May 29 – Saint Laura of Constantinople

May 27, 2021

Saint Laura of Constantinople (died 1453) was a Christian who lived in Constantinople during the 15th century. She was born in Greece into a noble family: her father was a Latin knight named Michael and her mother was Albanian. Her name was Theodolinde Trasci. After she became a nun in Constantinople, she changed it into […]

Read the full article →

May 29 – Bartolomeu Dias

May 27, 2021

Bartolomeu Dias A famous Portuguese navigator of the fifteenth century, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope; died at sea, 29 May, 1500. Several Portuguese historians state that he was a relative or descendant of João Dias who sailed around Cape Bojador in 1434, and of Diniz Dias who is said to have discovered the […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – Bl. William Filby and companions

May 27, 2021

Born in Oxfordshire between 1557 and 1560; suffered at Tyburn, 30 May, 1582. Educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, he was admitted to the seminary at Reims, 12 October, 1579. He was ordained priest at Reims, 25 March, 1581, and shortly after left for the mission. He was arrested in July, committed to the Tower, removed […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – Most Valiant King

May 27, 2021

Saint Ferdinand III of Castile King of Leon and Castile, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, born in 1198 near Salamanca; died at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and of Berengeria, the daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, and sister of Blanche, the […]

Read the full article →

May 30 – When God chose sides in war between two Christian nations, He sent her to win it

May 27, 2021

St. Joan of Arc In French Jeanne d’Arc; by her contemporaries commonly known as la Pucelle (the Maid). Born at Domremy in Champagne, probably on 6 January, 1412; died at Rouen, 30 May, 1431. The village of Domremy lay upon the confines of territory which recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of Burgundy, but in […]

Read the full article →

May 31 – St. Mechtildis of Edelstetten

May 27, 2021

St. Mechtildis was a Benedictine abbess and renowned miracle worker. Mechtildis was the daughter of Count Berthold of Andechs, whose wife, Sophie, founded a monastery on their estate at Diessen, Bavaria, and placed their daughter there at the age of five. In 1153, the Bishop of Augsburg placed her as Abbess of Edelstetten Abbey. Mechtildis […]

Read the full article →

May 31 – St. Camilla Battista da Varano

May 27, 2021

St. Baptista Varano (also spelled Varani). An ascetical writer, born at Camerino, in the March of Ancona, 9 Apr., 1458; died there, 31 May, 1527. Her father, Julius Caesar Varano or de Varanis, Duke of Camerino, belonged to an illustrious family; her mother, Joanna Malatesta, was a daughter of Sigismund, Prince of Rimini… Read more […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – First Pope to transform a pagan temple of Rome into a Christian church

May 24, 2021

Pope St. Boniface IV Son of John, a physician, a Marsian from the province and town of Valeria; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine months; consecrated 25 August, 608; d. 8 May, 615 (Duchesne); or, 15 September, 608-25 May, 615 (Jaffé). In the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great he […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – He Forced the Emperor To Wait Three Days in the Snow

May 24, 2021

Pope St. Gregory VII (HILDEBRAND). One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020 and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno. The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His name, […]

Read the full article →

May 25 – She withstood the devil

May 24, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 26 – Saint Bruno of Würzburg

May 24, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 24, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 27 – St. Augustine of Canterbury

May 24, 2021

St. Augustine of Canterbury First Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; died 26 May, 604. Symbols: cope, pallium, and mitre as Bishop of Canterbury, and pastoral staff and gospels as missionary… Read more here.

Read the full article →

Faithful to Their Nobility, But Even More to the Faith

May 20, 2021

The fervor of the two sons of Genifonio, who was a pagan and prime-minister of the emperor, and who was ignorant of the fact that his sons had received baptism, was not less great than that of Prince Justus Ucondono. The elder son, aged twenty years, was named Paul Sacondono. He enjoyed the favor of […]

Read the full article →

The Church Is the Soul of the Counter-Revolution

May 20, 2021

[previous] 5. The Church Is the Soul of the Counter-Revolution   If the Counter-Revolution is the struggle to extinguish the Revolution and to build the new Christendom, resplendent with faith, humble with hierarchical spirit, and spotless in purity, clearly this will be achieved, above all, by a profound action in the hearts of men. This […]

Read the full article →

De Soto meets the mighty Mississippi

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 21 – Missionary to the Mohammedans

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 22 – St. Rita of Cascia

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 22 – Hanged for Printing a Book

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 22 – Queen’s Confessor

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 23 – Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 20, 2021

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.

