Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil

April 22, 2024

Pedralvarez Cabral

(Pedro Alvarez.)

Lithograph of Pedro Álvares Cabral

Lithograph of Pedro Álvares Cabral

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 of the distinguished Fernando de Noronha. He must have had an excellent training in navigation and large experience as a seaman, for King Emmanuel of Portugal considered him competent to continue the work of Vasco da Gama, and in the year 1500 placed him in command of a fleet which was to set sail for India. His commission was to establish permanent commercial relations and to introduce Christianity wherever he went, using force of arms when necessary to gain his point. The nature of the undertaking led rich Florentine merchants to contribute to the equipment of the ships, and priests to join the expedition. Among the captains of the fleet, which consisted of thirteen ships with 1,200 men, were Bartolomeu Diaz, Pero Vaz de Caminha, and Nicolao Coelho, the latter the companion of da Gama. Da Gama himself gave the directions necessary for the course of the voyage.

Pedro Álvares Cabral sees the land that would later be known as Brazil for the first time. Painting by Aurélio de Figueiredo.

Pedro Álvares Cabral sees the land that would later be known as Brazil for the first time. Painting by Aurélio de Figueiredo.

The fleet left Lisbon, 9 March, 1500, and following the course laid down, sought to avoid the calms of the coast of Guinea. On leaving the Cape Verde Islands, where Luis Pirez was forced by a storm to return to Lisbon, they sailed in a decidedly southwesterly direction. On 22 April a mountain was visible, to which the name of “Mt. Paschoal” was given; on the 23rd Coelho landed on the coast of Brazil, and on the 25th the entire fleet sailed into the harbor called “Porto Seguro”. Cabral perceived that the new country lay east of the line of demarcation made by Alexander VI, and at once sent Andreas Gonçalvez (according to other authorities Gaspar de Lemos) to Portugal with the important tidings.
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St. Adalbert of Bohemia

April 22, 2024

Born 939 of a noble Bohemian family; died 997.

Statue of St. Adalbert of Prague. Part of Wenceslas Monument on the Wenceslas Square in Prague. National Museum in the background.

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 his diocese. He betook himself to Rome, and when released by Pope John XV from his episcopal obligations, withdrew to a monastery and occupied himself in the most humble duties of the house. Recalled by his people, who received him with great demonstrations of joy, he was nevertheless expelled a second time and returned to Rome.

The people of Hungary were just then turning towards Christianity. Adalbert went among them as a missionary, and probably baptized King Geysa and his family, and King Stephen. He afterwards evangelized the Poles, and was made Archbishop of Gnesen. But he again relinquished his see, and set out to preach to the idolatrous inhabitants of what is now the Kingdom of Prussia. Success attended his efforts at first, but his imperious manner in commanding them to abandon paganism irritated them, and at the instigation of one of the pagan priests he was killed. This was in the year 997.

Silver coffin of St. Adalbert in Gniezno

His feast is celebrated 23 April, and he is called the Apostle of Prussia. Boleslas I, Prince of Poland, is said to have ransomed his body for an equivalent weight of gold. He is thought to be the author of the war-song, “Boga-Rodzica”, which the Poles used to sing when going to battle.

T.J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Listen to the song of Boga-Rodzica with lyrics.

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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 (*)

A monstrance which was at the National Eucharistic Congress of 1942 in São Paulo, Brazil. On display at the Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo.

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 it is true that the concept of the “Blessed Sacrament” is precise, if it is true that the concept of “apostolate” is precise, the concept of “world” is already less so, and the most problematic, the trickiest of all, is the concept of “modern.” What do we understand by world? And what should we understand by “modern” world?

The Gospel speaks of the “world.” Our Lord refused to pray for it, but the Apostles received the mission to preach the Gospel to all peoples, and this means to evangelize the whole world. What then does “world” mean?

In common usage, “world” means earth, the planet we live on; it means mankind; and it means a specific society of men in temporal society, which is distinguished, in this sense, from the Church. In another sense, it is a kind of “kingdom of darkness” of the devil. It is not temporal society per se, but evil, the evil of which Satan is the prince. In this sense, Satan is the prince of this world.

The modern world: What does the word “modern” mean? Historians and sociologists are giving a growing importance today to the study of words, even words of everyday usage which express states of soul, thoughts, and ideas. When the complete history of our stormy 20th century is written, a special chapter will have to be dedicated to the study of this seducing, viscous word “modern,” which has various and almost contradictory meanings.

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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 Hosius of Cordova had given his assent in Sirmium to the second Sirmian formulation of doctrine, in the year 357. He proved himself at any rate an ardent opponent of Arianism, stood for the Nicean creed at the Council of Rimini, and refused to enter into ecclesiatical intercourse with the Arian Bishops Ursacius and Valens. He took, in fact, the extreme view, in common with Bishop Lucifer of Calaris (Cagliari), that it was unlawful to make advances to bishops or priests who at any time had been tainted with the Arian heresy, or to hold any religious communion with them. This Luciferian party found adherents in Spain, and on the death of Lucifer (370 or 371) Gregory of Elvira became the head and front of the movement. Such at least is the mention found of him in the “Libellus precum” above referred to, as well as in St. Jerome’s chronicle (Migne, P.L. XXVII, 659). However, the progress made in Spain was by no means considerable.

Gregory found time also for literary labours. St. Jerome says of him that he wrote, until a very ripe old age, a diversity of treatises composed in simple and ordinary language (mediocri sermone), and produced an excellent book (elegantem librum), “De Fide”, which is said to be still extant (Hieron., De viris ill., c. 105). The book “De Trinitate seu de Fide” (Rome, 1575), which was ascribed to Gregory Bæticus by Achilles Statius, its first editor, did not come from his pen, but was written in Spain at the end of the fourth century. On the other hand early historians of literature, e.g. Quesnel, and quite recently Morin, have attributed to him the treatise “De Fide orthodoxa”, which is directed against Arianism, and figures among the works of St. Ambrose (Migne, P.L., XVII, 549-568) and of Vigilius of Thapsus (Migne, P.L., LXII, 466-468; 449-463). The same may be said of the first seven of the twelve books “De Trinitate”, the authorship of which has been ascribed to Vigilius of Thapsus (Migne, P.L., LXII, 237-334). A few inquiring commentators have also sought to prove that Gregory Bæticus was the writer of the tractatus “De Libris Sacarum Scripturarum”, published by Batiffol (Paris, 1900) as the work of Origen. But so far it has been impossible to ascertain positively the authorship in question. There is preserved a letter to him from Eusebius of Vercelli (Migne, P.L., X, 713). As from Eusebius of Vercelli (Migne, P.L., X, 713). As St. Jerome, in his “De Viris Illustribus”, written in 392, does not mention Gregory as being dead, the supposition is that the latter was still living at the time. He must, however, have been then a very old man and cannot in any event have long survived the year 392. He is venerated in Spain as a saint, his feast being celebrated on 24 April.

FLORIO, De Sancto Gregorio Illiberitano, libelli de Fide auctore (Bologna, 1789); MORIN, Les Nouveaus Tractatus Origenis et l’heritage litteraire de l’eveque espagnol, Gregoire d’Illiberis in Revue d’historie et de litterature relig. (1900, V, 145 sq.); BARDENHEWER, Patrologie, tr. SHADAN (St. Louis, 1908), 415; GAMS, Kirchengeschichte vom Spanien (Ratisborn, 1864), II, 256 sq.; KRUGER, Lucifer, Bischof von Calaris, und das Schisma der Luciferianer (Leipzig, 1886), 76 sq.; LECLERQU, L’Espagne chretienne (Parish, 1906), 130 sq.

J. P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Battle of Mühlberg

April 22, 2024

Battle of Mühlberg 1547 and imprisonment of elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony. The pictorial report focuses on the end of the Battle of Mühlberg and the capture of the elector. On the right scenes from the five-year captivity are shown.

