalado

May 12, 2022

St. Peter de Regalado (REGALATUS) A Friar Minor and reformer, born at Valladolid, 1390; died at Aguilera, 30 March, 1456. His parents were of noble birth and conspicuous for their wealth and virtue. Having lost his father in his early youth, he was piously educated by his mother. At the age of ten years Peter […]

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

May 12, 2022

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

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May 13 – St. John the Silent

May 12, 2022

St. John the Silent (Hesychastes, Silentiarius). Bishop of Colonia, in Armenia, b. at Nicopolis, Armenia, 8 Jan., 452; d. 558. His parents, Encratius and Euphemia, wealthy and honoured, belonged to families that had done great service in the State and had given to it renowned generals and governors, but they were also good Christians, and […]

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May 14 – The Right to Revolt

May 12, 2022

May 14, 1264: Simon de Montfort Defeats King Henry III at Battle of Lewes The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons’ War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de […]

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May 14 – Bl. Gil of Santarem

May 12, 2022

Bl. Gil of Santarem A Portuguese Dominican: born at Vaozela, diocese of Viseu, about 1185; died at Santarem, 14 May, 1265. His father, Rodrigo Pelayo Valladaris, was governor of Coimbra and Councillor of Sancho I. It was the wish of his parents that Gil should enter the ecclesiastical state, and the king was very lavish […]

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May 15 – Beautiful Princess, Tragic Story

May 12, 2022

St. Dymphna Virgin and martyr. The earliest historical account of the veneration of St. Dymphna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. Under Bishop Guy I of Cambrai (1238-47), Pierre, a canon of the church of Saint Aubert at Cambrai, wrote a “Vita” of the saint, from which we learn that she had been […]

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May 15 – Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac

May 12, 2022

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

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May 15 – William Lockhart

May 12, 2022

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

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May 15 – Saint’s biographer

May 12, 2022

Alban Butler Historian, b. 10 October, 1710, at Appletree, Northamptonshire, England; d. at St-Omer, France, 15 May, 1773. He shares with the venerable Bishop Challoner the reputation of being one of the two most prominent Catholic students during the first half of the dreary eighteenth century, when the prospects of English Catholics were at their […]

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May 15 – Palms on Palm Sunday lead to his cruel martyrdom

May 12, 2022

Ven. Robert Thorpe Priest and martyr, b. in Yorkshire; suffered at York, 15 May, 1591. He reached the English College at Reims 1 March, 1583-4, was ordained deacon in December following, and priest by Cardinal Guise in April, 1585. He was sent on the mission, 9 May, 1585, and laboured in Yorkshire. He was arrested […]

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May 16 – Leper King

May 12, 2022

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

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May 16 – St. Honoratus of Amiens

May 12, 2022

Saint Honoratus of Amiens (Honoré, sometimes Honorius, Honortus) (d. May 16, ca. 600) was the seventh bishop of Amiens. His feast day is May 16. He was born in Port-le-Grand (Ponthieu) near Amiens to a noble family. He was said to be virtuous from birth. He was taught by his predecessor in the bishopric of […]

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May 16 – Patron of Poland

May 12, 2022

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

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May 16 – Flos Carmeli

May 12, 2022

St. Simon Stock Born in the County of Kent, England, about 1165; died in the Carmelite monastery at Bordeaux, France, 16 May, 1265. On account of his English birth he is also called Simon Anglus… Read more here.

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May 10 – Saint Damien: A Hero Who Died on the Battlefield of Honor

May 9, 2022

Born Joseph de Veuster in Tremelo, Belgium, he took the religious name of Damien when he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There are few places on Earth more beautiful than Hawaii. While this idyllic paradise may be the destination spot for tourists and honeymooners, Joseph de Veuster was eager […]

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May 10 – French or American?

