Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

October 23 – The amazing story of San Juan Capistrano and the Siege of Belgrade

October 22, 2026

St. John of Capistrano

Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456.

His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his education to his mother. She had him at first instructed at home and then sent him to study law at Perugia, where he achieved great success under the eminent legist, Pietro de Ubaldis.

In 1412 he was appointed governor of Perugia by Ladislaus, King of Naples, who then held that city of the Holy See. As governor he set himself against civic corruption and bribery. War broke out in 1416 between Perugia and the Malatesta. John was sent as ambassador to propose peace to the Malatesta, who however cast him into prison. It was during this imprisonment that…

October 23 – Made eunuch because he was prince

October 22, 2026

St. Ignatius of Constantinople

Born about 799; died 23 October, 877; son of Emperor Michael I and Procopia. His name, originally Nicetas, was changed at the age of fourteen to Ignatius. Leo the Armenian having deposed the Emperor Michael (813), made Ignatius a eunuch and incarcerated him in a monastery, that he might not become a claimant to his father’s throne. While thus immured he voluntarily embraced the religious life, and in time was made an abbot. He was ordained by Basil, Bishop of Paros, on the Hellespont. On the death of Theophilus (841) Theodora became regent, as well as co-sovereign with her son, Michael III, of the Byzantine Empire. In 847, aided by the good will of the empress, Ignatius succeeded to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, vacant by the death of Methodius. The Emperor Michael III was a youthful profligate who found a worthy companion for his debauchery in Bardas, his maternal uncle. At the suggestion of the latter, Michael sought the assistance of Ignatius in an effort to force Theodora to enter a convent, in the hope of securing for himself an undivided authority and a free rein for his profligacy. The patriarch indignantly refused to be a party to such an outrage. Theodora, however, realizing the determination of her son to possess at any cost an undivided rule, voluntarily abdicated. This refusal to participate in his iniquitous schemes, added to a courageous rebuke, which Ignatius had administered to Bardas for having repudiated his wife and maintained incestuous intercourse with his daughter-in-law, determined the Cæsar to bring about the disgrace of the patriarch.

The appointment of the Patriarch St. Ignatius of Constantinople.

An insignificant revolt, led by a half-witted adventurer, having broken out, Bardas laid the blame at the door of Ignatius, and having convinced the emperor of the truth of his accusation, brought about the banishment of the patriarch to the island of Terebinthus. In his exile he was visited by the emissaries of Bardas, who sought to induce him to resign his patriarchal office. Their mission failing, they loaded him with every kind of indignity. Meanwhile a pseudo-synod, held under the direction of Gregory of Syracuse, an excommunicated bishop, deposed Ignatius from his see. Bardas had selected his successor in the person of Photius, a layman of brilliant parts, and a patron of learning, but thoroughly unscrupulous. He stood high in the favour of the emperor, for whom he acted as first secretary of state. This choice having been approved by the pseudo-synod, in six days Photius ran the gamut of ecclesiastical orders from the lectorate to the episcopate. To intensify the feeling against Ignatius, and thereby strengthen his own position, Photius charged the exiled bishop with further acts of sedition. In 859 another synod was called to further the interests of Photius, by again proclaiming the deposition of Ignatius. But not all the bishops participated in these disgraceful proceedings. Some few, with the courage of their episcopal office, denounced Photius as a usurper of the patriarchal dignity. Convinced that he could enjoy no sense of security in his office without the sanction of the pope, Photius sent an embassy to Rome for the purpose of pleading his cause. These ambassadors represented that Ignatius, worn out with age and disease, had voluntarily retired to a monastery; and that Photius had been chosen by the unanimous election of the bishops. With an affectation of religious zeal, they requested that legates be sent to Constantinople to suppress a recrudescence of Iconoclasm, and to strengthen religious discipline.

Pope Saint Nicholas I

Nicholas I sent the required legates, but with instructions to investigate the retirement of Ignatius and to treat with Photius as with a layman. These instructions were supplemented by a letter to the emperor, condemning the deposition of Ignatius. But the legates proved faithless. Intimidated by threats and quasi-imprisonment, they agreed to decide in favour of Photius. In 861 a synod was convened, and the deposed patriarch cited to appear before it as a simple monk. He was denied the permission to speak with the delegates. Citing the pontifical canons to prove the irregularity of his deposition, he refused to acknowledge the authority of the synod and appealed to the pope. But his pleading was in vain. The prearranged programme was carried through and the venerable patriarch was condemned and degraded. Even after this, the relentless hatred of Bardas pursued him, in the hope of wringing from him the resignation of his office. Finally an order for his death was issued, but he had fled to safety. The legates returning to Rome, merely announced that Ignatius had been canonically deposed and Photius confirmed. The patriarch, however, succeeded in acquainting the pope, through the archimandrite Theognostus, with the unlawful proceedings taken against him. To the imperial secretary, therefore, whom Photius had sent to him to obtain the approval of his acts, the pope declared that he would not confirm the synod that had deposed Ignatius. In a letter addressed to Photius, Nicholas I recognized Ignatius as the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople. At the same time a letter was dispatched to the eastern patriarchs, forbidding them to recognize the usurper. After another unsuccessful effort to obtain papal confirmation, Photius gave vent to his fury in a ludicrous declaration of excommunication against the Roman Pontiff.

Painting showing the death of St. Ignatius from the Menologion of Basil II

In 867 the Emperor Michael was assassinated by Basil the Macedonian, who succeeded him as emperor. Almost his first official act was to depose Photius and recall Ignatius, after nine years of exile and persecution, to the patriarchate of Constantinople, 23 November, 867. Adrian II, who had succeeded Nicholas I, confirmed both the deposition of Photius and the restoration of Ignatius. At the recommendation of Ignatius, Adrian II, on 5 October, 869, convoked the Eighth cumenical Council. All the participants of this council were obliged to sign a document approving the papal action in regard to Ignatius and Photius. Ignatius lived ten years after his restoration, in the peaceful exercises of the duties of his office. He was buried at St. Sophia, but afterwards his remains were interred in the church of St. Michael, near the Bosphorus. The Roman Martyrology (23 Oct.) says: “At Constantinople St. Ignatius, Bishop, who, when he had reproved Bardas the Cæsar for having repudiated his wife, was attacked by many injuries and sent into exile; but having been restored by the Roman Pontiff Nicholas, at last he went to his rest in peace.”

