March 28 – He refused life and liberty at the price of conformity

March 26, 2020

Ven. Christopher Wharton Born at Middleton, Yorkshire, before 1546; martyred at York, 28 March, 1600. He was the second son of Henry Wharton of Wharton and Agnes Warcop, and younger brother of Thomas, first Lord Wharton. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A., 3 February, 1564, and afterwards became a fellow. […]

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March 28 – Preacher of Crusades

March 26, 2020

Venturino of Bergamo Preacher, b. at Bergamo, 9 April, 1304; d. at Smyrna, 28 March, 1346. He received the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers at the convent of St. Stephen, Bergamo, 22 January, 1319. From 1328 to 1335 he won fame preaching in all the cities of upper Italy. In February, 1335, he […]

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March 28 – Grandson of King Clovis

March 26, 2020

St. Gontran, King and Confessor He was son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I and St. Clotilda. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned King of Orleans and Burgundy in 661, making Challons on the Saone his capital. When […]

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March 29 – One of many Irish missionaries who labored to convert Central Europe

March 26, 2020

St. Eustace Date of birth unknown, died March 29, 625. He was second abbot of the Irish monastery of Luxeuil in France, and his feast is commemorated in the Celtic martyrologies on the 29th of March. He was one of the first companions of St. Columbanus, a monk of Bangor (Ireland), who with his disciples […]

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March 29 – Peter de Honestis

March 26, 2020

Peter de Honestis Born at Ravenna about 1049; died, 29 March, 1119. Among his ancestors was the great St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks. All his life Peter fasted every Saturday in honour of Our Lady, and strongly recommended this practice to his religious. He styled himself Petrus peccator. He lived for some years […]

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March 29 – Profoundly impressed by a painful execution

March 26, 2020

Nicolas Talon French Jesuit, historian, and ascetical writer, b. at Moulins, 31 August, 1605; d. at Paris, 29 March, 1691. Entering the Society in 1621, he taught literature for several years, with remarkable success. After his ordination he gained some reputation as a preacher, was a devoted worker in the prisons and hospitals of Paris, […]

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March 29 – Chaplain to the Duke

March 26, 2020

Joseph Le Caron One of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada and first missionary to the Hurons (q.v.), born near Paris in 1586; died in France, 29 March, 1632 He embraced the ecclesiastical state and was chaplain to the Duke of Orléans. When that prince died, Le Caron joined the Recollects and made his profession […]

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March 29 – Catholic Wife of Prince of Wales

March 26, 2020

Maria Anne Fitzherbert Wife of King George IV; b. 26 July, 1756 (place uncertain); d. at Brighton, England, 29 March, 1837; eldest child of Walter Smythe, of Bainbridge, Hampshire, younger son of Sir John Smythe, of Eshe Hall, Durham and Acton Burnell Park, Salop, a Catholic baronet. In 1775 she married Edward Weld, of Lulworth, […]

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March 30 – St. John Climacus

March 26, 2020

St. John Climacus Also surnamed SCHOLASTICUS, and THE SINAITA, born doubtlessly in Syria, about 525; died on Mount Sinai. 30 March, probably in 606, according the credited opinion — others say 605. Although his education and learning fitted him to live in an intellectual environment, he chose, while still young, to abandon the world for […]

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March 24 – A deer guarded this noble saint from the unwanted advances of men

March 23, 2020

St. Catherine of Sweden Patroness against abortion and miscarriage. The fourth child of Saint Bridget and her husband, Ulf Gudmarsson, born 1331 or 1332; died 24 March, 1381. At the time of her death Saint Catherine was head of the convent of Wadstena, founded by her mother; hence the name, Catherine Vastanensis, by which she […]

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March 25 – Saint Lucy Filippini

March 23, 2020

St. Lucy Filippini (13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) She was orphaned at an early age when her parents both died. From there she went to live with her aristocratic aunt and uncle who encouraged her religious inclination by entrusting her education to the Benedictine nuns at Santa Lucia. Her career began under the […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: “Of His Kingdom, there shall be no end.”

