May 10 – Saint Damien: A Hero Who Died on the Battlefield of Honor

May 7, 2020

Born Joseph de Veuster in Tremelo, Belgium, he took the religious name of Damien when he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There are few places on Earth more beautiful than Hawaii. While this idyllic paradise may be the destination spot for tourists and honeymooners, Joseph de Veuster was eager […]

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May 10 – His apostolate paved the way for some of the greatest saints of Spain

May 7, 2020

Bl. John of Avila Apostolic preacher of Andalusia and author, b. at Almodóvar del Campo, a small town in the diocese of Toledo, Spain, 6 January, 1500; d. at Montilla, 10 May, 1569. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the University of Salamanca to study law. Conceiving a distaste for jurisprudence he […]

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May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 7, 2020

Blessed John Rochester Priest and martyr, born probably at Terling, Essex, England, about 1498; died at York, 11 May, 1537. He was the third son of John Rochester, of Terling, and Grisold, daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. He joined the Carthusians, was a choir monk of the Charterhouse in London, and strenuously opposed the […]

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May 11 – Holy Merovingian

May 7, 2020

St. Aldegundis Virgin and abbess (c. 639-684), variously written Adelgundis, Aldegonde, etc. She was closely related to the Merovingian royal family. Her father and mother, afterwards honored as St. Walbert and St. Bertilia, lived in Flanders in the province of Hainault. Aldegundis was urged to marry, but she chose a life of virginity and, leaving […]

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May 5 – St. Hilary of Arles

May 4, 2020

Archbishop, born about 401; died 5 May, 449. The exact place of his birth is not known. All that may be said is that he belonged to a notable family of Northern Gaul, of which in all probability also came St. Honoratus, his predecessor in the See of Arles. Learned and rich, Hilary had everything […]

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May 6 – Saint Francis de Montmorency Laval

May 4, 2020

St. Francis de Montmorency Laval First bishop of Canada, born at Montigny-sur-Avre, 30 April, 1623, of Hughes de Laval and Michelle de Péricard; died at Quebec on 6 May, 1708. He was a scion of an illustrious family, whose ancestor was baptized with Clovis at Reims, and whose motto reads: “Dieu ayde au primer baron […]

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May 6 – Prince, priest, pioneer

May 4, 2020

Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin Prince, priest, and missionary, born at The Hague, Holland, 22 December, 1770; died at Loretto, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 6 May, 1840. He was a scion of one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most illustrious families of Russia. His father, Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (d. 16 March, 1803), Russian ambassador to Holland at the time […]

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May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 4, 2020

Pope St. Benedict II Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of John. Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself by his knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity. […]

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May 7 – Bl. Agnellus of Pisa

May 4, 2020

Bl. Agnellus of Pisa Friar Minor and founder of the English Franciscan Province, born at Pisa c. 1195, of the noble family of the Agnelli; died at Oxford, 7 May, 1236. In early youth he was received into the Seraphic Order by St. Francis himself, during the latter’s sojourn in Pisa, and soon became an […]

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May 7 – St. John of Beverley

May 4, 2020

St. John of Beverley Bishop of Hexham and afterwards of York; b. at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire; d. at Beverley, 7 May, 721. In early life he was under the care of Archbishop Theodore, at Canterbury, who supervised his education, and is reputed to have given him the name of John. He […]

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Medieval Noble Parents Gave Their Boys Counsels of Honor and Wisdom

April 30, 2020

Moral instruction cam also from the lips of all those who surrounded the youthful baron, and he assimilated them, with the injunctions as to politeness, deportment, and manners. A single word embodies all this elevated teaching—a word which is one of the most beautiful in our language, which means the same as chivalry and honor—we […]

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We are vessels in which various currents of the past base themselves

April 30, 2020

Historians agree in affirming the existence of works which are necessarily realized by several generations: the foundation of certain countries, the development of certain politics, the creation of certain sources of prosperity. The institution of natural law assures the realization of the historical work through the generations and the family. Man’s nature leads him to […]

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May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

