November 15 – Martyred for God (and Money…)

November 12, 2020

Bl. Richard Whiting Last Abbot of Glastonbury and martyr, parentage and date of birth unknown, executed 15 Nov., 1539; was probably educated in the claustral school at Glastonbury, whence he proceeded to Cambridge, graduating as M.A. in 1483 and D.D. in 1505. If, as is probable, he was already a monk when he went to […]

Read the full article →

November 15 – St. Desiderius of Cahors

November 12, 2020

St. Desiderius of Cahors Bishop, born at Obrege (perhaps Antobroges, name of a Gaulish tribe), on the frontier of the Provincia Narbonnensis, of a noble Frankish family from Aquitaine, which possessed large estates in the territory of Albi; died 15 Nov., 655—though Krusch has called this date in question… Read more here.

Read the full article →

November 15 – Universal Doctor

November 12, 2020

St. Albert the Great Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called “the Great”, and “Doctor Universalis” (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and […]

Read the full article →

November 16 – Commissioned to preach the Sixth Crusade

November 12, 2020

St. Edmund Rich Archbishop of Canterbury, England, born 20 November, c. 1180, at Abingdon, six miles from Oxford; died 16 November, 1240, at Soissy, France. His early chronology is somewhat uncertain. His parents, Reinald (Reginald) and Mabel Rich, were remarkable for piety. It is said that his mother constantly wore hair-cloth, and attended almost every […]

Read the full article →

November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 12, 2020

St. Mechtilde (MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA). Benedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families, while here sister was the saintly and illustrious Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn… Read more […]

Read the full article →

November 16 – St. Margaret of Scotland: In the Middle Ages, the Marvelous Was Something Achievable

November 12, 2020

Saint Margaret of Scotland Commentaries made by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira … Sovereign and patroness of Scotland, 11th century. Although it is a very good intention to comment on the life of St. Margaret, at times one does not have the slightest biographical data on a saint. For lack of a better biography, I […]

Read the full article →

November 16 – St. Agnes of Assisi

November 12, 2020

St. Agnes of Assisi Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three […]

Read the full article →

Queen Elizabeth marks centenary of burial of the Unknown Warrior

November 9, 2020

According to ITV: This year marks the 100th anniversary of both the Tomb, inside Westminster Abbey, and the Cenotaph in Whitehall. The Queen laid a bouquet of orchids and myrtle flowers on the tomb which was based on her own wedding bouquet from 1947. All Royal brides since the Queen’s mother…have placed their wedding bouquet […]

Read the full article →

What is Remembrance Day?

November 9, 2020

According to the Royal Household: On the second Sunday of each November, The Queen leads the whole nation in remembering those who have died in world wars and other conflicts. In a ceremony at the Cenotaph, the focal point of the nation’s homage, Members of the Royal Family unite with others in thousands of similar […]

Read the full article →

Royal popularity: Harry and Meghan drop significantly

November 9, 2020

According to YouGov: The latest update to the YouGov Royal Favourability tracker sees Harry and Meghan’s scores reach their lowest point to date Harry strongly divides public opinion; 48% of adults have a positive impression…and 47% have a negative view, leaving him with a net score of 1. This represents a 19-point drop from March […]

Read the full article →

November 10 – Who Was the First Pope to Be Called “Great,” and Why?

November 9, 2020

Pope St. Leo I (the Great) Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. (Reigned 440-61). Leo’s pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity. At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in consequence of the hastening […]

Read the full article →

November 11 – Patron of Veterans and Soldiers

November 9, 2020

St. Martin of Tours Bishop; born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Pannonia (Hungary), about 316; died at Candes, Touraine, most probably in 397. In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him thither, and when he reached adolescence was, in […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Co-regent

November 9, 2020

Saint Cunibert (also Cunipert, or Kunibert) (c. 600 – 12 November c. 663) was the ninth Bishop of Cologne from 627 to his death. Contemporary sources only mention him between 627 and 643. Cunibert (also spelled ‘Honoberht’) was born somewhere along the Moselle to a family of the local Ripuarian Frankish aristocracy. He entered the church […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Fearless and Bold