NICETAS, Vita Ignatii in MANSI, Amplissima Collectio Conciliorum, XVI, 209 sqq.; GEDEON, Patriarchal Archives (Greek) (Constantinople, 1890); Letters of Pope Nicholas I in MANSI, ibid., XV, 159 Sqq.; HARDUIN, Vita Ignatii, V, 119 sqq.; PHOTIUS, Epistle to Nicholas I in Baronius, ad an. 859; ANASTASIUS, Preface to Eighth Council; STYLIANUS, Epistle to Stephen VI; METROPHANES or SMYRNA, Epistle to Manuel in MANSI, XVI, 295, 414, 426; NATALIS ALEXANDER, diss. iv, In S c. IX et X; LEQUIEN, Oriens Christianus, Ign. et Phot. I, 246; FORTESCUE, The Orthodox Eastern Church (London, 1907), gives (160-61) good appreciation of the character of Ignatius apropos of the anti-Roman attitude adopted by the latter after his restoration, when he persuaded the Bulgarian prince to expel the Latin hierarchy from that land, and thus caused the loss of Bulgaria to the Roman patriarchate; J. HERGENRÖTHER, Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel (3 vols., Ratisbon, 1867), the classical work on the subject; HEFELE, Hist. des Conciles, new French version by LECLERCQ (Paris, 1907), with recent bibliography and excursus.

John B. O’Connor (Catholic Encyclopedia)

October 23 – Gentle Birth, But Not Gentle Death

October 22, 2026

Blessed Thomas Thwing

Martyr. Born at Heworth Hall, near York, in 1635; suffered at York, 23 Oct., 1680. His father was George Thwing, Esq., of Kilton Castle and Heworth, nephew of Venerable Edward Thwing; his mother was Anne, sister of the venerable confessor Sir Thomas Gasciogne, of Barnbrow Hall.

A panoramic view of York in the 15th century. Watercolour by E. Ridsdale Tate. York Castle is on the right hand side of river, opposite the abandoned motte of Baile Hill.

Educated at Douai, he was sent to the mission in 1664 and laboured in his native country. Until April, 1668, he was chaplain at Carlton Hall, the seat of his cousins the Stapletons. He next opened a school at Quosque, the dower-house of the Stapletons. When in 1677 the “Institute of Mary” began their foundation in the house given by Sir Thomas Gasciogne at Dolebank, Thwing became their chaplain, three of his sisters being of the community. It was there that he was arrested in the early part of 1679. At the time of the Titus Oates scare, two servants who had been discharged from Sir Thomas Gasciogne’s employ for dishonesty, sought vengeance and reward by disclosing a pretend murder plot on the part of Gasciogne and others to murder the king. In their first allegation no mention was made of Thwing. Gasciogne, Thwing, and others were removed to London for trial at Newgate. All were acquitted except Thwing, who was brought back to York for trial in March, 1680. Owing to his challenging the jurors, his trial was postponed to the summer assizes, and he was brought to the bar on 29 July.

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

He was refused an impartial jury, and was found guilty on the very same evidence upon which his relatives had been acquitted. Upon receiving sentence, which in consideration of his gentle birth was passed on him apart from the felons and murderers found guilty at the same assizes, humbly bowing his head he replied “Innocens ego sum.” The king at first reprieved him, but owing to a remonstrance of the Commons the death-warrant was issued on the day after the meeting of Parliament. He was drawn from York Castle, past the convent where the sisters were dwelling, to Tyburn, where the sentence was carried out. He declared his innocence, protested his loyalty to the king and his charity to his neighbour; prayed for the king and royal family, and begged the prayers of all true Catholics. His dying words were “Sweet Jesus, receive my soul”. His mangled body was given to his friends, and buried in the churchyard of St. Mary, Castlegate.

Relics of the martyr are now preserved at the Bar Convent, York, and at Oscott College.

Knaresborough, MSS.; Coleridge, St. Mary’s Convent, York; Cobbett, State Trials, VII; Foley, Records S. J.; Waugh, Quosque Hall in Downside Review (July, 1909); Gillow in Cath. Rec. Soc., IV, IX; Dodd, Church History, III; Challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (Edinburgh, 1877).

J. L. Whitfield (Catholic Encyclopedia)

[Nobility.org note: He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929.]

October 24 – Confessor to the Queen

October 22, 2026

St. Antonio María Claret y Clará

St. Anthony Mary Claret, C.M.F.

Spanish prelate and missionary, born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 Dec., 1807; died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 Oct., 1870. Son of a small woollen manufacturer, he received an elementary education in his native village, and at the age of twelve became a weaver. A little later he went to Barcelona to specialize in his trade, and remained there till he was twenty. Meanwhile he devoted his spare time to study and became proficient in Latin, French, and engraving; in addition he enlisted in the army as a volunteer. Recognizing a call to a higher life, he left Barcelona, entered the seminary at Vich in 1829, and was ordained on 13 June, 1835.

He received a benefice in his native parish, where he continued to study theology till 1839. He now wished to become a Carthusian; missionary work, however, appealing strongly to him he proceeded to Rome. There he entered the Jesuit novitiate but finding himself unsuited for that manner of life, he returned shortly to Spain and exercised his ministry at Valadrau and Gerona, attracting notice by his efforts on behalf of the poor. Recalled by his superiors to Vich, he was engaged in missionary work throughout Catalonia. In 1848 he was sent to the Canary Islands where he gave retreats for fifteen months. Returning to Vich he established the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (16 July, 1849), and founded the great religious library at Barcelona which bears his name, and which has issued several million cheap copies of the best ancient and modern Catholic works.

Such had been the fruit of his zealous labours and so great the wonders he had worked, that Pius IX at the request of the Spanish sovereign appointed him Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba in 1851. He was consecrated at Vich and embarked at Barcelona on 28 Dec. Having arrived at his destination he began at once a work of thorough reform. The seminary was reorganized, clerical discipline strengthened, and over nine thousand marriages validated within the first two years. He erected a hospital and numerous schools. Three times he made a visitation of the entire diocese, giving local missions incessantly. Naturally his zeal stirred up the enmity and calumnies of the irreligious, as had happened previously in Spain. No less than fifteen attempts were made on his life, and at Holguin his cheek was laid open from ear to chin by a would-be assassin’s knife. In February, 1857, he was recalled to Spain by Isabella II, who made him her confessor.

Queen Doña Iabel II of Spain with her three youngest daughters: Pilar, Paz and Eulalia

He obtained permission to resign his see and was appointed to the titular see of Trajanopolis. His influence was now directed solely to help the poor and to propagate learning; he lived frugally and took up his residence in an Italian hospice. For nine years he was rector of the Escorial monastery where he established an excellent scientific laboratory, a museum of natural history, a library, college, and schools of music and languages.