April 30, 2020

This saint was son of Gondebald, the Arian king of the Burgundians; but embraced the Catholic faith through the instructions of St. Alcimus Avitus, bishop of Vienne. (1) He succeeded to the kingdom of his father in 516, and in the midst of barbarism lived humble, mortified, penitent, devout, and charitable, even on the throne; […]

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May 2 – Two sisters of this medieval princess were also saints

April 30, 2020

St. Mafalda of Portugal In the year 1215, at the age of eleven, Princess Mafalda (i.e. Matilda), daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal, was married to her kinsman King Henry I of Castile, who was like herself a minor. The marriage was annulled the following year on the ground of the consanguinity of the […]

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May 2 – Economist

April 30, 2020

St. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his baptismal name Antoninus (Anthony), which is found in his autographs, in some manuscripts, in printed editions of his works, and in the Bull of canonization, but which has been finally rejected for the diminutive form given […]

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May 2 – St. Athanasius

April 30, 2020

St. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria; Confessor and Doctor of the Church; born c. 296; died 2 May, 373. Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of “Father of Orthodoxy”, by which he has been […]

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May 3 – Finding of the Holy Cross

April 30, 2020

In the year 326 the mother of Constantine, Helena, then about 80 years old, having journeyed to Jerusalem, undertook to rid the Holy Sepulchre of the mound of earth heaped upon and around it, and to destroy the pagan buildings that profaned its site. Some revelations which she had received gave her confidence that she […]

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May 3 – Élisabeth Leseur

April 30, 2020

Élisabeth Leseur Servant of God Born     16 October 1866 Paris, France Died     3 May 1914 (aged 47) Paris, France Élisabeth Arrighi Leseur (October 16, 1866–May 3, 1914), born Pauline Élisabeth Arrighi, was a French mystic best known for her spiritual diary and the conversion of her husband, Félix Leseur (1861–1950), a medical doctor […]

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May 3 – Sword-bearer to the Emperor

April 30, 2020

St. Ansfried of Utrecht Ansfried (aka Ansfridus or Aufridus) was born ca. 940, and died May 3, 1010 near Leusden.) He was a nobleman in the Holy Roman Empire and sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Till 995 he was Count of Huy, then he became bishop of Utrecht. He is also the founder […]

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May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

April 30, 2020

The Carthusian Martyrs were the monks of the London Charterhouse, the monastery of the Carthusian Order in central London, who were put to death by the English state in a period lasting from the 19 June 1535 till the 20 September 1537. The method of execution was hanging, disembowelling while still alive and then quartering. […]

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May 4 – St. Godard

April 30, 2020

St. Godard (Also spelled GOTHARD, GODEHARD). Bishop of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony; born about the year 960, in a village of Upper Bavaria, near the Abbey of Altaich, in the Diocese of Passau; Nassau; died on 4 May, 1038 canonized by Innocent II in 1131… Read more here.

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Website maintenance scheduled May 1-3

April 30, 2020

Notice This website will occasionally be down for scheduled maintenance between May 1st and May 3rd. Thank you for your patience.

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April 28 – Saint Egbert

April 27, 2020

Saint Egbert Northumbrian monk, born of noble parentage c. 639; d. 729. In his youth he went for the sake of study to Ireland, to a monastery, says the Venerable Bede, “called Rathmelsigi”, identified by some with Mellifont in what is now County Louth. There, when in danger of death from pestilence, he prayed for […]

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April 29 – The Templars, Knights of Calatrava, of St. Lazarus, of Alcantara, of Avis, of St. Maurice, all trace their existence to this austere monk

April 27, 2020

St. Robert of Molesme Born about the year 1029, at Champagne, France, of noble parents who bore the names of Thierry and Ermengarde; died at Molesme, 17 April, 1111. When fifteen years of age, he commenced his novitiate in the Abbey of Montier-la-Celle, or St. Pierre-la-Celle, situated near Troyes, of which he became later prior. […]

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April 29 – In 11th century Christendom, no king or bishop dare oppose him