November 9, 2020

St. Lebwin (LEBUINUS or LIAFWIN). Apostle of the Frisians and patron of Deventer, born in England of Anglo-Saxon parents at an unknown date; died at Deventer, Holland, about 770. Educated in a monastery and fired by the example of St. Boniface, St. Willibrord, and other great English missionaries, Lebwin resolved to dovote his life to […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Kidnapped, sold as a slave, ransomed by a bishop, and confidante of the emperor

November 9, 2020

St. Nilus (Neilos) Nilus the elder, of Sinai (died circa 430), was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. We know him first as a layman, married, with two sons. At this time he was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, and is said to have been one of […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Four years in Stalin’s concentration camp

November 9, 2020

Blessed Hryhorij Lakota Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church auxiliary bishop who suffered religious persecution and was martyred by the Soviet Government. Hryhorij Lakota was born 31 January 1893 in Holodivka, Lviv Oblast. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Przemyśl on 16 May 1926. On 9 June 1946, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, as […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Noble Ruthenian Stock

November 9, 2020

St. Josaphat Kuncevyc Martyr, born in the little town of Volodymyr in Lithuania (Volyn) in 1580 or — according to some writers — 1584; died at Vitebsk, Russia, 12 November, 1623. The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine […]

Read the full article →

November 12 – Constable of France: he fought his entire life and died in battle at age 74

November 9, 2020

Anne de Montmorency had proven many times before that his race does not degenerate and the brave blood of an illustrious line of ancestors flowed in his veins. Imperious, severe, of a stern mood, he had undeniable bravery and strict fidelity to his duty. Although success had not always been on a par with his […]

Read the full article →

A Muslim Emir Submits Seeing Godfrey of Bouillon Behead a Camel With One Stroke

November 5, 2020

The punishment fell once more on Heavy Lout. Tired of paying the price on behalf of a stronger or more skillful ally, but who, after having compromised him, never bothered to send him any help, Heavy Lout realized that there was nothing left to do but to submit with good cheer, to the law of […]

Read the full article →

Organic Society and Urbanism

November 5, 2020

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira This is the square of  Santa Maria Formosa in Venice. At the right is a small palace, of which only a part can be seen. In front of it is a wooden platform, probably placed there for some open-air theater presentation. The personages in the scene, who appear to have […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – Duchess d’Alençon

November 5, 2020

Blessed Margaret of Lorraine Duchess d’Alencon, religious of the order of Poor Clares, born in 1463 at the castle of Vaudémont (Lorraine); died at Argentan (Brittany) 2 November, 1521. The daughter of Ferri de Vaudimont and of Yolande d’Anjou, little Margaret became an orphan at an early age and was brought up at Aix-en-Provençe, by […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – We know nothing about him, except his miracles

November 5, 2020

St. Leonard of Limousin Nothing absolutely certain is known of his history, as his earliest “Life”, written in the eleventh century, has no historical value whatever. According to this extraordinary legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family of the time of King Clovis, and St. Remy of Reims was his godfather. After having secured […]

Read the full article →

November 6 – St. Winnoc

November 5, 2020

St. Winnoc Abbot or Prior of Wormhoult, died 716 or 717. Three lives of this saint are extant: the best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. St. Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Martyred in Mecca

November 5, 2020

Saint Ernest of Mecca Abbot of the abbey of Zwiefalten Died     1148 AD in Mecca Feast     November 7 Saint Ernest (died 1148) was the abbot of the Benedictine Zwiefalten Abbey at Zwiefalten, Germany during the 12th century. He participated in the Second Crusade fought by Christians between 1145 and 1149 to regain the […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – He Went on Crusade to Atone for His Sins

November 5, 2020

Saint Engelbert of Cologne Archbishop of that city (1216-1225); born at Berg, about 1185; died near Schwelm, 7 November 1225. His father was Engelbert, Count of Berg, his mother, Margaret, daughter of the Count of Gelderland. He studied at the cathedral school of Cologne and while still a boy was, according to an abuse of […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

