April 3 – Last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England

March 31, 2022

Thomas Goldwell Bishop of St. Asaph, the last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England; b. probably at the family manor of Goldwell, in the parish of Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent, between 1501 and 1515; d. in Rome, 3 April, 1585. He was a member of a Kentish family of ancient lineage, long seated […]

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April 4 – Patron Saint of Transitions

March 31, 2022

St. Isidore of Seville Born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560; died 4 April, 636. Isidore was the son of Severianus and Theodora. His elder brother Leander was his immediate predecessor in the Metropolitan See of Seville; whilst a younger brother St. Fulgentius presided over the Bishopric of Astigi. His sister Florentina was a nun, and […]

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April 4 – Grandmother of the Templars

March 31, 2022

Saint Aleth of Dijon Mother of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, she belonged to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Her husband, Tescelin, was lord of Fontaines. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was the third of her seven children.  At the age of nine years, Bernard was sent to a much renowned school at Chatillon-sur-Seine, kept by the […]

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April 4 – Crusader Pope

March 31, 2022

Pope Nicholas IV (GIROLAMO MASCI) Born at Ascoli in the March of Ancona; died in Rome, 4 April, 1292. He was of humble extraction, and at an early age entered the Franciscan Order. In 1272 he was sent as a delegate to Constantinople to invite the participation of the Greeks in the Second Council of […]

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Royal art treasure retrieved from Russia before invasion

March 28, 2022

According to The Guardian, The royal art collection, held in trust by the Queen, has become involved in the cultural boycott of Russia by withdrawing permission for three swords to be displayed at the Kremlin Museums in Moscow. The Royal Collection had agreed to lend the 17th-century weapons as part of an exhibition about duelling… […]

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Queen Margrethe sends emergency relief to Ukraine

March 28, 2022

According to the Danish Royal Household: …for emergency help for victims of the war in Ukraine. Her Majesty The Queen and the Crown Prince Couple wish to support the collection with a joint donation…of 1,000,000 DKK. In connection with the donation, The Queen says: “There is war in Europe again. It makes me immensely sad […]

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Republicans angered at royal “charm offensive” in the Caribbean

March 28, 2022

According the The Guardian: Emily Zobel Marshall, an academic whose research focuses on Caribbean culture, said…William and Kate’s trip suggested “there’s clearly an anxiety in the royal family about other English-speaking countries pulling out of the Commonwealth”… Zobel Marshall added: “I think that having the Queen as head of state in the Caribbean is locked […]

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March 29 – One of many Irish missionaries who labored to convert Central Europe

March 28, 2022

St. Eustace Date of birth unknown, died March 29, 625. He was one of the first companions of St. Columbanus, a monk of Bangor (Ireland), who with his disciples did much to spread the Gospel over Central and Southern Europe. When Columbanus, the founder of Luxeuil, was banished from the Kingdom of Burgundy, on account […]

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March 29 – Peter de Honestis

March 28, 2022

Peter de Honestis Born at Ravenna about 1049; died, 29 March, 1119. Among his ancestors was the great St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks. All his life Peter fasted every Saturday in honour of Our Lady, and strongly recommended this practice to his religious. He styled himself Petrus peccator. He lived for some years […]

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March 29 – Profoundly impressed by a painful execution

March 28, 2022

Nicolas Talon French Jesuit, historian, and ascetical writer, b. at Moulins, 31 August, 1605; d. at Paris, 29 March, 1691. Entering the Society in 1621, he taught literature for several years, with remarkable success. After his ordination he gained some reputation as a preacher, was a devoted worker in the prisons and hospitals of Paris, […]

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March 29 – Chaplain to the Duke

March 28, 2022

Joseph Le Caron One of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada and first missionary to the Hurons (q.v.), born near Paris in 1586; died in France, 29 March, 1632 He embraced the ecclesiastical state and was chaplain to the Duke of Orléans. When that prince died, Le Caron joined the Recollects and made his profession […]

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March 29 – Catholic Wife of Prince of Wales

March 28, 2022

Maria Anne Fitzherbert Wife of King George IV; b. 26 July, 1756 (place uncertain); d. at Brighton, England, 29 March, 1837; eldest child of Walter Smythe, of Bainbridge, Hampshire, younger son of Sir John Smythe, of Eshe Hall, Durham and Acton Burnell Park, Salop, a Catholic baronet. In 1775 she married Edward Weld, of Lulworth, […]

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March 30 – St. John Climacus

March 28, 2022

St. John Climacus Also surnamed SCHOLASTICUS, and THE SINAITA, born doubtlessly in Syria, about 525; died on Mount Sinai. 30 March, probably in 606, according the credited opinion — others say 605… Read more here.