April 27, 2020

Saint Hugh the Great Abbot of Cluny, born at Semur (Brionnais in the Diocese of Autun), 1024; died at Cluny, 28 April, 1109. His early life The eldest son of Count Dalmatius of Semur and Aremberge (Aremburgis) of Vergy, Hugh was descended from the noblest families in Burgundy. Dalmatius, devoted to war and the chase, […]

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April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 27, 2020

Pope Saint Pius V Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was […]

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Saint Joan of Arc’s Glory Outshines That of All Medieval Heroes

April 23, 2020

We have frequently had occasion to bring out the very consoling truth that will serve as a conclusion to this work, which we have compiled from the epic poems of the Middle Ages. This conclusion is “Truth is superior to Fiction.” Herein, as elsewhere, reality is better than imagination! The Charlemagne of history is superior […]

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The King of France Used Lettres de Cachet to uphold Parental Authority and Family Honor

April 23, 2020

It was for the father, in his capacity as judge over his children, to claim the assistance of the royal power. Malesherbes writes: “Only the father has the right to demand a lettre de cachet.” When the honor of their family was at stake the people of the lower classes were no less severe than […]

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April 24 – “I came to extirpate heresy, not to embrace it”

April 23, 2020

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen Born in 1577, at Sigmaringen, Prussia, of which town his father Johannes Rey was burgomaster; died at Sevis, 24 April, 1622. On the paternal side he was of Flemish ancestry. He pursued his studies at the University of Freiburg in the Breisgau, and in 1604 became tutor to Wilhelm von Stotzingen, […]

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April 24 – Mother Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

April 23, 2020

Mother Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, foundress of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and canonized May 2, 1940 by Pope Pius XII. The aim of this institute is to provide a shelter for girls and women of dissolute habits, who wish to do penance for their iniquities and to lead a […]

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April 25 – Builder

April 23, 2020

Blessed Meinwerk Tenth Bishop of Paderborn, d. 1036: Meinwerk (Meginwerk) was born of the noble family of the Immedinger and related to the royal house of Saxony. His father was Imad (Immeth), Count of Teisterbant and Radichen, and his mother’s name was Adela (Adala, Athela). In early youth he was dedicated by his parents to […]

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April 26 – She inspired the Albanians to resist the Turks

April 23, 2020

Our Lady of Good Counsel January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader, George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people. Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania. With Scanderbeg’s […]

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April 26 – His ears were nailed to the pillory

April 23, 2020

Venerable Edward Morgan Welsh priest, martyr, b. at Bettisfield, Hanmer, Flintshire, executed at Tyburn, London, 26 April, 1642. His father’s Christian name was William. Of his mother we know nothing except that one of her kindred was Lieutenant of the Tower of London. From the fact that the martyr was known at St. Omer as […]

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April 26 – Pope St. Cletus

April 23, 2020

Pope St. Cletus This name is only another form for Anacletus, the second successor of St. Peter. It is true that the Liberian Catalogue, a fourth-century list of popes, so called because it ends with Pope Liberius (d. 366), contains both names, as if they were different persons. But this is an error, owing evidently […]

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April 26 – Nephew of the Duke of Maqueda

April 23, 2020

St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón (9 April 1911, Burgos, Spain – 26 April 1938, Dueñas, Palencia, Spain) Rafael Arnáiz, known in the monastery as Brother María Rafael, was born on 9 April 1911 in the city of Burgos, in north-central Spain. He was the first of four sons born to a well-to-do, deeply Christian and Catholic […]

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April 27 – First circumnavigator of the world

April 23, 2020

Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese Fernão Magalhaes). The first circumnavigator of the real world; born about 1480 at Saborosa in Villa Real, Province of Traz os Montes, Portugal; died during his voyage of discovery on the Island of Mactan in the Philippines, 27 April 1521… Read more here.