St. Anthony Mary Claret pointing to Our Lady of Charity, Patroness of Cuba.

His further plans were frustrated by the revolution of 1868. He continued his popular missions and distribution of good books wherever he went in accompanying the Spanish Court. When Isabella recognized the new Government of United Italy he left the Court and hastened to take his place by the side of the pope; at the latter’s command, however, he returned to Madrid with faculties for absolving the queen from the censures she had incurred. In 1869 he went to Rome to prepare for the Vatican Council. Owing to failing health he withdrew to Prades in France, where he was still harassed by his calumnious Spanish enemies; shortly afterwards he retired to the Cistercian abbey at Fontfroide where he expired.

His zealous life and the wonders he wrought both before and after his death testified to his sanctity. Informations were begun in 1887 and he was declared Venerable by Leo XIII in 1899. His relics were transferred to the mission house at Vich in 1897, at which time his heart was found incorrupt, and his grave is constantly visited by many pilgrims. In addition to the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Heart of Mary (approved definitively by Pius IX, 11 Feb., 1870) which has now over 110 houses and 2000 members, with missions in W. Africa, and in Chocó (Columbia), Archbishop Claret founded or drew up the rules of several communities of nuns. By his sermons and writings he contributed greatly to bring about the revival of the Catalan language. His printed works number over 130, of which we may mention: “La escala de Jacob”; “Maximas de moral la más pura”; “Avisos”; “Catecismo explicado con láminas”; “La llave de oro”; “Selectos panegíricos” (11 vols.); “Sermones de misión” (3 vols.); “Misión de la mujer”; “Vida de Sta. Mónica”; “La Virgen del Pilar y los Francmasones”; and his “Autobiografia”, written by order of his spiritual director, but still unpublished.

Catedral Sant Antoni Maria Claret de Vic

AGUILAR, Vida admirable del Venerable Antonio María Claret (Madrid, 1894); BLANCH, Vida del Venerable Antonio María Claret (Barcelona, 1906); CLOTET, Compendio de la vida del Siervo de Dios Antonio María Claret (Barcelona, 1880); Memorias ineditas del Padre Clotet in the archives of the missionaries of Aranda de Duero; VILLABA HERVAS, Recuerdos de cinco lustros 1843-1868 (Madrid, 1896); Estudi bibliografich de los obres del Venerable Sallenti (Barcelona, 1907).

A. A. MacErlean (Catholic Encyclopedia)

February 27 – Are You Hiding a Priest?

October 25 – The original hood

October 22, 2026

Hugh Capet

King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty, born about the middle of the tenth century; died about 996, probably 24 October.

King Hugh of France. Painting by Charles de Steuben

He was the second son of Hugh the Great, Count of Paris, and Hedwig, sister of Otto I, German Emperor, and was about ten years old when he inherited from his father the Countship of Paris and the Duchy of France. About 970 he married Adelaide of Aquitaine, and as early as 985 the famous Gerbert wrote “The Carlovingian Lothair governs France only in name. The king of France is Hugh.” When Louis V died, 21 May, 987, the assistance of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, and of Gerbert, brought about the election of Hugh. The electoral assembly of Senlis listened to a discourse of Adalberon: “Crown the Duke”, he said. “He is most illustrious by his exploits, his nobility, his forces. The throne is not acquired by hereditary right; no one should be raised to it unless distinguished not only for nobility of birth, but for the goodness of his soul”. A unanimous vote ratified this discourse, and Hugh Capet was crowned at Noyon, 3 July, 987. Thus his accession, as M. Luchaire says, was above all “an ecclesiastical achievement”. Hugh possessed towns and estates in the vicinity of Paris, Orléans, and in the district of Senlis and Chartres, Touraine and Anjou, but on the whole these were restricted domains, as his vassals on the borders of the Seine and the Loire contested his authority. His military power was mediocre, and he had frequently to seek military aid in alliance with Normandy. But he possessed moral power and a political influence which reached the most remote parts of the kingdom and was felt even by foreigners. His chief concern was to maintain over the Archdiocese of Reims, whose jurisdiction comprised nearly the whole of northern and northeastern France, a continuous, immediate, and uncontested authority. The Archdiocese of Reims possessed a double importance, first because the archbishop had the right to elect and crown the kings of France, and next because of its geographical situation between France and Germany. The death of Adalberon, proved by M. Lot to have taken place 23 January, 989, disturbed the new king, and Arnoul, the new archbishop whom he accepted at the end of March, 989, as successor to Adalberon, attempted a restoration of the Carlovingians (Sept., 989), and Charles of Lorraine, their heir, was for a short time master of Reims and Laon. Arnoul refused to appear at the Council of Senlis (beginning of 990), but the imprisonment of Charles of Lorraine and of Arnoul (29 March, 991), and the deposition of Arnoul pronounced at the Council of St. Basle, fixed by M. Lot at 17 and 18 June, 991 (and not 993), assured the maintenance of the Capetian dynasty. Gerbert became Archbishop of Reims (21 June, 991).

Hugh Capet and his wife Adelaide of Aquitaine

This revolution accomplished by a council was received by the papacy with reserve. When Hugh Capet requested the Holy See to legitimize the action of the council, John XVI was silent; later, under the influence of Germany, the pope refused formally to recognize the election of Gerbert. Then began the difficulties which led the bishops devoted to Hugh to profess certain “Gallican principles”. Nevertheless, Hugh must not be represented as wishing to found a State Church; what he wished was to maintain the Archdiocese of Reims under the domination of France, and to remove it from the influence of the German emperors. If his attitude towards the papacy was often suspicious, it was not due to a Gallican theology, but because he feared that the popes of the time were too subservient to the policy of the emperors; hence his relations with the Holy See were merely an episode in his general policy, destined to bring about the cessation of the powerful influence which the Saxon dynasty had exercised over France during the tenth century.

His domestic policy was very favourable to the development of monastic life and the autonomy of the monasteries. He defended their property against lay tyranny; he sought to remove them from episcopal jurisdiction while upholding the royal right to confirm abbatial elections; he supported all the liberties of the monks in the exercise of their electoral rights; he renounced the custom of distributing abbeys as benefices to laymen. Because of its political importance he wished to retain effective direction over the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours, and even under the reign of the Plantagenet Henry II the Capetians preserved considerable influence at Tours and along the Middle Loire. Apropos of Hugh Capet it is worthy of note that because the Dukes of France had in their possession the famous cope (cappa) of St. Martin, certain authors give to Hugh the Great and to his son Hugh the surname of Capet, which in history is reserved exclusively for the subject of this article. Hugh Capet in his religious policy applied and favoured the ideas of reform upheld by the monks of Cluny.

