October 11 – He dared step into the gap during the crisis

October 9, 2025

Pope Boniface VIII (BENEDETTO GAETANO) Born at Anagni about 1235; died at Rome, 11 October, 1303. He was the son of Loffred, a descendant of a noble family originally Spanish, but long established in Italy—first at Gaeta and later at Anagni. Through his mother he was connected with the house of Segni, which had already […]

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October 12 – Difficulties in his youth prepared him for later trials

October 9, 2025

St. Wilfrid Bishop of York, son of a Northumbrian thegn, born in 634; died at Oundle in Northamptonshire, 709. He was unhappy at home, through the unkindness of a stepmother, and in his fourteenth year he was sent away to the Court of King Oswy, King of Northumbria. Here he attracted the attention of Queen […]

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October 12 – Martyr King

October 9, 2025

St. Edwin The first Christian King of Northumbria, born about 585, son of Aella, King of Deira, the southern division of Northumbria; died October 12, 633. Upon Aella’s death in 588, the sovereignty over both divisions of Northumbria was usurped by Ethebric of Bernicia, and retained at his death by his son Ethelfrid; Edwin, Aella’s […]

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The Catholic Theory of War and the Soldier

October 6, 2025

One has hardly arrived at this conclusion when a great problem arises quickly in our minds. “Did the Church sanction war?” We know of no more important question, nor one more intimately connected with our subject. The Church’s theory is well known: in three words—She hates war! Vainly have certain sophists endeavored to tone down […]

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October 6 – Princes and popes coveted the advice of this silent man

October 6, 2025

St. Bruno Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death’s head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His […]

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October 6 – Henri Delassus

October 6, 2025

Msgr. Henri Delassus (1836-1921), ordained a priest in 1862, served in parishes in Valenciennes (Saint-Géry) and Lille (Sainte-Catherine and Sainte-Marie-Madeleine). He was names chaplain of the basilica Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille (Lille) in 1874, an honorary canon in 1882, and domestic prelate in 1904. In 1911 he was promoted to protonotary apostolic. In 1914 he became canon of […]

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Pope Saint Pius V has a vision announcing the victory of Lepanto

October 6, 2025

In the afternoon of that same day, the 7th of October, 1571, the Pope was walking about his room, listening to the relation by his treasurer, Mons. Busotti de Bibiana, of various businesses committed to his care; the Pope suffered terribly from stone, and as usually the pain attacked him while seated, he had to […]

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In Forming the Holy League, St. Pius V Prepares for Victory at Lepanto

October 6, 2025

The Holy League agreement announced on 25 May had been solemnized five days earlier in the presence of [Saint] Pius V in his capacity as Pope, and signed by representatives of himself as ruler of the Papal State, King Philip of Spain, the republics of Venice and Genoa, Grand Duke Cosimo of Tuscany, Duke Emanuele […]

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Catholic and Muslim Reactions to the News of the Turkish Defeat at Lepanto

October 6, 2025

[King] Philip was attending vespers in Madrid—or the Escorial—when the Venetian Ambassador—or an aide, as the case may be—slipped into his chapel to acquaint him with the news. The imperturbable monarch displayed neither pleasure nor annoyance at the interruption, and impassively resumed his devotions. Only when vespers ended did he reveal any emotion. Summoning the […]

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Don John of Austria used an ivory crucifix to inspire his men before Lepanto

October 6, 2025

Calmness in the presence of danger had always been one of D. John of Austria’s great qualities, and it did not fail him in this crisis. He refrained from telling anyone of the fears and anxieties that Cecco Pizano’s information had inspired in him, and without wasting a second he at once began to take […]

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Lepanto: Turkish might buckles in the grandest naval battle of History

October 6, 2025

The Turkish fleet came on imposing and terrible, all sails set, impelled by a fair wind, and it was only half a mile from the line of galliasses and another mile from the line of the Christian ships. D. John waited no longer; he humbly crossed himself, and ordered that the cannon of challenge should […]

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October 8 – St. Keyne

October 6, 2025

Keyne was a princess, one of the many children of King Brycan of South Wales. Growing up into a very beautiful young woman she was sought in marriage by many noble lords, but resolutely refused all of them. Instead, she took a vow of virginity and retired into solitude. It was after this resolution that […]

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October 2 – The Holy Guardian Angels

October 2, 2025

That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it is the “mind of the Church”, as St. Jerome expressed it: “how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard […]

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October 2 – Falsely charged, mutilated and martyred

October 2, 2025

St. Leodegar (also Leger or Leodegarius) Bishop of Autun, born about 615; died a martyr in 678, at Sarcing, Somme. His mother was called Sigrada, and his father Bobilo. His parents being of high rank, his early childhood was passed at the court of Clotaire II. He went later to Poitiers, to study under the […]

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October 3 – Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

October 2, 2025

(December 13, 1908 – October 3, 1995) Brazilian intellectual and Catholic activist. Corrêa de Oliveira was born in São Paulo to Lucilia Corrêa de Oliveira, a devout Roman Catholic, and educated by Jesuits. In 1928 he joined the Marian Congregations of São Paulo and soon became a leader of that organization. In 1933 he helped […]

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October 3 – Mother Théodore Guérin

October 2, 2025

Many of the early pioneers faced the hardships of this country where wars, famine and disease were the norm. Leaving everything behind, heroic souls came not only to save the souls of Indian nations, but also to minister to these frontier families. One such person was St. Mother Théodore Guérin, who became the eighth American […]

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October 3 – Enemy of King St. Louis, but still his friend in Christ

October 2, 2025

St. Thomas of Hereford (THOMAS DE CANTELUPE). Born at Hambledon, Buckinghamshire, England, about 1218; died at Orvieto, Italy, 25 August, 1282. He was the son of William de Cantelupe and Millicent de Gournay, and thus a member of an illustrious and influential family. He was educated under the care of his uncle, Walter de Cantelupe, […]

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October 4 – He chose a greater chivalry

October 2, 2025

St. Francis of Assisi Founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182 — the exact year is uncertain; died there, 3 October, 1226. His father, Pietro Bernardone, was a wealthy Assisian cloth merchant. Of his mother, Pica, little is known, but she is said to have belonged to a […]

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October 4 – He copied the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

October 2, 2025

St. Petronius Bishop of Bologna, date of birth unknown; died before 450. The only certain historical information we possess concerning him is derived from a letter written by Bishop Eucherius of Lyons (died 450-5) to Valerianus (in P. L., L, 711 sqq.) and from Gennadius’ “De viris illustribus”, XLI (ed. Czapla, Münster, 1898, p. 94). […]

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October 5 – Second founder of the Dominicans

October 2, 2025

Bl. Raymond of Capua Called “the second founder of the Dominicans”, Raymond della Vigna was born in Capua of a prominent family in the kingdom of Naples. He entered the Dominican Order when attending the university in Bologna and went on to fill several posts, including prior in Rome and lector in Florence and Siena. […]

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October 5 – Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

October 2, 2025

Francis X. Seelos Born at Füssen, Bavaria, 11 January, 1819; died at New Orleans, La., 4 Oct., 1867. When a child, asked by his mother what he intended to be, he pointed to the picture of his patron, St. Francis Xavier, and said: “I’m going to be another St. Francis.” He pursued his studies in […]

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October 5 – William Hartley

October 2, 2025

Ven. William Hartley Martyr; b. at Wyn, in Derbyshire, England, of a yeoman family about 1557; d. 5 October, 1588. At eighteen he matriculated at St. John’s, Oxford, where he became a chaplain. Being ejected by the vice-chancellor, Tobie Mathew, in 1579, he went to Reims in August, was ordained at Châlons, and returned to […]

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The Nobility of the Holy Family & Prayer to St. Joseph

September 29, 2025

Mary, Joseph, and, Therefore, Jesus Were Born of Royal Stock From a sermon of Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) about Saint Joseph: Firstly, let us consider the nobility of the bride, that is, the Most Holy Virgin. The Blessed Virgin was more noble than any other creature that had been born in human form, that […]

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Saint Michael the Archangel, Model of the Perfect Knight

September 29, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira                              September 28, 1966 (*) The Catholic calendar reads: Saint Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Host fought the rebel angels in the heavenly battle. He continues to lead the battle to free us from the devil. Our guardian angels depend on him. He is the custodian angel of the Church and […]

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September 29 – The Angelic Inspiration of Chivalry

September 29, 2025

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael _____________________ Saint Michael the Archangel: “Who is like God?” In Hebraic, mîkâ’êl, means “Who is like God?” The Scriptures refer to the Archangel Saint Michael in four different passages: two of them, in Daniel’s prophesy (chap. 10, 13 and 21; and chap. 12, 1); one in Saint Jude Thaddeus (single […]

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September 29 – Military Orders of St. Michael

