April 14 – She suffered for the moral corruption and decay of her time

April 12, 2021

Saint Lydwine In 1380, Saint Lydwine was born in the small town of Schiedam in Holland. Her father was a wealthy noble named Peter, and her mother was from a poor family who worked their own farm. Her father’s family lost their fortune, and the whole family was reduced to poverty. At that time, all […]

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April 14 – St. Peter Gonzalez (aka St. Elmo)

April 12, 2021

St. Peter Gonzalez Popularly known as St. Elmo, b. in 1190 at Astorga, Spain; d. 15 April, 1246, at Tuy. He was educated by his uncle, Bishop of Astorga, who gave him when very young a canonry. Later he entered the Dominican Order and became a renowned preacher; crowds gathered to hear him and numberless […]

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April 15 – The Notkers of St. Gall

April 12, 2021

Notker.—Among the various monks of St. Gall who bore this name, the following are the most important: (1) Notker Balbulus (Stammerer), Blessed, monk and author, b. about 840, at Jonswil, canton of St. Gall (Switzerland); d. 912. Of a distinguished family, he received his education with Tuotilo, originator of tropes, at St. Gall’s, from Iso […]

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Fabergé’s Easter Eggs – extraordinary creations of beauty which continue to fascinate

April 8, 2021

According to Royal Central: Many of the eggs that Fabergé made were lost for years in the wake of the Russian Revolution… In 2014, the Third Imperial Easter Egg came to light by an extraordinary circumstance. Purchased at a flea market, [it] was originally commissioned in 1887 by Tsar Alexander III for his wife Empress […]

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Be Careful What You Wish For

April 8, 2021

“Over what people wouldst thou like to reign?” Maria Theresa asked Marie Antoinette one day. “Over the French,” the child replied gayly, “because it was over them that Henri IV and Louis XIV reigned, ⸺ the Good and the Great.” The expression was happy; and the empress was so delighted with it that she begged […]

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Pride leads to egalitarianism, and egalitarianism to atheism

April 8, 2021

The proud person, subject to another’s authority, hates first of all the particular yoke that weights upon him. In a second stage, the proud man hates all authority in general and all yokes, and, even more, the very principle of authority considered in the abstract. Because he hates all authority, he also hates superiority of […]

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April 9 – She persuaded her husband the Count to become a monk

April 8, 2021

St. Waudru She was daughter to the princess St. Bertille, elder sister to St. Aldegondes, and wife to Madelgaire, count of Hainault, and one of the principal lords of King Dagobert’s court. After bearing him two sons and two daughters, she induced him to embrace the monastic state at Haumont, near Maubeuge, taking the name […]

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April 9 – Mary of Cleophas

April 8, 2021

Mary of Cleophas This title occurs only in John, xix, 25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joseph ( Mark, xv, 40; cf. Matt., xxvii, 56). Some have indeed tried to identify […]

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April 10 – Friend of Cluny

April 8, 2021

St. Fulbert of Chartres Bishop, born between 952 and 962; died 10 April, 1028 or 1029. Mabillon and others think that he was born in Italy, probably at Rome; but Pfister, his latest biographer, designates as his birthplace the Diocese of Laudun in the present department of Gard in France. He was of humble parentage […]

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April 10 – Pope Gregory XIII

April 8, 2021

Pope Gregory XIII (UGO BUONCOMPAGNI). Born at Bologna, 7 Jan., 1502; died at Rome, 10 April, 1585. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Bologna, from which he was graduated at an early age as doctor of canon and of civil law. Later, he taught jurisprudence at the same university, and had among his pupils […]

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April 11 – He excommunicated the king, who murdered him as he celebrated Mass

April 8, 2021

Saint Stanislaus of Cracow In pictures he is given the episcopal insignia and the sword. Larger paintings represent him in a court or kneeling before the altar and receiving the fatal blow. His parents, Belislaus and Bogna, pious and noble Catholics, gave him a religious education. After the death of his parents he distributed his […]

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April 11 – American Hero of the Seal of Confession

April 8, 2021

Antony Kohlmann Educator and missionary, b. 13 July, 1771, at Kaiserberg, Alsace; d. at Rome, 11 April, 1836. He is to be ranked among the lights of the restored Society of Jesus, and among its most distinguished members in America, where he spent nearly a quarter of a century of his laborious life. At an […]

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April 11 – “The sorest and dangerousest papist”