May 9, 2022

Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau Marshal, born at Vendôme, France, 1 July, 1725; died at Thoré, 10 May, 1807. At the age of sixteen he entered the army and in 1745 became an aid to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, subsequently commanding a regiment. He served with distinction in several important battles, notably those […]

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May 10 – His apostolate paved the way for some of the greatest saints of Spain

May 9, 2022

Bl. John of Avila Apostolic preacher of Andalusia and author, b. at Almodóvar del Campo, a small town in the diocese of Toledo, Spain, 6 January, 1500; d. at Montilla, 10 May, 1569. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the University of Salamanca to study law. Conceiving a distaste for jurisprudence he […]

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May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 9, 2022

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

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May 11 – Holy Merovingian

May 9, 2022

St. Aldegundis Virgin and abbess (c. 639-684), variously written Adelgundis, Aldegonde, etc. She was closely related to the Merovingian royal family. Her father and mother, afterwards honored as St. Walbert and St. Bertilia, lived in Flanders in the province of Hainault. Aldegundis was urged to marry, but she chose a life of virginity and, leaving […]

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May 11 – Matteo Ricci

May 9, 2022

Founder of the Catholic missions of China, b. at Macerata in the Papal States, 6 Oct. 1552; d. at Peking, 11 May, 1610. Ricci made his classical studies in his native town, studied law at Rome for two years, and on 15 Aug., 1571, entered the Society of Jesus at the Roman College, where he […]

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May 12 – She said no to the crowns of England, France and the Holy Roman Empire

May 9, 2022

Blessed Joanna of Portugal Born at Lisbon, 16 February, 1452; died at Aveiro, 12 May, 1490; the daughter of Alfonso V, King of Portugal, and his wife Elizabeth. She was chiefly remarkable for the courage and persistence with which she opposed all attempts on the part of her father and brother to make her marry.  […]

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May 12 – Convert Landgrave

May 9, 2022

Ernst of Hesse-Rheinfels, landgrave, b. December 9, 1623, at Cassel; d. May 12, 1693, at Cologne. He was the sixth son of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, after whose resignation of the government in 1627 to his son Wilhelm V, Ernst and his brother Hermann respectively founded the collateral lines of Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Rotenburg. He figures […]

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May 12 – Founder of Bar Harbor

May 9, 2022

Enemond Massé One of the first Jesuits sent to New France; born at Lyons, 1574; died at Sillery, 12 May, 1646. He went to Acadia with Father Biard, and when it was found impossible to effect any good there, they established a new mission at the present Bar Harbor, Maine, which was soon after destroyed […]

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May 12 – First French Pope

May 9, 2022

Pope Sylvester II Reigned 999-1003; also called Gerbert. Born at or near Aurillac, Auvergne, France, about 940-950, of humble parents; died at Rome, 12 May, 1003. Gerbert entered the service of the Church and received his first training in the Monastery of Aurillac. He was then taken by a Spanish count to Spain, where he […]

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May 12 – With eyes sewn shut, he offered penance

May 9, 2022

Joris Karl Huysmans A French novelist; born in Paris, 5 February, 1848; died 12 May, 1907. He studied at the Lycee Saint-Louis. At the age of twenty, he obtained a post in the Ministry of the Interior and remained there until 1897, except during the Franco-Prussian war, when he served under the flag. His loyal […]

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May 12 – Stood up to the Emperor

May 9, 2022

St. Germanus I Patriarch of Constantinople (715-30), b. at Constantinople towards the end of the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-41); d. there 733 or 740. The son of Justinianus, a patrician, Germanus dedicated himself to the service of the Church and became a cleric at the cathedral of the metropolis. Some time after the death […]

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May 12 – The greatest jurist among all the English-speakers

May 9, 2022

Charles O’Conor Charles O’Conor was born in the city of New York, 22 January, 1804; died at Nantucket, Mass., 12 May, 1884. His father, Thomas O’Conor, who came to New York from Ireland in 1801, was “one of the active rebels of 1798”, a devoted Catholic and patriot, less proud of the kingly rule of […]

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El Cid Is Banished From the Kingdom of León and Castile

May 5, 2022

Some time after this, the Moors began to make trouble, and Don Alfonso [VI, King of León and Castile] gathered his army and went against them, but the Cid was sick and could not go at that time. While the king was in Andalusia, a great host of Moors assembled on the other side and […]

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The “Demonarchization” of the Ecclesiastical Authorities

May 5, 2022

[previous] COMMENTARY In this historical/conjectural perspective, certain modifications in themselves alien to this process could be seen as steps in a transition between the pre-Conciliar status quo and the extreme opposite indicated here. An example of this would be the trend toward a collegiality viewed as (1) the only acceptable means for exercising power inside […]

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