October 21 – Hammer of Muslim invaders

October 20, 2025

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 20, 2025

(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. Charles was given an expressly […]

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October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula

October 20, 2025

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 20, 2025

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

October 16, 2025

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 16, 2025

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

October 16, 2025

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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Colonel José de Escandón is ennobled for establishing settlers in South Texas

October 16, 2025

[D]on José [de Escandón] lost little time in acting but did not sacrifice effectiveness to haste. Working with his lieutenants to conduct a publicity campaign along the frontier, he and his officers had little difficulty recruiting potential settlers….Among those recruited as settlers in the new province were ranchers who already owned large herds of livestock […]

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A Lesson From A French Revolution Martyrdom: Combating Evil Is an Obligation of Every True Catholic

October 16, 2025

September (aka September Massacres; On October 17, 1926, Pope Pius XI beatified 191 of them.) By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira … This is also the feast of the 191 priests martyred on this day in 1792 by the French revolutionaries for refusing to swear the so-called Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Civil Constitution of […]

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Be Faithful to Your Duty and Fight, But Never Surrender the City

October 16, 2025

The victory of the Carizmians delivered up the greater part of Palestine to the most redoubtable enemies of the Christian colonies. The Egyptians took possession of Jerusalem, Tiberias, and the cities ceded to the Franks by the prince of Damascus. The hordes of Carismia ravaged all the banks of the Jordan, with the territories of […]

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October 17 – Leadership means self-sacrifice

October 16, 2025

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 18 – The day that sparked the Crusades

October 16, 2025

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 16, 2025

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 – Barefoot from Spain to Rome

October 16, 2025

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 19 – Founding Fathers

October 16, 2025

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 13 – They denounced the religion of Mahomet

October 13, 2025

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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Why celebrate Columbus Day?

October 13, 2025

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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October 13 – King Confessor

October 13, 2025

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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Andrée de Jongh: Made A Countess For Her War-Time Heroism

October 13, 2025

Again and again she risked her life to save British and American servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied Belgium and France. The daughter of a Belgian schoolmaster, Andrée de Jongh greatly admired Edith Cavell—a Red Cross nurse who was killed by the Germans during World War I for helping British soldiers escape—and was determined to emulate her […]

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What Our Lady Said at Fatima on October 13, 1917

October 13, 2025

By Antonio A. Borelli* The Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima The Sixth Apparition — October 13, 1917 As on the other occasions, the seers first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak. Lúcia: What does Your Grace wish of me? Our Lady: I wish to tell you […]

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October 14 – Barber Family

October 13, 2025

Daniel Barber Daniel Barber, soldier of the Revolution, Episcopalian minister and convert, b. at Simsbury, Connecticut, U.S.A., 2 October, 1756; d. at Saint Inigoes, Maryland, 1834. The conversion of the Barber family, despite the prejudices of a Puritan education and environment, was one of the most notable and far-reaching in its results of any recorded […]

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October 15 – Second Apostle of the Prussians

October 13, 2025

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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October 15 – Interior Castle

October 13, 2025

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 13, 2025

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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Princess Royal makes unannounced visit to Ukraine

October 9, 2025

h/t BBC.com The official visit, taken at the request of the Foreign Office, comes just weeks after her nephew Prince Harry visited war-wounded veterans during a surprise visit to Kyiv. Anne, who is the King’s sister, paid her respects at the Children’s Memorial alongside First Lady Olena Zelenska, who opened the site in the northeastern […]

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October 9 – St. Louis Bertrand

October 9, 2025

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 9 – Royal penitent

October 9, 2025

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 – Superb and valiant knight

October 9, 2025

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 10 – How to overcome bad ancestry

October 9, 2025

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. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome […]

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October 10 – St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

October 9, 2025

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 9, 2025

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 9, 2025

Pope Boniface VIII (BENEDETTO GAETANO) Born at Anagni about 1235; died at Rome, 11 October, 1303. He was the son of Loffred, a descendant of a noble family originally Spanish, but long established in Italy—first at Gaeta and later at Anagni. Through his mother he was connected with the house of Segni, which had already […]

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

October 9, 2025

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 9, 2025

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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The Catholic Theory of War and the Soldier

October 6, 2025

One has hardly arrived at this conclusion when a great problem arises quickly in our minds. “Did the Church sanction war?” We know of no more important question, nor one more intimately connected with our subject. The Church’s theory is well known: in three words—She hates war! Vainly have certain sophists endeavored to tone down […]