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 Landgrave Philip I of Hesse.

The battle ended the Schmalkaldic war and led to the dissolution of the Schmalkaldic League.

What was the Schmalkaldic League?

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse

A politico-religious alliance formally concluded on 27 Feb., 1531, at Smalkalden in Hesse-Nassau, among German Protestant princes and cities for their mutual defence. The compact was entered into for six years, and stipulated that any military attack made upon any one of the confederates on account of religion or under any other pretext was to be considered as directed against them all and resisted in common. The parties to it were: the Landgrave Philip of Hesse; the Elector John of Saxony and his son John Frederick; the dukes Philip of Brunswick-Grubenhagen and Otto, Ernest, and Francis of Brunswick-Lünenburg; Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt; the counts Gebhard and Albrecht of Mansfeld and the towns of Strasburg, Ulm, Constance, Reutlingen, Memmingen, Lindau, Biberach, Isny, Magdeburg, and Bremen. The city of Lübeck joined the league on 3 May, and Bavaria on 24 Oct., 1531. The accession of foreign powers, notably England and France, was solicited, and the alliance of the latter nation secured in 1532. The princes of Saxony and Hesse were appointed military commanders of the confederation, and its military strength fixed at 10,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. At a meeting held at Smalkalden in Dec., 1535, the alliance was renewed for ten years, and the maintenance of the former military strength decreed, with the stipulation that it should be doubled in case of emergency. In April, 1536, Dukes Ulrich of Würtemberg and Barnim and Philip of Pomerania, the cities of Frankfort, Augsburg, Hamburg, and Hanover joined the league with several other new confederates. An alliance was concluded with Denmark in 1538, while the usual accession of the German Estates which accepted the Reformation continued to strengthen the organization. Confident of its support, the Protestant princes introduced the new religion in numerous districts, suppressed bishoprics, confiscated church property, resisted imperial ordinances to the extent of refusing help against the Turks, and disregarded the decisions of the Imperial Court of Justice.

John Frederick I of Saxony

In self-defence against the treasonable machinations of the confederation, a Catholic League was formed in 1538 at Nuremberg under the leadership of the emperor. Both sides now actively prepared for an armed conflict, which seemed imminent. But negotiations carried on at the Diet of Frankfort in 1539 resulted, partly owing to the illness of the Landgrave of Hesse, in the patching up of a temporary peace. The emperor during this respite renewed his earnest but fruitless efforts to effect a religious settlement, while the Smalkaldic confederates continued their violent proceedings against the Catholics, particularly in the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, where Duke Henry was unjustly expelled, and the new religion introduced (1542). It became more and more evident as time went on that a conflict was unavoidable. When, in 1546, the emperor adopted stern measures against some of the confederates, the War of Smalkalden ensued. Although it was mainly a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants, the denominational lines were not sharply drawn. With Pope Paul III, who promised financial and military assistance, several Protestant princes, the principal among whom was Duke Marice of Saxony, defended the imperial and Catholic cause. The beginning of hostilities was marked nevertheless by the success of the Smalkaldic allies; but division and irresoluteness soon weakened them and caused their ruin in Southern Germany, where princes and cities submitted in rapid succession. The battle of Mühlberg (24 April, 1547) decided the issue in favour of the emperor in the north. The Elector John Frederick of Saxony was captured, and shortly after the Landgrave Philip of Hesse was also forced to submit. The conditions of peace included the transfer of the electoral dignity from the former to his cousin Maurice, the reinstatement of Duke Henry of Wolfenbüttel in his dominions, the restoration of Bishop Julius von Pflug to his See of Naumburg-Zeitz, and a promise demanded of the vanquished to recognize and attend the Council of Trent. The dissolution of the Smalkaldic League followed; the imperial success was complete, but temporary.

The Battle

Charles was suffering from gout at that time and his army had to face the desertion of the Papal soldiers that had helped him in the first part of the campaign. In addition the Saxon Elector’s army was larger than Charles’ forces. However, hoping to encourage a Protestant and anti-imperial uprising in Bohemia, John Frederick took the decision to split his forces and he deployed a large portion of his troops there.

He had also left some small detachments to protect the most vulnerable Saxon cities in order to prevent the entry of Charles’ army from the south. With the intention of reaching the well-defended stronghold of Wittenberg, the Elector then marched northwards, abandoning his position in Meissen and camping at the end of April at the town of Mühlberg, leaving only a few troops as guards on the bank of the Elbe river, that he considered too wide to be easily crossed by the imperial forces.

Charles V at Mühlberg by Titian

At the head of his army, Charles V arrived at the Elbe on the evening of 23 April. Despite the contrary opinion of his generals, he decided to attack the enemy forces, resting just a few miles away. At dawn on 24 April the first avant-gardes of the imperial army advanced, looking for a way for all the army to cross the river. Helped by the surprise and by the dense fog that had risen from the river, small groups of Spanish and Italian veteran soldiers managed to swim across the river and eliminate the few Saxon troops that were guarding the other side.

Meanwhile, some troops of the tercios of Lombardy and Naples, that were the most experienced soldiers in Charles’ army, followed a plan set by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba and commander-in-chief of the Imperial troops in Germany and with the help of a local farmer, they managed to spot a ford to use that would allow all the army to cross the Elbe. In addition to this, some veteran soldiers were able to prevent the demolition of a pontoon bridge built by the Saxons, that was immediately used by the Imperial cavalry to pass safely to the other shore.

According to some sources John Frederick had considered an attack from Charles so unlikely that he would have ordered several commanders of his army to go to Mass just when the enemy army was about to complete the crossing of the Elbe. The Saxon forces were completely taken by surprise. As soon as he became aware of the fact, the Elector’s first thought was to retreat towards Wittenberg. He soon realized though that his army would be too slow to be prepared to march in a short while; moreover, he was convinced that only a vanguard of the main imperial army was attacking. So he ordered his troops to prepare for battle.

John Frederick chose to deploy his troops along the edge of a forest, in order to prevent a possible encirclement by the imperial cavalry and to have a safer escape route in case of retreat. The emperor Charles V also reached the battlefield and exhorted his troops to fight the Protestants. Due to gout, he was carried to the battle in a litter, rather than mounted in armour on the great warhorse as depicted by his court painter, Titian and assisted to the battle from the rear. The imperial army was made up of about 16-20,000 men. Among them there were the tercios of Lombardy, Naples, and Hungary, led by Álvaro de Sande.

The battle began in the evening; the Saxon army, mainly made up of peasants, succeeded in repelling the first assaults of the Hungarian cavalry, but the greater number and better preparedness of Charles’ soldiers, among the best in the world at that time, decided the fate of the clash. The emperor had placed his cavalry on the two wings of his army. The right wing, under the direct command of the Duke of Alba, was heavier than the left one, led by Maurice of Saxony.

Fr. Nicolaus Bobadilla, SJ, with the Army of Charles V, at the Battle.

Once the fragile wings of the Saxon army were defeated, the infantry tercios, placed at the center, had a good game in breaking enemy resistance, forcing the Protestants to retreat through the adjacent forest. The Elector of Saxony showed great courage on the battlefield, but was wounded in the face and captured by the imperial troops. The main part of his soldiers were chased and killed or captured.

Some sources report that Emperor Charles V commented on the victory with the sentence Vine, vi y venció Dios (in Spanish “I came, I saw, and God won”), a paraphrase of the famous exclamation pronounced by Julius Caesar.

The battle ended with a complete defeat of the Saxon army which suffered severe losses, estimated at around 2000-3000 men. In addition, the Protestants suffered the almost complete capture of their artillery, ammunition, and banners; many soldiers also ended up prisoners. On the imperial side, around fifty soldiers were killed.

[cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia]

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James Beaton

April 22, 2024

James Beaton

(Or Bethune)

Cardinal James Beaton

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 priests’s orders was ordained in Rome, and consecrated there on the 28th of August, 1552. For eight troublous years he administered the affairs of his diocese and stood faithfully by the queen-regent, Mary of Guise, in her dealings with the disaffected Scottish nobles, who were plotting the destruction of the ancient Church in order to enrich themselves with the spoils. In March, 1539, we find him assisting at the provincial council at Edinburgh summoned by the primate, Archbishop Hamilton – the last assembly of the kind which was to meet in Scotland for three hundred and twenty-six years. The events of 1560, the treaty of alliance with England against France, the commencement of the work of destruction of cathedrals and monasteries, and, finally, the death of the queen-regent, no doubt actuated Beaton in his resolve to quit the distracted kingdom. He repaired to Paris, taking with a great mass of the muniments and registers of his diocese, and much church plate and other treasures, which he deposited in the Scots College.

Queen Mary immediately appointed him her ambassador at the French Court, and he remained both up to her forced abdication in 1567, and during the rest of her life, her most faithful friend and adviser. He did not hesitate, after the murder of Darnley, to inform her frankly of the dark suspicions attaching to her, and the necessity of the assassins being punished. On the 15th of February, 1574, Beaton’s name appears at the head of the list of the Catholic prelates and clergy declared outlaws and rebels by the Scottish Privy Council; but he nevertheless continued to enjoy in his exile the favour of the young king (James VI) who, about 1586, appointed him, as the late sovereign had done, ambassador at Paris. Beaton held several benefices in France, including the income of the Abbey De la Sie, in Poitou, and the treasurership of St. Hilary of Poitiers. His intimate association with the House of Guise had naturally led him to join with the League against Henry IV, and on its dissolution he was threatened with banishment; but by the intervention of Cardinals Bourbon and Sully and of the king himself, he was allowed to remain in France, where he was regarded with the greatest esteem. Perhaps the most remarkable testimony to the respect felt for his character in Scotland is to be found in the fact that in 1598, nearly forty years after the overthrow of the ancient Church, the archbishop was formally restored, by an act of the Scottish Parliament, to all his “heritages, honours, dignities, and benefices, notwithstanding that he has never acknowledged the religion professed within the realm”. He survived to witness, a month before his death, the union of the English and Scottish crowns under King James. On the 24th of April, 1603, when James was actually on his way to London to take possession of hew new kingdom, the archbishop died in Paris, on the eighty-sixth year of his age, and half a century after his episcopal consecration.

Mary Queen of Scots by Federico Zuccari

Beaton had lived in Paris for forty-three years, and had been Scottish ambassador to five successive kings of France. He was buried in the church of St. John Lateran at Paris, his funeral being attended by a great gathering of prelates, nobles, and common people. The poetical inscription on his tomb eulogizes him, in the exaggerated language of the times, as the greatest bishop and preacher of his age in the whole world. A sounder estimate of his worth is that of his Protestant successor in the See of Glasgow, Spottiswoode, who describes him as “a man honourably disposed, faithful to his queen while she lived and to the king her son; a lover of his country, and liberal to all his countrymen”. No breath of scandal, in a scandalous age, ever attached to the honour of his name or the purity of his private life. Beaton left his property, including the archives of the Diocese of Glasgow, and a great mass of important correspondence, to the Scots College in Paris. Some of these documents had already been deposited by him in the Carthusian monastery in the same city. In the stress of the French Revolution many of these valuable manuscripts were packed in barrels and sent to St. Omers. These have unfortunately disappeared, but the papers left in the college were afterwards brought safely to Scotland, and are now preserved at Blairs College, the Catholic seminary near Aberdeen.

Regist. Episc. Glasg., pp. i-ix, liii; Grub, Eccles. Hist. of Scotl., II, 31, 155, 279; Chambers, Biogr. Dict. Of Eminent Scotsmen, I, 108, 109; Acts of Parl. of Scotl., IV, 169, 170; Reg. Priv. Coun. Scotl., II, 334; Keith, Cat. of Scott. Bishops, 153, 154.

D.O. HUNTER-BLAIR (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Fifth Horizon

April 18, 2024

The Colossus (also known as The Giant), El Pánico (The Panic) and La Tormenta (The Storm), by Francisco de Goya.

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, tells in her memoirs that once she witnessed the Empress of Austria visiting her uncle, the great Metternich.

The sovereign was so majestic that she said that in the Empress she saw true majesty itself.

We are speaking, therefore, of a figure that she knew in concrete, from whom she selected certain aspects, and told of them in an abstract concept.

Therefore, an idea was taken and conjugated to things evident to the senses, thus forming a kind of person, a transispherical person.

2

Perhaps that which is so grandiose and even incomparable about the figure of Charlemagne is that it gives us such a sublime idea of the man in the highest condition there is in the temporal order, that of the Catholic emperor/warrior/prophet. It conveys such a high idea of this condition that we are able to foresee an imperial power greater than his, realized in an order also greater than his.

Charlemagne, painted by Albrecht Dürer

In reflecting upon the imperial character of Charlemagne we are enthused. In this enthusiasm we in fact reflect upon something greater than he in which he participates. In the temporal order, what he participates in is a creature of possibility, the perfect imperator, a concept yet far from that of God. Still, this reflection later facilitates meditation upon God Himself.

There are, therefore, two Charlemagnes: that of History, and that of the transisphere. It is necessary to imagine a Charlemagne that is not real, but that at the same time is more profound than the real one. This unreal Charlemagne is the most profound Charlemagne.3

One of the most enchanting ways to consider Venice is to imagine it as a city whose streets, though solid, have all the excellent qualities of water. Above the city is a sky that looks as the sky does when it is reflected in the water, and the palaces of this city appear as does their reflection in the water.

[In Venice], there is a kind of paradox between the excellent characteristics of the solid land adapted to the fluid excellence of the water. It makes up a whole that in this order is paradoxal, and that because it is paradoxal points toward something that is more than all the images of beauty that can be expressed in various ways. It is something imponderable.

4

In St. Basil’s Cathedral, there is an ideal point in which is seen the same fairylike aspect of the whole, yet which in a more tonic manner bears its own significance.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel, in in Normandy, France. Popularly nicknamed “St. Michael in peril of the sea” by medieval pilgrims making their way across the flats.

5

The spire atop Mt. St. Michael, designed by Viollet-le-Duc, is the most beautiful aspect of that edifice. But, as a possibility, it existed within the minds of those pilgrims that went there before Viollet-le-Duc actually had it built. Prior even to having existed, it was this possibility that ruled over the Abbey.

6

Once I heard the organ in the Church of the Sacred Heart being tuned. The man would open a note and hold it…vuuuum…and would adjust it until it sounded the way he wanted it. I was immersed for a prolonged period of time in the universe of that note. How many worlds, etc., there were in the thousand possibilities of that note.

O Universo é uma Catedral: Excertos do pensamento de Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira recolhidos por Leo Daniele, Edições Brasil de Amanhã, São Paulo, 1997.

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St. Willigis

April 18, 2024

St. Willigis

St. WilligisArchbishop 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 Mainz and Archchancellor of the Empire, in which capacity he did valuable service to the State. Hauch (Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, III, Leipzig, 1906, 414) calls him an ideal bishop of the tenth century. Well educated himself, he demanded solid learning in his clergy. He was known as a good and fluent speaker. In March, 975, he received the pallium from Benedict VII and was named Primate of Germany. As such, on Christmas, 983, he crowned Otto III at Aachen, and in June, 1002, performed the coronation of Henry II at Mainz; he presided at the Synod of Frankfort, 1007, at which thirty-five bishops signed the Bull of John XVIII for the erection of the Diocese of Bamberg. He always stood in friendly relations with Rome (“Katholik”, 1911, 142). In 996 he was in the retinue of Otto III on his journey to Italy, assisted at the consecration of Gregory V and at the synod convened a few days later. In this synod Willigis strongly urged the return of St. Adalbert to Prague, which diocese was a suffragan of Mainz. Willigis had probably consecrated the first bishop, Thietmar (January, 976), at Brumath in Alsace (Hauch, III, 193), and had consecrated St. Adalbert. The latter, unable to bear the opposition to his labours, left his diocese and was, after much correspondence between the Holy See and Willigis, forced to return.

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April 19 – This German pope led his army against the Normans

April 18, 2024

Pope St. Leo IX

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

Pope St. Leo IX earnestly spread the Cluny reform

Born at Egisheim, near Colmar, on the borders of Alsace, 21 June, 1002, Pope St. Leo IX died on 19 April, 1054. He belonged to a noble family which had given or was to give saints to the Church and rulers to the Empire. He was named Bruno. His father Hugh was first cousin to Emperor Conrad, and both Hugh and his wife Heilewide were remarkable for their piety and learning.

When five years of age, he was committed to the care of the energetic Berthold, Bishop of Toul, who had a school for the sons of the nobility. Intelligent, graceful in body, and gracious in disposition, Bruno was a favourite with his schoolfellows. Whilst still a youth and at home for his holidays, he was attacked when asleep by some animal, and so much injured that for some time he lay between life and death. In that condition he saw, as he used afterwards to tell his friends, a vision of St. Benedict, who cured him by touching his wounds with a cross. This we are told by Leo’s principal biographer, Wibert, who was his intimate friend when the saint was Bishop of Toul.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castelo-Condes-Eguisheim.jpg

Castle of the Counts of Eguisheim – birthplace of Pope St. Leo IX. Photo by Mschlindwein

Bruno became a canon of St. Stephen’s at Toul (1017), and though still quite young exerted a soothing influence on Herimann, the choleric successor of Bishop Berthold. When, in 1024, Conrad, Bruno’s cousin, succeeded the Emperor Henry I, the saint’s relatives sent him to the new king’s court “to serve in his chapel”. His virtue soon made itself felt, and his companions, to distinguish him from others who bore the same name, always spoke of him as “the good Bruno”.

In 1026 Conrad set out for Italy to make his authority respected in that portion of his dominions, and as Herimann, Bishop of Toul, was too old to lead his contingent into the peninsula, he entrusted the command of it to Bruno, then a deacon. There is reason to believe that this novel occupation was not altogether uncongenial to him, for soldiers seem always to have had an attraction for him.

While he was thus in the midst of arms, Bishop Herimann died and Bruno was at once elected to succeed him. Conrad, who destined him for higher things, was loath to allow him to accept that insignificant see. But Bruno, who was wholly disinclined for the higher things, and wished to live in as much obscurity as possible, induced his sovereign to permit him to take the see. Consecrated in 1027, Bruno administered the Diocese of Toul for over twenty years, in a season of stress and trouble of all kinds.

He had to contend not merely with famine, but also with war, to which as a frontier town Toul was much exposed. Bruno, however, was equal to his position. He knew how to make peace, and, if necessary, to wield the sword in self-defence.

 

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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).

St. Alphege being asked for advice.

St. Alphege being asked for advice.

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 Olaf of Norway at Andover, and it is suggested that his patriotic spirit inspired the decrees of the Council of Enham. In 1006, on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, he went to Rome for the pallium. At this period England was much harassed by the Danes, who, towards the end of September, 1011, having sacked and burned Canterbury, made Elphege a prisoner.

On 19 April, 1012, at Greenwich, his captors, drunk with wine, and enraged at ransom being refused, pelted Elphege with bones of oxen and stones, till one Thurm dispatched him with an axe. Elphege’s body, after resting eleven years in St. Paul’s (London), was translated by King Canute to Canterbury.

His principal feast is kept on the 19th of April; that of his translation on the 8th of June.

He is sometimes represented with an axe cleaving his skull.

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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. PLUMMER (Oxford, 1892-99); THIETMAR, Chronicle, in P. L., CXXXIX, 1384; OSBERN, Vita S. Elphegi in WHARTON, Anglia Sacra, II, 122 sqq.; Acta SS., April, II, 630; Bibl. Hag. Lat., 377; CHEVALIER, Repertoire, I, 1313; FREEMAN, Norman Conquest, I, v; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 18 April; STANTON, Menology, 19 April; HUNT in Dict. Nat. Biogr., s. v. AElfheah.

PATRICK RYAN

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April 19 – Blessed Conrad of Ascoli

April 18, 2024

Friar Minor and missionary, born at Ascoli in the March of Ancona in 1234; died there, 19 April, 1289.

He belonged to the noble family of Milliano and from his earliest years made penance the predominating element of his life.
Bl. Conrad of Ascoli
He entered the Order of Friars Minor at Ascoli together with his townsman and lifelong friend, Girolamo d’Ascoli, afterwards minister general, and later pope under the title of Nicholas IV. Having completed his studies at Perugia, Conrad was sent to Rome to teach theology. Later he obtained permission to go to Africa, where he preached with much fruit through the different provinces of Libya and worked numerous miracles. He was recalled from Africa to go on a mission to the King of France, then at war with Spain, and subsequently he became lector of theology at Paris.

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

April 18, 2024

Stone marking the site of the Tyburn tree on the traffic island at the junction of Edgware Road, Marble Arch and Oxford Street

Stone marking the site of the Tyburn tree on the traffic island at the junction of Edgware Road, Marble Arch and Oxford Street

Blessed Fr. James Bell

Priest and martyr, b. at Warrington in Lancashire, England, probably about 1520; d. 20 April, 1584. For the little known of him we depend on the account published four years after his death by Bridgewater in his “Concertatio” (1588), and derived from a manuscript which was kept at Douay when Challoner wrote his “Missionary Priests” in 1741, and is now in the Westminster Diocesan Archives. A few further details were collected by Challoner, and others are supplied by the State Papers. Having studied at Oxford he was ordained priest in Mary’s reign, but unfortunately conformed to the established Church under Elizabeth, and according to the Douay MS. “ministered their bare few sacraments about 20 years in diverse places of England”. Subscription7 Finally deterred by conscience from the cure of souls and reduced to destitution, he sought a small readership as a bare subsistence. To obtain this he approached the patron’s wife, a Catholic lady, who induced him to be reconciled to the Church. After some time he was allowed to resume priestly functions, and for two years devoted himself to arduous missionary labours. He was at length apprehended (17 January 1583-84) and, having confessed his priesthood, was arraigned at Manchester Quarter-Sessions held during the same month, and sent for trial at Lancaster Assizes in March. When condemned and sentenced he said to the Judge: “I beg your Lordship would add to the sentence that my lips and the tops of my fingers may be cut off, for having sworn and subscribed to the articles of heretics contrary both to my conscience and to God’s Truth”. He spent that night in prayer and on the following day was hanged and quartered together with Ven. John Finch, a layman, 20 April, 1584.

He was beatified in 1929.

BRIDGEWATER, Concertatio ecclesiæ Catholicæ in Anglia, 1588; YEPEZ, Historia particular de la persecucion de Inglatera, 1599; CHALLONER, Missionary Priests 1741; Dict. Nat. Biog., IV, 163; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., I, 173, citing State Papers in Public Record Office.

EDWIN BURTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 21 – Jean Racine

April 18, 2024

Jean Racine

Dramatist, b. a La Ferté-Milon, in the old Duchy of Valois, 20 Dec., 1639; d. in Paris, 21 April, 1699. Left an orphan at a very early age, his relatives sent him to the College of Beauvais, which was intimately connected with Port Royal, whither he went in 1655. Here, though only sixteen years of age, he made such progress that he not only read Greek at sight, but wrote odes both in Latin and in French. In 1658, he entered the Collège d’Harcourt. While boarding with his uncle, Nicolas Vitart, he formed too close an acquaintance with some theatrical people, and in order to guard him against temptation his relatives sent him to another uncle, the Abbé Sesvrin, at Uzès; but failing to obtain any position there, he returned to Paris in 1663, where he wrote two odes which made him known to the court. In 1664 his first play, “La Thébaïde, ou les Frères ennemis”, was performed. It was followed by “Alexandre”, another drama equally insignificant. “Andromaque”, in 1667, proved a great success, and was followed by his only comedy “Les Plaideurs” (1668). “Britannicus” followed in 1669, “Bérénice” (1670), “Bajazet” (1672), “Mithridate” (1673), “Iphigénie” (1674). After the failure of “Phèdre” in 1677, Racine abruptly severed his connection with the stage, partly because he was weary of unjust criticism and unfair rivalry, and partly from conscientious motives. He remained silent for twelve years, but in 1689, at the the request of Madame de Maintenon, he wrote “Esther”, and “Athalie” in 1691.

Jean-Baptiste Racine

Racine’s dramas were variously received. “Andromaque” achieved as great a success as “Le Cid”, and deservedly. the author devoted his most delicate and refined art to the portrayal of the most tragic passion. No characters on the French stage are more interesting and attractive than “Hermione”, the type of passionate love, and “Andromaque”, of maternal. His comedy, “Les Plaideurs”, inspired by the “Wasps” of Aristophanes, failed at first, but, being applauded by Louis XIV, it subsequently met with great favour. “Britannicus” was called by Voltaire la pièce des connoisseurs. “Bérénice” was written in competition with a play on the same subject by Corneille, which it far surpassed. His two tragedies on Oriental subjects, “Bajazet” and “Mithridate”, do not breathe the Oriental spirit. “Iphigénie” is full of pathos. “Phèdre”, which may dispute with “Andromache” and “Athalie” the title of Racine’s masterpiece, was represented at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, while the “Phèdre” of Pradon was performed by the king’s actors.

 

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Pioneer missionary of Kentucky

April 18, 2024

Stephen Theodore Badin

The first Catholic priest ordained within the limits of the original thirteen States of the Union, pioneer missionary of Kentucky, b. at Orléans, France, 17 July, 1768; d. at Cincinnati, Ohio, 21 April, 1853. Educated at Montaigu College, Paris, he entered the Sulpician Seminary of his native city in 1789. He was subdeacon when the seminary was closed by the revolutionary government, in 1791, and sailed from Bordeaux for the American mission in November of the same year, with the Revs. B.J. Flaget and J.B. David, both destined in God’s providence to wear the mitre in Kentucky. They arrived in Philadelphia on the 26th of March, 1792, and were welcomed at Baltimore by Bishop Carroll on the 28th. Stephen T. Badin pursued his theological studies with the Sulpicians and was ordained a priest by Bishop Carroll, 25 May, 1793. His was the first ordination in the United States. After a few months spent at Georgetown to perfect himself in English, Father Badin was appointed to the Mission of Kentucky. He left for that scene of his apostolic labours with Father Barrières, 3 September, 1793, travelled on foot as far as Pittsburgh, and by flat boat down the Ohio, landing at Limestone (Maysville), Ky., where they found twenty Catholic families. They walked sixty-five miles to Lexington, and on the first Sunday of Advent, 1793, Father Badin said his first Mass in Kentucky at the house of Denis McCarthy.

He settled at White Sulphur, Scott County, sixteen miles from Lexington, and for about eighteen months attended this church and neighbouring missions. In April, 1794, his companion, who resided in Bardstown, left for New Orleans, and Father Badin was now alone in the Kentucky mission. For fourteen years he attended to the spiritual wants of the various Catholic settlements, scattered over an extent of more than 120 miles, forming new congregations, building churches, never missing an appointment. To visit his missions regularly he had to live in the saddle, and it is estimated that he rode more than 100,000 miles during his ministry in Kentucky. For many years he was unaided and alone; it was only in July, 1806, that he received permanent help, when the Rev. Charles Nerinckx came to take the larger part of the burden from his shoulders. They lived together at St. Stephen’s, on Pottingers Creek, which was still their headquarters on the arrival, in 1811, of Bishop Flaget, whom Father Badin had suggested and urged as first Bishop of Bardstown. Difficulties about the holding of church property soon arose between the bishop and Father Badin, without, however, interfering with the reverence of the latter for the bishop and the bishop’s friendship for him. Together they went to Baltimore in 1812 to submit the controversy to Archbishop Carroll. It was not settled. They returned to Kentucky in April, 1813, and Father Badin resumed his missionary duties and accompanied his bishop on many pastoral journeys, until 1819. The Rev. J. B. David had been appointed coadjutor in 1817, but persistently refused to accept the honour. Father Badin, believing that this selection would put an end to the controversy about church property, and be for the good of the diocese of which he was the founder, left for France in the spring of 1819. The consecration of Bishop David in September of that year, and unjust suspicions about his disposition of church properties caused him to remain abroad.

 

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April 15 – The Notkers of St. Gall

April 15, 2024

Notker.—Among the various monks of St. Gall who bore this name, the following are the most important:

(1) Notker Balbulus (Stammerer), Blessed, monk and author, b. about 840, at Jonswil, canton of St. Gall (Switzerland); d. 912. Of a distinguished family, he received his education with Tuotilo, originator of tropes, at St. Gall’s, from Iso and the Irishman Moengall, teachers in the monastic school. He became a monk there and is mentioned as librarian (890), and as master of guests (892-94). He was chiefly active as teacher, and displayed refinement of taste as poet and author. He completed Erchanbert’s chronicle (816), arranged a martyrology, and composed a metrical biography of St. Gall. It is practically accepted that he is the “monk of St. Gall” (monachus Sangallensis), author of the legends and anecdotes “Gesta Caroli Magni”. The number of works ascribed to him is constantly increasing. He introduced the sequence, a new species of religious lyric, into Germany. It had been the custom to prolong the Alleluia in the Mass before the Gospel, modulating through a skillfully harmonized series of tones. Notker learned how to fit the separate syllables of a Latin text to the tones of this jubilation; this poem was called the sequence (q.v.), formerly called the “jubilation”. (The reason for this name is uncertain.) Between 881-887 Notker dedicated a collection of such verses to Bishop Liutward of Vercelli, but it is not known which or how many are his. Ekkehard IV, the historiographer of St. Gall, speaks of fifty sequences attributable to Notker. The hymn, “Media Vita”, was erroneously attributed to him late in the Middle Ages. Ekkehard IV lauds him as “delicate of body but not of mind, stuttering of tongue but not of intellect, pushing boldly forward in things Divine, a vessel of the Holy Spirit without equal in his time”. Notker was beatified in 1512.

(1) CHEVALIER Bio-bibl., s. v.; MEYER VON KNONAU in Realencyk fur prot. Theol., s. v.; WERNER, Notker’s Sequenzen (Aarau, 1901); BLUME, Analecta hymnica, LIII (Leipzig, 1911).

(2) Notker Labeo, monk in St. Gall and author, b. about 950; d. 1022. He was descended from a noble family and nephew of Ekkehard I, the poet of Waltharius. “Labeo” means “the thick lipped”, later he was named “the German” (Teutonicus) in recognition of his services to the language. He came to St. Gall when only a boy, and there acquired a vast and varied knowledge by omnivorous reading. His contemporaries admired him as a theologian, philologist, mathematician, astronomer, connoisseur of music, and poet. He tells of his studies and his literary work in a letter to Bishop Hugo of Sitten (998-1017), but was obliged to give up the study of the liberal arts in order to devote himself to teaching. For the benefit of his pupils he had undertaken something before unheard, namely translations from Latin into German. He mentions eleven of these translations, but unfortunately only five are preserved: (1) Boethius, “De consolatione philosophiae”; (2) Marcianus Capella, “De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii”; (3) Aristotle, “De categoriis”; (4) Aristotle, “De interpretatione”; (5) “The Psalter”. Among those lost are: “The Book of Job”, at which he worked for more than five years; “Disticha Catonis”; Vergil’s “Bucolica”; and the “Andria” of Terenz. Of his own writings he mentions in the above letter a “New Rhetoric” and a “New Computus” and a few other smaller works in Latin. We still possess the Rhetoric, the Computus (a manual for calculating the dates of ecclesiastical celebrations, especially of Easter), the essay “De partibus logicae”, and the German essay on Music.

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April 16 – Martyred in the name of Equality

April 15, 2024

Just a few of the many martyrs during the French Revolution († 1792-1799)

16 April 1794 in Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire (France)

Pierre Delépine
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 24 May 1732 in Marigné, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Jean Ménard
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 16 November 1736 in Andigné, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Renée Bourgeais veuve Juret
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 12 November 1751 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Perrine Bourigault
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 07 August 1743 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Madeleine Cady épouse Desvignes
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 07 April 1756 in Saint-Maurille de Chalonnes-sur-Loire, Maine-et-Loire (France)

Martyrs of the French RevolutionMarie Forestier
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 16 January 1768 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marie Gingueneau veuve Coiffard
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: ca. 1739 in (?)
Jeanne Gourdon veuve Moreau
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 08 October 1733 in Sainte-Christine, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marie Lardeux
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: ca. 1748 in (?)
Perrine Laurent
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 02 September 1746 in Louvaines, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Jeanne Leduc épouse Paquier
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 10 February 1754 in Chalonnes-sur-Loire, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Anne Maugrain
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 12 April 1760 in Rochefort-sur-Loire, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Françoise Micheneau veuve Gillot
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 19 May 1737 in Chanteloup-les-Bois, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Jeanne Onillon veuve Onillon
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 19 April 1753 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)

Martyrs of the French RevolutionMarie Piou épouse Supiot
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 19 May 1755 in Montrevault, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Perrine Pottier épouse Turpault
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 26 April 1750 in Cléré-sur-Layon, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marie-Genevieve Poulain de la Forestrie
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 03 January 1741 in Lion-d’Angers, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marthe Poulain de la Forestrie
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 02 October 1743 in Lion-d’Angers, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Renée Rigault épouse Papin
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 14 May 1750 in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marguerite Robin
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 22 December 1725 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marie Rechard
layperson of the diocese of Angers
born: 29 April 1763 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Marie Roger veuve Chartier
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 14 January 1727 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Madeleine Sallé épouse Havard
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: ca. 1751 in (?)
Renée Sechet veuve Davy
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: 28 December 1753 in Montjean, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Françoise Suhard veuve Ménard
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: February 5, 1731 in Saint-Gemmes-d’Andigné, Maine-et-Loire (France)
Jeanne Thomas veuve Delaunay
layperson of the diocese of Angers; married
born: ca. 1730 in (?)

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One of the many nobles who spread the Cluny reform

April 15, 2024

St. Robert

Founder of the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne, born at Aurilac, Auvergne, about 1000; died in Auvergne, 1067.

On his father’s side he belonged to the family of the Counts of Aurilac, who had given birth to St. Géraud. He studied at Brioude near the basilica of St-Julien, in a school open to the nobility of Auvergne by the canons of that city. Having entered their community, and being ordained priest, Robert distinguished himself by his piety, charity, apostolic zeal, eloquent discourses, and the gift of miracles.

St. Robert print by Raphael Sadeler & Marten de Vos

For about forty years he remained at Cluny in order to live under the rule of his compatriot saint, Abbé Odilo. Brought back by force to Brioude, he started anew for Rome in order to consult the pope on his project. Benedict IX encouraged him to retire with two companions to the wooded plateau south-east of Auvergne. Here he built a hermitage under the name of Chaise-Dieu (Casa Dei). The renown of his virtues having brought him numerous disciples, he was obliged to build a monastery, which he placed under the rule of Saint Benedict (1050).

Leo IX erected the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu, which became one of the most flourishing in Christendom. At the death of Robert it numbered 300 monks and had sent multitudes all though the center of France.

The Abbey at La-Chaise-Dieu

Robert also founded a community of women at Lavadieu near Brioude. Through the elevation of Pierre Roger, monk of Chaise-Dieu, to the sovereign pontificate, under the name of Clement VI, the abbey reached the height of its glory. The body of Saint Robert, preserved therein, was burned by the Huguenots during the religious wars. His work was destroyed by the French Revolution, but there remain for the admiration of tourists, the vast church, cloister, tomb of Clement VI, and Clementine Tower.

A. FOURNET (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 17 – St. Stephen Harding

April 15, 2024

St. Stephen Harding

Confessor, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, was born at Sherborne in Dorsetshire, England, about the middle of the eleventh century; died 28 March, 1134. He received his early education in the monastery of Sherborne and afterwards studied in Paris and Rome. On returning from the latter city he stopped at the monastery of Molesme and, being much impressed by the holiness of St. Robert, the abbot, joined that community. Here he practised great austerities, became one of St. Robert’s chief supporters and was one of the band of twenty-one monks who, by authority of Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, retired to Cîteaux to institute a reform in the new foundation there.

Cîteaux Abbey

Cîteaux Abbey

When St. Robert was recalled to Molesme (1099), Stephen became prior of Cîteaux under Alberic, the new abbot. On Alberic’s death (1110) Stephen, who was absent from the monastery at the time, was elected abbot.

The number of monks was now very reduced, as no new members had come to fill the places of those who had died. Stephen, however, insisted on retaining the strict observance originally instituted and, having offended the Duke of Burgundy, Cîteaus’s great patron, by forbidding him or his family to enter the cloister, was even forced to beg alms from door to door.

It seemed as if the foundation were doomed to die out when (1112) St. Bernard with thirty companions joined the community. This proved the beginning of extraordinary prosperity. The next year Stephen founded his first colony at La Ferté, and before is death he had established thirteen monasteries in all. His powers as an organizer were exceptional, he instituted the system of general chapters and regular visitations and, to ensure uniformity in all his foundations, drew up the famous “Charter of Charity” or collection of statues for the government of all monasteries united to Cîteaux, which was approved by Pope Callistus II in 1119.

St. Stephen HardingIn 1133 Stephen, being now old, infirm, and almost blind, resigned the post of abbot, designating as his successor Robert de Monte, who was accordingly elected by the monks. The saint’s choice, however, proved unfortunate and the new abbot only held office for two years.

Stephen was buried in the tomb of Alberic, his predecessor, in the cloister of Cîteaux. In the Roman calendar his feast is 17 April, but the Cistercians themselves keep it on 15 July, with an octave, regarding him as the true founder of the order. Besides the “Carta Caritatis” he is commonly credited with the authorship of the “Exordium Cisterciencis cenobii”, which however may not be his. Two of his sermons are preserved and also two letters (Nos. 45 and 49) in the “Epp. S. Bernardi”.

G. ROGER HUDLESTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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How a duke rescued his country out from crushing debt despite incessant war

April 15, 2024

Maximilian I

Duke of Bavaria, 1598-1622, Elector of Bavaria and Lord High Steward of the Holy Roman Empire, 1623-1651; born at Munich, 17 April, 1573; died at Ingolstadt, 27 September, 1651.

The lasting services he rendered his country and the Catholic Church justly entitle him to the surname of “Great”. He was the son of zealous Catholic parents, William V, the Pious, of Bavaria, and Renate of Lorraine.

Maximilian I, painting by Joachim von Sandrart

Maximilian I, painting by Joachim von Sandrart

Mentally well endowed, Maximilian received a strict Catholic training from private tutors and later (1587-91) studied law, history, and mathematics at the University of Ingolstadt. He further increased his knowledge by visits to foreign courts, as Prague and Naples, and to places of pilgrimage including Rome, Loretto, and Einsiedeln. Thus equipped Maximilian assumed (15 Oct., 1597) the government of the small, thinly populated country at his father’s wish during the latter’s lifetime.

Owing to the over-lenient rule of the two preceding rulers the land was burdened with a heavy debt. By curtailing expenditure and enlarging the revenues, chiefly by working the salt-mines himself and by increasing the taxes without regard to the complaints of the powerless estates, the finances were not only brought into a better condition, but it was also possible to collect a reserve fund which, in spite of the unusually difficult conditions of the age, was never quite exhausted. At the same time internal order was maintained by a series of laws issued in 1616.

Maximilian gave great attention to military matters. No other German prince of that time possessed an army so well organized and equipped. Its commander was the veteran soldier from the Netherlands Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, who, austere himself, knew how to maintain discipline among his troops. The fortifications at Ingolstadt on the Danube were greatly strengthened, and Munich and other towns were surrounded by walls and moats. Well-filled arsenals were established in different places as preparation for time of need. Opportunity for the use of this armament soon offered itself.

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American Hero of the Seal of Confession

April 11, 2024

Antony Kohlmann

Anthony Kohlmann, S.J., President of Georgetown, 1817-1820. From Georgetown University Library Archives.

Educator and missionary, b. 13 July, 1771, at Kaiserberg, Alsace; d. at Rome, 11 April, 1836. He is to be ranked among the lights of the restored Society of Jesus, and among its most distinguished members in America, where he spent nearly a quarter of a century of his laborious life. At an early age he was compelled by the troubles of the French Revolution to go to live in Switzerland, where at the college of Fribourg he completed his theological studies and was ordained priest. Soon after, in 1796, he joined the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart. With them he laboured zealously for two years in Austria and Italy as a military chaplain. From Italy he was sent to Dillingen in Bavaria,, as director of an ecclesiastical seminary, then to Berlin, and next to Amsterdam to direct a college established by the Fathers of the Faith of Jesus, with whom the Congregation of the Sacred Heart had united (11 April, 1799). The Society of Jesus in Russia having been recognized (1801) by Pope Pius VII, Father Kohlmann joined it and entered the novitiate at Dunébourg on 21 June, 1803. A year later, in response to a call for additional workers in the United States, he was sent to Georgetown, D.C., where he was made assistant to the master of novices, and went on missionary tours to the several German congregations in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Portrait of America’s first Bishop and Archbishop, John Carroll. Painted by Rembrandt Peale.

Affairs in the Church in New York having gone badly, Bishop Carroll picked him out as the person best qualified to introduce the needed reforms and to restore order, and with his fellow Jesuits, Benedict Fenwick and four scholastics, James Wallace, Michael White, James Redmond, and Adam Marshall, he took charge there in October, 1808. It was a time of great commercial depression in the city owing to the results of the Embargo Act of 22 December, 1807. The Catholic population, he states in a letter written on 8 November, 1808, consisted “of Irish, some hundreds of French and as many Germans; in all according to the common estimation of 14,000 souls”. Such progress was made under his direction that the cornerstone of a new church, old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the second church erected in New York City, was laid on 8 June, 1809. He started a classical school called the New York Literary Institution, which he carried on successfully for several years in what was then a suburban village but is now the site of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. In April, 1812, he also started a school for girls in the same neighbourhood, in charge of Ursuline nuns who came at his instance for that purpose from their convent at Cork, Ireland.

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April 11 – “The sorest and dangerousest papist”

April 11, 2024

Sampson Erdeswicke Antiquarian, date of birth unknown; d. 1603. He was born at Sandon in Staffordshire, his father, Hugh Erdeswicke, being descended from Richard de Vernon, Baron of Shipbrook, in the reign of William the Conqueror. The family resided originally at Erdeswicke Hall, in Cheshire, afterwards at Leighton and finally in the reign of Edward […]

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His donations helped build the first California missions

April 11, 2024

Juan Caballero y Ocio Born at Querétaro, Mexico, 4 May, 1644; died there 11 April, 1707. A priest remarkable for lavish gifts to the Church and for charity. While still a layman he was a mayor of his native city. After taking Holy Orders he held several high offices. He gave large sums of money […]

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April 12 – Crusader in every sense of the word

April 11, 2024

Bl. Angelo Carletti di Chivasso Moral theologian of the order of Friars Minor; born at Chivasso in Piedmont, in 1411; and died at Coni, in Piedmont, in 1495. From his tenderest years the Blessed Angelo was remarkable for the holiness and purity of his life. He attended the University of Bologna, where he received the […]

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April 13 – Two English Martyrs

April 11, 2024

Blessed John Lockwood Priest and martyr, born about 1555; died at York, 13 April, 1642. He was the eldest son of Christopher Lockwood, of Sowerby, Yorkshire, by Clare, eldest daughter of Christopher Lascelles, of Sowerby and Brackenborough Castle, Yorkshire. With the second son, Francis, he arrived at Reims on 4 November, 1579, and was at […]

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April 13 – Paulus Diaconus

April 11, 2024

Paulus Diaconus (also called Casinensis, Levita, and Warnefridi). Historian, born at Friuli about 720; died 13 April, probably 799. He was a descendant of a noble Lombard family, and it is not unlikely that he was educated at the craft of King Rachis at Pavia, under the direction of Flavianus the grammarian. In 763 we […]

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April 13 – Henry James Coleridge

April 11, 2024

Henry James Coleridge A writer and preacher, b. 20 September 1822, in Devonshire, England; d. at Roehampton, 13 April 1893. He was the son of Sir John Taylor Coleridge, a Judge of the King’s Bench, and brother of John Duke, Lord Coleridge, Chief Justice of England. His grandfather, Captain James Coleridge, was brother to Samuel […]

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Apostle of the Detroit Hurons

April 11, 2024

Jean Baptiste Marchand Second principal in order of succession of the Sulpician College of Montreal and missionary of the Detroit Hurons at Sandwich, Ont.; b. at Verchères, Que., 25 Feb. 1760, son of Louis Marchand and Marguerite de Niverville; d. at Sandwich, 14 Apr., 1825. Marchand was ordained 11 March, 1786, affiliated to the Sulpician […]

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Titanic: Looking back

April 11, 2024

Three priests gave spiritual comfort to the anxious and doomed on April 14, 1912 A century now has passed since the British luxury liner, S. S. Titanic, sank in mid-Atlantic after striking an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Other sea disasters have cost more lives, but none has retained the popular interest as much as the […]

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

April 8, 2024

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

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

April 8, 2024

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

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April 8 – Don Bosco’s Prince; nobility of blood joins nobility of spirit

April 8, 2024

Augusto Czartoryski was born on 2 August 1858 in Paris, France, the firstborn son to Prince Ladislaus of Poland and Princess Maria Amparo, daughter of the Queen of Spain. The noble Czartoryski Family had been living in exile in France for almost 30 years, in the Lambert Palace. Here, with the hope of restoring unity […]

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Mary of Cleophas

April 8, 2024

Mary of Cleophas This title occurs only in John, xix, 25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joseph ( Mark, xv, 40; cf. Matt., xxvii, 56). Some have indeed tried to identify […]

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Pope Gregory XIII

April 8, 2024

Pope Gregory XIII (UGO BUONCOMPAGNI). Born at Bologna, 7 Jan., 1502; died at Rome, 10 April, 1585. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Bologna, from which he was graduated at an early age as doctor of canon and of civil law. Later, he taught jurisprudence at the same university, and had among his pupils […]

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Justice: A Forgotten Virtue

April 4, 2024

Forgotten Truths From The Life of Saint Catherine of Sienna By Blessed Raymond of Capua The following fact will show the extent of her patience. It will redound to the shame of a few religious, but it is better to publish it than to be silent concerning the gifts that the Holy Ghost lavished on […]

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April 4 – Patron Saint of Transitions

April 4, 2024

St. Isidore of Seville Born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560; died 4 April, 636. Isidore was the son of Severianus and Theodora. His elder brother Leander was his immediate predecessor in the Metropolitan See of Seville; whilst a younger brother St. Fulgentius presided over the Bishopric of Astigi. His sister Florentina was a nun, and […]

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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 4, 2024

St. Vincent Ferrer Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419. He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled […]

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April 5 – St. Ruadhan

April 4, 2024

St. Ruadhan One of the twelve “Apostles of Erin”; died at the monastery of Lorrha, County Tipperary, Ireland, 5 April, 584. Ruadhan studied under Saint Finian of Clonard. His embassy to King Dermot at Tara, in 556, is worked into a romance known as the “Cursing of Tara”, but the ardri continued to reside at […]

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Richard I, King Of England

April 4, 2024

Born at Oxford, 6 Sept, 1157; died at Chaluz, France, 6 April, 1199; was known to the minstrels of a later age, rather than to his contemporaries, as “Coeur-de-Lion”. He was only the second son of Henry II, but it was part of his father’s policy, holding, as he did, continental dominions of great extent […]

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April 6 – Albrecht Dürer

April 4, 2024

Albrecht Dürer Celebrated painter and engraver, born at Nuremberg, Germany, 21 May, 1471; died there, 6 April, 1528. Dürer left his native city, then famous for its commerce, learning, and art, but three times in his life. His first journey was undertaken after he had completed his apprenticeships both to his father, a goldsmith, and […]

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April 6 – Son of the great Hunyady

April 4, 2024

Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary, son of Janos Hunyady and Elizabeth Szilagyi of Horogssey, was born at Kolozsvar 23 Feb., 1440; d. at Vienna, 6 April, 1490. In the house of his father he received along with his brother Ladislaus, a careful education under the supervision of Gregor Sanocki, who taught him the humanities. Johann […]

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April 6 – The “Soul of St. Thomas”

April 4, 2024

John Capreolus A theologian, born towards the end of the fourteenth century, (about 1380), in the diocese of Rodez, France; died in that city 6 April, 1444. He has been called the “Prince of Thomists”, but only scanty details of his personal history are known. He was a Dominican affiliated to the province of Toulouse, […]

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April 7 – St. Brenach

April 4, 2024

An Irish missionary in Wales, a contemporary of St. Patrick, and among the earliest of the Irish saints who laboured among the Celts of that country. About the year 418 he travelled to Rome and Brittany, and thence to Milford Haven. He erected various oratories near the rivers Cleddau, Gwain, and Caman, and at the […]

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April 7 – Brilliant Polemist

April 4, 2024

Louis Veuillot Journalist and writer, b. at Boynes, Loiret, 11 Oct., 1813; d. in Paris, 7 April, 1883. He was the son of a poor cooper and at the age of thirteen was obliged to leave the primary schools and earn his living, obtaining a modest position with a Paris attorney, the brother of the […]

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April 1 – Precursor of Our Lady of Fatima

April 1, 2024

St. Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira (1360-1431) NUNO ÁLVARES PEREIRA was born in Portugal on 24th June 1360, most probably at Cernache do Bomjardin, illegitimate son of Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Hospitalier Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and prior of Crato and Donna Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his birth, […]

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April 1 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

April 1, 2024

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria) Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle. Charles was given an expressly […]

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April 2 – St. Francis of Paola and the Bartlett Pear

April 1, 2024

The Bartlett pear is called “The Good Christian” in France, after St. Francis of Paola introduced it ‘poire bon chretien’ (good Christian pear) “Said to have originated in Calabria in southern Italy, Bartletts probably were introduced to France by St. Francis of Paola. St. Francis brought a young tree as a gift for King Louis […]

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April 3 – English Catholic exile

April 1, 2024

John Martiall (or MARSHALL) Born in Worcestershire 1534, died at Lille, 3 April, 1597. He was one of the six companions associated with Dr. Allen in the foundation of the English College at Douai in 1568. He received his education at Winchester (1545-49) and New College, Oxford (1549-56), at which latter place, after a residence […]

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April 3 – How the Holy Cross converted a prostitute

April 1, 2024

St. Mary of Egypt Born probably about 344; died about 421. At the early age of twelve Mary left her home and came to Alexandria, where for upwards of seventeen years she led a life of public prostitution. At the end of that time, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast […]

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April 3 – Last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England

April 1, 2024

Thomas Goldwell Bishop of St. Asaph, the last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England; b. probably at the family manor of Goldwell, in the parish of Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent, between 1501 and 1515; d. in Rome, 3 April, 1585. He was a member of a Kentish family of ancient lineage, long seated […]

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Lenten Meditation: Sweet Cross of Jesus and My Cross

March 28, 2024

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira The Gospels show us with great clarity how much our Divine Savior in His mercy pities our pains of body and soul.  We need only to recall the awesome miracles He performed in His omnipotence in order to mitigate these pains. But let us never make the mistake of imagining […]

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On Holy Thursday, King Saint Ferdinand washes the feet of twelve poor men

March 28, 2024

Lent passed, and Holy Week came. That year, the love of Christ inflamed the holy King’s heart more than ever. At times he would spend the whole night in contemplation of the sorrows that Our Lord suffered to redeem us; he slept so little that his nobles, worried, reached the point of telling him that […]

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Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, washes the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday

March 28, 2024

In 1850, Franz Joseph participated…as emperor in the second of the traditional Habsburg expressions of dynastic piety: the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony, part of the four-day court observance of Easter. The master of the staff and the court prelates chose twelve poor elderly men, transported them to the Hofburg, and positioned them in the ceremonial […]

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Queen Mary washes the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday

March 28, 2024

… and on Holy Thursday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the most Serene Queen performed the ceremony of feet-washing, thus – Her Majesty being accompanied by the Right Reverend Legate and by the Council, entered a large hall, at the head of which was my Lord Bishop of Ely as Dean (come Decano) of […]

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For Contrast: Two Royal Attitudes to Washing the Feet of the Poor

March 28, 2024

In February, he returned to Castile, arriving in time to observe Holy Week at San Lorenzo, and to wash the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday “with his usual great tenderness and humility.” On Good Friday he adored the wood of the True Cross and pardoned several men who had been condemned to death, […]

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Queen Mary Welcomes the Sick on Good Friday

March 28, 2024

On [Good] Friday morning the offertory was performed according to custom in the Church of the Franciscan Friars, which is contiguous to the palace. After the Passion, the Queen came down from her oratory for the adoration of the Cross, accompanied by my lord the right reverend Legate, and kneeling at a short distance from […]

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The Crown of Thorns, in Paris

March 28, 2024

Baldwin the Second, Emperor of Constantinople, having come to France to solicit the king’s aid against the Greeks, who were besieging that imperial city, thought he would gain the heart of King Louis by making him a present of the Holy Crown of Thorns. He was not mistaken: the king assisted with money and troops, […]

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Easter in Imperial Russia: the Royal Doors

March 28, 2024

The time to arrive was about 11:30 p.m., when the great church, packed to its doors by a vast throng, was wrapped in almost total darkness…. As the eyes grew accustomed to the shadows, tens of thousands of unlighted candles, outlining the arches, cornices, and other architectural features of the cathedral, were just visible. These […]

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A king, a queen, and England’s Easter dilemma

March 28, 2024

When Finan died, leaving Bishop Coman—like himself, Irish by birth and a monk of Iona—as his successor at Lindisfarne, the dispute became at once open and general. Wilfrid had succeeded in sowing agitation and uncertainty in all minds; and the Northumbrians had come so far as to ask themselves whether the religion which had been […]

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King Stanislaus and Lent

March 25, 2024

King Stanislaus of Poland was a faithful observer of the ancient discipline of the Church; he made but one meal in Lent, not even allowing himself the collation; moreover, on Fridays he denied himself the use of fish and eggs. From his dinner on Holy Thursday, till the following Saturday, at noon, he denied himself […]

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The Little Barrel

March 25, 2024

(from an old French medieval tale) Between Normandy and Brittany, next to the sea, in times of old there used to be a castle so strong and so well defended that it feared no king, prince or duke of any sort. The lord that possessed it was robust, vain and powerful. Seeing him, one might […]

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