December 4 – Saint Osmund, founder of the Cathedral system of Church governance

December 2, 2019

Saint Osmund Bishop of Salisbury, died 1099; his feast is kept on 4 December. Osmund held an exalted position in Normandy, his native land, and according to a late fifteenth-century document was the son of Henry, Count of Séez, and Isabella, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was the father of William the Conqueror […]

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December 4 – From a Muslim court, he opposed the Christian Emperor…and won!

December 2, 2019

St. John Damascene Born at Damascus, about 676; died some time between 754 and 787. The only extant life of the saint is that by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, which dates from the tenth century (P.G. XCIV, 429-90). This life is the single source from which have been drawn the materials of all his biographical […]

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December 5 – Noble matron faithful unto death

December 2, 2019

St. Crispina A martyr of Africa who suffered during the Diocletian persecution; born at Thagara in the Province of Africa; died by beheading at Thebeste in Numidia, 5 December, 304. Crispina belonged to a distinguished family and was a wealthy matron with children. At the time of the persecution she was brought before the proconsul […]

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Keep The Horse

November 28, 2019

Rudolph, Count of Hapsburg, whilst hunting one day, observed a priest carrying the Viaticum to the sick, whereupon he immediately alighted, and insisted on the priest mounting in his place. The offer was accepted. The priest, having gone through his sacred and pastoral duty, returned the animal, with many marks of gratitude, to the Count. […]

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Need a gift idea?

November 28, 2019

Need a gift idea?   These are only some of the many great books available! Shop today!  

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Two Cities Mirror Two Eras

November 28, 2019

The modern city is of imprecise contours; like a tumor that extends itself here, there, and everywhere, [the modern city] grows extensively in one certain direction, while in other areas there yet exist parks which extend almost to the downtown district. The medieval city gives the impression of a well-minted coin. It is replete with […]

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November 29 – The coronation of St. Louis IX of France

November 28, 2019

Traditionally, new sacred music was composed for a coronation. The motet…which was sung for the anointing of Louis IX has come down to us. It was called Gaude, felix Francia…. The boy who was to be anointed and crowned was already on a platform built in front of the chancel, surrounded by the great lords […]

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November 29 – St. Saturninus

November 28, 2019

St. Saturninus was, says Tillemont, one of the most illustrious martyrs France has given to the Church. We possess only his Acts, which are very old, since they were utilized by St. Gregory of Tours. He was the first bishop of Toulouse, whither he went during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250). Whether there […]

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November 29 – Grandson of the one who defeated Charles Martel in battle

November 28, 2019

St. Radbod, Bishop of Utrecht, Confessor This holy prelate was, by his father, of noble French extraction; and, by his mother, Radbod, the last king or prince of the Frisons was his great grandfather, whose name was given him by his mother. The first tincture of learning and piety he received under the tuition of […]

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November 30 – His name means manhood, or valour

November 28, 2019

St. Andrew The name “Andrew” (Gr., andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C. St. Andrew, the Apostle, son of Jonah, or John (Matt., xvi, 17; John, i, 42), was born in Bethsaida of Galilee (John, i, 44). He was […]

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December 1 – The Virgin Mary appears to General Gaston de Sonis after his army’s losses at Patay promising that France would survive

November 28, 2019

On the night of December 1 [1870], the Zouaves were ordered to advance to Patay [France], where Joan of Arc had won a renowned victory against the English. [General Louis-Gaston de] Sonis asked [Colonel Athanase de] Charette, who had no flag of his own, to lend him the Zouaves’. This banner had a curious history….  […]

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December 1 – Bl. Ralph Sherwin

November 28, 2019

Bl. Ralph Sherwin English martyr, born 1550 at Rodesley, near Longford, Derbyshire; died at Tyburn, 1 December, 1581. In 1568 Sir William Petre nominated him to one of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford, probably acting under the influence of the martyr’s uncle, John Woodward, who from 1556 to 1566 […]

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December 1 – Billionaire Saint

November 28, 2019

Saint Eligius (French: Eloi), Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, born at Chaptelat near Limoges, France, circa 590, of Roman parents, Eucherius and Terrigia; died at Noyon, December 1, 660. His father, recognizing unusual talent in his son, sent him to the noted goldsmith Abbo, master of the mint at Limoges. Later Eligius went to Neustria, where he […]