Medallion of Hugues Capet

FERNAND LOT, Les derniers Carolingiens, Lothaire, Louis V, Charles de Lorraine (Paris, 1891); IDEM, Etudes sur le règne de Hugues Capet et la fin du dixième siècle (Paris, 1903); LUCHAIRE, Histoire des institutions monarchiques de la France sous les premiers Capétiens (2nd ed., 2 vols., Paris, 1891); JULIEN HAVET, Préface à l’édition des Lettres de Gerbert (Paris, 1889); MONOD, Etudes sur l’histoire de Hugues Capet in Revue Historique, XXVIII; KALCKSTEIN, Der Kampf der Robertiner und Karolinger (Leipzig, 1877).

GEORGES GOYAU (Catholic Encyclopedia)

October 25 – Memorial of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

October 22, 2026

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

May 22 – Queen’s Confessor

June 19 – Execution of second group of those who believed in the religious exemption, but only at first

August 30 – She smuggled a priest out of prison

October 25 – Crispin and Crispian and the baron of Renty

October 22, 2026

Martyrs of the Early Church who were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October, 285 or 286. It is stated that they were brothers, but the fact has not been positively proved. The legend relates that they were Romans of distinguished descent who went as missionaries of the Christian Faith to Gaul and chose Soissons as their field of labour. In imitation of St. Paul they worked with their hands, making shoes, and earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. During the Diocletian persecution they were brought before Maximianus Herculius whom…

October 19 – Founding Fathers

October 19, 2026

St. Isaac Jogues

French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at Rouen, was sent as a missionary to Canada in 1636. He came out with Montmagny, the immediate successor of Champlain. From Quebec he went to the regions around the great lakes where the illustrious Father de Brébeuf and others were labouring…

October 19 – This Earl was found guilty of praying, and starved to death in the Tower

October 19, 2026

Saint Philip Howard

Martyr, Earl of Arundel; born at Arundel House, London, 28 June 1557, died in the Tower of London, 19 October, 1595.

He was the grandson of Henry, Earl of Surrey, the poet, executed by Henry VIII in 1547, and son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk executed by Elizabeth 1572. Philip II of Spain, then King of England, was one of his godfathers. His father, who had conformed to the State religion, educated him partly under John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist and he was afterwards sent to Cambridge.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, father of St. Philip Howard. Painting by Hans Eworth

His father having married as his third wife Elizabeth, widow of Lord Dacre of Gillesland, matched her three daughters who were heiresses, to his three sons. Anne, Philip’s wife, Countess of Arundel and Surrey, who survived to 1630, was a woman of remarkable generosity and courage, and became after her conversion the patroness of Father Southwell and of many priests, and eventually founded the novitiate of the Jesuits at Ghent.

Anne Dacre, Countess of Arundel, wife of St. Philip Howard

Philip succeeded, 24 February, 1580, jure matris, to the Earldom of Arundel, and this may be considered the highest point of his worldly fortunes. He frequented the Court, entertained the queen, and was restored in blood, 1581, though not to his father’s dukedom.

Towards the close of the year he was present at the disputations of Saint Edmund Campion in the Tower and this proved the first step in his conversion, though, like most of Elizabeth’s courtiers, his life was then the reverse of virtuous, and for a time he deserted his wife. But the Howards had many enemies and Elizabeth was of their number. As the Catholic revival gained strength, the earl found himself suspected and out of favor, and his difficulties were increased by his wife’s conversion. He was now reconciled, indeed devoted, to her, and 30 September, 1584, was received into the Church by Father William Weston, S.J., and became a fervent Catholic.

St. Philip in the Tower Painting by William Barraud

The change of life was soon noticed at Court, on which Philip, seeing Elizabeth more and more averse and dangers thickening, resolved to fly, which he did (14 April, 1585), after composing a long and excellent letter of explanation to Elizabeth. But he was captured at sea, probably through treachery, and confined in the Tower of London (25 April) where he remained till death. He was at first sentenced to a fine of 10,000 pounds, and imprisonment at Elizabeth’s pleasure. Later on (14 March-14 April 1589), during the bloodthirsty mood which caused the death of so many English martyrs after the Armada, he was tried for having favored the excommunication of the Elizabeth I, and for having prayed for the invaders.

As usual at that time, the trial was a tirade against the prisoner, who was of course condemned. One example of the hypocrisy of the prosecution may be mentioned. While they professed to quote the very words of the Bull of excommunication, “published 1 April”, no such Bull was published at all. If the Armada had been successful a Bull would of course have been issued, and Elizabeth’s spies had in fact got hold of an explanation written by Allen in preparation for that event (printed in Dodd-Tierney, iii Ap. 44). From a letter of Attorney-General Popham (R. O. State Papers, Dom. Eliz., ccxxiii, 77) we see that he was aware of the fraudulent character of the evidence.

Shrine of St Philip Howard, Arundel Cathedral, Sussex, England

Philip was left to die in prison. His last prayer to see his wife and only son, who had been born after his imprisonment, was refused except on condition of his coming to the Protestant Church, on which terms he might also go free. With this eloquent testimony to the goodness of his cause he expired, at the early age of thirty-eight, and was buried in the same grave in the Tower Church that had received his father and grandfather.

In 1624 his bones were translated by his widow to Long Horsley, and thence to Arundel, where they still rest. A portrait by Zucchero is in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk. His “Epistle of Christ to the Faithful Soul” translated from Lanspergius (Johann Justus of Lansberg), was printed at Antwerp, 1595; St-Omer, 1610; London, 1867; his “Fourfold Meditations of Four Last Things” (once attributed to Southwell), London, 1895; his “Verses on the Passion”, by the Cath. Record Soc., VI, 29. J.H. POLLEN (1913 Catholic Encyclopedia)

Arundel Cathedral in Sussex, England, where St. Philip Howard is buried.

Saint Philip Howard was beatified 15 December, 1929, by Pope Pius XI, and canonized 25 October, 1970, by Pope Paul VI.

October 20 – Emperor Marcian

October 19, 2026

Marcian

(Marcianus, Μαρκιᾶνος), Roman Emperor at Constantinople, born in Thrace about 390; died January, 457.