April 8, 2021

Sampson Erdeswicke Antiquarian, date of birth unknown; d. 1603. He was born at Sandon in Staffordshire, his father, Hugh Erdeswicke, being descended from Richard de Vernon, Baron of Shipbrook, in the reign of William the Conqueror. The family resided originally at Erdeswicke Hall, in Cheshire, afterwards at Leighton and finally in the reign of Edward […]

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April 11 – American Catholic Founding Father

April 8, 2021

Stephen Moylan An American patriot and merchant, born in Ireland in 1734; died at Philadelphia, 11 April, 1811. He received his education in Ireland, but resided for some time in England, and seems to have travelled considerably on the Continent before emigrating to the American Colonies where he settled in the city of Philadelphia. He […]

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April 11 – Antonio Ruiz de Montoya

April 8, 2021

Antonio Ruiz de Montoya One of the most distinguished pioneers of the original Jesuit mission in Paraguay, and a remarkable linguist; b. at Lima Peru, on 13 June, 1585, d. there 11 April, 1652. After a youth full of wild and daring pranks and adventures he entered the Society of Jesus on 1 November, 1606. […]

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April 11 – Convicted for being a priest

April 8, 2021

George Gervase (Jervise.) Priest and martyr, born at Boscham, Suffolk, England, 1571; died at Tyburn, 11 April, 1608. His mother’s name was Shelly, and both his father’s and mother’s families had been long established in the County of Suffolk. Losing both parents in boyhood, he was kidnapped by pirates and carried off beyond seas, remaining […]

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April 11 – His donations helped build the first California missions

April 8, 2021

Juan Caballero y Ocio Born at Querétaro, Mexico, 4 May, 1644; died there 11 April, 1707. A priest remarkable for lavish gifts to the Church and for charity. While still a layman he was a mayor of his native city. After taking Holy Orders he held several high offices. He gave large sums of money […]

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April 11 – James Burns, of Burns and Oates

April 8, 2021

James Burns Publisher and author, b. near Montrose, Forfarshire, Scotland, 1808; d. in London, 11 April, 1871. During the last half of the nineteenth century his work in the cause of Catholic literature and Catholic church music contributed much to the rapid advancement of the Church in Great Britain and to the many conversions that […]

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April 11 – St. Guthlac

April 8, 2021

St. Guthlac Hermit; born about 673; died at Croyland, England, 11 April, 714. Our authority for the life of St. Guthlac is the monk Felix (of what monastery is not known), who in his dedication of the “Life” to King Æthelbald, Guthlac’s friend, assures him that whatever he has written, he had derived immediately from […]

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April 12 – Crusader in every sense of the word

April 8, 2021

Bl. Angelo Carletti di Chivasso Moral theologian of the order of Friars Minor; born at Chivasso in Piedmont, in 1411; and died at Coni, in Piedmont, in 1495… Read more here.

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April 12 – St. Teresa of the Andes

April 8, 2021

Saint Teresa of the Andes, O.C.D. (July 13, 1900 – April 12, 1920), also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Spanish: Teresa de Jesús de los Andes), was a Chilean nun of the Discalced Carmelite order… Read more here.

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April 12 – Pope St. Julius I

April 8, 2021

(337-352) The immediate successor of Pope Silvester, Arcus, ruled the Roman Church for only a very short period – from 18 January to 7 October, 336 – and after his death the papal chair remained vacant for four months. What occasioned this comparatively long vacancy is unknown. On 6 February, 337, Julius, son of Rustics […]

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Brussels marks 5 years since terror attack: King and queen of Belgium pay tribute to victims

April 5, 2021

According to KMBC News: The king and queen of Belgium paid tribute…to the victims of the suicide bombings that killed 32 people and injured hundreds more in the Brussels subway and airport…five years ago. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde started the commemorations at Brussels airport alongside Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. They met victims and […]

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Princess Charlene says goodbye to Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini

April 5, 2021

According to the Monaco Tribune: On Thursday 18 March, Princess Charlene of Monaco attended a memorial service of the recently deceased eighth King of the Zulus, Goodwill Zuelithini. The ceremony took place in the town of Nongoma in Zwazulu, South Africa. He died at the age of 72 and had ruled the Zulu people for […]

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Prince Albert II of Monaco on Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview

April 5, 2021

According to the Monaco Tribune: Pre-recorded in California, this bombshell interview shed light on the reasons why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from the British Royal Family three years ago… Now, speaking to BBC’s Yalda Hakim about what he made of the interview, Monaco’s Sovereign said “it did bother me.” For him, […]