March 23, 2020

The Annunciation, by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent Out of love for us, the Eternal Word was made flesh in the chaste womb of Mary. His plan was marvelously arranged. From all eternity, He chose a man after His heart who would be the virginal spouse of His divine Mother, His adopted father on earth, and […]

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March 25 – The Annunciation: He is King by right, and also by conquest

March 23, 2020

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira We will comment on this passage taken from Saint Luke: “And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was […]

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March 26 – One of the distinguished men of his age

March 23, 2020

Geoffrey of Vendôme (GOFFRIDUS ABBAS VINDOCINENSIS.) A cardinal, born in the second half of the eleventh century of a noble family, at Angers, France; died there, 26 March, 1132. At an early age he entered the Benedictine community of the Blessed Trinity at Vendôme in the diocese of Chartres; and in 1093, while still very […]

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March 26 – St. Ludger

March 23, 2020

St. Ludger (Lüdiger or Liudger) Missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, first Bishop of Munster in Westphalia, b. at Zuilen near Utrecht about 744; d. 26 March, 809. Feast, 26 March. Represented as a bishop reciting his Breviary, or with a swan at either side. His parents, Thiadgrim and Liafburg, were wealthy Frisians of noble […]

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March 26 – Sheriff’s daughter, but God’s first

March 23, 2020

St. Margaret Clitherow Martyr, called the “Pearl of York”, born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin’s church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, […]

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Even Today One Can Be a True Knight!

March 19, 2020

We may add, to prevent disappointment, that it is quite possible for any one of the present day to become as chivalric as any knight of old time, and if anyone will conform to the Ten Commandments of the Code of Chivalry which we have enumerated, he will find this feasible, and actually true.   […]

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Saint John Ogilvie: Hero For Our Times – Part II

March 19, 2020

Part I Betrayal Every hero needs an antagonist, and Fr. Ogilvie had Allan Boyd, a traitorous informer. This other “Judas” told the Protestant Archbishop Spottiswoode about the “papist priest” working under his nose. Pretending that he wanted to be reconciled to the Church, Boyd arranged to meet Fr. Ogilvie in Glasgow. The trap set, Boyd […]

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March 20 – Homeless Noble Poet

March 19, 2020

Blessed Baptista Mantuanus (Or SPAGNOLI). Carmelite and Renaissance poet, born at Mantua, 17 April, 1447, where he also died, 22 March, 1516. The eldest son of Peter Spagnoli, a Spanish nobleman at the court of Mantua, Baptista studied grammar under Gregorio Tifernate, and philosophy at Pavia under Polo Bagelardi. The bad example of his schoolfellows […]

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March 20 – St. Wulfram

March 19, 2020

St. Wulfram Bishop of Sens, missionary in Frisi, born at Milly near Fontainebleau, probably during the reign of Clovis II (638-56); died 20 March, before 704, in which year a translation of his body took place (Duchesne, “Fastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule”, II, Paris, 1900, 413)… Read more here.

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March 20 – Vendor of Learning

March 19, 2020

St. Clement of Ireland Also known as Clemens Scotus (not to be confounded with Claudius Clemens). Born in Ireland, towards the middle of the eighth century, died perhaps in France, probably after 818. About the year 771 he set out for France. His biographer, an Irish monk of St. Gall, who wrote his Acts, dedicated […]

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March 20 – St. Cuthbert

March 19, 2020

St. Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne, patron of Durham, born about 635; died 20 March, 687. His emblem is the head of St. Oswald, king and martyr, which he is represented as bearing in his hands. His feast is kept in Great Britain and Ireland on the 20th of March, and he is patron of the […]

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March 20 – Full of virtue and learning

March 19, 2020

St. Martin of Braga (Bracara; or, of Dumio). Bishop and ecclesiastical writer; b. about 520 in Pannonia; d. in 580 at Braga in Portugal. He made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where he became a monk and met some Spanish pilgrims whose narrations induced him to come to Galicia (Northwestern Spain) with the purpose of converting […]