He became a soldier; during his early life he was poor, and it is said that he arrived at Constantinople with only two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed. He served in the army under Ardaburius the Alan and his son Aspar; he distinguished himself in the wars against the Persians and Huns. Aspar was a kind of king-maker, and general- in-chief for the East (magister militum per orientem), also for a time the most powerful man at Constantinople. But since he was a foreigner and an Arian he could not be emperor himself. Instead he placed a succession of his favourites on the throne. One of these was Marcian. At Constantinople Marcian became a senator and was a well-known and popular person. He was a widower; his daughter by the first marriage, Euphemia, afterwards married Anthemius, Emperor in the West (467-472). He was about sixty years old when Theodosius II died (450).

Theodosius II (408-450) had succeeded his father, Arcadius (395-408), as a young child. During the greater part of his reign his elder sister Pulcheria managed the Government. Already during the reign of Theodosius Pulcheria was “Augusta”. With her two sisters, Arcadia and Marina, she made a public vow of celibacy. When her brother died all difficulty about the succession was ended by the unanimous choice of her (who had long really guided the State) as empress. Thus began the reign of Pulcheria. Wishing to strengthen her position (it was the first case of a woman succeeding to the Roman throne) she at once made a nominal marriage with Marcian. He seems to have been the best person she could have chosen; the friendship of Aspar as well as his own reputation had long pointed him out for some high place. It is said that Theodosius on his death-bed had told him: “It has been revealed to me that you will succeed me.” Marcian was crowned by the patriarch, 25 August, 450. It is the first instance of the religious ceremony of coronation, imitated later in the West, and was to have far-reaching consequences. The first act of the new reign was the trial and execution of Chrysaphius, a eunuch and court favourite long unpopular, who had brought Theodosius to a humiliating apology and the payment of a large fine by an unsuccessful conspiracy to murder Attila. Marcian belonged to the party of reform, of which the founder, under Theodosius, had been Anthemius. As soon as he became emperor he began a policy of moderation, especially in taxation, that made his reign prosperous and himself popular, though he did little by force of arms to repress the ever-encroaching Huns and other enemies of Rome.

He reduced the expenses of the treasury and Court, and did away with the gleba, or follis, an opressive tax on property that was specially obnoxious to the upper classes. There was a harsh system by which any senator might be forced to accept the unwelcome honour of the prætura. As a prætor he was obliged to live at Constantinople during his time of office, and spend large sums on providing games and shows. This was specially hard on senators who lived in the provinces, who had therefore to come to the capital and live for months there at ruinous expense. Marcian modified this law so as to excuse people living away from the city, and he ordered the consuls to take their share of the expenses. He reformed the navy on a more economical basis. There were at that time frequent earthquakes, by which whole cities were destroyed. In these cases Marcian and Pulcheria came to the help of the sufferers generously with supplies from the imperial treasury.

Marcian had a conscientious idea of the responsibilities of his office. In the second novella of his code he defines his view of an emperor’s duty: “It is our business to provide for the care of the human race.” And he was conscious of the distress caused by the excessive taxation and general maladministration of his predecessors. The first novella announces that complainants have flocked to the Government from all sides, there are “endless crowds of petitioners”; this is because of the want of “integrity and severity” in the judges. Marcian’s laws are well-meant and successful attempts to cope with these difficulties. A very popular measure was his refusal to pay to Attila the tribute that had been paid regularly by Theodosius II. This refusal both saved a great expense and restored the dignity of the empire that had been degraded by so great a humiliation. As the Huns were just beginning their quarrel with the Franks, they could not afford to go to war with the empire. No doubt Marcian knew this when he defied them.

But the chief event of this reign was the beginning of the great Monophysite quarrel and the Council of Chalcedon. Marcian was conspicuously pious and orthodox. As soon as he was crowned he wrote a very friendly and respectful letter to Pope Leo I (440-461), whom he calls the guardian of the Faith, asking for his prayers, and declaring himself anxious to support the council proposed by the pope (soû a’uthentoûntos) in order to settle the question raised by Eutyches, Dioscurus, and their friends (ep. lxxiii among St. Leo’s letters; Mansi, VI, 99). Pulcheria also wrote; she too says that the council shall be summoned by the pope’s authority. Leo had already asked Theodosius II to summon the council (ep. xliv, 3; P. L., LIV, 826); Marcian clearly only meant to carry out this commission as Theodosius’s successor. Meanwhile Dioscurus and his party knew quite well that Marcian would not be their friend. They had tried and failed to prevent his recognition in Egypt; the attempt only made their case worse with the Government.

Council of Chalcedon

The Eastern Church had been disturbed by the teaching of Eutyches since immediately after the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Nestorian troubles. In 448 Eusebius of Dorylæum had accused Eutyches and his formula “one nature after the union” (metà tèn ‘énosin mía phúsis) at Constantinople. Dioscurus of Alexandria had taken up the cause of Eutyches, and had condemned Dyophysism at the Robber Council of Ephesus in 449 (for all this see ). Pope Leo hoped for a time to restore peace without another general council (his letters to Marcian, lxxviii, to Pulcheria, lxxix, and to the Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople, lxxx). But meanwhile Marcian, acting on Leo’s former proposal, summoned a council on 17 May, 451, by letters addressed to all the metropolitans of the empire. It is clear that he acted on a misunderstanding, and had not yet received the pope’s later letter (Hefele-Leclercq, II, 639). Leo then accepted what had happened, and appointed as his legates Paschasius, Bishop of Lilybæum in Sicily, and a priest Boniface (ep. lxxxix; Mansi, VI, 125). The council was to have met at Nicæa; many bishops had already arrived there in the summer of 451, when the emperor wrote to tell them to wait till he could join them (his letter in Mansi, VI, 553). He was busy at the frontier of the empire arranging its defence against the Huns. The bishops wrote to complain of the delay, and Marcian answered their letter telling them to go to Chalcedon, opposite the capital on the other side of the Bosphorus (Mansi, V, 557); in this way he could attend to the council without leaving Constantinople.