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April 27- Abused by her noble patrons, she remained a model of harmony

April 23, 2020

St. Zita Model and heavenly patroness of domestic servants, born early in the thirteenth century of a poor family at Montsegradi, a little village near Lucca, in Tuscany; died at Lucca, 27 April, 1271. A naturally happy disposition and the teaching of a virtuous mother, aided by Divine grace, developed in the child’s soul that […]

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April 27 – Noble Model of Confidence

April 23, 2020

St. Peter Armengol was born in Guárdia dels Prats, a small village in the archdiocese of Tarragon, Spain in 1238. He belonged to the house of the barons of Rocafort, descendants of the counts of Urgel, whose ancestors were directly linked to the counts of Barcelona and the monarchs of Aragon and Castile… Read more […]

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April 21 – Adventurous in youth and adulthood

April 20, 2020

St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church; born at Aosta a Burgundian town on the confines of Lombardy, died 21 April, 1109. His father, Gundulf, was a Lombard who had become a citizen of Aosta, and his mother, Ermenberga, came of an old Burgundian family. Like many other saints, Anselm learnt the first […]

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April 22 – Father of Origen

April 20, 2020

St. Leonidas (Or LEONIDES.) The Roman Martyrology records several feast days of martyrs of this name in different countries. Under date of 28 January there is a martyr called Leonides, a native of the Thebaid, whose death with several companions is supposed to have occurred during the Diocletian persecution (Acta SS., January, II, 832). Another […]

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April 22 – Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 20, 2020

Pedralvarez Cabral (Pedro Alvarez.) A celebrated Portugese navigator, generally called the discoverer of Brazil, born probably around 1460; date of death uncertain. Very little is known concerning the life of Cabral. He was the third son of Fernao Cabral, Governor of Beira and Belmonte, and Isabel de Gouvea, and married Isabel de Castro, the daughter […]

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April 23 – The Original Knight in Shining Armor

April 20, 2020

St. George Martyr, patron of England, suffered at or near Lydda, also known as Diospolis, in Palestine, probably before the time of Constantine. According to the very careful investigation of the whole question recently instituted by Father Delehaye, the Bollandist, in the light of modern sources of information, the above statement sums up all that […]

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April 23 – Archbishop author of war-song

April 20, 2020

St. Adalbert of Bohemia Born 939 of a noble Bohemian family; died 997. He assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert (his name had been Wojtech), under whom he studied at Magdeburg. He became Bishop of Prague, whence he was obliged to flee on account of the enmity he had aroused by his efforts to […]

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Danish Queen’s special request: ‘Don’t send me birthday flowers’

April 16, 2020

According to The Local Denmark: The Queen last month cancelled her 80th birthday celebrations as part of the country’s coronavirus lockdown, leading 171,000 Danes to sign up to sing for her when the big day comes on April 16. But in a press release issued on Thursday, the much-loved monarch made a “special request” to […]

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THIRD HORIZON – We are not isolated atoms drifting through space

April 16, 2020

Society is a fabric of souls in which some souls act over others; the whole acts over the individual and the individual acts over the whole. Within himself, every man bears various heredities. We are the biological consequence of numberless currents of life which encounter one another in our persons. As the waters of various […]

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On the Cusp of Battle During the Crusades

April 16, 2020

The silence of the morning of the battle has been so well described by the great poets, that we will not essay to follow them. The silence is more solemn than lugubrious. Many thousands of knights are ready to charge, waiting silently the word, spear in hand. They await the order “Forward!” They have been […]

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April 17 – Third Religious Rebel

April 16, 2020

St. Stephen Harding Confessor, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire, England, about the middle of the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery […]

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April 17 – One of the many nobles who spread the Cluny reform

April 16, 2020

St. Robert Founder of the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne, born at Aurilac, Auvergne, about 1000; died in Auvergne, 1067. On his father’s side he belonged to the family of the Counts of Aurilac, who had given birth to St. Géraud. He studied at Brioude near the basilica of St-Julien, in a school open to […]

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April 17 – He rescued his country from crushing debt, yet waged incessant war

April 16, 2020

Maximilian I Duke of Bavaria, 1598-1622, Elector of Bavaria and Lord High Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, 1623-1651; born at Munich, 17 April, 1573; died at Ingolstadt, 27 September, 1651. The lasting services he rendered his country and the Catholic Church justly entitle him to the surname of “Great”. He was the son of […]

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April 17 – He saved countless souls from apostasy