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December 1 – He Hid Priests in His Manorhouse

November 28, 2019

Blessed Richard Langley Layman and martyr, b. probably at Grimthorpe, Yorks, England, date unknown; d. at York, 1 Dec., 1586. From his father, Richard Langley, of Rathorpe Hall, Walton, he probably inherited Rathorpe, but for the greater part of his life continued to reside on his estate at Ousethorpe, in the East Riding. His mother […]

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December 1 – The Queen bade him ask for what he would

November 28, 2019

Edmund Campion, English Jesuit Saint and martyr; he was the son and namesake of a Catholic bookseller, and was born in London, 25 Jan., 1540; executed at Tyburn, 1 Dec., 1581. A city company sent the promising child to a grammar school and to Christ Church Hospital. When Mary Tudor entered London in state as […]

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December 2 – Cause of Our Joy

November 28, 2019

Our Lady of Joy (aka Notre Dame de Liesse, or Causa Nostrae Laetitiae) In 1134 three Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, prisoners of the Muslims in Egypt, miraculously found or received in their prison a statue of Our Lady, which they named Our Lady of Joy, or Notre Dame de Liesse. […]

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December 2 – St. Chromatius

November 28, 2019

St. Chromatius Bishop of Aquileia, died about 406-407. He was probably born at Aquileia, and in any case grew up there. He became a priest of that church and about 387 or 388, after the death of Valerianus, bishop of that important city. He was one of the most celebrated prelates of his time and […]

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November 26 – How a Catholic Queen gave Spain its Golden Age

November 25, 2019

Queen Isabella I (“The Catholic”) Queen of Castile; born in the town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 22 April, 1451; died a little before noon, 26 November, 1504, in the castle of La Mota, which still stands at Medina del Campo (Valladolid). She was the daughter of John II, King of Castile, by his […]

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November 26 – St. Leonard of Port Maurice

November 25, 2019

St. Leonard of Port Maurice Preacher and ascetic writer, b. 20 Dec., 1676, at Porto Maurizio on the Riviera di Ponente; d. at the monastery of S. Bonaventura, Rome, 26 Nov., 1751. The son of Domenico Casanova and Anna Maria Benza, he joined after a brilliant course of study with the Jesuits in Rome (Collegio […]

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November 27 – The king who made France “First-born daughter of the Church”

November 25, 2019

Clovis Son of Childeric, King of the Salic Franks; born in the year 466; died at Paris, 27 November, 511. He succeeded his father as the King of the Franks of Tournai in 481. His kingdom was probably one of the States that sprang from the division of Clodion’s monarchy like those of Cambrai, Tongres […]

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November 27 – St. Maximus of Riez

November 25, 2019

St. Maximus, Bishop of Riez, Confessor About the Year 460. ST. MAXIMUS was born in Provence at Decomer, now called Chateau-Redon, near Digne. His truly Christian parents saw him baptized in his infancy, and brought him up in the love and practice of virtue, and an enemy to its bane, the pleasure of the senses, […]

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November 28 – December 27 – Siege of Jasna Góra

November 25, 2019

Lessons in Psychological Warfare from the Siege of Jasna Góra, November 28-December 27, 1655 This account of the siege of  Częstochowa is based on the Memoirs of the Siege of Czestochowa by Father Augustine Kordecki (Pamietnik oblezenia Częstochowy, edited and with a preface by Jan Tokarski, London, Veritas, 1956.) Written by Friar Kordecki in response […]

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November 28 – Count Louis de Baude Frontenac

November 25, 2019

Count Louis de Baude Frontenac A governor of New France, born at Paris, 1662; died at Quebec, 28 Nov., 1698. His father was captain of the royal castle of St-Germain-en-laye; his mother, née Phelypeaux, was the daughter of the king’s secretary of state; Louis XIII was his godfather. By his valour and skill he won […]

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Law proposed to change Japanese Imperial succession

November 21, 2019

According to Royal Central: …a new proposal by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan…propose[s] to let some ex-imperial family members back into the family. The [current] law states that only legitimate male descendants in the male line can be heir to the throne and that the Emperor and other members of the imperial family may […]

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Raoul de Cambrai’s Seneschal Rebukes Him for His Crimes

November 21, 2019

Amongst all the members of the baron’s household there reigned the most complete and charming familiarity, tempered with fear and respect. The servitors spoke to their master with a liberty which required no rebuke. From this point of view I know nothing more striking, nothing more beautiful than the remonstrance addressed by the Seneschal of […]

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Most Knights Were Either Sons of Knights or Young Nobles

November 21, 2019

[K]nighthood was accessible to jongleurs, and even to comedians! This saying a great deal in a very few words. But we must not go too far and generalize, for, however numerous the cases may have been, they were, after all, only exceptions. The others composed the rule—well, not perhaps the rule, but the custom—and it […]

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November 22 – The Eternal Glory of the Caecilia Family

November 21, 2019

St. Cecilia Virgin and martyr, patroness of church music, died at Rome. This saint, so often glorified in the fine arts and in poetry, is one of the most venerated martyrs of Christian antiquity. The oldest historical account of St. Cecilia is found in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”; from this it is evident that her feast […]

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November 23 – Blessed Margaret of Savoy

November 21, 2019

Bl. Margaret of Savoy Marchioness of Montferrat, born at Pignerol in 1382; died at Alba, 23 November, 1464. She was the only daughter of Louis of Savoy, Prince of Achaia, and of Bonne, daughter of Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, and was given in marriage in 1403 to Theodore, Marquis of Montferrat, a descendant of […]

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November 23 – St. Trudo

November 21, 2019

St. Trudo (also called TRON, TROND, TRUDON, TRUTJEN, TRUYEN). Apostle of Hasbein in Brabant; died 698 (or perhaps 693). Feast 23 November. He was the son of Blessed Adela of the family of the dukes of Austrasia. Devoted from his earliest youth to the service of God, Trudo came to St. Remaclus, Bishop of Liège […]

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November 24 – Christ the King? Or Christ the President?

November 21, 2019

A heavenly King above all, but a King whose government is already exercised in this world. A King who by right possesses the supreme and full authority. The King makes laws, commands and judges. His sovereignty becomes effective when his subjects recognize his rights, and obey his laws… Read more here.

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November 24 – Intrepid missionaries

November 21, 2019

Joseph Marchand Born August 17, 1803, in Passavant, in the Doubs department of France, in 1833 he joined the Lê Văn Khôi revolt by Lê Văn Khôi, son of the late governor of southern Vietnam Lê Văn Duyệt. Khoi and Marchand vowed to overthrow Emperor Minh Mạng and replace him with My Duong, the son […]

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November 24 – Saint Joseph Mary Pignatelli, S.J.

November 21, 2019

(also known as St. Giuseppe Maria Pignatelli) Born 27 December, 1737, in Saragossa, Spain; died 11 November, 1811. His family was of Neapolitan descent and noble lineage. After finishing his early studies in the Jesuit College of Saragossa, he entered the Society of Jesus (8 May, 1753) notwithstanding his family’s opposition. On concluding his ecclesiastical […]

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November 25 & 26 – Blessed Hugh Taylor & Blessed Marmaduke Bowes

November 21, 2019

Blessed Hugh Taylor English martyr, born at Durham; hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, 25 (not 26) November, 1585. He arrived at Reims on 2 May, 1582, and having been ordained a priest was sent thence on the mission on 27 March, 1585. He was the first to suffer under the Statute 27 Eliz. c. […]

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November 25 – The day a 16 year old invalid and a handful of men defeated a huge professional army

November 21, 2019

The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Ayyubids and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on November 25, 1177. The 16 year old King Baldwin IV, seriously afflicted by leprosy, led an out-numbered Christian force against the army of Saladin. The Islamic force was routed and their casualties were massive, only a fraction managed to flee […]

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November 25 – She Defied the Emperor

November 21, 2019

St. Catherine of Alexandria A virgin and martyr whose feast is celebrated in the Latin Church and in the various Oriental churches on 25 November, and who for almost six centuries was the object of a very popular devotion. Of noble birth and learned in the sciences, when only eighteen years old, Catherine presented herself […]

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November 19 – Teacher, Engineer, Army Officer, Prisoner of War, Royal Tutor, and Priest

November 18, 2019

St. Raphael Kalinowski, O.C.D. (1835-1907) [Also known as Father Raphael of St. Joseph, O.C.D] Father Raphael of Saint Joseph Kalinowski, was born at Vilna, 1st September 1835, and at baptism received the name Joseph. Under the teaching of his father Andrew, at the Institute for Nobles at Vilna, he progressed so well that he received […]

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November 19 – St. Nerses I, Bishop of Armenia, Martyr

November 18, 2019

Nerses I Armenian patriarch, surnamed “the Great”. Died 373. Born of the royal stock, he spent his youth in Caesarea where he married Sanducht, a Mamikonian princess. After the death of his wife, he was appointed chamberlain to King Arshak of Armenia. A few years later, having entered the ecclesiastical state, he was elected catholicos, […]

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November 20 – St. Edmund the Martyr

November 18, 2019

St. Edmund the Martyr King of East Anglia, born about 840; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, November 20, 870. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent St. Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia, though, according to later legends, he was born at Nuremberg (Germany), son to an otherwise unknown King Alcmund of […]

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November 20 – St. Ambrose of Camaldoli

November 18, 2019

St. Ambrose of Camaldoli An Italian theologian and writer, born at Portico, near Florence, 16 September, 1386; died 21 October, 1439. His name was Ambrose Traversari. He entered the Order of the Camaldoli when fourteen and became its General in 1431. He was a great theologian and writer, and knew Greek as well as he […]

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November 20 – Queen Elizabeth II Wedding Anniversary

November 18, 2019
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November 20 – Another strong and mighty angel

November 18, 2019

St. Felix of Valois Born in 1127; died at Cerfroi, 4 November, 1212. He is commemorated 20 November. He was surnamed Valois because, according to some, he was a member of the royal branch of Valois in France, according to others, because he was a native of the province of Valois. At an early age […]

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November 21 – Pope St. Gelasius I

November 18, 2019

Pope St. Gelasius I Died at Rome, 19 Nov., 496. Gelasius, as he himself states in his letter to the Emperor Anastasius (Ep. xii, n. 1), was Romanus natus. The assertion of the “Liber Pontificalis” that he was natione Afer is consequently taken by many to mean that he was of African origin, though Roman […]

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November 21 – St. Albert

November 18, 2019

St. Albert Cardinal, Bishop of Liège, died 1192 or 1193. He was a son of Godfrey III, Count of Louvain, and brother of Henry I, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant, and was chosen Bishop of Liège in 1191 by the suffrages of both people and chapter. The Emperor Henry VI violently intruded his own venal […]

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November 21 – St. Columbanus

November 18, 2019

St. Columbanus Abbot of Luxeuil and Bobbio, born in West Leinster, Ireland, in 543; died at Bobbio, Italy, 21 November, 615. His life was written by Jonas, an Italian monk of the Columban community, at Bobbio, c. 643. This author lived during the abbacy of Attala, Columbanus’s immediate successor, and his informants had been companions […]

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Royal family and political leaders gather for Remembrance Sunday at Cenotaph

November 14, 2019

According to BBC News: Politicians – including Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson – and members of the Royal Family have joined veterans as the UK marks Remembrance Sunday. A two-minute silence was held at the Cenotaph in London. It was attended by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess […]

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Abandoned by His Wife, but not by His Two Faithful Slaves

November 14, 2019

Even the serfs were capable of devotion which is rare in the present day. Is not the history of those two slaves whom Amis purchased a touching narrative? They did not recoil from the leprosy which was eating away their master. His wife actually turned him out of his castle, when his slaves took him […]

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A Knight Often Started His Career Being Tested With Poverty

November 14, 2019

One of the most severe tests to which one could put the young damoiseaux was to deprive them of their fortune, and say to them, “We will give you nothing. Depart and seek your fortune elsewhere. We know the advantages, the really enormous advantages, which the feudal system assured to the eldest son, and it […]

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November 15 – Martyred for God (and Money…)

November 14, 2019

Bl. Richard Whiting Last Abbot of Glastonbury and martyr, parentage and date of birth unknown, executed 15 Nov., 1539; was probably educated in the claustral school at Glastonbury, whence he proceeded to Cambridge, graduating as M.A. in 1483 and D.D. in 1505. If, as is probable, he was already a monk when he went to […]

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November 15 – St. Desiderius of Cahors

November 14, 2019

St. Desiderius of Cahors Bishop, born at Obrege (perhaps Antobroges, name of a Gaulish tribe), on the frontier of the Provincia Narbonnensis, of a noble Frankish family from Aquitaine, which possessed large estates in the territory of Albi; died 15 Nov., 655—though Krusch has called this date in question… Read more here.

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November 15 – Universal Doctor

November 14, 2019

St. Albert the Great Known as Albert the Great; scientist, philosopher, and theologian, born c. 1206; died at Cologne, 15 November 1280. He is called “the Great”, and “Doctor Universalis” (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and […]

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November 16 – Commissioned to preach the Sixth Crusade

November 14, 2019

St. Edmund Rich Archbishop of Canterbury, England, born 20 November, c. 1180, at Abingdon, six miles from Oxford; died 16 November, 1240, at Soissy, France. His early chronology is somewhat uncertain. His parents, Reinald (Reginald) and Mabel Rich, were remarkable for piety. It is said that his mother constantly wore hair-cloth, and attended almost every […]

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November 16 – St. Mechtilde

November 14, 2019

St. Mechtilde (MATILDA VON HACKEBORN-WIPPRA). Benedictine; born in 1240 or 1241 at the ancestral castle of Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony; died in the monastery of Helfta, 19 November, 1298. She belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families, while here sister was the saintly and illustrious Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn. Some writers […]

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November 16 – St. Margaret of Scotland: In the Middle Ages, the Marvelous Was Something Achievable

November 14, 2019

Saint Margaret of Scotland Commentaries made by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira … Sovereign and patroness of Scotland, 11th century. Although it is a very good intention to comment on the life of St. Margaret, at times one does not have the slightest biographical data on a saint. For lack of a better biography, I […]

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November 16 – St. Agnes of Assisi

November 14, 2019

St. Agnes of Assisi Younger sister of St. Clare and Abbess of the Poor Ladies, born at Assisi, 1197, or 1198; died 1253. She was the younger daughter of Count Favorino Scifi. Her saintly mother, Blessed Hortulana, belonged to the noble family of the Fiumi, and her cousin Rufino was one of the celebrated “Three […]

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November 17 – St. Hilda

November 14, 2019

St. Hilda Abbess, born 614; died 680. Practically speaking, all our knowledge of St. Hilda is derived from the pages of Bede. She was the daughter of Hereric, the nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria, and she seems like her great-uncle to have become a Christian through the preaching of St. Paulinus about the year […]

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November 17 – Mary Tudor

November 14, 2019

Mary Tudor Queen of England from 1553 to 1558; born 18 February, 1516; died 17 November, 1558. Mary was the daughter and only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Cardinal Wolsey was her godfather, and amongst her most intimate friends in early life were Cardinal Pole and his mother, the Countess of […]

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November 17 – The Queen Gave Good Example Caring for the Sick and Suffering

November 14, 2019

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207; died at Marburg, Hesse, 17 November (not 19 November), 1231. She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-35) and his wife Gertrude, a member of the family of the Counts of Andechs-Meran; Elizabeth’s brother succeeded […]

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November 17 – St. Hugh of Lincoln

November 14, 2019

St. Hugh of Lincoln Born about the year 1135 at the castle of Avalon, near Pontcharra, in Burgundy; died at London, 16 Nov., 1200. His father, William, Lord of Avalon, was sprung from one of the noblest of Burgundian houses; of his mother, Anna, very little is known. After his wife’s death, William retired from […]

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November 17 – Saint Gregory of Tours

November 14, 2019

Saint Gregory of Tours Born in 538 or 539 at Arverni, the modern Clermont-Ferrand; died at Tours, 17 Nov., in 593 or 594. He was descended from a distinguished Gallo-Roman family, and was closely related to the most illustrious houses of Gaul. He was originally called Georgius Florentius, but in memory of his maternal great-grandfather, […]

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November 18 – Sincere, intense, generous, austere, yet affectionate

November 14, 2019

St. Philippine-Rose Duchesne Founder in America of the first houses of the society of the Sacred Heart, born at Grenoble, France, 29 August, 1769; died at St. Charles, Missouri, 18 November, 1852. She was the daughter of Pierr-Francois Duchesne, an eminent lawyer. Her mother was a Périer, ancestor of Casimir Périer, President of France in […]

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