August 12 – St. Jane Frances de Chantal

August 10, 2020

Born at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641. Her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy, and leader of the royalist party during the League that brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry IV. In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, and lived in […]

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August 13 – The Pope Who Resigned

August 10, 2020

Pope St. Pontian Dates of birth and death unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” (ed. Duchesne, I, 145) gives Rome as his native city and calls his father Calpurnius. With him begins the brief chronicle of the Roman bishops of the third century, of which the author of the Liberian Catalogue of the popes made use in […]

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August 13 – The antipope who became a saint

August 10, 2020

Hippolytus, Saint, Martyr. St. Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope; date of birth unknown; died about 236. Until the publication in 1851 of the recently discovered “Philosophumena”, it was impossible to obtain any definite authentic facts concerning Hippolytus of Rome and his life from the conflicting statements about him, as follows: Eusebius says that he […]

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August 13 – Crusader nun

August 10, 2020

Bl. Gertrude of Aldenberg Abbess of the Premonstratensian convent of Aldenberg, near Wetzlar, in the Diocese of Trier; born about 1227, died 13 August, 1297. She was the youngest of three children of Louis VI, margrave of Thuringia, and his wife St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Gertrude’s father died on his way to the Holy Land […]

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August 13 – The Ottomans lived in fear of this Capuchin

August 10, 2020

Blessed Mark of Aviano (1631–1699) Capuchin friar. His baptismal name was Carlo Domenico Cristofori, his birthplace Aviano, a small community in the Republic of Venice (Italy). From an early age, he felt attracted to a life of devotion and martyrdom. Educated at the Jesuit College in Gorizia, at 16 he tried to reach the island […]

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August 13 – St. Maximus of Constantinople

August 10, 2020

St. Maximus of Constantinople Known as the Theologian and as Maximus Confessor, born at Constantinople about 580; died in exile 13 August, 662. He is one of the chief names in the Monothelite controversy one of the chief doctors of the theology of the Incarnation and of ascetic mysticism, and remarkable as a witness to […]

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Queen Elizabeth marks her 25,000th day on the UK throne

August 6, 2020

According to the Corporate Dispatch: In 2015, the sovereign became the longest reigning British Monarch in history, overtaking a record previously set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who sat on the throne for 63 years and 216 days. Queen Victoria presided over Britain as monarch for 23,226 days… On Saturday July 18, Queen Elizabeth II […]

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James, Japan’s Noble Four-Year-Old Martyr

August 6, 2020

On the same day his cousin, by the name of Balthasar, superintendent of the royal treasury, obtained the same crown. He had also been despoiled of his property and exiled from the kingdom on account of his faith, and it was also in the place of exile where it was announced to him that he […]

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The Squire Was Usually Dubbed a Knight at Twenty-One

August 6, 2020

At what age were the youths admitted to the eighth sacrament? There is no doubt that there existed some connection between the arrival at “majority,” and the period at which one could be dubbed knight. But the time when the youth attained his majority varied. Amongst German tribes it varied. With the Salians it was […]

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August 7 – St. Cajetan

August 6, 2020

St. Cajetan (GAETANO.) Nobleman of the dynasties of Da Porto and Thiene of Vicenza, Italy. Founder of the Theatines, born October, 1480 at Vicenza in Venetian territory; died at Naples in 1547. Under the care of a pious mother he passed a studious and exemplary youth, and took his degree as doctor utriusque juris at […]

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August 7 – Pope St. Sixtus II

August 6, 2020

Pope St. Sixtus II (XYSTUS) Elected 31 Aug., 257, martyred at Rome, 6 Aug., 258. His origin is unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” says that he was a Greek by birth, but this is probably a mistake, originating from the false assumption that he was identical with a Greek philosopher of the same name, who was […]

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August 7 – Octogenarian martyr

August 6, 2020

Ven. Nicholas Postgate English martyr, b. at Kirkdale House, Egton, Yorkshire, in 1596 or 1597; d. at York, 7 August, 1679. He entered Douay College, 11 July, 1621, took the college oath, 12 March, 1623, received minor orders, 23 December, 1624, the subdiaconate, 18 December, 1827, the diaconate, 18 March, 1628, and the priesthood two […]

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August 7 – The Emperor who considered Christianity a crime worthy of death

August 6, 2020

Trajan Emperor of Rome (A.D. 98-117), b. at Italica Spain, 18 September, 53; d. 7 August, 117. He was descended from an old Roman family, and was adopted in 97 by the Emperor Nerva. Trajan was one of the ablest of the Roman emperors; he was stately and majestic in appearance, had a powerful will, […]

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August 7 – Opponent of Gregory VII