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April 6 – With his head split open, he wrote on the ground with his own blood: “Credo”

April 5, 2021

St. Peter of Verona Born at Verona, 1206; died near Milan, 6 April, 1252. His parents were adherents of the Manichæan heresy, which still survived in northern Italy in the thirteenth century. Sent to a Catholic school, and later to the University of Bologna, he there met St. Dominic, and entered the Order of the […]

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April 6 – He wrote the genealogy of the Danish kings to disprove the alleged impediment of consanguinity

April 5, 2021

St. William of Ebelholt (Also called William of Paris, or William of Eskilsöe) Died on Easter Sunday, 1203, and was buried at Ebelholt. He was educated by his uncle Hugh, forty-second Abbot of St-Germain-des-Pres at Paris; and having been ordained subdeacon received a canonry in the Church of Ste-Geneviève-du-Mont. His exemplary life did not commend […]

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April 7 – Father of Modern Pedagogy

April 5, 2021

St. John Baptist de la Salle Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, educational reformer, and father of modern pedagogy, was born at Reims, 30 April, 1651, and died at Saint-Yon, Rouen, on Good Friday, 7 April, 1719. The family of de la Salle traces its origin to Johan Salla, who, […]

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April 8 – Together with a noble who escaped the Terror, she founded the Sisters of Notre Dame

April 5, 2021

St. Julie Billiart .(Also Julia) Foundress, and first superior-general of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, born 12 July, 1751, at Cuvilly, a village of Picardy, in the Diocese of Beauvais and the Department of Oise, France; died 8 April, 1816, at the motherhouse of her institute, Namur, Belgium. She was […]

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Princes Are Educated to Sacrifice

April 1, 2021

Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza, current Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, recounts that when they were boys, his mother, Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria, often took him and his brothers for a stroll along the streets of Rio de Janeiro. In those good times, the “old capital” still deserved the title of “Marvelous City,” […]

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The Neighborhood, First Amplification of The Family

April 1, 2021

I knew Sao Paulo in a time in which it was much smaller. It was spontaneously and organically divided into neighborhoods, and lacked that separation between rich and poor neighborhoods, which seems so anti-natural to me. The homes of those more wealthy [grande senhor], those of the lower bourgeois and of the manual workers existed […]

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April 2 – St. Francis of Paola and the Bartlett Pear

April 1, 2021

The Bartlett pear is called “The Good Christian” in France, after St. Francis of Paola introduced it ‘poire bon chretien’ (good Christian pear) “Said to have originated in Calabria in southern Italy, Bartletts probably were introduced to France by St. Francis of Paola. St. Francis brought a young tree as a gift for King Louis […]

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Every year, on Good Friday

April 1, 2021

Baldwin the Second, Emperor of Constantinople, having come to France to solicit the king’s aid against the Greeks, who were besieging that imperial city, thought he would gain the heart of King Louis by making him a present of the Holy Crown of Thorns. He was not mistaken: the king assisted with money and troops, […]

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April 3 – The man they trusted to collect the Crusader tax

April 1, 2021

St. Richard of Wyche Bishop and confessor, born about 1197 at Droitwich, Worcestershire, from which his surname is derived; died 3 April, 1253, at Dover. He was the second son of Richard and Alice de Wyche. His father died while he was still young and the family property fell into a state of great delapidation. […]

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April 3 – Pope Honorius IV

April 1, 2021

Pope Honorius IV (Giacomo Savelli) Born at Rome about 1210; died at Rome, 3 April, 1287. He belonged to the rich and influential family of the Savelli and was a grandnephew of Honorius III. Very little is known of his life before he ascended the papal throne. He studied at the University of Paris, during […]

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April 3 – English Catholic exile

April 1, 2021

John Martiall (or MARSHALL) Born in Worcestershire 1534, died at Lille, 3 April, 1597. He was one of the six companions associated with Dr. Allen in the foundation of the English College at Douai in 1568. He received his education at Winchester (1545-49) and New College, Oxford (1549-56), at which latter place, after a residence […]

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April 3 – How the Holy Cross converted a prostitute

April 1, 2021

St. Mary of Egypt Born probably about 344; died about 421. At the early age of twelve Mary left her home and came to Alexandria, where for upwards of seventeen years she led a life of public prostitution. At the end of that time, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast […]