April 16, 2020

Thomas of Jesus (THOMAS DE ANDRADA). Reformer and preacher, born at Lisbon, 1529; died at Sagena, Morocco, 17 April, 1582. He was educated by the Augustinian Hermits from age of ten, entered the order at Lisbon in 1534, completed his studies at Coimbra, and was appointed novice-master. In his zeal for primitive observance he attempted […]

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April 17 – Mother of Fr. Gallitzin

April 16, 2020

Adele Amalie Gallitzin (Or GOLYZIN). Princess; b. at Berlin, 28 Aug., 1748; d. at Angelmodde, near Münster, Westphalia, 17 April, 1806. She was the daughter of the Prussian General Count von Schmettau, and educated in the Catholic faith, though she soon became estranged from her religion. In 1768, she married the Russian Prince Dimitry Alexejewitsch […]

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April 17 – Controversial Pope

April 16, 2020

Pope Benedict III Date of birth unknown; d. 17 April, 858. The election of the learned and ascetic Roman, Benedict, the son of Peter, was a troubled one. On the death of Leo IV (17 July, 855) Benedict was chosen to succeed him, and envoys were despatched to secure the ratification of the decree of […]

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April 17 – Martyred at Tyburn

April 16, 2020

Ven. Henry Heath English Franciscan and martyr, son of John Heath; christened at St. John’s, Peterborough, 16 December, 1599; executed at Tyburn, 17 April, 1643. He went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1617, proceeded B.A. in 1621, and was made college librarian. In 1622 he was received into the Church by George Muscott, and, after […]

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April 18 – Blessed Marie de l’Incarnation

April 16, 2020

Bl. Marie de l’Incarnation Known also as Madame Acarie, foundress of the French Carmel, born in Paris, 1 February, 1566; died at Pontoise, April, 1618. By her family Barbara Avrillot belonged to the higher bourgeois society in Paris. Her father, Nicholas Avrillot was accountant general in the Chamber of Paris, and chancellor of Marguerite of […]

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April 18 – St. Willigis

April 16, 2020

St. Willigis Archbishop of Mainz, d. 23 Feb., 1011. Feast, 23 February or 18 April. Though of humble birth he received a good education, and through the influence of Bishop Volkold of Meissen entered the service of Otto I, and after 971 figured as chancellor of Germany. Otto II in 975 made him Archbishop of […]

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April 19 – The saintly warrior pope

April 16, 2020

Pope St. Leo IX Pope St. Leo IX earnestly spread the Cluny reform Born at Egisheim, near Colmar, on the borders of Alsace, 21 June, 1002, Pope St. Leo IX died on 19 April, 1054. He belonged to a noble family which had given or was to give saints to the Church and rulers to […]

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April 19 – Captured by pirates

April 16, 2020

St. Alphege (or Elphege), Saint, born 954; died 1012; also called Godwine, martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, left his widowed mother and patrimony for the monastery of Deerhurst (Gloucestershire). After some years as an anchorite at Bath, he there became abbot, and (19 Oct., 984) was made Bishop of Winchester. In 994 Elphege administered confirmation to […]

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April 19 – Blessed Conrad of Ascoli

April 16, 2020

Friar Minor and missionary, born at Ascoli in the March of Ancona in 1234; died there, 19 April, 1289. He belonged to the noble family of Milliano and from his earliest years made penance the predominating element of his life… Read more here.

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April 20 – “I beg your Lordship…that my lips and…fingers may be cut off…”

April 16, 2020

Blessed Fr. James Bell Priest and martyr, born at Warrington in Lancashire, England, probably about 1520; died 20 April, 1584. For the little known of him we depend on the account published four years after his death by Bridgewater in his “Concertatio” (1588), and derived from a manuscript which was kept at Douay when Challoner […]

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April 20 – Blessed Richard Sergeant

April 16, 2020

Bl. Richard Sergeant English martyr, executed at Tyburn, 20 April, 1586. He was probably a younger son of Thomas Sergeant of Stone, Gloucestershire, by Katherine, daughter of John Tyre of Hardwick. He took his degree at Oxford (20 Feb., 1570-1), and arrived at the English College, Reims, on 25 July, 1581. He was ordained subdeacon […]

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