November 5, 2020

Born     December 29, 1811, in Aitona, Lleida, Spain Died     20 March 1872, in Tarragona, Spain Beatified     April 24, 1988 Feast     November 7 Discalced Carmelite Spanish priest. He founded “The School of the Virtue” — which was a model of catechetical teaching for adult persons—at Barcelona. In 1860-61, he also founded a […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – Bl. Bernardine of Fossa

November 5, 2020

Bl. Bernardine of Fossa Of the Order of Friars Minor, historian and ascetical writer, b. at Fossa, in the Diocese of Aquila, Italy, in 1420; d. at Aquila, 27 November, 1503. Blessed Bernardine belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Amici, and sometimes bears the name of Aquilanus on account of his long […]

Read the full article →

November 7 – St. Willibrord and the Dancing Procession

November 5, 2020

St. Willibrord Bishop of Utrecht, Apostle of the Frisians, and son of St. Hilgis, born in Northumbria, 658; died at Echternach, Luxemburg, 7 Nov., 739. Willibrord made his early studies at the Abbey of Ripon near York, as a disciple of St. Wilfrid, and then entered the Benedictine Order. When twenty years old he went […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Saint Tysilio of Wales

November 5, 2020

Saint Tysilio (died 640) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar, son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor Iscoed and an ecclesiastic who took a prominent part in the affairs of Wales during the distressful period at the opening of the 7th century… Read […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Four Crowned Martyrs

November 5, 2020

Four Crowned Martyrs The old guidebooks to the tombs of the Roman martyrs make mention, in connection with the catacomb of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana, of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Quatuor Coronati), at whose grave the pilgrims were wont to worship (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 178-79). One of these itineraries, […]

Read the full article →

November 8 – Charlemagne sent him to his enemies

November 5, 2020

St. Willehad Bishop at Bremen, born in Northumberland before 745; died at Blecazze (Blexen) on the Weser, 8 Nov., 789. He was a friend of Alcuin, and probably received his education at York under St. Egbert. After his ordination, with the permission of King Alchred he was sent to Frisia between 765 and 774. He […]

Read the full article →

November 9 – He burned the pagan temple while out on bail

November 5, 2020

St. Theodore of Amasea Surnamed Tyro (Tiro), not because he was a young recruit, but because for a time he belonged to the Cohors Tyronum (Nilles, Kal. man., I, 105), called of Amasea from the place where he suffered martyrdom, and Euchaita from the place, Euchais, to which his body had been carried, and where […]

Read the full article →

November 9 – Patrick’s psalm-singer

November 5, 2020

St. Benignus Date of birth unknown; died 467, son of Sesenen, an Irish chieftain in that part of Ireland which is now County Meath. He was baptized by St. Patrick, and became his favorite disciple and his coadjutor in the See of Armagh (450). His gentle and lovable disposition suggested the name Benen, which has […]

Read the full article →

November 9 – Executed in Oxford, buried with the Templars

November 5, 2020

Ven. George Napper (Or Napier). English martyr, born at Holywell manor, Oxford, 1550; executed at Oxford 9 November, 1610. He was a son of Edward Napper (d. in 1558), sometime Fellow of All Souls College, by Anne, his second wife, daughter of John Peto, of Chesterton, Warwickshire, and niece of William, Cardinal Peto. He entered […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – Patron of hunting

November 2, 2020

St. Hubert Confessor, thirty-first Bishop of Maastricht, first Bishop of Liège, and Apostle of the Ardennes, born about 656; died at Fura (the modern Tervueren), Brabant, 30 May, 727 or 728. He was honored in the Middle Ages as the patron of huntsmen, and the healer of hydrophobia (rabies). He was the eldest son of […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – The Battle of Mentana

November 2, 2020

It was a dark and gloomy morning, pouring rain, when this little army of some five thousand men filed out of the Porta Pia in a colorful parade, Pius IX’s Swiss General Rafael de Courten’s papal troops leading and the French contingent bringing up the rear…. Famous since classical times as a suburban retreat some […]