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April 3 – Last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England

April 1, 2021

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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Easter in Imperial Russia: the Royal Doors

April 1, 2021

The time to arrive was about 11:30 p.m., when the great church, packed to its doors by a vast throng, was wrapped in almost total darkness…. As the eyes grew accustomed to the shadows, tens of thousands of unlighted candles, outlining the arches, cornices, and other architectural features of the cathedral, were just visible. These […]

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A king, a queen, and England’s Easter dilemma

April 1, 2021

When Finan died, leaving Bishop Coman—like himself, Irish by birth and a monk of Iona—as his successor at Lindisfarne, the dispute became at once open and general. Wilfrid had succeeded in sowing agitation and uncertainty in all minds; and the Northumbrians had come so far as to ask themselves whether the religion which had been […]

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April 4 – Patron Saint of Transitions

April 1, 2021

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

April 1, 2021

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

April 1, 2021

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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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 1, 2021

St. Vincent Ferrer Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419. He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled […]

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April 5 – St. Æthelburh and the Rose Named After Her

April 1, 2021

Saint Æthelburh (died 647), also known as Ethelburga, Ædilburh and Æthelburga (Old English: Æþelburh), was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. As she was a Christian from Kent, their marriage triggered the initial phase of the conversion of the pagan north of England to Christianity… Read more here.

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April 5 – St. Ruadhan

April 1, 2021

St. Ruadhan One of the twelve “Apostles of Erin”; died at the monastery of Lorrha, County Tipperary, Ireland, 5 April, 584. Ruadhan studied under Saint Finian of Clonard. His embassy to King Dermot at Tara, in 556, is worked into a romance known as the “Cursing of Tara”, but the ardri continued to reside at […]

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March 30 – St. John Climacus

March 29, 2021

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 29, 2021

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 29, 2021

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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April 1 – Precursor of Our Lady of Fatima

March 29, 2021

St. Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira (1360-1431) NUNO ÁLVARES PEREIRA was born in Portugal on 24th June 1360, most probably at Cernache do Bomjardin, illegitimate son of Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Hospitalier Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and prior of Crato and Donna Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his birth, […]

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April 1 – St. Hugh of Grenoble

March 29, 2021

Bishop and Confessor The first tincture of the mind is of the utmost importance to virtue; and it was the happiness of this saint to receive from his cradle the strongest impressions of piety by the example and care of his illustrious and holy parents. He was born at Chateau-neuf, in the territory of Valence […]

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April 1 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

March 29, 2021

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle… Read  more here.

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On Holy Thursday, King Saint Ferdinand washes the feet of twelve poor men

March 29, 2021

Lent passed, and Holy Week came. That year, the love of Christ inflamed the holy King’s heart more than ever. At times he would spend the whole night in contemplation of the sorrows that Our Lord suffered to redeem us; he slept so little that his nobles, worried, reached the point of telling him that […]

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Queen Mary washes the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday

March 29, 2021

… and on Holy Thursday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the most Serene Queen performed the ceremony of feet-washing, thus – Her Majesty being accompanied by the Right Reverend Legate and by the Council, entered a large hall, at the head of which was my Lord Bishop of Ely as Dean (come Decano) of […]

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Emperor serves the table of the poor and washes their feet in imitation of Christ

March 29, 2021

In 1850, Franz Joseph participated…as emperor in the second of the traditional Habsburg expressions of dynastic piety: the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony, part of the four-day court observance of Easter. The master of the staff and the court prelates chose twelve poor elderly men, transported them to the Hofburg, and positioned them in the ceremonial […]

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“Learn of Me to Sacrifice Your Life Rather Than Abandon Your Faith.”

March 25, 2021

Then followed the martyrdom of a valiant nobleman named Leo Xiquigemon; he was from Jonai, a city of the kingdom of Saxuma, and thirty-five years old. Since his baptism he could speak of nothing else but of God, and when his friends urged him to take part in their diversions, he answered that the present […]

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The Counter-Revolution and Militarism

March 25, 2021

[previous] 4. The Counter-Revolution and Militarism The counter-revolutionary must lament armed peace, hate unjust war, and deplore the arms race of our days. However, since he is under no illusion that peace will always reign, he considers the military class a necessity in this land of exile, and requests that it be shown all the […]

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March 26 – One of the distinguished men of his age

March 25, 2021

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 25, 2021

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 25, 2021

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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