August 6, 2020

Henry IV German King and Roman Emperor, son of Henry III and Agnes of Poitou, b. at Goslar, 11 November, 1050; d. at Liège, 7 August, 1108. The power and resources of the empire left behind by Conrad II, which Henry III had already materially weakened, were still further impaired by the feebleness of the […]

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August 7 – Three martyrs of Lancaster

August 6, 2020

Ven. Edward Bamber (Alias Reading). Priest and martyr, b. at the Moor, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire; executed at Lancaster 7 August, 1646. Educated at the English College, Valladolid, he was ordained and sent to England. On landing at Dover, he knelt down to thank God, which act, observed by the Governor of the Castle, was the cause […]

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August 8 – He told his king that anyone who betrays Jesus could betray their king

August 6, 2020

St. Hormisdas (Martyred c. 420) Isdegerdes, king of Persia, renewed the persecution which Cosroes II had raised against the church. It is not easy, says Theodoret, to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the disciples of Christ. Some were flayed alive, others had the skin torn from off their backs only, […]

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August 8 – The Rosary is really a weapon

August 6, 2020

St. Dominic Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221. His parents, Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, undoubtedly belonged to the nobility of Spain, though probably neither was connected with the reigning house of Castile, as some of […]

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August 8 – He gloried in his crime

August 6, 2020

Bl. John Felton Martyr, date and place of birth unknown, was executed in St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, 8 August, 1570, for having, about eleven o’clock at night on the previous 24 May, affixed a copy of the Bull of St. Pius V excommunicating the queen to the gates of the Bishop of London’s palace near […]

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August 8 – They hated him because he enforced celibacy of the clergy

August 6, 2020

Bl. Altmann The friend of Gregory VII and Anselm, conspicuous in the contest of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, as Bishop of Passau and Papal Legate. He was born at Paderborn about the beginning of the eleventh century, presided over the school there, was chaplain at the court of Henry III, and then became Bishop of […]

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August 8 – Missionary in the court of the Chinese Emperor

August 6, 2020

Pierre-Martial Cibot Missionary, born at Limoges, France, 14 August, 1727; died at Peking, China, 8 August, 1780. He entered the Society of Jesus 7 November, 1743, and taught humanities with much success. He was sent to China at his own request 7 March, 1758, and arrived at Macao 25 July, 1759, whence he reached Peking […]

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August 8 – Princes, prelates, and priests revealed their consciences to him

August 6, 2020

Bl. Peter Faber Born 13 April, 1506, at Villaret, Savoy; died 1 Aug., 1546, in Rome. As a child he tended his father’s sheep during the week, and on Sunday he taught catechism to other children. The instinctive knowledge of his vocation as an apostle inspired him with a desire to study. At first he […]

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August 9 – Pope St. Victor I

August 6, 2020

Pope St. Victor I (189-198 or 199), date of birth unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” makes him a native of Africa and gives his father the name of Felix. This authority, taking the “Liberian Catalogue” as its basis, gives the years 186-197 as the period of Victor’s episcopate. The Armenian text of the “Chronicle” of Eusebius […]

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August 10 – His sister founded the Conceptionists

August 6, 2020

Blessed João Mendes de Silva Better known as Amadeus of Portugal, O.F.M., (1420–1482), was a Portuguese nobleman who became first a monk, then left that life to become a friar of the Franciscan Order. Later he became a reformer of that Order, which led to his founding of a distinct branch of the Friars Minor […]

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August 10 – Defiant under torture, he inspires noble souls until today

August 6, 2020

St. Lawrence Martyr; died 10 August, 258. St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church, was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus II and many other members of the Roman clergy. At the beginning of the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, […]

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August 4 – Carthusian Martyrs: The Lone Survivor

August 3, 2020

May 4 – First Group of Carthusian Martyrs June 19 – Second Group of Carthusian Martyrs May-June – Third and Fourth Groups August 4 – The Lone Survivor For some reason Brother William Horne was kept alive. Refusing to abandon his religious habit, he was not attainted till 1540, when he was hanged, disembowelled, and […]

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August 4 – St. Eleutherius

August 3, 2020

St. Eleutherius (Fr. Eleutière), Bishop of Tournai at the beginning of the sixth century. Historically there is very little known about St. Eleutherius, but he was without doubt the first Bishop of Tournai. Theodore, whom some give as his immediate predecessor, was either a bishop of Tours, whose name was placed by mistake on the […]

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August 5 – Our Lady of the Snow

August 3, 2020

(“Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ ad Nives”). A feast celebrated on 5 August to commemorate the dedication of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The church was originally built by Pope Liberius (352-366) and was called after him “Basilica Liberii” or “Liberiana”. It was restored by Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-440) […]

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August 5 – St. Oswald

August 3, 2020

St. Oswald King and martyr; born, probably, 605; died 5 Aug., 642; the second of seven brothers, sons of Ethelfrid, who was grandson of Ida, founder of the Kingdom of Northumbria in 547. Oswald’s mother was Acha, daughter of Ella or Alla, who, after Ida’s death, had seized Deira and thus separated it from the […]

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August 5 – Valor in a King

August 3, 2020

St. Oswald of Northumbria, King and Martyr The English Saxon kingdom of Northumbria was founded by Ida in 547. After his death the northern part called Bernicia was preserved by his children; but Deira, that is, the southern part, comprising Yorkshire and Lancashire, was occupied by Ælla or Alla, and after his death was recovered […]

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August 6 – He told his assassins “God does not die!”

August 3, 2020

Garcia Moreno Ecuadorean patriot and statesman; born at Guayaquil, 24 December, 1821; assassinated at Quito, 6 August, 1875. His father, Gabriel García Gomez, a native of Villaverde, in Old Castile, had been engaged in commerce at Callao before removing to Guayaquil, where he married Dona Mercedes Moreno, the mother of the future Ecuadorean martyr president. […]

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August 6 – Garcia Moreno: Heroic President of Ecuador

August 3, 2020

by José Maria dos Santos Gabriel Garcia Moreno, heroic President of Ecuador, assassinated for his Faith and Christian Charity. Manly Catholic of intransigent principles, slain by the enemies of the Faith because of his consistency and courage in defense of the Church and Papacy Gabriel Garcia Moreno was born in Guayaquil, in southern Ecuador on […]

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August 6 – Noble widower made pope

August 3, 2020

Pope St. Hormisdas Date of birth unknown, elected to the Holy See, 514; died at Rome, 6 August, 523. This able and sagacious pontiff belonged to a wealthy and honourable family of Frosinone (Frusino) in the Campagna di Roma (Latium). Before receiving higher orders he had been married; his son became pope under the name […]

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A Good Son Saves His Noble Parents From Great Peril

July 30, 2020

All “infants” had not the impudence of Roland. Some of them at the age of twelve were already grave and steady, and regarded life in its true light. I do not wish to close the few pages which I have devoted to the virtues of our budding knights without having traced, rapidly, a portrait of […]

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Wrong Attitudes In Face Of The Revolution’s Slogans

July 30, 2020

[previous] A. Ignoring Revolutionary Slogans The counter-revolutionary effort must not be bookish. In other words, it cannot content itself with dialectics against the Revolution at a purely scientific, academic level. While recognizing the great, even very great, importance of this level, the Counter-Revolution must habitually keep its sights trained on the Revolution as thought, felt, […]

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July 31 – Soldier of Jesus

July 30, 2020

St. Ignatius Loyola Youngest son of Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda. Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556. The saint was baptized Iñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña: the name Ignatius was assumed […]

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July 31 – St. Germain

July 30, 2020

St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles […]

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July 31 – St. Helen of Sköfde

July 30, 2020

St. Helen of Sköfde Martyr in the first half of the twelfth century. Her feast is celebrated 31 July. Her life (Acta SS., July, VII, 340) is ascribed to St. Brynolph, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden (d. 1317). She was of noble family and is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Jarl […]

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August 1 – Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity

July 30, 2020

Faith, Hope and Charity, Saints, the names of two groups of Roman martyrs around whom a considerable amount of legendary lore has gathered; though the extent of sound historical data possessed concerning them is so slight, that until very recent times the most eminent scholars failed to distinguish between them. However, the extent and antiquity […]

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August 1 – From impoverished Neapolitan nobility to Doctor of the Church

July 30, 2020

St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de’ Pagani, 1 August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. […]

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August 1 – Saint Ethelwold

July 30, 2020

Saint Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester. Born born there of good parentage in the early years of the tenth century; died August 1, 984. After a youth spent at the court of King Athelstan, Ethelwold placed himself under Elphege the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, who gave him the tonsure and ordained him priest along with Dunstan. […]

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August 2 – St. Pierre-Julien Eymard

July 30, 2020

St. Pierre-Julien Eymard Founder of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, and of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, born at La Mure d’Isere, Diocese of Grenoble, France, February 4, 1811; died there August 1, 1868. From early childhood he gave evidence of great holiness and most tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. In 1829, […]

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August 2 – Legate to the Emperor laden with responsibilities and threats

July 30, 2020

Saint Eusebius Bishop of Vercelli, born in Sardinia circa 283; died at Vercelli, Piedmont, August 1, 371. He was made lector in Rome, where he lived some time, probably as a member, or head, of a religious community (Spreitzenhofer, Die Entwickelung des alten Monchtums in Italien, Vienna, 1894, 14 sq.). Later he came to Vercellae, […]

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August 2 – Resisted the Emperor’s demand

July 30, 2020

Pope Severinus The date of his birth is not known. He was consecrated seemingly on 28 May, 640, and died 2 Aug., 640. Severinus, a Roman and the son of Abienus, was elected as usual on the third day after the death of his predecessor, and envoys were at once sent to Constantinople, to obtain […]

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August 3 – The day the bishop cursed his country

July 30, 2020

On August 3, 1941, Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen informed his listeners in a third sermon about the continued desecration of Catholic churches, the closing of convents and monasteries, and the deportation and murder of mentally ill people (who were sent to undisclosed destinations), while a notice was sent to family members stating that […]

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August 3 – Secretive Leader

July 30, 2020

St. Nicodemus A prominent Jew of the time of Christ, mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus (Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent […]

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July 28 – St. Samson

July 27, 2020

St. Samson Bishop and confessor, born in South Wales; died 28 July, 565 (?). The date of his birth is unknown. His parents whose names are given as Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwynedd, were of noble, but not royal, birth. While still an infant he was dedicated to God and entrusted to the […]

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July 28 – Nepotism Sometimes Bears Good Fruit

July 27, 2020

Pope Victor II (GEBHARD, COUNT OF CALW, TOLLENSTEIN, AND HIRSCHBERG.) Born about 1018; died at Arezzo, 28 July, 1057. The papal catalogues make him a native of the Bavarian Nordgau, while most German sources designate Swabia as his birthplace. His parents were Count Hartwig and Countess Baliza; the Emperor Henry III recognized him as a […]

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July 29 – He regained the hearts of his people only after his death

July 27, 2020

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), born 995; died 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

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July 29 – With one sermon, he launched the Crusades

July 27, 2020

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

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July 29-31: Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet

July 27, 2020

THE BATTLES OF LA NAVAL DE MANILA Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Saves the Philippines from the Invading Dutch Fleet Inside the Dominican church of Santo Domingo in Quezon City sits in celestial splendor and glory one of the most venerated and beloved image of the Most Holy Virgin in the Philippines. Among […]

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July 30 – St. Theobald

July 27, 2020

St. Theobald Born at Provins in the Province of Champagne, France, in 1017; died at Salanigo in Italy 30 June, 1066. He was a member of a noble family. In 1054 without the knowledge of his parents he and his friend Walter gave themselves to the life of hermits at Sussy in the Ardennes, then […]

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July 30 – St. Peter Chrysologus

July 27, 2020

St. Peter Chrysologus Born at Imola, 406; died there, 450. His biography, first written by Agnellus (Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis) in the ninth century, gives but scanty information about him. He was baptised, educated, and ordained deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, and was elevated to the Bishopric of Ravenna in 433. There are indications […]

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Mary Jagera, a Japanese Noble Lady, and Eighteen Children, Japanese Martyrs

July 23, 2020

During the month of September of the year 1623 many of the faithful were immolated at Jedo. On the 4th of the same month fifty of them perished by fire. On the 29th there were twenty-four who were burnt, decapitated or crucified. Among them was a woman named Mary Jagera, who had given shelter to […]

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C. “The Counter-Revolutionary Is Argumentative”

July 23, 2020

[previous] A third catch phrase criticizes the intellectual works of counter-revolutionaries for their negativistic and polemical character, whereby they overemphasize the refutation of error instead of simply explaining the truth in a clear manner indifferent to the correction of error. These works are deemed counterproductive, for they irritate the adversary and drive him away. Save […]

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July 24 – She Was Fearless, Courageous, and Unswerving

July 23, 2020

Matilda of Canossa Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114. In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in […]

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July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 23, 2020

Saint Kinga of Poland (also known as Cunegunda, Kunigunda, Kunegunda, Cunegundes, Kioga, Zinga; Polish: Święta Kinga, Hungarian: Szent Kinga) Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland. She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her […]

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July 24 – St. John Boste

July 23, 2020

St.  John Boste (Or JOHN BOAST.) Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went […]

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July 25 – St. Apollinaris

July 23, 2020

St. Apollinaris The most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and unhappily Valence, which was the central see of the recently founded Kingdom of Burgundy, had been scandalized by the dissolute Bishop Maximus, and the see in consequence […]

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July 26 – In memoriam: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich – who called Hitler a “stuffed doll”

July 23, 2020

According to The Telegraph: Princess Tatiana Von Metternich, who died…on July 26, 2006, aged 91, was…one of the most beautiful women of her day… …she witnessed the effect of Nazism on Germany, was close to those involved in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler in 1944, and was forced to make a 600-kilometre trek across […]

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July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 23, 2020

Blessed John Ingram English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594. He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at […]

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