Read the full article →

November 3 – Patron of Buckingham

November 2, 2020

St. Rumwold of Buckingham His father was king of Northumberland, his mother a daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians. He was born at Sutthun, and baptized by Widerin, a bishop, the holy priest Eadwold being his godfather. He died very young on the 3rd of November and was buried in Sutthun by Eadwold. The […]

Read the full article →

November 4 – Fearless and Faithful, He Reformed the Church

November 2, 2020

St. Charles Borromeo Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV, and one of the chief factors in the Catholic Counter-Reformation , was born in the Castle of Arona, a town on the southern shore of the Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, 2 October, 1538; died […]

Read the full article →

November 4 – Her gentleness changed his heart

November 2, 2020

Bl. Frances d’Amboise Duchess of Brittany, afterwards Carmelite nun, born 1427; died at Nantes, 4 Nov., 1485. The daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, she was betrothed when only four years old, to Peter, second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, the marriage being solemnized when she had reached the age of fifteen. […]

Read the full article →

November 5 – Her name means “God is an oath”

November 2, 2020

St. Elizabeth (God is an oath—Ex., vi, 23) Zachary’s wife and John the Baptist’s mother, was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke, i, 5), and, at the same time, Mary’s kinswoman (Luke, i, 36), although what their actual relationship was, is unknown. St. Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) explains that Sobe and […]

Read the full article →

St. Louis Proves Them Wrong

October 29, 2020

St. Louis, King of France, used to hear two Masses every Day, sometimes even three or four. Some of his courtiers murmured at this, but the King gave them a sharp reprimand, saying: “If I were to ask you to play, or to go hunting with me three or four times a day, you would […]

Read the full article →

Beautiful and Sublime, Sacred and Sacral

October 29, 2020

Sublimity is a beauty that is outside of human proportions; it is the beauty of sacrality. Sublimity is the aspect of people and things by which they are most similar to God. The sublime is the terminal point of everything that is quality. Sublimity is the oxygen of the soul! Contemplation is observation imbibed with […]

Read the full article →

October 30 – Patroness of the Teutonic Knights

October 29, 2020

St. Dorothea of Montau, recluse, born at Montau, 6 February, 1347, died at Marienwerder, 25 June, 1394. At the age of seventeen she married the sword-cutler Albrecht of Danzig, a hot-tempered man, whose nature underwent a change through her humility and gentleness. Both made frequent pilgrimages to Cologne, Aachen, and Einsiedeln, and they intended (1390) […]

Read the full article →

October 30 – St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr

October 29, 2020

St. Marcellus the Centurion, Martyr The birthday of the emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298, with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity… Read more here.

Read the full article →

October 31 – He forced the devil to build a church

October 29, 2020

St. Wolfgang Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period […]

Read the full article →

November 1 – For saving her people, she was made their judge

October 29, 2020

Deborah the Prophetess (also known as Debbora the Judge, Deborah the Matriarch) Prophetess and judge: she was the wife of Lapidoth and was endowed by God with prophetic gifts which secured for her the veneration of the divided Israelitic tribes and gave her great authority over them. Her wisdom was first displayed in settling litigious […]

Read the full article →

November 1 – Warrior bishop

October 29, 2020

St. Genesius (of Lyons) (Or GENESTUS.) Thirty-seventh Archbishop of Lyons, d. 679. Feast, 1 November. He was a native of France, not of Arabia or Armenia as is sometimes stated and became a religious and abbot (not of Fontenelle, but) attached to the court and camp of Clovis II where he acted as chief almoner […]

Read the full article →

All Saints’ Day: How many saints were noble?