St. Pulcheria

The council opened in the church of St. Euphemia at Chalcedon on 8 October, 451, and lasted till 1 November. About 600 bishops attended. The imperial commissioners were present and regulated the exterior business at each session. The papal legate, Paschasius, opened the council. Marcian and Pulcheria assisted at the sixth session (25 October). The emperor opened the proceedings that day with a speech in Latin (Mansi, VII, 129). One notices that what was still the official language of the empire was used on specially solemn occasions. His speech was then repeated in Greek. At this session the decree of the council was read (see .) On 27 February, 452, Marcian, together with his Western colleague, Valentinian III (423-455), made a law enforcing the decree and canons of the council as the law of the empire, and threatening heavy penalties against all who disputed them. Marcian alone repeated the same law on 13 March (Mansi, VII, 475- 480). The famous twenty-eighth canon (giving Constantinople rank immediately after Rome) and the pope’s protest against it caused further correspondence between him and the emperor and empress (Ep. Leonis I., cv, cvi; Mansi, VI, 187, 195), but did not disturb their good relations. Marcian’s laws produced uniformity at Constantinople and in the neighbourhood of the Government, but he could not enforce them so successfully in Syria and Egypt. The rest of his reign was troubled by the revolution in these provinces, which remained one of the chief difficulties of the Government under his successors for two centuries. Marcian made no concessions towards the Syrian and Egyptian Monophysites. His Government carried out the deposition of Dioscurus, and an edict of 28 July, 452, insisted under heavy penalties on the recognition of Proterius, the Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. A large force (2000 soldiers) was sent to Egypt. It was not until after Marcian’s death that a party at Constantinople under Aspar and Anatolius began to compromise with the heretics.

In the year 453 Attila died. It is said that Marcian dreamed, at the moment of Attila’s death, that he saw the bow of his great enemy broken. The Empress Pulcheria died in the same year. She is canonized by both Catholics and Orthodox; her feast is on 10 September in both calendars. Marcian survived his wife four years. The end of his reign was occupied by the increasing troubles in Egypt. He was succeeded by Leo I (457-474). Marcian was, by marriage, the last emperor of the House of Theodosius I. The Orthodox have canonized him also, and keep his feast (with Pulcheria) on 17 February.

Evagrius, Hist. Eccl., II; Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, VI; Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I (London, 1889), 135-136; Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, with Bury’s notes, III (London, 1907), 444-474; Hefele, tr. Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, II (Paris, 1908).

Adrian Fortescue (Catholic Encyclopedia)

The Catholic Knight Who Stopped Slavery in West Africa

October 19, 2026

By Joanna Bogle

The Catholic cemetery at Mortlake in South West London has an agreeably rural feel, and is worth a visit: it’s about 20 minutes from Waterloo on the line going down to Richmond, and a short walk from the station. It is chiefly famous for the large stone, tent-shaped tomb of the 19th-century explorer Sir Richard Burton. This brings numbers of tourists and historians each year. Other notable people buried here include the architect John Francis Bentley, who designed Westminster Cathedral.

There is one grave, however, with a story that is of particular relevance for today. Sir James Marshall (1829-1889), through volunteer effort and great generosity, helped to ensure Catholic missionary efforts in Africa. But perhaps his equally great achievement was as an official in a secular role.

Appointed Chief Justice of the Gold Coast and neighboring territories – today’s Ghana and Nigeria – he was responsible for ending a particularly vicious form of slavery and liberating large numbers of men, women, and children.

Gravely disabled as a young man – his right arm had to be amputated after a boating accident – Marshall had to abandon plans to join the Army, and instead followed his father and took holy orders in the Anglican church. After some years of ministry and much study, he joined the Catholic Church, and went to teach classics at the Oratory School founded by John Henry Newman.

It was Newman who suggested that he read law, and in due course he became a barrister. In 1873 he was appointed Chief Magistrate to the Gold Coast and later in 1887 to Nigeria. In Asaba, he encountered the grisly local custom in which a tribal chief would acquire large numbers of slaves who would in due course be publicly slaughtered at a great public gathering amid noisy ceremonial. This was rooted in the tribal chiefs’ belief that the slaves would thus be available to serve them in the next life.

In Ghana, Marshall had become a respected and popular figure who could engage with the local communities and their leaders, and the appointment to Asaba had come specifically because the slavery issue needed to be resolved.

In a letter home, Marshall described how he had told the tribal chiefs that the savage practice of ritual slaughter was to end, “that the strongest measures would be taken to put it down; that I should let it be known, among the slaves, that they might look to us for protection, and that whenever it was known that murder was going to be held, the soldiers would be at once sent and that chiefs…would be liable to be hanged.”

Sir James Marshall from W.R. Brownlow’s Memoir of Sir James Marshall, 1890 [Source: Wikimedia]

He spoke with the full authority of the law. Not only had slavery been outlawed across the British Empire back in 1833, but murder in itself was a crime and would be treated as such with the most severe penalty. The slaves awaiting slaughter, kept in grim conditions, included women and small children, and were captured during inter-tribal battles.

Describing how he addressed the chiefs, Marshall wrote that he told them, “‘You think that the great God, who made the white man and the black, and all the world, and who wished us all to live happily together here, will keep those slaves you murder to be your slaves in the other world, bah!’ I then held up my finger to them and said, ‘You must all die, and when you die, you will see who is right.’”

Backed with military force, Marshall could impose the law, and the odious practices were finally crushed. Meanwhile, in addition to his official role, he had become active in the small missionary church that was being established. And in due course it was his efforts, including a personal appeal to the pope, that brought substantial numbers of missionaries to the Gold Coast.

Victorian Britain honored the men who served in the colonial empire that was emerging. The justices and administrators who worked to ensure that slavery was banned were rightly regarded as upholding the noblest and best of the law and Christian civilization. Meetings and rallies in London raised money for projects that would help to free slaves while establishing – mostly through churches and voluntary effort – schools and hospitals in territories where new and civilized ways of living were on offer.

Today, the truth of all this needs to be told. Boys and girls in Britain’s schools are told a series of myths concerning the 19^th century, the relationship between Britain and Africa, the role of Christianity, and more. (I imagine things are similar in America and other Western nations.)

The Church of England is currently contributing to the myths with its attempts to rewrite history and give money as “reparations for slavery” via officialdom in various countries while neglecting its parishes at home. Perhaps the story of Sir James Marshall can serve as a starting point for talking about what really happened in the Victorian era. It should also perhaps be noted that the Catholic revival was a major factor in the unfolding story of much of what was achieved.

Meanwhile, in Ghana and Nigeria – and in various London Catholic parishes with substantial Ghanaian and Nigerian congregations – the Knights and Ladies of Marshall flourish. This impressive Catholic lay organization, established in the 1920s, plays a notable part in Catholic life and, among much else, has been working for the possible canonization of Sir James Marshall.

Every year on the anniversary of Marshall’s death, the Knights and Ladies gather in large numbers at Mortlake, where prayers are led at Marshall’s tomb and flowers and wreaths are laid. And meanwhile, daily across London and the rest of Britain, priests from Ghana and Nigeria lead parishes, teach the Faith, and evangelize the country – missionaries now to the country which once gave missionaries to them.