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March 31 – Saint Eulogius of Alexandria

March 28, 2022

Saint Eulogius of Alexandria Patriarch of that See from 580 to 607. He was a successful combatant of the heretical errors then current in Egypt, notably the various phases of Monophysitism. He was a warm friend of St. Gregory the Great, corresponded with him, and received from that pope many flattering expressions of esteem and […]

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March 31 – St. Balbina

March 28, 2022

St. Balbina Memorials of a St. Balbina are to be found at Rome in three different spots which are connected with the early Christian antiquities of that city. In the purely legendary account of the martyrdom of St. Alexander (acta SS., Maii, I, 367 sqq.) mention is made of a tribune Quirinus who died a […]

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The Fourth Revolution and the Preternatural

March 24, 2022

[previous] A. The Fourth Revolution and the Preternatural “Omnes dii gentium daemonia” (“All of the gods of the gentiles are devils”), say the Scriptures.1 In this structuralist perspective, in which magic is presented as a form of knowledge, to what degree may a Catholic perceive the deceitful flashes, the canticle (at once sinister and attractive, […]

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In Exile, the Banished Cid Becomes the Protector of the Moorish Kingdom of Zaragoza

March 24, 2022

The Cid rode on until he came to a high hill above Monte Real, and there he pitched his tents; and from that place he did much harm to the Moors of Medina, and of the country round about, and he made many towns pay him tribute. When this news reached the king of Zaragoza, […]

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March 25 – Saint Lucy Filippini

March 24, 2022

St. Lucy Filippini (13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) She was orphaned at an early age when her parents both died. From there she went to live with her aristocratic aunt and uncle who encouraged her religious inclination by entrusting her education to the Benedictine nuns at Santa Lucia. Her career began under the […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: “Of His Kingdom, there shall be no end.”

March 24, 2022

The Annunciation, by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent Out of love for us, the Eternal Word was made flesh in the chaste womb of Mary. His plan was marvelously arranged. From all eternity, He chose a man after His heart who would be the virginal spouse of His divine Mother, His adopted father on earth, and […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: He is King by right, and also by conquest

March 24, 2022

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira We will comment on this passage taken from Saint Luke: “And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was […]

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March 25 – The Angels of the Battlefield

March 24, 2022

Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, a congregation of women with simple vows, founded in 1633 and devoted to corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Their full title is Sisters or Daughters of Charity (the founder preferred the latter term), Servants of the Sick Poor. The term “of St. Vincent de Paul” has […]

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March 25 – Gaudentius of Brescia

March 24, 2022

(GAUDENTIUS BRIXIENSIS or BONTEMPS.) A theologian of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins; b. at Brescia in 1612; d. at Oriano, 25 March, 1672; descended from the noble Brescian family of Bontempi; having entered the Capuchin Order, was assigned to the duties of lector of theology. In this capacity he visited the several convents of […]

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March 26 – One of the distinguished men of his age

March 24, 2022

Geoffrey of Vendôme (GOFFRIDUS ABBAS VINDOCINENSIS.) A cardinal, born in the second half of the eleventh century of a noble family, at Angers, France; died there, 26 March, 1132. At an early age he entered the Benedictine community of the Blessed Trinity at Vendôme in the diocese of Chartres; and in 1093, while still very […]

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March 26 – St. Ludger

March 24, 2022

St. Ludger (Lüdiger or Liudger) Missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, first Bishop of Munster in Westphalia, b. at Zuilen near Utrecht about 744; d. 26 March, 809. Feast, 26 March. Represented as a bishop reciting his Breviary, or with a swan at either side. His parents, Thiadgrim and Liafburg, were wealthy Frisians of noble […]

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March 26 – Sheriff’s daughter, but God’s first

March 24, 2022

St. Margaret Clitherow Martyr, called the “Pearl of York”, born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin’s church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, […]

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March 27 – Royal Simplicity

March 24, 2022

St. Rupert (Alternative forms, RUPRECHT, Hrodperht, Hrodpreht, Roudbertus, Rudbertus, Robert, Ruprecht). First Bishop of Salzburg, contemporary of Childebert III, king of the Franks (695-711), date of birth unknown; died at Salzburg, Easter Sunday, 27 March, 718… Read more here.

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March 27 – Pope Clement III

March 24, 2022

Pope Clement III (Paolo Scolari). Date of birth unknown; elected 19 December, 1187; d. 27 March, 1191. During the short space (1181-1198) which separated the glorious pontificates of Alexander III and Innocent III, no less than five pontiffs occupied in rapid succession the papal chair. They were all veterans trained in the school of Alexander, […]

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March 27 – The Last French Pope

March 24, 2022

Pope Gregory XI (PIERRE ROGER DE BEAUFORT). Born in 1331, at the castle of Maumont in the Dioceses of Limoges; died 27 March, 1378, at Rome. He was a nephew of Pope Clement VI, who heaped numerous benefices upon him and finally created him cardinal deacon in 1348, when he was only eighteen years of […]

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March 27 – French Missionary in the Chinese Court

March 24, 2022

Jean-François Gerbillon French missionary; born at Verdun, 4 June, 1654; died at Peking, China, 27 March, 1707. He entered the Society of Jesus, 5 Oct, 1670, and after completing the usual course of study taught grammar and humanities for seven years. His long-cherished desire to labour in the missions of the East was gratified in […]

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March 28 – Pope Martin IV

March 24, 2022

Pope Martin IV (Simon de Brie). Born at the castle of Montpensier in the old French province of Touraine at an unknown date; d. at Perugia 28 March, 1285. As priest he held a benefice at Rouen for a short time, whereupon he became canon and treasurer at the church of St. Martin in Tours. […]

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March 28 – Noble deeds make noble men

March 24, 2022

Josef Speckbacher A Tyrolean patriot of 1809, born at Gnadenwald, near Hall, in the Tyrol, 13 July, 1767; died at Hall, 28 March, 1820. Speckbacher was the son of a peasant and spent his youth in roaming, and he did not learn to read and write until later in life. At the age of twelve […]

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March 28 – He refused life and liberty at the price of conformity

March 24, 2022

Ven. Christopher Wharton Born at Middleton, Yorkshire, before 1546; martyred at York, 28 March, 1600. He was the second son of Henry Wharton of Wharton and Agnes Warcop, and younger brother of Thomas, first Lord Wharton. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A., 3 February, 1564, and afterwards became a fellow. […]

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March 28 – Preacher of Crusades

March 24, 2022

Venturino of Bergamo Preacher, b. at Bergamo, 9 April, 1304; d. at Smyrna, 28 March, 1346. He received the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers at the convent of St. Stephen, Bergamo, 22 January, 1319. From 1328 to 1335 he won fame preaching in all the cities of upper Italy. In February, 1335, he […]

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March 28 – Grandson of King Clovis

March 24, 2022

St. Gontran, King and Confessor He was son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I and St. Clotilda. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned King of Orleans and Burgundy in 661, making Challons on the Saone his capital. When […]

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March 22 – The soldier who fought with sword in one hand and rosary in the other

March 21, 2022

St. Nicholas of Flüe, patron of: -Pontifical Swiss Guards  -Switzerland -difficult marriages -large families -judges Born 21 March, 1417, on the Flüeli, a fertile plateau near Sachseln, Canton Obwalden, Switzerland; died 21 March, 1487, as a recluse in a neighboring ravine, called Ranft. He was the oldest son of pious, well-to-do peasants and from his […]

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March 22 – The Le Moyne: nobles of North America

March 21, 2022

Le Moyne The name of one of the most illustrious families of the New World, whose deeds adorn the pages of Canadian history. Charles Le Moyne… Read more here.

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March 22 – He Stood Up to Hitler Without Flinching

March 21, 2022

Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen “Lion of Münster” Born     March 16, 1878 Dinklage Castle, Dinklage, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, German Confederation Died     March 22, 1946 (aged 68) Münster, Province of Westphalia, Germany Beatified     9 October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI Feast     22 March… Read more here.

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March 23 – Generous Noble Missionary

March 21, 2022

St. Toribio Alfonso Mogrovejo (aka St. Alphonsus Turibius) Archbishop of Lima; b. at Mayorga, León, Spain, 1538; d. near Lima Peru, 23 March 1606. Of noble family and highly educated, he was professor of laws at the University of Salamanca, where his learning and virtue led to his appointment as Grand Inquisitor of Spain by […]

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March 22 – Sister of St. Patrick

March 21, 2022

St. Darerca, of Ireland, a sister of St. Patrick. Much obscurity attaches to her history, and it is not easy to disentangle the actual facts of her history from the network of legend which medieval writers interwove with her acts. However, her fame, apart from her relationship to Ireland’s national apostle, stands secure as not […]

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March 22 – St. Brendan and his voyage

March 21, 2022

St. Brendan St. Brendan of Ardfert and Clonfert, known also as Brendan the Voyager, was born in Ciarraighe Luachra, near the present city of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, in 484; he died at Enachduin, now Annaghdown, in 577. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Bishop Erc. For five years he was educated under […]

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March 23 – Edmund Sykes

March 21, 2022

Edmund Sykes, born at Leeds; martyred at York Tyburn 23 March, 1586-7; was a student at the College at Reims where he was ordained 21 Feb., 1581, and sent to the English Mission on 5 June following. He laboured in his native Yorkshire with such zeal and sacrifice, that his strength failed. Arthur Webster, an […]

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March 22 – Converted by Chivalry

March 21, 2022

Kenelm Henry Digby Miscellaneous writer, b. in Ireland, 1800; d. at Kensington, Middlesex, England, 22 March, 1880. He came of an ancient English stock branching, in Elizabeth’s reign, into Ireland, by the marriage of Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill, Co. Warwick, with Lettice FitzGerald, only daughter and heir of Gerald, Lord Offaly, eldest son of […]

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March 23 – Jacques-Charles de Brisacier

March 21, 2022

Jacques-Charles de Brisacier Orator and ecclesiastical writer, b. at Bourges in 1641, d. at Paris, 23 March, 1736. At the age of twenty-five he entered the Society of the Foreign Missions at Paris, and devoted seventy years of his life to this great work. The scion of a rich and distinguished family, son of the […]

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March 23 – They sought the honour of his company

March 21, 2022

Claude Bernard A French ecclesiastic known as “the poor priest” (le pauvre prêtre), b. at Dijon 23 December, 1588; d. in Paris, 23 March, 1641. His father was a distinguished lawyer, and filled successively offices of honour and responsibility. Young Bernard was educated at the Jesuit College of Dole and was remarked for his brilliant […]

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March 24 – A deer guarded this noble saint from the unwanted advances of men

March 21, 2022

St. Catherine of Sweden Patroness against abortion and miscarriage. The fourth child of Saint Bridget and her husband, Ulf Gudmarsson, born 1331 or 1332; died 24 March, 1381. At the time of her death Saint Catherine was head of the convent of Wadstena, founded by her mother; hence the name, Catherine Vastanensis, by which she […]

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March 24 – St. Gabriel the Archangel: “Strength of God”

March 21, 2022

“Fortitudo Dei”, one of the three archangels mentioned in the Bible. Only four appearances of Gabriel are recorded: In Dan., viii, he explains the vision of the horned ram as portending the destruction of the Persian Empire by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, after whose death the kingdom will be divided up among his generals, […]

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March 24 – Blessed Bertha de Bardi

March 21, 2022

BLESSED BERTHA DE BARDI (ABBESS) Born in Florence, date uncertain; died 24 March, 1163. She was the daughter of Lothario di Ugo, Count of Vernio, and is ordinarily called Bertha de Bardi, but the name should probably be d’Alberti. She joined the order of Vallombrosa, a branch of the Benedictines, at Florence, but she was […]

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A Weak Louis XVI Makes a Fatal Mistake: Doubling the Number of Representatives from the People in the Estates-General

March 17, 2022

The tragic events which were to change the face of France were close at hand. On 27th December [1788], the King in Council decided that the number of the Deputies to the Estates-General should be twelve hundred—six hundred to represent the nobles and the clergy, six hundred for the “Third Estate.” It is related that […]

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The Fourth Revolution And Tribalism: An Eventuality?

March 17, 2022

[previous] 2. The Fourth Revolution And Tribalism: An Eventuality? How shall this come to pass? We cannot but wonder if the tribal society dreamed of by today’s structuralist currents provides the answer to this question. Structuralism sees in tribal life an illusory synthesis between the height of individual liberty and of consentaneous collectivism, in which […]

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March 18 – Martyr King

March 17, 2022

Saint Edward the Martyr King of England, son to Edgar the Peaceful, and uncle to St. Edward the Confessor; born about 962; died March 18, 979. His accession to the throne on his father’s death, in 975, was opposed by a party headed by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who was bent on securing the crown […]

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March 19 – St. Joseph

March 17, 2022

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. LIFE Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch’s life, as on many other […]

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March 19 – Saint Joseph, Martyr of Grandeur

March 17, 2022

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira To have an idea of what Saint Joseph—the Patron of the Church—was like, we must consider two prodigious facts: he was the foster father of the Child Jesus and he was the spouse of Our Lady. The husband must be proportional to the wife. Now who is Our Lady? She […]

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March 20 – Homeless Noble Poet

March 17, 2022

Blessed Baptista Mantuanus (Or SPAGNOLI). Carmelite and Renaissance poet, born at Mantua, 17 April, 1447, where he also died, 22 March, 1516. The eldest son of Peter Spagnoli, a Spanish nobleman at the court of Mantua, Baptista studied grammar under Gregorio Tifernate, and philosophy at Pavia under Polo Bagelardi. The bad example of his schoolfellows […]

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March 20 – St. Wulfram

March 17, 2022

St. Wulfram Bishop of Sens, missionary in Frisi, born at Milly near Fontainebleau, probably during the reign of Clovis II (638-56); died 20 March, before 704, in which year a translation of his body took place (Duchesne, “Fastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule”, II, Paris, 1900, 413)… Read more here.

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March 20 – Vendor of Learning

March 17, 2022

St. Clement of Ireland Also known as Clemens Scotus (not to be confounded with Claudius Clemens). Born in Ireland, towards the middle of the eighth century, died perhaps in France, probably after 818. About the year 771 he set out for France. His biographer, an Irish monk of St. Gall, who wrote his Acts, dedicated […]

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March 20 – Saint Eithene

March 17, 2022

Saint Eithene Styled “daughter of Baite”, with her sister Sodelbia, are commemorated in the Irish calendars under March 20. They were daughters of Aidh, son of Caibre, King of Leinster, who flourished about the middle of the sixth century. The designation “daughters of Baite” usually coupled with their names would seem not to refer to […]

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March 20 – St. Cuthbert

March 17, 2022

St. Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne, patron of Durham, born about 635; died 20 March, 687. His emblem is the head of St. Oswald, king and martyr, which he is represented as bearing in his hands. His feast is kept in Great Britain and Ireland on the 20th of March, and he is patron of the […]

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March 20 – Full of virtue and learning

March 17, 2022

St. Martin of Braga (Bracara; or, of Dumio). Bishop and ecclesiastical writer; b. about 520 in Pannonia; d. in 580 at Braga in Portugal. He made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where he became a monk and met some Spanish pilgrims whose narrations induced him to come to Galicia (Northwestern Spain) with the purpose of converting […]

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March 20 – “Welcome, Father, but you come late”

March 17, 2022

Blessed John of Parma Minister General of the Friars Minor (1247-1257), b. at Parma about 1209; d. at Camerino 19 Mar., 1289. His family name was probably Buralli. Educated by an uncle, chaplain of the church of St. Lazarus at Parma, his progress in learning was such that he quickly became a teacher of philosophy […]

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March 21-22 – James Harrison

March 17, 2022

James Harrison Priest and martyr; born in the Diocese of Lichfield, England, date unknown; died at York, 22 March, 1602. He studied at the English College at Reims, and was ordained there in September, 1583. In the following year he went on the English mission, where he laboured unobtrusively. In the early part of 1602 […]

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