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

October 6, 2025

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 6, 2025

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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Pope Saint Pius V has a vision announcing the victory of Lepanto

October 6, 2025

In the afternoon of that same day, the 7th of October, 1571, the Pope was walking about his room, listening to the relation by his treasurer, Mons. Busotti de Bibiana, of various businesses committed to his care; the Pope suffered terribly from stone, and as usually the pain attacked him while seated, he had to […]

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In Forming the Holy League, St. Pius V Prepares for Victory at Lepanto

October 6, 2025

The Holy League agreement announced on 25 May had been solemnized five days earlier in the presence of [Saint] Pius V in his capacity as Pope, and signed by representatives of himself as ruler of the Papal State, King Philip of Spain, the republics of Venice and Genoa, Grand Duke Cosimo of Tuscany, Duke Emanuele […]

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Catholic and Muslim Reactions to the News of the Turkish Defeat at Lepanto

October 6, 2025

[King] Philip was attending vespers in Madrid—or the Escorial—when the Venetian Ambassador—or an aide, as the case may be—slipped into his chapel to acquaint him with the news. The imperturbable monarch displayed neither pleasure nor annoyance at the interruption, and impassively resumed his devotions. Only when vespers ended did he reveal any emotion. Summoning the […]

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Don John of Austria used an ivory crucifix to inspire his men before Lepanto

October 6, 2025

Calmness in the presence of danger had always been one of D. John of Austria’s great qualities, and it did not fail him in this crisis. He refrained from telling anyone of the fears and anxieties that Cecco Pizano’s information had inspired in him, and without wasting a second he at once began to take […]

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

October 6, 2025

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 6, 2025

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. It was after this resolution that […]

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October 2 – The Holy Guardian Angels

October 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

(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 2, 2025

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

October 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

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 2, 2025

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 – William Hartley

October 2, 2025

Ven. William Hartley Martyr; b. at Wyn, in Derbyshire, England, of a yeoman family about 1557; d. 5 October, 1588. At eighteen he matriculated at St. John’s, Oxford, where he became a chaplain. Being ejected by the vice-chancellor, Tobie Mathew, in 1579, he went to Reims in August, was ordained at Châlons, and returned to […]

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The Nobility of the Holy Family & Prayer to St. Joseph

September 29, 2025

Mary, Joseph, and, Therefore, Jesus Were Born of Royal Stock From a sermon of Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) about Saint Joseph: Firstly, let us consider the nobility of the bride, that is, the Most Holy Virgin. The Blessed Virgin was more noble than any other creature that had been born in human form, that […]

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Saint Michael the Archangel, Model of the Perfect Knight

September 29, 2025

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira                              September 28, 1966 (*) The Catholic calendar reads: Saint Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Host fought the rebel angels in the heavenly battle. He continues to lead the battle to free us from the devil. Our guardian angels depend on him. He is the custodian angel of the Church and […]

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September 29 – The Angelic Inspiration of Chivalry

September 29, 2025

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael _____________________ Saint Michael the Archangel: “Who is like God?” In Hebraic, mîkâ’êl, means “Who is like God?” The Scriptures refer to the Archangel Saint Michael in four different passages: two of them, in Daniel’s prophesy (chap. 10, 13 and 21; and chap. 12, 1); one in Saint Jude Thaddeus (single […]

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September 29 – Military Orders of St. Michael

September 29, 2025

Military Orders of St. Michael (1) A Bavarian Order, founded in 1721 by Elector Joseph Clemens of Cologne, Duke of Bavaria, and confirmed by Maximilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, 11 September 1808. Pius VII, 5 Feb. 1802 granted to priests decorated with this order all the privileges of domestic prelates. Under Louis I it was […]

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September 29 – In battle or in prison, he never missed Mass

September 29, 2025

Blessed Charles of Blois (1320- September 29, 1364) Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. Early in life, he felt a call to be a Franciscan friar, but political duty kept him in secular life. Following his marriage […]

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September 30 – The cantankerous noble who became a saint

September 29, 2025

St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420. He had a brother much younger than himself, whose name was Paulinian. His father, called Eusebius, was descended from a good family, and had a […]

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True Sanctity Lies in Strength of Soul and Not in Sentimental Softness

September 29, 2025

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Church teaches that true and complete sanctity is the heroism of virtue. The honor of the altars is not granted to weak, hypersensitive souls that flee from profound thoughts, from acute suffering, from the fight, in short, from the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mindful of the words […]

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