Sir James Marshall’s grave at Mortlake

__________

October 21 – In battle they called him “The Hammer”

October 19, 2026

Charles Martel

Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741.

He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named Alpaïde or Chalpaïde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only six years old, fell the burdensome inheritance of the French monarchy.

Charles, who was then twenty-six, was not excluded from the succession on account of his birth, Theodoald himself being the son of a concubine, but through the influence of Plectrude, Theodoald’s grandmother, who wished the power invested in her own descendants exclusively. To prevent any opposition from Charles she had him cast into prison and, having established herself at Cologne, assumed the guardianship of her grandson. But the different nations whom the strong hand of Pepin of Herstal had held in subjections, shook off the yoke of oppression as soon as they saw that it was with a woman they had to deal.

Neustria gave the signal for revolt (715), Theodoald was beaten in the forest of Cuise and, led by Raginfrid, mayor of the palace, the enemy advanced as far as the Meuse. The Frisians flew to arms and, headed by their duke, Ratbod, destroyed the Christian mission and entered into a confederacy with the Neustrians. The Saxons came and devastated the country of the Hattuarians, and even in Austrasia there was a certain faction that chafed under the government of a woman and child.

Statue of Charles Martel at the Chateau de Versaille

At this juncture Charles escaped from prison and put himself at the head of the national party of Austrasia. At first he was unfortunate. He was defeated by Ratbod near Cologne in 716, and the Neustrians forced Plectrude to acknowledge as king Chilperic, the son of Childeric II, having taken this Merovingian from the seclusion of the cloister, where he lived the name of Daniel. But Charles was quick to take revenge. He surprised and conquered the Neustrians at Amblève near Malmédy (716), defeated them a second time at Vincy near Cambrai (21 March, 717), and pursued them as far as Paris. Then retracing his steps, he came to Cologne and compelled Plectrude to surrender her power and turn over to him the wealth of his father, Pepin.

In order to give his recently acquired authority a semblance of legitimacy, he proclaimed the Merovingian Clotaire IV King of Austrasia, reserving for himself the title of Mayor of the Palace. It was about this time that Charles banished Rigobert, the Bishop of Reims, who had opposed him, appointing in his stead the warlike and unpriestly Milon, who was already Archbishop of Trier.

Charles Martel in Battle

The ensuing years were full of strife. Eager to chastise the Saxons who had invaded Austrasia, Charles in the year 718 laid waste their country to the banks of the Weser. In 719 Ratbod died, and Charles seized Western Friesland without any great resistance on the part of the Frisians, who had taken possession of it on the death of Pepin. The Neustrians, always a menace, had joined forces with the people of Aquitaine, but Charles hacked their army to pieces at Soissons. After this defeat they realized the necessity of surrendering, and the death of King Clotaire IV, whom Charles had placed on the throne but two years previously, facilitated reconciliation of the two great fractions of the Frankish Empire. Charles acknowledged Chilperic as head of the entire monarchy, while on their side, the Neustrians and Aquitainians endorsed the authority of Charles; but, when Chilperic died, the following year (720) Charles appointed as his successor the son of Dagobert III, Thierry IV, who was still a minor, and who occupied the throne from 720 to 737. A second expedition against the Saxons in 720 and the definitive submission of Raginfrid, who had been left the county of Angers (724), re-established the Frankish Monarchy as it had been under Pepin of Herstal, and closed the first series of Charles Martel’s struggles.

Battle of Tours

The next six years were devoted almost exclusively to the confirming of the Frankish authority over the dependent Germanic tribes. In 725 and 728 Charles went into Bavaria, where the Agilolfing dukes had gradually rendered themselves independent, and re-established Frankish suzerainty. He also brought thence the Princess Suanehilde, who seems to have become his mistress. In 730 he marched against Lantfrid, Duke of the Alemanna, whom he likewise brought into subjection, and thus Southern Germany once more became part of the Frankish Empire, as had Northern Germany during the first years of the reign.

But at the extremity of the empire a dreadful storm was gathering. For several years the Moslems of Spain had been threatening Gaul. Banished thence in 721 by Duke Eudes, they had returned in 725 and penetrated as far as Burgundy, where they had destroyed Autun. Duke Eudes, unable to resist them, at length contented himself by negotiating with them, and to Othmar, one of their chiefs, he gave the hand of his daughter. But this compromising alliance brought him into disfavour with Charles, who defeated him in 731, and the death of Othmar that same year again left Eudes at the mercy of Moslem enterprise.

Charles Martel and his army returning from battle

In 732 Abd-er-Rahman, Governor of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees at the head of an immense army, overcame Duke Eudes, and advanced as far as the Loire, pillaging and burning as he went. In October, 732, Charles met Abd-er-Rahman outside of Tours and defeated and slew him in a battle (the Battle of Poitiers) which must ever remain one of the great events in the history of the world, as upon its issue depended whether Christian Civilization should continue or Islam prevail throughout Europe. It was this battle, it is said, that gave Charles his name, Martel (Tudites) “The Hammer”, because of the merciless way in which he smote the enemy.

The remainder of Charles Martel’s reign was an uninterrupted series of triumphant combats. In 733-734 he suppressed the rebellion instigated by the Frisian duke, Bobo, who was slain in battle, and definitively subdued Friesland, which finally adopted Christianity. In 735, after the death of Eudes, Charles entered Aquitaine, quelled the revolt of Hatto and Hunold, sons of the deceased duke, and left the duchy to Hunold, to be held in fief (736). He then banished the Moslems from Arles and Avignon, defeated their army on the River Berre near Narbonne, and in 739 checked an uprising in Provence, the rebels being under the leadership of Maurontus.

At Versailles, in the Gallery of Battles, a scence from the Battle of Moussais.

So great was Charles’ power during the last years of his reign that he did not take the trouble to appoint a successor to King Thierry IV, who died in 737, but assumed full authority himself, governing without legal right. About a year before Charles died, Pope Gregory III, threatened by Luitprand, King of Lombardy, asked his help. Now Charles was Luitprand’s ally because the latter had promised to assist him in the late war against the Moslems of Provence, and, moreover, the Frankish king may have already suffered from the malady that was to carry him off – two reasons that are surely sufficient to account for the fact that the pope’s envoys departed without gaining the object of their errand. However, it would seem that, according to the terms of a public act published by Charlemagne, Charles had, at least in principle, agreed to defend the Roman Church, and death alone must have prevented him from fulfilling this agreement.