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March 20 – Saint Eithene

March 19, 2020

Saint Eithene Styled “daughter of Baite”, with her sister Sodelbia, are commemorated in the Irish calendars under March 20. They were daughters of Aidh, son of Caibre, King of Leinster, who flourished about the middle of the sixth century. The designation “daughters of Baite” usually coupled with their names would seem not to refer to […]

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March 20 – “Welcome, Father, but you come late”

March 19, 2020

Blessed John of Parma Minister General of the Friars Minor (1247-1257), b. at Parma about 1209; d. at Camerino 19 Mar., 1289. His family name was probably Buralli. Educated by an uncle, chaplain of the church of St. Lazarus at Parma, his progress in learning was such that he quickly became a teacher of philosophy […]

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March 21-22 – James Harrison

March 19, 2020

James Harrison Priest and martyr; born in the Diocese of Lichfield, England, date unknown; died at York, 22 March, 1602. He studied at the English College at Reims, and was ordained there in September, 1583. In the following year he went on the English mission, where he laboured unobtrusively. In the early part of 1602 […]

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March 22 – The soldier who fought with sword in one hand and rosary in the other

March 19, 2020

St. Nicholas of Flüe, patron of: -Pontifical Swiss Guards  -Switzerland -difficult marriages -large families -judges Born 21 March, 1417, on the Flüeli, a fertile plateau near Sachseln, Canton Obwalden, Switzerland; died 21 March, 1487, as a recluse in a neighboring ravine, called Ranft. He was the oldest son of pious, well-to-do peasants and from his […]

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March 22 – The Le Moyne: nobles of North America

March 19, 2020

Le Moyne The name of one of the most illustrious families of the New World, whose deeds adorn the pages of Canadian history. Charles Le Moyne Founder of the family, b. of Pierre Le Moyne and Judith Duchesne at Dieppe on 1 August, 1626; d. at Ville-Marie (Montreal), 1683. On reaching Canada in 1641, he […]

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March 22 – He Stood Up to Hitler Without Flinching

March 19, 2020

Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen “Lion of Münster” Born     March 16, 1878 Dinklage Castle, Dinklage, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, German Confederation Died     March 22, 1946 (aged 68) Münster, Province of Westphalia, Germany Beatified     9 October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI Feast     22 March Read more here.

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March 23 – Generous Noble Missionary

March 19, 2020

St. Toribio Alfonso Mogrovejo (aka St. Alphonsus Turibius) Archbishop of Lima; b. at Mayorga, León, Spain, 1538; d. near Lima Peru, 23 March 1606. Of noble family and highly educated, he was professor of laws at the University of Salamanca, where his learning and virtue led to his appointment as Grand Inquisitor of Spain by […]

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March 17 – The Great and Noble Patrick

March 16, 2020

St. Patrick Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 493. He had for his parents Calphurnius and Conchessa. The former belonged to a Roman family of high rank and held the office of decurio in Gaul or Britain. Conchessa was a […]

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March 17 – St. Gertrude of Nivelles

March 16, 2020

St. Gertrude of Nivelles Virgin, and Abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles; born in 626; died 17 March, 659. She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and a younger sister of St. Begga, Abbess of Andenne… Read more here.

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March 18 – Martyr King

March 16, 2020

Saint Edward the Martyr King of England, son to Edgar the Peaceful, and uncle to St. Edward the Confessor; born about 962; died March 18, 979. His accession to the throne on his father’s death, in 975, was opposed by a party headed by his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who was bent on securing the crown […]

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March 19 – St. Joseph

March 16, 2020

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. LIFE Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch’s life, as on many other […]

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March 19 – Saint Joseph, Martyr of Grandeur

March 16, 2020

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira To have an idea of what Saint Joseph—the Patron of the Church—was like, we must consider two prodigious facts: he was the foster father of the Child Jesus and he was the spouse of Our Lady. The husband must be proportional to the wife. Now who is Our Lady? She […]

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Saint John Ogilvie: Hero For Our Times

March 12, 2020

by Neil McKay   “In times of great crisis there are two types of men: those who are overwhelmed by the crisis and those who resist the trend of events and so change the course of history.”—Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira   “REFORM THE CHURCH!” “MARRIED PRIESTS NEEDED!” “70% OF CATHOLICS DENY REAL PRESENCE!” “SECRET […]

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Any Knight Could Dub Another Knight

March 12, 2020

To whom belonged the privilege of making knights? It is necessary to ascertain this. Every knight has the power to create knights.—This is the principle which we must first lay down and which is predominant: it was the ancient and primordial custom, the spirit, the life, the very essence of the institution. Chivalry was a […]

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March 13 – Though not a learned man, he established a school known today as Oxford

March 12, 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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March 13 – There Is No Price Tag on Happiness

March 12, 2020

St. Euphrasia (aka Eupraxia) Virgin, born in 380; died after 410. Antigonus, the father of this saint, was a nobleman of the first rank and quality in the court of Theodosius the younger, nearly allied in blood to that emperor, and honored by him with several great employments in the state. He was married to […]

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March 13 – St. Leander of Seville

March 12, 2020

St. Leander of Seville Bishop of that city, born at Carthage about 534, of a Roman family established in that city; died at Seville, 13 March, 600 or 601. Some historians claim that his father Severian was duke or governor of Carthage, but St. Isidore simply states that he was a citizen of that city. […]

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March 13 – St. Nicephorus

March 12, 2020

St. Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople, 806-815, b. about 758; d. 2 June, 829. This champion of the orthodox view in the second contest over the veneration of images belonged to a noted family of Constantinople. He was the son of the imperial secretary Theodore and his pious wife Eudoxia. Eudoxia was a strict adherent of […]

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March 14 – Patroness of Those Falsely Accused

March 12, 2020

St. Matilda, Queen of Saxony Queen of Germany, wife of King Henry I (The Fowler), born at the Villa of Engern in Westphalia, about 895; died at Quedlinburg, 14 March, 968. She was brought up at the monastery of Erfurt. Henry, whose marriage to a young widow, named Hathburg, had been declared invalid, asked for […]

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March 15 – Her nuns earned the name “Angels of the Battlefield”

March 12, 2020

St. Louise de Marillac Le Gras Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, born at Paris, 12 August, 1591, daughter of Louis de Marillac, Lord of Ferrieres, and Marguerite Le Camus; died there, 15 March, 1660. Her mother having died soon after the birth of Louise, the education of the latter […]

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March 15 – Pope St. Zachary

March 12, 2020

Pope St. Zachary (ZACHARIAS.) Reigned 741-52. Year of birth unknown; died in March, 752. Zachary sprang from a Greek family living in Calabria; his father, according to the “Liber Pontificalis”, was called Polichronius. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732. […]

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March 15 – The baker who defeated the Emperor

March 12, 2020

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer (JOHN DVORÁK) The second founder of the Redemptorist Congregation, called “the Apostle of Vienna”, born at Tasswitz in Moravia, 26 December, 1751; died at Vienna 15 March, 1821. The family name of Dvorak was better known by its German equivalent, Hofbauer. The youngest of twelve children, and son of a grazier […]

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March 15 – The Pope made him Abbot, but not priest

March 12, 2020

Baron Ferdinand de Géramb In religion, Brother Mary Joseph; Abbot and procurator-general of La Trappe, came of a noble and ancient family in Hungary; b. in Lyons, 14 Jan., 1772; d. at Rome, 15 March, 1848. Some historians wrongfully call in question both the place and date of his birth, as also his noble descent. […]

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March 15 – Explorer missionary

March 12, 2020

Eusebius Kino A famous Jesuit missionary of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; b. 10 August, 1644, in Welschtirol (Anauniensis); d. 15 March, 1711. Kühn (his German name; Kino representing the Italian and Spanish form) entered the Upper German Province of the Society of Jesus on 20 November, 1665. He was professor of mathematics for some […]

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March 16 – Chancellor to Italy and Germany

March 12, 2020

St. Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne Born at Worms, c. 970; died at Cologne, 16 March, 1021. His father was Duke Hugo of Worms. After receiving his education at the cathedral school of Worms, he spent some time as guest at the monastery of Gorze, after which he became provost at the cathedral of Worms. In […]

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March 10 – “I want no prayers from heretics!”

March 9, 2020

St. John Ogilvie Ogilvie, the son of a wealthy noble, was born into a Calvinist family near Keith in Banffshire, Scotland and was educated in mainland Europe where he attended a number of Roman Catholic educational establishments, under the Benedictines at Regensburg in Germany and with the Jesuits at Olomouc and Brno in the present […]

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March 11 – Saint Sophronius

March 9, 2020

Saint Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem and Greek ecclesiastical writer, b. about 560 at Damascus of noble parentage; d. probably March 11, 638, at Jerusalem. In company with John Moschus he traveled extensively through the East and also went to Rome. He probably became a monk in Egypt about 580 and later removed to Palestine. From […]

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March 11 – Constantine the Great

March 9, 2020

His coins give his name as M., or more frequently as C., Flavius Valerius Constantinus. He was born at Naissus, now Nisch in Servia [Nis, Serbia —Ed.], the son of a Roman officer, Constantius, who later became Roman Emperor, and St. Helena, a woman of humble extraction but remarkable character and unusual ability. The date […]

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March 11 – Saint under the Caliphs

March 9, 2020

St. Eulogius of Cordova Spanish martyr and writer who flourished during the reigns of the Cordovan Caliphs, Abd-er-Rahman II and Mohammed I (822-886). It is not certain on what date or in what year of the ninth century he was born; it must have been previous to 819, because in 848 he was a priest […]

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March 12 – The Mistaken Chronicler

March 9, 2020

St. Theophanes Chronicler, born at Constantinople, about 758; died in Samothracia, probably 12 March, 817, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. He was the son of Isaac, imperial governor of the islands of the White Sea, and of Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. After the early death of his […]

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Queen Isabella the Catholic – Irresistible to the Good and Terrifying to the Wicked

March 5, 2020

At a critical moment the Catholic Jew governor decided for her, and on Saint Lucy’s day she rode on a white palfrey, with Cabrera on one side of her and the Archbishop on the other, to a platform on the Plaza Mayor, where the great crown of San Fernando was placed upon her fair auburn […]

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Highly Aristocratic Institutions

March 5, 2020

In the documents of Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), the word democracy took on a new, original meaning worthy of in-depth study. Those who undertake the study soon see how democracy differs from what is considered as democratic in many political circles today. Take for example what the Pontiff affirmed in a speech to the Roman […]

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March 6 – Bishop Prime Minister

March 5, 2020

St. Chrodegang Bishop of Metz, born at the beginning of the eighth century at Hasbania, in what is now Belgian Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; died at Metz, 6 March, 766. He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, […]

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March 6 – Of Kings and Princesses

March 5, 2020

Saints Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba The two first were daughters of Penda, the cruel pagan king of Mercia, and sisters to three successive Christian Kings, Peada, Wulfere, and Ethelred, and to the pious prince Merowald… Read more here.

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March 6 – Friend of the Stuarts

March 5, 2020

Guilo Cesare Cordara Historian and littérateur, b. at Alessandra in Piedmont, Italy, 14 Dec., 1704; died there 6 March, 1785. The scion of an illustrious and ancient family that came originally from Nice, young Cordara studied at Rome under the Jesuits, and became a Jesuit himself at the age of fourteen. Subsequently he taught in […]

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March 6 – God gave him the great grace of “unsuitability for government”

March 5, 2020

Ven. Gonçalo Da Silveira Pioneer missionary of South Africa, b. 23 Feb, 1526, at Almeirim, about forty miles from Lisbon; martyred 6 March, 1561. He was the tenth child of Dom Luis da Silveira, first count of Sortelha, and Dona Beatrice Coutinho, daughter of Dom Fernando Coutinho, Marshal of the Kingdom of Portugal. Losing his […]

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March 7 – Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

March 5, 2020

Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart Born July 15, 1747. Died March 7, 1770 in Florence. She was born Anna Maria Redi to a large noble family in Arezzo, Italy. She was the daughter of Count Ignatius Redi and Camilla Billeti. After attending the boarding school of the Benedictine nuns of St. Apollonia’s in […]

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