October 29, 2020

All Saints’ Day: Is Being Noble and Leading a Noble’s Life Incompatible with Sanctity? by Plinio Correa de Oliveira The current misunderstanding of nobility and the analogous traditional elites results largely from the adroit but biased propaganda spread against them by the French Revolution. Such propaganda, continuously disseminated throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by […]

Read the full article →

November 2 – His mother celebrated his death as if it were a wedding

October 29, 2020

Blessed John Bodey Martyr, born at Wells, Somerset: 1549; died at Andover, Wilts., 2 November, 1583. He studied at Winchester and New College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1568. In June, 1576, he was deprived, with seven other Fellows, by the Visitor, Horne, Protestant Bishop of Winchester. Next year he went to […]

Read the full article →

The Institution Of All Souls’ Day

October 29, 2020

It was St. Odilo of Cluny who first appointed one day every year to be set aside in a special manner for prayer for the faithful departed. It happened that a certain religious belonging to France was returning home from Palestine, where he had gone to visit the places consecrated by the foot steps of […]

Read the full article →

In the name of equality, Princess Amalia, and 100,000 other Dutch girls, get drafted

October 26, 2020

According to Dutch News: Some 100,000 17-year old girls in the Netherlands will be receiving their call up papers this week, informing them they are now eligible for military service should it be required. They can be called up at any time if the Netherlands goes to war with another country before they turn 45. […]

Read the full article →

October 27 – Apostle of Africa

October 26, 2020

Sts. Edesius and Frumentius Tyrian Greeks of the fourth century, probably brothers, who introduced Christianity into Abyssinia; the latter a saint and first Bishop of Axum, styled the Apostle of Abyssinia, d. about 383. When still mere boys they accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Abyssinia. When their ship stopped at one of […]

Read the full article →

October 27 – The Christian King Who Invaded Arabia

October 26, 2020

St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor The Axumite Ethiopians, whose dominions were extended from the western coast of the Red Sea, very far on the continent, were in the sixth century a powerful and flourishing nation. St. Elesbaan their king, during the reign of Justin the Elder, in all his actions and designs had no […]

Read the full article →

October 28 – Saint, Soldier, Statesman

October 26, 2020

Saint Alfred the Great In this incomparable prince were united the saint, the soldier, and the statesman in a most eminent degree. Sir Henry Spelman (Conc. Brit.) gives us his character in a rapture. “O, Alfred,” says he, “the wonder and astonishment of all ages! If we reflect on his piety and religion, it would […]

Read the full article →

October 28 – Uncommon Valor

October 26, 2020

Col. John W. Ripley: Uncommon Valor By Jeremias Wells When a society no longer respects and honors the fighting men willing to shed their blood for its principles, the fault lies not with the fighting men but with society itself. Ingratitude is a subtle vice, but a vice nevertheless. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that a […]

Read the full article →

October 29 – One of the Martyrs of Douai

October 26, 2020

Blessed Edward Waterson Born at London; martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7 January 1594 (1593 old style). A romantic episode marks this martyr’s early career, for as a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants, and attracted the attention of a wealthy Turk, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would embrace […]

Read the full article →

October 29 – King turned monk, his people begged him to lead them in battle against Penda

October 26, 2020

Saint Sigebert King and martyr, date of birth unknown; died about 637, was the stepbrother of Earpwald, king of the East Angles. During the reign of Redwald he lived an exile in Gaul where he received baptism and became an ardent Christian. Earpwald died about 627, and East Anglia seems to have relapsed into anarchy […]

Read the full article →

Nobleman Paul Xiquibu Receives the Palm of Martyrdom

October 22, 2020

On the same day there was also executed a highly distinguished young lord named Paul Xiquibu, a great friend of Yemondono. The governor having notified him the previous evening to prepare himself, he sent his thanks to him. After midnight an emissary arrived, with orders to behead him when the sun should rise. Paul began […]

Read the full article →

My Old Acquaintance, The Unimaginable

October 22, 2020

Whenever I see the façade of the Cathedral of Cologne, in the depths of my soul I perceive the encounter of two seemingly contradictory impressions. On one hand, it is a reality so beautiful that, if I didn’t know it [personally], I wouldn’t be capable of dreaming of it. But, on the other hand, something […]

Read the full article →

October 23 – The amazing story of San Juan Capistrano and the Siege of Belgrade

October 22, 2020

St. John of Capistrano Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456. His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →