Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

Louis XV risks his life for the morale of his troops

May 16, 2024

The Battle of Fontenoy, 11th May 1745, painted by Horace Vernet.

During the battle of Fontenoy, some officers urged Louis XV to leave the battlefield, thus avoiding unnecessary exposure of his royal person to the dangers. He turned down their advice concerned with the harmful effect his leaving would have on the morale of his troops. Right then, the Marshal de Saxe rode up and the king put the issue before him, asking his opinion. The Marshal was indignant and said:

— Your Majesty, who was the coward who gave you this counsel? If we were having this conversation prior to the battle’s start, that is what my advise would have been too, but it is too late now, and besides our situation is not desperate.

Jacques Necker, Galerie de l’ancienne cour (Maestricht: J. E. Dufour, 1787), Vol. 3, 104. (Nobility.org translation.)

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 440

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Catholic, Crusader, Leper and King: The Life of Baldwin IV and the Triumph of the Cross

May 16, 2024

Modern society obsessively avoids suffering, risk and danger. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer heat, prints warnings on coffee cups and advises that that safety glasses should be used while working with hammers.
Certainly such precautions have prevented misfortune. However, since heroism and excellence are born from confronting rather than avoiding suffering and peril, the mania for safeguards has also diminished the notion of these qualities.
This is unfortunate since only those intrepid souls who confront danger, endure suffering and overcome obstacles merit mention in the annals of history. A shining example is the leper king, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem.

A Childhood Cut Short
Baldwin IV was born in Jerusalem of King Amalric and Queen Agnes of Courtney in 1161. Intellectually and physically gifted as a boy, he seemed well equipped to inherit the Crusader kingdom. This is how chronicler and royal tutor William of Tyre described his childhood:

“He made good progress in his studies and as time passed he grew up full of hope and developed his natural abilities. He was a good-looking child for his age and more skilled than men who were older than himself in controlling horses and in riding them at a gallop. He had an excellent memory and he loved listening to stories.”¹

One day the tutor made a frightening discovery. While roughhousing with friends, Baldwin never cried out in pain, even when the other children dug their fingernails into his arm. Knowing how tough the nine-year-old prince was, William of Tyre first assumed that Baldwin was restraining himself, but closer observation revealed that his arms were entirely numb – a telltale symptom of leprosy.

Four years later, King Amalric died suddenly. Despite his sickness, Baldwin was crowned king by the unanimous decision of the High Court of Jerusalem.² Since he was only thirteen, his nearest relative, Miles of Plancy, became regent. Shortly thereafter, Miles was murdered and Raymond of Tripoli replaced him.

Raymond of Tripoli managed escalating tensions between the Crusader kingdom and its Muslim enemies through a policy of appeasement. He established full peace with Saladin in 1175. The treaty greatly favored the Muslim leader. Jerusalem had agreed not to support the Sicilians who were attacking Saladin’s power base in Egypt and the latter had free reign to build up his forces through conquest in Syria, where his trajectory revealed plans to encircle the Crusader kingdom. Saladin continued his quest with impunity, until governmental change in Jerusalem put a stop to his marauding joyride.
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May 16 – His tireless zeal earned him the name of “Hunter of Souls,” and martyrdom by the Cossacks. Today he is Patron of Poland.

May 16, 2024

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bobola.jpg

Saint Andrew Bobola earned the name “Hunter of Souls” due to his tireless zeal and missionary travels.

Martyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; died at Janów, 16 May, 1657. Having entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Wilno (1611), he was ordained in 1622, and appointed preacher in the Church of St. Casimir, Wilno. After making his solemn vows, 2 June, 1630, he was made superior at Bobruisk, where he wrought wonders by his preaching and distinguished himself by his devotion during an epidemic of the plague.

In 1636 he began his work in the Lithuanian missions. During this period Poland was being ravaged by Cossacks, Russians, and Tatars, and the Catholic Faith was made the object of the concerted attacks of Protestants and schismatics. The Jesuits, in particular, had much to endure. Bobola’s success in converting schismatics drew upon him the rage of those in high authority, and the adherents of the Greek Pope decided to centralize their forces in Polesia.

A Catholic nobleman of this province offered the Jesuits a house at Pinsk, and here Father Bobola was stationed. The schismatics vainly endeavoured in every manner to hinder him in the exercise of his apostolic duties, extending their persecutions to attacks upon his person.

On 16 May, 1657, he was seized by two Cossacks and severely beaten. Then tying him to their saddles, they dragged him to Janów where he was subjected to incredible tortures. After having been burned, half strangled, and partly flayed alive, he was released from suffering by a sabre stroke. (cfr. 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Queen and Patroness of Alaska

May 16, 2024

Bishop Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J.

Bishop Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J. (1858-1945), Bishop of Alaska, was from France and he knew members of St. Therese of the Child Jesus’ family. He said Mass in the Infirmary where St. Therese had died twenty-eight years before. At the Mass the Little Flower’s three sisters received Communion from the Bishop. Earlier in the summer the Bishop first met Mother Agnes (Martin) when they began a lasting friendship. Bishop Crimont knew of St. Therese’s devotion to the missions while she was living and he placed the entire Alaskan mission under her protection five years prior to her canonization.

While Bishop Crimont was in Rome for St. Therese’s canonization on May 17, 1925, the Sacred Congregation decreed St. Therese the Queen and Patroness of Alaska, a title the Bishop had offered her five years earlier. From this time on his devotion to the Little Flower became one of the great influences of his life. Beginning with the reading of “Histoire d’un Ame,” many things contributed to feed the devotion: blessings obtained by himself, miracles told by others, important favors received by Father Ruppert.

Situated on 46 acres, the Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux overlooks the Lynn Canal in Juneau, Alaska. The first mass was held in 1941. Photo by gillfoto.

After the visit to Lisieux, the Bishop distributed many relics of the Little Flower and did much to spread devotion to her. Application of a relic to a Sister Superior of Douglas brought immediate cure of a serious illness. An insane woman in Juneau when shown a picture of the Little Flower fell asleep the first time in over a week. Her cure was also immediate and permanent.

Dogsled Apostles by A. H. Savege

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 592

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The Great Siege of Malta, May 18–September 11, 1565, was won because of one man: Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette

May 16, 2024

Malta, Senglea with Gardjola tower

On the morning of August 18^th the excessively heavy bombardment of Senglea warned them that an attack was imminent. It was not slow to develop. The moment that the rumble of the guns died down, the Iayalars and Janissaries were seen streaming forward across the no-man’s-land to the south. The attack developed in the same way as on previous occasions, with a mass assault on the bastion of St. Michael. Piali, meanwhile, held back his troops from Birgu according to plan. Mustapha waited anxiously to see if the Grand Master was to be lured into sending some of his garrison across the bridge to reinforce hard-pressed Senglea.

The Grand Harbour

Jean Parisot de la Valette

La Valette clearly expected some trick, and was not to be caught. At last, having failed to draw off the Christians as he had hoped, Mustapha gave his engineers the order to spring the mine under Castile.

Although La Valette had known that the Turks were mining towards his walls he had been unable to discover the exact position. The blow, when it fell, was not unexpected but it was none-the-less devastating in its effect. With a gigantic rumbling crash the mine went up, and a great section of the main wall of the bastion fell with it. The dust cloud was still spilling outwards into the ditch, when Piali’s troops poured forward en masse.

For a moment panic ensued among the defenders. The wounded staggered back from the breach and in the general confusion it seemed as if the position was surely lost. Hardly had the smoke cleared away, than the first wave of Turks were over the ditch and had gained a foothold. Their banners were planted on the torn and tottering rampart. Their spearhead began to drive forward into the very town itself. The bell of the Conventual Church was rung—a pre-arranged signal that the enemy was within the fortifications. A Chaplain of the Order, Brother Guillaume, seeing the Turkish standards waving over Castile rushed to the Grand Master.

Fort St. Angelo

“All is lost,” he cried. “We must retreat to St. Angelo.” It was a moment when a flicker of indecision would have spelled ruin. La Valette, who was in his command post in the small square of Birgu, did not hesitate. “…This intrepid old man, placing only a light morion on his head and without waiting to put on even his cuirass, rushed boldly to meet the infidels.” Seizing a pike from a soldier standing nearby, he called on his staff to follow him and led the way towards the bastion of Castille.

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May 18 – Martyr of Envy

May 16, 2024

Pope St. John I

Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days.

We know nothing of the matter of his administration, for his Bullarium contains only the two letters addressed to an Archbishop Zacharias and to the bishops of Italy respectively, and it is very certain that both are apocryphal.

We possess information — though unfortunately very vague — only about his journey to Constantinople, a journey which appears to have had results of great importance, and which was the cause of his death. The Emperor Justin, in his zeal for orthodoxy, had issued in 523 a severe decree against the Arians, compelling them, among other things, to surrender to the Catholics the churches which they occupied. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths and of Italy, the ardent defender of Arianism, keenly resented these measures directed against his coreligionists in the Orient, and was moreover highly displeased at seeing the progress of a mutual understanding between the Latin and Greek Churches, such as might favour certain secret dealings between the Roman senators and the Byzantine Court, aiming at the re-establishment of the imperial authority in Italy. To bring pressure to bear upon the emperor, and force him to moderate his policy of repression in regard to the heretics, Theodoric sent to him early in 525 an embassy composed of Roman senators, of which he obliged the pope to assume the direction, and imposed on the latter the task of securing a withdrawal of the Edict of 523 and — if we are to believe “Anonymous Valesianus” — of even urging the emperor to facilitate the return to Arianism of the Arians who had been converted.

There has been much discussion as to the part played by John I in this affair. The sources which enable us to study the subject are far from explicit and may be reduced to four in number: “Anonymous Valesianus”, already cited; the “Liber Pontificalis”; Gregory of Tours’s “Liber in gloria martyrum”; and the “Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiæ Ravennatis”. But it is beyond question that the pope could only counsel Justin to use gentleness and discretion towards the Arians; his position as head of the Church prevented his inviting the emperor to favour heresy. That this analysis of the situation is correct is evident from the reception which the pope was accorded in the East — a reception which certainly would not have been kindly, had the Roman ambassadors opposed the emperor and this Catholic subjects in their struggle waged against the Arian sect. The inhabitants of Constantinople went out in throngs to meet John. The Emperor Justin on meeting him prostrated himself, and, some time afterwards, he had himself crowned by the pope. All the patriarchs of the East made haste to manifest their communion in the Faith with the supreme pontiff; only Timothy of Alexandria, who had shown himself hostile to the Council of Chalcedon, held aloof. Finally, the pope, exercising his right of precedence over Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople, solemnly officiated at St. Sophia in the Latin Rite on Easter Day, 19 April, 526. Immediately afterwards he made his way back to the West.

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May 18 – St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

May 16, 2024

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

Eric [1] was descended of a most illustrious Swedish family: in his youth he laid a solid foundation of virtue and learning, and took to wife Christina, daughter of Ingo IV, king of Sweden. Upon the death of King Smercher in 1141, he was, purely for his extraordinary virtues and qualifications, placed on the throne by the election of the states, according to the ancient laws of that kingdom. His first care in that exalted and dangerous station was to watch over his own soul. He treated his body with great severity, fasting and watching much, in order to keep his domestic enemy in due subjection to the spirit, and to fit himself for the holy exercises of heavenly contemplation and prayer, which were his chief delight.

He was truly the father and the servant of all his people. With indefatigable application he himself administered to them justice, especially to the poor, to whose complaints his ears were always open, and whose grievances and oppressions he took care himself to redress. He often visited in person the poor who were sick, and relieved them with bountiful alms. Content with his own patrimony, he levied no taxes. He built churches, and by wholesome laws restrained the brutish and savage vices of his subjects.

The frequent inroads of the idolatrous Finlanders upon his territories obliged him to take the field against them. He vanquished them in a great battle; but after his victory he wept bitterly at the sight of the dead bodies of his enemies which covered the field, because they had been slain unbaptized. When he had subdued Finland, he sent St. Henry, bishop of Upsal, to preach the faith of Christ to that savage infidel nation, of which he may be styled the apostle. Among the subjects of this good king were certain sons of Belial, who made his piety the subject of their ridicule, being mostly obstinate idolaters. Magnus, son of the king of Denmark, blinded by ambitious views to the crown of Sweden, put himself at the head of these impious malecontents, and engaged them in a conspiracy to take away the life of their sovereign. The holy king was hearing mass on the day after the feast of the ascension, when news was brought him that the rebels were in arms, and on the march against him. He calmly answered: “Let us at least finish the sacrifice; the remainder of the festival I shall keep elsewhere.” After mass he recommended his soul to God, made the sign of the cross, and, to spare the blood of the citizens, who were ready to defend his life at the expense of their own, marched out alone before his guards. The conspirators rushed upon him, beat him down from his horse, and struck off his head with a thousand indignities in derision of his religion. His death happened on the 18th of May, 1151.

Casket of Eric the Saint in Uppsala Cathedral. Photograph taken by Mark A. Wilson (Department of Geology, The College of Wooster).

God honoured his tomb with many miracles. It remains to this day at Upsal undefaced. St. Eric was honoured as chief patron of the kingdom of Sweden till the change of religion in the sixteenth century. He ordered the ancient laws and constitutions of the kingdom to be collected into one volume, which bears the title of King Eric’s Law, or the Code of Uppland, highly respected in Sweden: it was confirmed in the thirteenth century by the learned king Magnus Ladulas, who compiled and published in 1285 another code under the title of Gardsrætte.

All power and authority among men is derived from God, as Christ declared to Pilate, 2 and as the wise man often repeats. Whence St. Paul teaches us, that “he who resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.” 3 On no men doth he confer the least degree of jurisdiction but with the most severe injunction and obligation, that they employ it according to his will, and in the first place for the advancement of his divine honour. Hence every father, master of a family, magistrate, or king, is accountable to God for those under his charge, and will be condemned as a traitor on the last day, if he employ not all the means in his power that God may be known, praised, and faithfully served by them. This is the primary obligation of those whom God hath vested with authority. In the faithful discharge of this trust the glorious St. Eric laid down his life.

Note 1. Eric, Erric, and Henry, are in the northern nations the same name, which in the Teutonic language signifies rich lord. St. Eric was the ninth of that name among the kings of Sweden.
Note 2. John xix.
Note 3. Rom xiii. 2.

See Israelis Erlandi liber de vitâ et miraculis S. Erici Regis, ex editione et cum notis Joan. Schefferi, in 8vo. Holmiæ, 1675; and Henschenius, t. 4, Maij, p. 186.

(from: The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume V: May, pp. 350-351)

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May 19 – He saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events

May 16, 2024

Jan Dlugosz

(Lat. LONGINUS).

An eminent medieval Polish historian, b. at Brzeznica, 1415; d. 19 May, 1480, at Cracow. He was one of the twelve sons born to John and Beata. He received his primary education in Nowy Korczyn, then entered the Academy of Cracow, where he studied literature and philosophy. He was ordained priest in 1440, and appointed secretary of Cardinal Zbigniew Olesnicki, Bishop of Cracow. Later he became a prelate of the cathedral and preceptor for the children of the Polish King, Casimir IV, Jagielonczyk. He was employed as the ambassador of the Polish king to different foreign countries, and especially to Bohemia and Hungary, where he settled political disturbances. His ecclesiastical superiors sent him as their representative to Pope Eugenius IV, and as delegate to the Council of Basle. He decline the Archbishopric of Prague, but shortly before his death was appointed Archbishop of Lemberg. Dlugosz expended his great income for religious and philantrophic purposes; he founded both churches and monasteries, also burses for the maintenance of poor scholars.

The most beautiful church which he founded, and beneath which he was buried, is in Cracow, and is called Na Skalce (meaning, “Upon Rock”, as the church was built on an enormous rock). As a Polish historian he outranks all who preceded him. He was not content to repeat the statements made by other chroniclers, but examined for himself the oldest Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Ruthenian, and German documents, to understand which thoroughly he studied, in his old age, several foreign languages. His works offer abundant and reliable material not only for Polish, but also for general, history.

Dlugosz paid less attention to beauty of style than to veracity of statement, and wrote in a philosophic manner, as one who saw the action and purposes of Providence in all historical events. His great history of Poland (Historia Polonica in twelve volumes) was composed by order of his friend and master Cardinal Olesnicki. The works of Dlugosz were first published incompletely in 1614, and fully in 1711. The best edition is that in fourteen volumes by Carl Mecherzynski: “Joannis Dlugosz Senioris Canonici Cracoviensis Opera Omnia” (Cracow, 1863-87). It includes his heraldic work “Banderia Prutenorum”, also his “Life of St. Stanislaus”, “Life of St. Kinga”, lives of many Polish bishops (Sees of Wroclaw, Poznan, Plock, Cracow, etc.), “Liber beneficiorum diœcesis Cracoviensis”, “Lites ac rec gestæ inter Polonos ordinemque Cruciferorum”, “Annales seu cronicæ incliti regni Poloniæ”.

John Godrycz (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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May 19 – Patron of lawyers

May 16, 2024

St. Ives

(St. Yves)

St Ivo giving to the poor

St. Ives, born at Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, 17 October, 1253; died at Louannee, 19 May, 1303, was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ives was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 to study canon law. On his return to Brittany having received minor orders he was appointed “official”, or ecclesiastical judge, of the archdeanery of Rennes (1280); meanwhile he studied Scripture, and there are strong reasons for holding that he joined the Franciscan Tertiaries sometime later at Guingamp. He was soon invited by the Bishop of Tréguier to become his “official”, and accepted the offer (1284). He displayed great zeal and rectitude in the discharge of his duty and did not hesitate to resist the unjust taxation of the king, which he considered an encroachment on the rights of the Church; by his charity he gained the title of advocate and patron of the poor. Having been ordained he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez in 1285 and eight years later to Louannee, where he died. He was buried in Tréguier, and was canonized in 1347 by Clement VI, his feast being kept on 19 May. He is the patron of lawyers, though not, it is said, their model, for – “Sanctus Ivo erat Brito, Advocatus et non latro, Res miranda populo.”

Acta SS., May, V, 248; Life by DE LA HAYE (Morlaix, 1623); and by NORBERT (Paris, 1892); DANIEL, Monuments originaux (St-Brieux, 1887); Analecta Bolland., II, 324-40; VIII, 201-3; XVII, 259.

A. A. MacErlean (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Prince perplexed by reception of communists in Vatican

May 13, 2024

Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, Prince Imperial of Brazil

10 years ago, Prince Bertrand wrote this article…Worth reading again…

According to TFP.org:

Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza expressed his perplexity and concern in a reverent and filial letter to Pope Francis.

“Brazilians are largely aware that it was thanks to the entreaties of Pope Leo XIII, and in spite of the serious political drawbacks that such a decision would entail, that my great grandmother, Princess Isabel, Regent of the Empire, signed the Golden Law, on May 13, 1888, definitively abolishing slavery in Brazil. That action cost her the throne, but earned her the title of “the Redemptrix” in Brazilian history; and for it she received a Golden Rose from the Pope as a reward for her selflessness in favor of social harmony and the rights of the underprivileged.

“Moved by the same sense of justice and dedication to the common good as my ancestors, I am honored to have founded and assisted for these last ten years the Peace in the Countryside campaign,^[1] promoting social harmony in Brazilian agriculture. This task is all the more necessary since the country’s rural areas have been thrown into convulsion over the last few decades by a series of land invasions, attacks, destruction of crops, confiscatory expropriations, outlandish environmental requirements, and legal insecurity.”

To read the entire letter on TFP.org, please click here.

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Medieval Noble Parents Gave Their Boys Heroic Role Models

May 13, 2024

“Your mother, my child, has correctly quoted the familiar sayings which are in vogue amongst young people. But it is with the prouder words which have sprung forth from the hearts of our poets, and which will one day attain to the dignity of proverbs, that I would have you to do. These are more worthy of you and constitute the code of honor.

Statue of St. Michael at the Shrine of St. Theodore Guerin, the 8th American Saint, located in Terre Haute, Indiana.

“‘Death rather than dishonor,’ was the cry which Roland uttered in the valley of Roncesvalles before the great battle with the infidel; it is the cry of every Christian baron, and will be yours too, my son, on every solemn occasion of your life. They told you the other day that ‘the heart of a man is worth all the gold in the country,’ and that ‘fins cuers ne peut mentir.’ Weigh all these in your memory, and so act upon them that people may say of you as they said of Ogier—

‘Molt fu preudom; si ot le cuer entire.’

It is the most beautiful funeral oration that any true knight could desire.”

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May 13 – “Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

May 13, 2024

Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants.

Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, the only child of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi. Her parents were devout Catholics and were known for their charity and generosity to the underprivileged of Bologna. As a very young girl, Imelda had a burning desire to receive Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. On her fifth birthday, she requested this privilege.

However, Church custom at the time was that a person did not receive his or her First Holy Communion until age 12. Imelda was sorely disappointed but knew the time would come soon enough. She would sometimes exclaim: “Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

As time went by, her desire for the Blessed Sacrament grew, and she loved Christ more than ever. To show this love, she joined a cloistered Dominican community at age nine in Valdipietra, near Bologna . (It was unusual at the time for a girl her age to enter the convent). There it would be easier to wait for her First Communion, in deep prayer and conversation with God.

The Incorrupt body of Bl. Imelda in the Church of San Sigismondo in Bologna, Italy.

On May 13, the day of the vigil of the Ascension, in 1333, she finally got her wish. As she knelt in prayer the “Light of the Host” was witnessed above her head by the Sacristan, who then fetched the Priest so he could see. After seeing this miracle, the Priest felt he had to give Blessed Imelda her Holy Communion. Immediately after receiving the Holy Eucharist, Imelda fell to the floor and died in complete ecstasy. Her remains are in Bologna, Italy, at the Church of San Sigismondo, beneath the wax effigy of her likeness. There still remains some controversy as to whether Blessed Imelda can be classified as incorrupt. Many argue that contrary to popular belief, she is not truly incorrupt. Many other sources, including the Church of San Sigismondo, steadfastly claim that she is incorrupt.

She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1826.

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May 15 – Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac

May 13, 2024

Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac (December 27, 1556 – February 2, 1640) was founderess of the order The Company of Mary Our Lady.

She was born in Bordeaux, France in 1556 to a prominent family. Her father, Richard de Lestonnac, was a member of the French Parliament while her mother, Jeanne Eyquem, was the sister of the philosopher, Michel de Montaigne. She grew up in a time where the conflict between the Protestant reformists and the defenders of the Catholic faith was at its height. This was evident in her family. While her mother was an enthusiastic Calvinist, her father and her uncle Montaigne adhered to the Catholic tradition.

Original shield of the Order of the Company of Mary, Our Lady, founded by St. Jean of Lestonnac.

At the age of 17 she married Baron de Montferrand-Landiras and had 3 children, but these died after they were born. Later on she had 5 more children, 2 boys and 3 girls. She was married for 24 years before her husband died. This marked a painful time in her life where not only her husband but her father, uncle and eldest son also died.

She didn’t feel “complete” after 4 of the great men she loved had died. She felt God was calling her for a plan and needed “sacrifice” to make it complete.

Following her husband’s death, Jeanne de Lestonnac turned to a contemplative life and entered the Cistercian Monastery in Toulouse at the age of 46 and took the name Jeanne of Saint Bernard, however, she became very ill and had to leave. After the leaving the monastery she lived in the La Mothe countryside and began a period of deep discernment. In 1607, at the age of 51, and with the approval of Pope Paul V she established the religious order: The Company of Mary. She envisions the essential task of the order is to educate girls. Soon the order established its first school for girls in Bordeaux. By the time she died in 1640 at the age of 84, 30 houses existed in France.

The tomb of St. Jeanne de Lestonnac in the chapel of Notre Dame School.

Jeanne de Lestonnac was beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII and was canonized on May 15, 1949 by Pope Pius XII. Today her religious order has over 2,500 sisters and are found in 17 countries throughout Europe, Africa, North America and South America.

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May 14, 1264: Simon de Montfort Defeats King Henry III at Battle of Lewes

May 13, 2024

The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons’ War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the “uncrowned King of England”.

Statue of King Henry III on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK.

The battle occurred because of the vacillation of King Henry III, who was refusing to honour the terms of the Provisions of Oxford, an agreement he had signed with his barons, led by Montfort, in 1258. The King was encamped at St. Pancras Priory with a force of infantry, but his son, Prince Edward (later King Edward I) commanded the cavalry, at Lewes Castle 500 yards to the north. A night march enabled Montfort’s forces to surprise Prince Edward and take the high ground of the Sussex Downs, overlooking the town of Lewes, in preparation for battle. They wore white crosses as their distinguishing emblem.

The royalist army, perhaps as much as twice the size of Montfort’s, was led by Edward on the right and the King’s brother Richard of Cornwall on the left, while the King himself commanded the central battalion. The royalist army of the battle lines were five main commanders. The right line was Edward with William de Valance, earl of Pembroke, John de Warenne, earl of Surrey and Sussex. The left line was Richard of Cornwall with his son Henry, being the fourth main commander. The central battalion was king Henry III himself as the fifth main commander.

A statue of Simon de Montfort on the Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower in Leicester, England.

Edward gained early success by having led his men out from the castle to meet the enemy, running them down for some 4 miles and killing them without mercy. He had unwisely pursued the enemy’s retreating force to the north, thus sacrificing the chance of overall victory. Meanwhile, Montfort defeated the remainder of the royal army led by the King and Cornwall. On being defeated, Cornwall decided to take refuge in the Priory. He was unable to reach the Priory so he hid in a windmill, where, upon his discovery, he was taunted with cries of “Come down, come down, thou wicked miller!” All three royals were eventually captured, and by imprisoning the King, Montfort became the de facto ruler of England.

The King was forced to sign the so-called Mise of Lewes. Though the document has not survived, it is clear that Henry was forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, while Prince Edward remained hostage to the barons. This put Montfort in a position of ultimate power, which would last until Prince Edward’s escape, and Montfort’s subsequent defeat at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265.

Plan of the Battle of Lewes from The Art of War in the Middle Ages by Sir Charles Oman, 1898. Click on picture for higher resolution.

______________________

Also of interest:

June 15 – King John of England signs Magna Carta

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May 15 – William Lockhart

May 13, 2024

William Lockhart

Fr. William Lockhart

Son of the Rev. Alexander Lockhart of Waringham, Surry; b. 22 Aug., 1820; d. at St. Etheldreda’s Priory, Eby Place, Holborn, London, 15 May, 1892. He was a cousin of J. G. Lockhart, the well-known biographer of Sir Walter Scott. After studying first at Bedford Grammar School and, afterwards under various tutors, he entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1838. He there made the acquaintance of Edward Douglas, afterwards head of the Redemptorists at Rome, Father Ignatius Grant, the well-known Jesuit, and John Ruskin. Like so many others whose early life has been passed in a purely Protestant atmosphere, Lockhart had hitherto taken it for granted that Protestantism represented the religion of the Apostles, and that to the title Catholics could, properly speaking, lay no claim. The reading of Froude’s “Remains” and Faber’s “Foreign Churches” showed him how mistaken this opinion was. To set his doubts at rest, he visited Manning at Lavington, but felt so awed in the archdeacon’s presence that he did not dare to enter into a controversy. Subsequently, Manning urged Lockhart to accept Newman’s kind invitation to stay with him at Littlemore and prepare for (Anglican) ordination.

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster.

After graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1842, he rejoined Newman at Littlemore, and was assigned the task of translating a portion of Fleury’s “History of the Church”, and of writing a life of St. Gilbert of Sempringham for the Oxford Series (see NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY). In this retirement his weakened faith in the Anglican Church was rudely shaken by the perusal of Milner’s “End of Religious Controversy” given him by Grant, who had become a Catholic in 1841. Lockhart now realized for the first time what a Catholic doctrine was, and he saw all his doubts confirmed in the irresolution of Newman, at this time vainly seeking his Via Media between Catholicism and Anglicanism. After a few weeks’ hesitation, he declared to Newman that he could not go on for Anglican ordination doubting its validity as he did; Newman sent him to W. G. Ward, who persuaded him to return to Littlemore for three years.
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The Queen’s German prince and the beef recipe in his honor

May 9, 2024

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace, May 11, 1854.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, when they were both 20. Contrary to today’s contraceptive culture, nine children blessed their marriage. He administered ably and expanded the patrimony of the British royal family. He championed the abolition of slavery and strove to eliminate child labor in factories and mines, which the the frenetic expansionism of the Industrial Revolution had made common.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria and their children

Although somewhat disparaged by British society at first–with many seeing him as a minor German prince who was not an even match for the Queen–they warmed in admiration for him seeing his calm courage during two assassination attempts against the Queen. In the first, the Queen was four months pregnant and they were riding together in an open carriage through a London park. Edward Oxford, a lunatic, shot at them twice and missed. The second attempt was by a John Francis. He too shot at the Queen while she was riding in an open carriage with the Prince.

Detail of lithograph by J. R. Jobbins of Edward Oxford attempting to shoot Queen Victoria

Prince Albert died young. He was just 42 years old and the Queen wore mourning for the rest of her life. He left his mark on British society during these twenty years, and his memory is celebrated in numerous ways. For example, by this beef fillet recipe, which was created in his honor.

Click Here For The Recipe!

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Longing For The Marvelous and Sacralizing Daily Life as a Way of Drawing Closer To God

May 9, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

I have insisted many times here that we should have a longing for the marvelous. The series on Europeanization, which I do here about once a month, are aimed precisely at awakening in us a taste for the marvelous, which, in the artistic field, Europe has developed to an unprecedented degree. From time to time, I give something about Asia to show some other aspects of this marvelous. I have shown that the truly wonderful things made by man, or directly by God, are masterpieces of creation.

Castle Holte by Heinrich Deiters

Now, if the whole Creation reminds us of God, it is clear that everything which is more splendid in creation reminds us of God more splendidly. So it is entirely natural for man to have this yearning for the marvelous as a means of drawing closer to God. And it is also for this reason that we see that Communism seeks to eliminate the marvelous from everything and makes everything more vulgar, down-to-earth, and as banal as possible: It is a way of turning people into atheists. As much as possible, it extinguishes movements in the human soul that lead to God.

There is a phrase they gave me, by a Murillo Mendes. It is from his recent memoir: “Driven by a profound instinct, I always tried to sacralize everyday life, to debanalize real life, to create or recreate a fairy-like dimension.”

A free show day for the French Revolutionaries by Louis-Léopold Boilly.

So here you have three successive things: “Sacralize everyday life.”

This means that everyday life is so banal that we need to introduce some nobility and elevation in it, which is what he calls to “sacralize.” Because [only] what is sacred has the apex of beauty, nobility, and elevation.

Then comes the second point: “Debanalize real life.”

This is another way of saying, sacralize everyday life by taking the banal out of it.

Now comes the most characteristic: “Create or recreate a fairy-like dimension.”

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Noblesse Oblige – Part 2

May 9, 2024

By Anthony Charette

Part I

Spiritual Tug-of-War

Bishop Martin Marty O.S.B. of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, Dakota Territory. He encouraged St. Katharine’s generosity toward the Indian Missions.

Katharine’s correspondence in this period clearly indicates a frustrated soul on fire with love of God and trying to fly over all the obstacles standing in the way of her vocation. Bishop O’Connor, still her spiritual advisor, initially advised caution and patience. Eventually, he revealed his conclusions: She could best serve God by living in the world and directing her activities with the intelligence and competence she had already exhibited. He felt that in a convent she would be directed by others to the detriment of her apostolate.

Dissatisfied with this response, Katharine replied that she wanted to sacrifice her feelings, her inclinations, her appetites, against which all nature rebels. But, by conquering the flesh, the soul lives. She went on to explain that the attainment of perfection should be our chief employment in life. But the Bishop would not relent. He feared that she, coming from such an elegant lifestyle, might lack the strength to endure the sacrifices that life in a religious Order called for.

In the midst of this epistolary tug-of-war, Katharine and her two sisters traveled to Europe. While they were in Rome, Pope Leo XIII granted Katharine a private audience. She explained to the Pontiff that she desired to enter a contemplative religious congregation, but that she also was aiding Bishop O’Connor and numerous missionaries in alleviating the sad condition of the North American Indians. She feared that if she entered a contemplative Order she would be abandoning those God wanted her to help. What should she do?

Pope Leo listened attentively. He no doubt knew she was a member of a wealthy banking family and could obviously see that she was offering herself to God through a life of prayer. He thought for a long minute and then replied, “But why not be a missionary yourself, my child?” It was not the answer she was looking for. Enigmatic in some respects, the Pope’s answer nevertheless did point to her future course.

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May 9 – Isaias, Prophet and Historian, Sawn in Two

May 9, 2024

The Prophet Isaiah by Gustave Doré.

From the Prophet himself (i, 1; ii, 1) we learn that he was the son of Amos. Owing to the similarity between Latin and Greek forms of this name and that of the Shepherd-Prophet of Thecue, some Fathers mistook the Prophet Amos for the father of Isaias. St. Jerome in the preface to his “Commentary on Amos” (P.L., XXV, 989) points out this error. Of Isaias’s ancestry we know nothing; but several passages of his prophecies (iii, 1-17, 24; iv, 1; viii, 2; xxxi, 16) lead us to believe that he belonged to one of the best families of Jerusalem. A Jewish tradition recorded in the Talmud (Tr. Megilla, 10b.) held him to be a nephew of King Amasias. As to the exact time of the Prophet’s birth we lack definite data; yet he is believed to have been about twenty years of age when he began his public ministry. He was a citizen, perhaps a native, of Jerusalem. His writings give unmistakable signs of high culture. From his prophecies (vii and viii) we learn that he married a woman whom he styles “the prophetess” and that he had two sons, She`arYashub and Mahershalalhashbaz. Nothing whatever indicates that he was twice married as some fancy on the gratuitous and indefensible supposition that the `almah of vii, 14, was his wife.

twelve Prophets sculpted by Aleijadinho in front of the church of the sanctuary of Bom Jesus of Matosinhos at Congonhas, Minas Gerais, Brazil ; Isaiah is the first statue on the left on the pillar at the beginning of the steps.

Eight of the twelve Prophets sculpted by Aleijadinho in front of the church of the sanctuary of Bom Jesus of Matosinhos at Congonhas, Brazil. Isaiah is the first statue on the left on the pillar at the beginning of the steps.

The prophetical ministry of Isaias lasted wellnigh half a century, from the closing year of Ozias, King of Juda, possibly up to that of Manasses. This period was one of great prophetical activity. Israel and Juda indeed were in sore need of guidance. After the death of Jeroboam II revolution followed upon revolution and the northern kingdom had sunk rapidly into an abject vassalage to the Assyrians. The petty nations of the West, however, recovering from the severe blows received in the beginning of the eighth century, were again manifesting aspirations of independence. Soon Theglathphalasar III marched his armies towards Syria; heavy tributes were levied and utter ruin threatened on those who would show any hesitation to pay. In 725 Osee, the last King of Samaria, fell miserably under the onslaught of Salmanasar IV, and three years later Samaria succumbed to the hands of the Assyrians. In the meantime the Kingdom of Juda hardly fared better. A long period of peace had enervated characters, and the young, inexperienced, and unprincipled Achaz was no match for the SyroIsraelite coalition which confronted him. Panicstricken he, in spite of the remonstrances of Isaias, resolved to appeal to Theglathphalasar. The help of Assyria was secured, but the independence of Juda was thereby practically forfeited.

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Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau

May 9, 2024

May 10 – French or American?

Marshal, born at Vendôme, France, 1 July, 1725; died at Thoré, 10 May, 1807.

Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, pictured with the medal from the Society of the Cincinnati.

At the age of sixteen he entered the army and in 1745 became an aid to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, subsequently commanding a regiment. He served with distinction in several important battles, notably those of Minorca, Crevelt, and Minden, and was wounded at the battle of Lafeldt. When the French monarch resolved to despatch a military force to aid the American colonies in the Revolutionary War, Rochambeau was created a lieutenant-general and placed in command of a body of troops which numbered some 6000 men. It was the smallness of this force that made Rochambeau at first averse to taking part in the American War, but his sympathy with the colonial cause compelled him eventually to accept the command, and he arrived at Newport, Rhode Island July, 1780, and joined the American army under Washington, on the Hudson a few miles above the city of New York. Rochambeau performed the double duties of a diplomat and general in an alien army with rare distinction amidst somewhat trying circumstances, not the least of which being a somewhat unaccountable coolness between Washington and himself, which, fortunately, was of but passing import (see the correspondence and diary of Count Axel Fersen).

Painting of the Siege of Yorktown (1781) by by Auguste Couder. Marshal Rochambeau and George Washington giving their last orders before the battle.

After the first meeting with the American general he marched with his force to the Virginia peninsula and rendered heroic assistance at Yorktown in the capture of the English forces under Lord Cornwallis, which concluded the hostilities. When Cornwallis surrendered, 19 Oct., 1781, Rochambeau was presented with one of the captured cannon. After the surrender he embarked for France amid ardent protestations of gratitude and admiration from the officers and men of the American army. In 1783 he received the decoration of Saint-Esprit and obtained the baton of a marshal of France in 1791. Early in 1792 he was placed in command of the army of the North, and conducted a force against the Austrians, but resigned the same year and narrowly escaped the guillotine when the Jacobin revolutionary power had obtained supreme control in Paris.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, painted by Charles-Philippe Larivière

When the fury of the revolution had spent itself, Rochambeau was reinstated in the regard of his countrymen. He was granted a pension by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804, and was decorated with the Cross of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. The last years of the distinguished military leader’s life were passed in the dictation of his memoirs, which appeared in two volumes in Paris in 1809, and which throw many personal and brilliant sidelights on the events of two of the most historically impressive revolutions, and the exceptional men therein concerned.

WRIGHT, Memoirs of Marshal Count de Rochambeau Relative to the War or Independence (1838); SOULÉ, Histoire des troubles de l’Amerique anglaise(Paris, 1787); standard histories of the United States may also be consulted.

Jarvis Keiley (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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May 11 – Martyr of the House of Rochester

May 9, 2024

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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Carthusian Martyrs, the Third Group

May 9, 2024

The Third Group The next move was to seize four more monks of community, two being taken to the Carthusian house at Beauvale in Nottinghamshire, while Dom John Rochester and Dom James Walworth were taken to the Charterhouse of St. Michael in Hull in Yorkshire. They were made an “example” of on 11 May 1537, […]

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The Dauphin’s heroism at Fontenoy

May 9, 2024

During the battle of Fontenoy, when French soldiers were being mowed down, the Dauphin positioned himself at the front of some troops and, sword in hand, shouted: — “Frenchmen, forward! Let’s fight for the honor of France!” Some who were close to the Crown Prince cautioned that his life was too precious to risk in […]

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What Is the Symbol of Nobility and Power? And Why?

May 6, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira In our day, the sword has been surpassed as a weapon of war by far more potent arms. The modern soldier gives little thought to sharpening his sword for battle. Inadequate to defend its bearer against more lethal weaponry, the sword has been virtually eliminated from twentieth-century arsenals. Yet, on […]

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Blessed Francis de Montmorency Laval

May 6, 2024

Blessed 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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Noblesse Oblige – Part 1

May 6, 2024

By Anthony Charette In recent years tons of printed material have been expended to criticize and commiserate with the social condition of the American Indian. Given all the accounts in the liberal press, their condition during these years has deteriorated and the selfsame pres offers no viable solution, other than more welfare dollars and the […]

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May 7 – St. John of Beverley

May 6, 2024

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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May 7 – The Pope who adopted two princes

May 6, 2024

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 8 – Patron in War

May 6, 2024

Well known is the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel (a. 494 or 530-40), as related in the Roman Breviary, 8 May, at his renowned sanctuary on Monte Gargano, where his original glory as patron in war was restored to him. To his intercession the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia) attributed their victory over the Greek […]

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COMMENTARY – The Vatican Ostpolitik

May 2, 2024

[previous] On reading these lines about Ostpolitik, someone could ask if the enormous changes that took place in Russia resulted from an ingenious move by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Perhaps the Vatican, on the basis of the best information, foresaw that communism, corroded by internal crises, would begin in its turn to self-destruct. And to encourage […]

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May 2 – Economist

May 2, 2024

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

May 2, 2024

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 – Élisabeth Leseur

May 2, 2024

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

May 2, 2024

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 5 – Arrested for refusing Napoleon a “Te Deum”

May 2, 2024

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli Composer, born at Naples, 4 April, 1752; died at Torre del Greco, 5 May, 1837. Having studied at the Loreto Conservatory under Fenaroli and Speranza, his first opera, “Montesuma”, was given at San Carlo, 13 August, 1781. He then went to Milan, where he remained until 1794, when he took up the […]

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Post-mortem of a Revolution

May 2, 2024

French Revolution The last thirty years have given us a new version of the history of the French Revolution, the most diverse and hostile schools having contributed to it. The philosopher, Taine, drew attention to the affinity between the revolutionary and what he calls the classic spirit, that is, the spirit of abstraction which gave […]

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St. Hugh the Great – In 11th century Christendom, no king or bishop dare oppose him

April 29, 2024

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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A Knight’s Tenth Commandment: Combat All Evil, Defend All That Is Good

April 29, 2024

We must confess that the Tenth Commandment of chivalry has not been clearly formulated by our poets, and that we owe it to the Church as a matter of fact. “To combat all evil, to defend all good,” would not have come naturally to the minds of those descendants of Germans who had not been […]

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April 30 – “Thank God for the victory”

April 29, 2024

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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April 30, 2017 – 170th anniversary of the Archduke who discovered how to defeat Napoleon

April 29, 2024

Today in History – April 30th, 1847 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen Archduke Charles (full name in German: Karl Ludwig Johann Joseph Lorenz) of Austria was born on September 5th. 1771 in Florence (then the Grand Duchy of Tuscany). His parents were Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria Luisa of […]

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May 1 – St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy

April 29, 2024

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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Did Cervantes Kill Chivalry?

April 25, 2024

By Ben Broussard * Four hundred years ago, the famous Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra passed away. He has since been heralded as one of the greatest writers in the Spanish language. However, word of his death had little impact on Castilian society. No public honors or national mourning marked the funeral of […]

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April 25-26 – Mother of Good Counsel, who inspired the Albanians to resist the Turks

April 25, 2024

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 death, the Turkish army, finally […]

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MacArthur warns Congress of military defeat’s dire consequences for America

April 25, 2024

General MacArthur, sitting before the Committee of Military Affairs in the House of Representatives, on April 26, 1933, spoke in firm tones… If ever there were more prophetic words, they are not recorded in history…. “There is nothing more expensive than an insufficient army. To build an army to be defeated by some other fellow’s […]

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April 26 – His ears were nailed to the pillory

April 25, 2024

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 27 – His artillery instructions saved Goa

April 25, 2024

Giacomo Rho Missionary, born at Milan, 1593; died at Peking 27 April, 1638. He was the son of a noble and learned jurist, and at the age of twenty entered the Society of Jesus. While poor success attended his early studies, he was later very proficient in mathematics. After his ordination at Rome by Cardinal […]

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April 27 – Jesuit missionary in Scotland in the time of the persecutions

April 25, 2024

Robert Abercromby Sometimes known as Sanders and as Robertson, a Jesuit missionary in Scotland in the time of the persecutions, born 1532; died at Braunsberg, in Prussia, 27 April, 1613. He was brought into prominence chiefly by the fact that he converted the Queen of James I of England, when that monarch was as yet […]

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

April 25, 2024

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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How many were lost to birth control?

April 25, 2024

Ann Clare Boothe was born on April 10, 1903, in a dismal apartment house on Riverside Drive in New York City…. Clare herself once succinctly pictured her unpropitious prospects as a baby. Shortly after her conversion to Catholicism, she was attacked by an ardent disciple of Mrs. Sanger for the Catholic stand against birth control. […]

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April 28 – Saint Egbert

April 25, 2024

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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Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 22, 2024

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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St. Adalbert of Bohemia

April 22, 2024

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 reform the clergy of […]

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The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World

April 22, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Conference on April 23th 1955 (*) Defining concepts: “world” and “modern” The theme I was asked to speak about —“The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World”— is rich in ideas. It contains four concepts, each of them important, but very unequal in precision and clarity. For if […]

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April 24 – Gregory Bæticus

April 22, 2024

Gregory Bæticus, Bishop of Elvira, in the province of Baetica, Spain, from which he derived his surname; d. about 392. Gregory is first met with as Bishop of Elvira (Illiberis) in 375; he is mentioned in the luciferian “Libellus precum ad Imperatores” (Migne, P.L., XIII, 89 sq.) as the defender of Nicean creed, after Bishop […]

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Battle of Mühlberg

April 22, 2024

The Battle of Mühlberg took place near Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony in 1547, during the Schmalkaldic War. The Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under the command of Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and […]

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James Beaton

April 22, 2024

James Beaton (Or Bethune) Archbishop of Glasgow, b. 1517; d. 24 April, 1603; the son of James Beaton of Balfarg (a younger son of John Beaton of Balfour) and nephew to Cardinal David Beaton. He was elected to the archbishopric in 1551, on the resignation of the archbishop-elect Andrew Gordon, and not being yet in […]

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Fifth Horizon

April 18, 2024

In this painting, Goya personifies Panic in the legendary, somewhat mythological figure seen in the background. The personification of abstract concepts has a lot to do with the material that begins at this point. F. Goya, Panic, Prado Museum, Madrid. Figures in a transisphere 1 The Princess of Metternich, the Austrian ambassador to Napolean III, […]

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St. Willigis

April 18, 2024

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 – This German pope led his army against the Normans

April 18, 2024

Pope St. Leo IX 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 the Empire. He was named Bruno. His father Hugh […]

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April 19 – Hostage of the Danes

April 18, 2024

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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← Previous Entries

Pope St. John I

St. Eric, King of Sweden, Martyr

Jan Dlugosz

St. Ives

10 years ago, Prince Bertrand wrote this article…Worth reading again…

William Lockhart

May 10 – French or American?

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