Read the full article →

May 23 – St. John Baptist de Rossi

May 20, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 24 – Our Lady Help of Christians, to commemorate the liberation of the Pope from prison

May 20, 2021

This commemoration was introduced in the liturgical calendar by decree of Pope Pius VII on September 16, 1815, in thanksgiving for his happy return to Rome after a long and painful captivity in Savona and France due to Napoleon’s tyrannical power. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a […]

Read the full article →

Letter of Saint John Bosco to the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, May 24, 1873

May 20, 2021

This document was found on July 14, 1873, by Father Berto while searching for some papers on St. John Bosco’s desk. Later the Saint gave it to him to be transcribed and delivered to the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph. As can be seen, the document is a vital message from Our Lord Jesus Christ […]

Read the full article →

May 24 – Bl. Hermann Joseph

May 20, 2021

Bl. Hermann Joseph Premonstratensian monk and mystic; born at Cologne about 1150; died at Hoven, 7 April, 1241. According to the biography by Razo Bonvisinus, contemporary prior of Steinfeld (Acta SS., 7 April, I, 679), Hermann was the son of poor parents who had once been rich. At the age of seven he attended school […]

Read the full article →

May 24 – St. Vincent of Lérins

May 20, 2021

St. Vincent of Lérins Feast on 24 May, an ecclesiastical writer in Southern Gaul in the fifth century. His work is much better known than his life. Almost all our information concerning him is contained in Gennadius, “De viris illustribus” (lxiv). He entered the monastery of Lérins (today Isle St. Honorat), where under the pseudonym […]

Read the full article →

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

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 19 – Charlemagne’s Scholar

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 19 – He Grabbed the Devil By the Nose

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 17, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 20 – Mentor of the Duke of Ferrara

May 17, 2021

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: […]

Read the full article →

May 20 – Christopher Columbus Dies But His Glory Remains

May 17, 2021

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. […]

Read the full article →

The Queen in half mourning for first public appearance since Prince Philip’s death

May 13, 2021

According to the Royal Central: Her Majesty wore grey for the event, one of the traditional colours of half mourning. Her pale dove coat was trimmed with gold and she wore a grey and yellow floral dress underneath. Her grey hat featured feathers in the same colour and gold trim. For the first time in […]

Read the full article →

The Importance of Milestones

May 13, 2021

Everything was preparing for her approaching union, nor were the preparations made lightly. The mother and daughter faced the ambitious future, which they both desired, with an almost religious gravity. It was decided that the archduchess should go into retreat for three days during Holy Week under the direction of the Abbé de Vermond. Frivolous […]

Read the full article →

The Church Is the Greatest Counter-Revolutionary Force

May 13, 2021

[previous] 4. The Church Is the Greatest Counter-Revolutionary Force The primacy of the Church among counter-revolutionary forces is obvious if we consider the number of Catholics, their unity, and their influence in the world. But this legitimate consideration of natural resources has a very secondary importance. The real strength of the Church lies in her […]

Read the full article →

May 14 – The Right to Revolt

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 14 – Bl. Gil of Santarem

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Beautiful Princess, Tragic Story

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – William Lockhart

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 15 – Saint’s biographer

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – Leper King

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – St. Honoratus of Amiens

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – Patron of Poland

May 13, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 16 – Flos Carmeli

May 13, 2021

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.

Read the full article →

May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 10, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Holy Merovingian

May 10, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 11 – Matteo Ricci

May 10, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

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

May 10, 2021

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.  […]

Read the full article →

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

May 10, 2021

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, […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – St. Peter de Regalado

May 10, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

May 13 – St. John the Silent

May 10, 2021

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 […]

Read the full article →

For Being a Prince, His Punishment Was Doubled

May 6, 2021

Prince Antonio, Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza’s younger brother, gave us another example of wise pedagogy. He recalls that at Christ the King High School, of the Pallottine Fathers in Jacarezinho (state of Paraná), there was a German priest who was extremely severe and inflexible in matters of discipline. He would immediately punish any misbehavior or […]

Read the full article →

The Church Is a Fundamentally Counter-Revolutionary Force

May 6, 2021

[previous] 3. The Church Is a Fundamentally Counter-Revolutionary Force Considering the term Revolution in the sense employed herein, the words of this heading are the obvious conclusion to what we have said above. To state the contrary would be to say that the Church is failing in her mission. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and […]

Read the full article →

May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 6, 2021

Pope St. Benedict II Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of John. Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself by his knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity. […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →