October 26 – Bl. Celina Chludzińska v. Borzęcka

October 22, 2020

 (1833-1913) Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection Celine Chludzinska Borzecka was born on 29 October 1833 in Antowil, Orsza (formerly Polish territory, today Belarus), to Ignatius and Petronella Chludzinski, whose families were wealthy landowners. One of three children, she grew up in an environment of sound Catholic and patriotic traditions, and […]

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Princess Benedikte attended events held for the 75th anniversary of Denmark’s liberation

October 19, 2020

According to New My Royals, On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Denmark’s liberation, Princess Benedikte of Denmark attended a…wreath-laying ceremony at Hvidsten Inn. In 1943, Hvidsten Inn became the center for the Hvidsten group, which was part of the Danish resistance movement. Hvidsten group was arrested by the Gestapo, the secret German police, […]

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Japan to hold proclamation ceremonies for Crown Prince in November

October 19, 2020

According to Royal Central, There had been much debate on when the ceremonies would take place due to the pandemic, but the government decided they could take place in November after being postponed from April. The “Rikkoshi no rei” ceremonies will officially proclaim Fumihito as the first in line to the throne. Fumihito is the […]

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October 20 – Emperor Marcian

October 19, 2020

Marcian (Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457. He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan […]

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October 21 – Hammer of Muslim invaders

October 19, 2020

Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only […]

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October 21 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 19, 2020

(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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October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 19, 2020

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might […]

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October 22 – St. Wendelin of Trier

October 19, 2020

St. Wendelin of Trier Born about 554; died probably in 617. His earliest biographies, two in Latin and two in German, did not appear until after 1417. Their narrative is the following: Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king; after a piously spent youth he secretly left his home on a pilgrimage to Rome. […]

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Almsgiving of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

October 15, 2020

During Lent we recall the duties of every Christian to apply themselves more fervently to almsgiving. In pre-revolutionary France it was for the King and the Queen to give an example to everyone else in this regard. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette took this duty seriously and throughout their reign did what they could to help […]

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Medieval Chansons de Geste Were Not Just Epics, but Popular Catechisms

October 15, 2020

The epic poems—our chansons de geste—German in their origin are Christian in their object. They are more—they are the most ancient popular poems, which we can consult upon the doctrines of the Christian religion! No doubt, they are not theological works, and their authors were not clerics, but they are spontaneous in the best sense […]

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October 16 – Duchess and saint

October 15, 2020

St. Hedwig Duchess of Silesia, born about 1174, at the castle of Andechs; died at Trebnitz, 12 or 15 October, 1243. She was one of eight children born to Berthold IV, Count of Andechs and Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia. Of her four brothers, two became bishops, Ekbert of Bamberg, and Berthold of Aquileia; Otto […]

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October 16 – Marie Antoinette

October 15, 2020

Queen of France. Born at Vienna, 2 November, 1755; executed in Paris, 16 October, 1793. She was the youngest daughter of Francis I, German Emperor, and of Maria Theresa. The marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was one of the last acts of Choiseul’s policy; but the Dauphiness from the first shared the unpopularity […]

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October 16 – Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 15, 2020

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. […]

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October 16 – Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 15, 2020

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians: A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Habsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make up the […]

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October 16 – St. Bercharius

October 15, 2020

St. Bercharius (BERERUS). Abbot of Hautvillers in Champagne, b. 636; d. 28 March, 696. Descended from a distinguished Aquitanian family, he received his instruction from St. Nivard (Nivo), Archbishop of Reims, under whose charge he advaneed rapidly in virtue and learning. Believing himself called to the sacred ministry, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil under […]

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October 17 – Leadership means self-sacrifice

October 15, 2020

St. Ignatius of Antioch Also called Theophorus (ho Theophoros); born in Syria, around the year 50; died at Rome between 98 and 117. More than one of the earliest ecclesiastical writers have given credence, though apparently without good reason, to the legend that Ignatius was the child whom the Savior took up in His arms, […]

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October 17 – The Battle of Cholet

October 15, 2020

The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d’Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; […]

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October 18 – The day that sparked the Crusades

October 15, 2020

Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre On October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, orders for the complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection, were carried out. The measures against the church were part of a more general campaign against Christian places […]

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October 18 – Adopted nobility

October 15, 2020

Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini). B. at Siena, 29 May, 1439; elected 22 Sept., 1503; d. in Rome, 18 Oct., 1503, after a pontificate of four weeks. Piccolomini was the son of a sister of Pius II. He had passed his boyhood in destitute circumstances when his uncle took him into his household, bestowed […]

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October 19 – Founding Fathers

October 15, 2020

St. Isaac Jogues French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at […]

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October 19 – Prayer was his crime

October 15, 2020

Saint Philip Howard Martyr, Earl of Arundel; born at Arundel House, London, 28 June 1557, died in the Tower of London, 19 October, 1595. He was the grandson of Henry, Earl of Surrey, the poet, executed by Henry VIII in 1547, and son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk executed by Elizabeth 1572. Philip II of […]

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October 19 – Barefoot from Spain to Rome

October 15, 2020

St. Peter of Alcántara Born at Alcántara, Spain, 1499; died 18 Oct., 1562. His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the University […]

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October 13 – King Confessor

October 12, 2020

St. Edward the Confessor Saint, King of England, born in 1003; died January 5, 1066. He was the son of Ethelred II and Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, being thus half-brother to King Edmund Ironside, Ethelred’s son by his first wife, and to King Hardicanute, Emma’s son by her second marriage with Canute. […]

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October 13 – They denounced the religion of Mahomet

October 12, 2020

St. Daniel and Companions Friars Minor and martyrs; dates of birth unknown; died 10 October, 1227. The martyrdom of St. Berard and his companions in 1219 had inflamed many of the religious of the Order of Friars Minor with the desire of preaching the Gospel in heathen lands; and in 1227, the year following St. […]

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October 15 – Interior Castle

October 12, 2020

St. Teresa of Avila Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582. The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda by his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when the saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa […]

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October 15 – Casimir Pulaski

October 12, 2020

Casimir Pulaski Patriot and soldier, born at Winiary, Poland, 4 March, 1748; died on the Wasp, in the harbour of Savannah, 11 Oct., 1779; eldest son of Count Joseph Pulaski and Maria Zislinska. His father, a noted jurist, reared him for the bar, and he received his military training, as a youth, in the guard […]

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October 15 – Second Apostle of the Prussians

October 12, 2020

St. Bruno of Querfurt (Also called BRUN and BONIFACE). Second Apostle of the Prussians and martyr, born about 970; died 14 February, 1009. He is generally represented with a hand cut off, and is commemorated on 15 October. Bruno was a member of the noble family of Querfurt and is commonly said to have been […]

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Godfrey of Bouillon’s Austerity Shocks Visiting Muslim Emirs

October 8, 2020

At this time, Muslim emirs from the mountains of Samaria came down to the Christian camp. They brought gifts for the king of Jerusalem, but their real purpose was to assess his forces. They found the hero sitting on a bale of straw at the back of a humble tent. “How is this?” they asked […]

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The Marvelous, the Real, and the Horrendous in Children’s Literature

October 8, 2020

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Stories, it is well known, provide children with their first contact with life. Through them, a child’s intelligence crosses the boundaries of the home environment to become acquainted with the basic concepts about human society, its countless vicissitudes, its attractions, the duties it imposes, the disillusionments it carries, and the […]

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October 9 – Superb and valiant knight

October 8, 2020

Baron Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie Born at Nantes, 3 Sept., 1832; died at Basse-Motte (Ille-et-Vilaine), 9 Oct., 1911. His father was a nephew of the famous General Charette who was shot at Nantes, 29 March, 1795, during the rising of the Vendee. His mother, Louise, Countess de Vierzon, was the daughter of the Duc […]

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October 9 – Royal penitent

October 8, 2020

Bl. Gunther A hermit in Bohemia in the eleventh century; born about 955; died at Hartmanitz, Bohemia, 9 Oct., 1045. The son of a noble family, he was a cousin of St. Stephen, the King of Hungary, and is numbered among the ancestors of the princely house of Schwarzburg. He passed the earlier of his […]

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October 9 – Even in his lifetime his reputation was for great holiness and miraculous powers

October 8, 2020

St. John Twenge Canon regular, Prior of St. Mary’s, Bridlington, born near the town, 1319; died at Bridlington, 1379. He was of the Yorkshire family Twenge, which family in Reformation days supplied two priest-martyrs and was also instrumental in establishing the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bar Convent, York. John completed his studies […]

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October 9 – St. Louis Bertrand

October 8, 2020

St. Louis Bertrand Born at Valencia, Spain, 1 Jan., 1526; died 9 Oct., 1581. His parents were Juan Bertrand and Juana Angela Exarch. Through his father he was related to the illustrious St. Vincent Ferrer, the great thaumaturgus of the Dominican Order. The boyhood of the saint was unattended by any of the prodigies that […]

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October 10 – How to overcome bad ancestry

October 8, 2020

St. Francis Borgia (also known as Francisco de Borja y Aragon), born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry… Read more here.

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October 10 – St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

October 8, 2020

St. Paulinus Archbishop of York, died at Rochester, 10 October, 644. He was a Roman monk in St. Andrew’s monastery at Rome, and was sent by St. Gregory the Great in 601, with St. Mellitus and others, to help St. Augustine and to carry the pallium to him. He laboured in Kent — with the […]

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October 11 – Model Archduke, both spiritual and temporal

October 8, 2020

St. Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne Bruno the Great (or Bruno I) (925–965) was Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, from 953 until his death, and Duke of Lotharingia from 954. He was the brother of Otto I, king of Germany and later Holy Roman Emperor. Bruno was the youngest son of Henry the Fowler and […]

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

October 8, 2020

Pope Boniface VIII (BENEDETTO GAETANO) Born at Anagni about 1235; died at Rome, 11 October, 1303. Benedetto Cardinal Gaetano strongly advised Pope Celestine V to issue a constitution, either before or simultaneously with his abdication, declaring the legality of a papal resignation and the competency of the College of Cardinals to accept it. Ten days […]

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

October 8, 2020

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 8, 2020

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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Why celebrate Columbus Day?

October 8, 2020

Columbus and Divine Providence by Jeremias Wells Christopher Columbus certainly ranks as one of the greatest men of achievement the world has ever known, and also justly one of the most renowned, for the entire history of Europeans in America originated from his vision, religious sense and adventurous spirit. As can be expected in a […]

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Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

October 8, 2020

When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on October 12, 1492–a feat that earned for him the title of Admiral of the Indies and for his grandson Louis and his descendants in perpetuity the noble title of Duke of Veragua–he introduced into the Americas the greatest treasure possible: the Catholic Faith… Read more here.

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Who Was Christopher Columbus, and Why Is He Important?

October 8, 2020

Christopher Columbus (Italian CRISTOFORO COLOMBO; Spanish CRISTOVAL COLON.) Born at Genoa, or on Genoese territory, probably 1451; died at Valladolid, Spain, 20 May 1506. His family was respectable, but of limited means, so that the early education of Columbus was defective. Up to his arrival in Spain (1485) only one date has been preserved. His […]

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

October 5, 2020

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 5, 2020

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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October 7 – How the Rosary saved Christendom

October 5, 2020

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary by Jeremias Wells Here is but a small fraction of the victories directly obtained from God through the Holy Rosary: The Battle of Lepanto which saved Rome and Vienna, and thus the Pope and the Emperor, from Moslem subjugation The deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski The victory […]

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

October 5, 2020

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 5, 2020

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… Read more here.

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Thibault V, King of Navarre, Stops Writing Love Songs and Composes New Ones Urging Men to Join the Sixth Crusade

October 1, 2020

Thibault V, count of Champagne and king of Navarre, son of Thibault, who died before the fifth crusade, undertook to discharge the vow his father had made to the Church and to Christ. The king of Navarre was celebrated among knights and among troubadours; his muse, which had sung profane loves, now gave voice to […]

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The Peacock, the Chicken, and the Anti-egalitarian Universe God Created

October 1, 2020

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira An anti-egalitarian consideration of the universe manifests to us that it is a veritable court of unequal nobles. Some are nobler because they have more nobility in their very being, while others are less noble because they have less nobility in their being. Someone may ask, “Can you give an […]

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October 2 – The Holy Guardian Angels

October 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

(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 1, 2020

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 – Military turned monk

October 1, 2020

St. Gérard, Abbot of Brogne Born at Staves in the county of Namur, towards the end of the ninth century; died at Brogne or St-Gérard, 3 Oct. 959. The son of Stance, of the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia, and of Plectrude, sister of Stephen, Bishop of Liège, the young Gérard, like most men […]

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

October 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

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 1, 2020

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 – St. Galla

October 1, 2020

A Roman widow of the sixth century; feast, 5 October. According to St. Gregory the Great (Dial. IV, ch. xiii) she was the daughter of the younger Symmachus, a learned and virtuous patrician of Rome, whom Theodoric had unjustly condemned to death (525). Becoming a widow before the end of the first year of her […]

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