September 29, 2025

Military Orders of St. Michael (1) A Bavarian Order, founded in 1721 by Elector Joseph Clemens of Cologne, Duke of Bavaria, and confirmed by Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, 11 September 1808. Pius VII, 5 Feb. 1802 granted to priests decorated with this order all the privileges of domestic prelates. Under Louis I it was […]

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September 29 – In battle or in prison, he never missed Mass

September 29, 2025

Blessed Charles of Blois (1320- September 29, 1364) Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. Early in life, he felt a call to be a Franciscan friar, but political duty kept him in secular life. Following his marriage […]

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September 30 – The cantankerous noble who became a saint

September 29, 2025

St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420. He had a brother much younger than himself, whose name was Paulinian. His father, called Eusebius, was descended from a good family, and had a […]

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True Sanctity Lies in Strength of Soul and Not in Sentimental Softness

September 29, 2025

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Church teaches that true and complete sanctity is the heroism of virtue. The honor of the altars is not granted to weak, hypersensitive souls that flee from profound thoughts, from acute suffering, from the fight, in short, from the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful of the words […]

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October 1 – The martial and pious death of Don John of Austria: “A man sent by God”

September 29, 2025

Alarm was ended on the fourth day, seeing that the fever and other ills left D. John. But the next day, which was a Saturday, he suddenly grew worse, and while the other invalids went on getting better and became convalescent, he showed other symptoms of a strange illness, palpitations which made him get up […]

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October 1 – Blessed Ralph Crockett

September 29, 2025

Blessed Ralph Crockett English martyr, b. at Barton, near Farndon, Cheshire; executed at Chichester, 1 October, 1588. Educated at Cambridge, and ordained at Reims in 1585, he was captured on board ship at Littlehampton, Sussex, 19 April, 1856, with three other priests, Thomas Bramston, George Potter, and his fellow martyr, Edward James (b. at Breaston, […]

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October 1 – St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Chapter VI: A Pilgrimage to Rome & Chapter VII: The Little Flower Enters the Carmel

September 29, 2025

ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX Excerpts from THE STORY OF A SOUL: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX SOEUR THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX, THE LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS ______________________________ PROLOGUE: THE PARENTAGE & BIRTH OF MARIE FRANÇOISE THÉRÈSE MARTIN and CHAPTER ONE – EARLIEST MEMORIES CHAPTER II: A CATHOLIC HOUSEHOLD and CHAPTER III: PAULINE ENTERS THE […]

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September 25 – Did he compose the Salve Regina prayer?

September 25, 2025

Bl. Hermann Contractus (Herimanus Augiensis, Hermann von Reichenau). Chronicler, mathematician, and poet; born 18 February, 1013, at Altshausen (Swabia); died on the island of Reichenau, Lake Constance, 21 September, 1054. He was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. Being a cripple from birth (hence the surname Contractus) he was powerless to move without […]

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September 25 – St. Aunarius

September 25, 2025

St. Aunarius (Or Aunacharius). Bishop of Auxerre in France, born 573, died 603. Being of noble birth, he was brought up in the royal court, but evinced a desire to enter the clerical state, was ordained priest by St. Syagrius of Autum, and eventually was made Bishop of Auxerre. His administration is noted for certain […]

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The Crusading Knight: A Serious Man Who Wages War for the Faith and Races Toward Danger

September 25, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Chivalry is the spiritual and psychological attitude of a warrior who takes his condition as a warrior to its final consequences. He is a serious Catholic warrior. He fights first and foremost for the holy Catholic Faith. Secondly, when he wages war he does it seriously, at the risk of […]

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September 26 – Fr. Frederick William Faber

September 25, 2025

Fr. Frederick William Faber Oratorian and devotional writer, b. 28 June, 1814, at Calverley, Yorkshire, England; d. in London, 26 Sept., 1863. After five years at Harrow School he matriculated at Balliol in 1832, became a scholar at University College in 1834, and a fellow of that College in 1837. Of Huguenot descent Faber was […]

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Tradition is a fertile patrimony, an inheritance that must be preserved

September 25, 2025

From an allocution of Paul VI to his fellow countrymen of Brescia, September 26, 1970: “Allow a fellow-citizen of yours from yesterday to render homage to one of the most precious values of human life, and one of the most neglected in our day: tradition. It is a fertile patrimony, a heritage to be preserved. […]

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September 27 – St. Vincent de Paul had special charity to the impoverished nobility

September 25, 2025

St. Vincent de Paul founded a special organization for the relief of the nobility of Lorraine who had sought refuge in Paris during the Thirty Years War. In that period of the war known as the French period Lorraine, Trois-Evechés, Franche-Comté, and Champagne underwent for nearly a quarter of a century all the horrors and […]

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September 27 – Fr. Peter Skarga: Court Preacher

September 25, 2025

Fr. Peter Skarga Theologian and missionary, born at Grojec, 1536; died at Cracow, 27 Sept., 1612. He began his education in his native town in 1552; he went to study in Cracow and afterwards in Warsaw. In 1557 he was in Vienna as tutor to the young Castellan, Teczynski; returning thence in 1564, he received […]

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September 28 – Franciscan money lender

September 25, 2025

Bl. Bernardine of Feltre Friar Minor and missionary, born at Feltre, Italy, in 1439 and died at Pavia, 28 September, 1494. He belonged to the noble family of Tomitano and was the eldest of nine children. In 1456 St. James of the Marches preached the Lenten course at Padua, and inspired to enter the Franciscan […]

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September 28 – Good King Wenceslaus

September 25, 2025

(Also Vaclav, Vaceslav.) Duke, martyr, and patron of Bohemia, born probably 903; died at Alt-Bunzlau, 28 September, 935. His parents were Duke Wratislaw, a Christian, and Dragomir, a heathen. He received a good Christian education from his grandmother (St. Ludmilla) and at Budweis. After the death of Wratislaw, Dragomir, acting as regent, opposed Christianity, and […]

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What is Feudalism?

September 25, 2025

Feudalism This term is derived from the Old Aryan pe’ku, hence Sanskrit pacu, “cattle”; so also Lat. pecus (cf. pecunia); Old High German fehu, fihu, “cattle”, “property”, “money”; Old Frisian fia; Old Saxon fehu; Old English feoh, fioh, feo, fee. It is an indefinable word for it represents the progressive development of European organization during […]

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To Fulfill the Hopes Placed in It, the Nobility Should Shine in the Gifts Specific to It

September 25, 2025

After emphasizing once again the importance of the nobility’s fidelity to Catholic morals, Pius XII outlines a fascinating picture of the qualities that the nobility should manifest in order to correspond to the hopes he places in it. It especially interests the present study to note that these qualities should shine in the nobility as […]

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Lifting our Gaze Toward the Alienated Elites

September 25, 2025

Purely ideological debates on the issues of equality and inequality—and especially on the subject of monarchy-aristocracy-democracy—have not customarily occupied center stage in the United States. Only in the years immediately following independence did a debate of this nature have some import in American political life. An example of this was the controversy between Jefferson and […]

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The Elitist School: The discrediting of the liberal myth

September 25, 2025

Influenced by this American myth, sociologists and historians formerly simply closed their eyes to the existence of elites in our country. Vance Packard, one of the oldest representatives of what came to be known as the elitist school, writes: “Until recently, even sociologists had shrunk away from a candid exploration of social class in America. […]

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September 24 – Our Lady of Ransom

September 22, 2025

Feast of Our Lady of Ransom (also known as Our Lady of Mercy) 24 September commemorates the foundation of the Mercedarians. [Nobility.org note: The most current historical dates and facts can be found in the Mercedarian history book, available here: http://orderofmercy.org/charism.html] On 10 August, 1223, the Mercedarian Order was legally constituted at Barcelona by King […]

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September 24 – “There is nothing so sublime as the papacy nor so exalted as the imperial throne”

September 22, 2025

Pope Innocent II (Gregorio Papereschi) Elected 14 Feb., 1130; died 24 Sept., 1143. He was a native of Rome and belonged to the ancient family of the Guidoni. His father’s name is given as John. The youthful Gregory became canon of the Lateran and later Abbot of Sts. Nicholas and Primitivus. He was made Cardinal-Deacon […]

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September 24 – Founding Father

September 22, 2025

Fr. François Vaillant de Gueslis Jesuit missionary, born at Orleans, 20 July, 1646; died at Moulins, 24 Sept., 1718. He entered the Society of Jesus, 10 Nov., 1665; came to Canada in 1670; and was ordained priest at Quebec, 1 Dec., 1675. He first evangelized the Mohawks (1679-84). In the beginning of 1688 he was […]

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September 23 – Pioneer missionary of the Flatheads

September 22, 2025

Gregorio Mengarini Pioneer missionary of the Flathead tribe and philologist of their language, b. in Rome, 21 July, 1811; d. at Santa Clara, California, 23 September, 1886. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1828, when barely seventeen, and later served as instructor in grammar, for which his philological bent particularly fitted him, at Rome, Medina, […]

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September 23 – He ensured the immunity of non-combatants in warfare

September 22, 2025

St. Adamnan of Ireland, Abbot He was the eighth in descent from the great Nial, king of Ireland, and from Conal the Great, ancestor of St. Columbkille. His parents were eminent for their rank and virtue. He was born in the year 626, at Rathboth, (1) now called Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, and […]

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September 22 – He especially sought out impoverished nobles who shrank from asking alms

September 22, 2025

St. Thomas of Villanova Educator, philanthropist, born at Fuentellana, Spain, 1488; died at Valencia, 8 September, 1555. Son of Aloazo Tomas Garcia and Lucia Martínez Castellanos, the saint was brought up in the practices of religion and charity. Every Friday his father was wont to give in alms all the meal he earned at the […]

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If the Cassock Has Lost All Influence, Why Wear It Outside the Police Barracks [DPSO]*?

September 18, 2025

by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira A happy group of young men. Who are they? Students? Businessman? Perhaps workers? One cannot tell by their clothing. They are however Dominicans, photographed without their cassocks by a Rio de Janeiro magazine, in front of the Church of São Domingos das Perdizes, in São Paulo. Our readers are […]

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September 18 – His funeral was the first time the US Congress went to Mass

September 18, 2025

Phillippe-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Tronson Du Coudray Soldier, born at Reims, France, 8 September, 1738; died at Philadelphia, U.S.A., 11 September, 1777. He was educated for the army and showed great merit as an engineer. He was adjutant­ general of artillery and considered one of the best military experts in France when, in 1776, he volunteered to go to […]

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September 19 – St. Januarius

September 18, 2025

St. Januarius Martyr, Bishop of Beneventum. St. Januarius is believed to have suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, c. 305. With regard to the history of his life and martyrdom, we know next to nothing. The various collections of “Acts”, though numerous (cf. Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, n. 4115-4140), are all extremely late and untrustworthy. Bede […]

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September 19 – She begged donations to ransom Christian captives

September 18, 2025

Blessed Mary de Cervellione (or De Cervello) Popularly styled “de Socos” (of Help) Saint, born about 1230 at Barcelona; died there 19 September, 1290. She was a daughter of a Spanish nobleman named William de Cervellon. One day she heard a sermon preached by Blessed Bernard de Corbarie, the superior of the Brotherhood of Our […]

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Pope Pius IX Loses Rome: The Porta Pia Is Breached and the Papal Zouaves Lay Down Their Weapons

September 18, 2025

At 5:15 a.m. on 20 September 1870, the observatory of Santa Maria Maggiore warned the Ministry of War that the enemy batteries had attacked Porta Pia which, because of its position, constituted the most vulnerable point of the city. . . . As he talked to the diplomatic corps . . Cardinal Antonelli arrived with […]

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September 20 – Starved to death for the faith

September 18, 2025

Bl. Thomas Johnson Carthusian martyr, died in Newgate gaol, London, 20 September, 1537. On 18 May, 1537, the twenty choir monks and eighteen brothers remaining in the London Charterhouse were required to take the Oath of Supremacy. Of these choir monks Thomas Johnson, Richard Bere, Thomas Green (priests), and John Davy (deacon) refused; and of […]

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September 20 – “Threats do not terrify me”

September 18, 2025

Pope St. Agapetus I (Also AGAPITUS.) Reigned 535-536. Date of birth uncertain; died 22 April, 536. He was the son of Gordianus, a Roman priest who had been slain during the riots in the days of Pope Symmachus. His first official act was to burn in the presence of the assembled clergy the anathema which […]

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September 21 – Victim of intrigue

September 18, 2025

Gabriel Malagrida A Jesuit missionary to Brazil, born 18 September or 6 December, 1689, at Menaggio, in Italy; died 21 September, 1761, at Lisbon. He entered the Jesuit order at Genoa in 1711. He set out from Lisbon in 1721 and arrived on the Island of Maranhào towards the end of the same year. Thence […]

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September 21 – Pope Conon

September 18, 2025

Pope Conon Date of birth unknown; died, after a long illness, 21 September, 687. The son, seemingly, of an officer in the Thracesian troop, he was educated in Sicily and ordained priest at Rome. His age, venerable appearance, and simple character caused the clergy and soldiery of Rome, who were in disagreement, to put aside […]

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