Tomb of Charles Martel, in the Basilique Saint Denis

The reign, which in the beginning was so full of bloody conflicts and later of such incessant strife, would have been an impossibility had not Charles procured means sufficient to attract and compensate his partisans. For this purpose he conceived the idea of giving them the usufruct of a great many ecclesiastical lands, and this spoliation is what is referred to as the secularization by Charles Martel. It was an expedient that could be excused without, however, being justified, and it was pardoned to a certain extent by the amnesty granted at the Council of Lestines, held under the sons of Charles Martel in 743. It must also be remembered that the Church remained the legal owner of the lands thus alienated. This spoliation and the conferring of the principal ecclesiastical dignities upon those who were either totally unworthy or else had naught but their military qualifications to recommend them – as, for instance, the assignment of the episcopal Sees of Reims of Reims and Trier to Milon – were not calculated to endear Charles Martel to the clergy of his time. Therefore, in the ninth century Hincmar of Reims related the story of the vision with which St. Eucher was said to have been favoured and which showed Charles in hell, to which he had been condemned for robbing the Church of its property.

Charles Martel divides the realm between his sons Pepin and Carloman.

But notwithstanding the almost exclusively warlike character of his reign, Charles Martel was not indifferent to the superior interests of civilization and Christianity. Upon emerging from the years 715-719, Charles, who had not only tolerated but perpetrated many an act of violence against the Church, set about the establishment of social order and endeavoured to restore the rights of the Catholic hierarchy. This explains the protection which in 723 he accorded St. Boniface (Winfrid), the great apostle of Germany, a protection all the more salutary as the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry. Hence Charles Martel shares, to a certain degree, the glory and merit of Boniface’s great work of civilization. He died after having divided the Frankish Empire, as a patrimony between his two sons, Carloman and Pepin.

[adapted from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article by Godofroid Kurth]

October 21 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

October 19, 2026

Crown Prince Carl Franz Joseph of Austria

(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 Catholic education and the prayers of a group of persons accompanied him from childhood, since a stigmatic nun prophesied that he would undergo great suffering and attacks would be made against him. That is how the “League of prayer of the Emperor Charles for the peace of the peoples” originated after his death. In 1963 it became a prayer community ecclesiastically recognized.

Archduchess Maria Josefa of Austria (1867-1944) and sons Karl and Maximilian, 1910.

A deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began to grow in Charles. He turned to prayer before making any important decisions.

Wedding of Archduke Charles of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma in Schwarzau Palace.

On the 21st of October, 1911, he married Princess Zita of Bourbon and Parma. The couple was blessed with eight children during the ten years of their happy and exemplary married life. Charles still declared to Zita on his deathbed: “I’ll love you forever.”

Charles became heir to the throne of the Austro‑Hungarian Empire on June 28, 1914, following the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

King Karl IV of Hungary taking his coronation oath December 1916

World War I was underway and with the death of the Emperor Francis Joseph, on November 21, 1916 Charles became Emperor of Austria. On December 30th he was crowned apostolic King of Hungary.

Charles envisaged this office also as a way to follow Christ: in the love and care of the peoples entrusted to him, and in dedicating his life to them. He placed the most sacred duty of a king – a commitment to peace – at the center of his preoccupations during the course of the terrible war. He was the only one among political leaders to support Benedict XV’s peace efforts.

The Emperor with his son Otto

As far as domestic politics are concerned, despite the extremely difficult times he initiated wide and exemplary social legislation, inspired by social Christian teaching.

Thanks to his conduct, the transition to a new order at the end of the conflict was made possible without a civil war. He was however banished from his country.

Charles of Austria, Zita of Bourbon-Parma and their children

The Pope feared the rise of communist power in central Europe, and expressed the wish that Charles re‑establish the authority of his government in Hungary. But two attempts failed, since above all Charles wished to avoid the outbreak of a civil war. Charles was exiled to the island of Madeira. Since he considered his duty as a mandate from God, he could not abdicate his office.

The Emperor Shortly After Death

Reduced to poverty, he lived with his family in a very humid house. He then fell fatally ill and accepted this as a sacrifice for the peace and unity of his peoples. Charles endured his suffering without complaining. He forgave all those who conspired against him and died April 1st 1922 with his eyes turned toward the Holy Sacrament. On his deathbed he repeated the motto of his life: “I strive always in all things to understand as clearly as possible and follow the will of God, and this in the most perfect way.”

(source: Vatican)

Colonel José de Escandón is ennobled for establishing settlers in South Texas

October 19, 2026

Don José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, Knight of the Order of Santiago.

[D]on José [de Escandón] lost little time in acting but did not sacrifice effectiveness to haste. Working with his lieutenants to conduct a publicity campaign along the frontier, he and his officers had little difficulty recruiting potential settlers….Among those recruited as settlers in the new province were ranchers who already owned large herds of livestock but needed more grazing land. Those stockmen could have expanded on their own at any time, but it was risky to do so, and they would not have received subsidies or remission of taxes. Furthermore, those same ranchers not only had a high regard for Escandón but also recognized that the timing for expansion was right. The central government in Mexico City backed the enterprise, and it would make sure that governors in adjoining frontier provinces provided necessary cooperation….

Laredo, Texas as seen in 1892. Laredo was one of the many towns that was founded by Don José de Escandón.

Laredo, Texas as seen in 1892. Laredo was founded by Captain Don Tomas Sanchez de Barrera y Gallardo during the colonizing expedition led by Colonel Don José de Escandón.

The colonizer then went to the eastern slope of the Sierra Gorda. There in mid-May he established Villa Santa Bárbara, which already had a few families in residence. With the founding of this settlement, Escandón had “completed the pacification of the southern Sierra Gorda.”…

The specific plan submitted by Escandón to the junta in 1748 had called for fourteen settlements in Nuevo Santander [this included parts of Texas south of the Nueces River], and within six months of his expedition’s departure from Querétaro, thirteen had been established with plans for accompanying missions….

Recognizing the merits of Escandón’s accomplishments, the viceroy commended him to the king. Subsequently, in October 1749, just one year after the colonizer had left Querétaro to embark on his great venture, Ferdinand VI granted Don José the titles of Count of Sierra Gorda and Viscount of the House of Escandón. The crown expressly stated that the pacification of hostile Indians in northern Mexico, the exploration of the Costa, and the colonization of Nuevo Santander had earned him those honors.

Donald E. Chipman and Harriett Denise Joseph, Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1999), 132-5.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 328

October 21 – The Tale of Saint Ursula, the “Little Bear”

October 19, 2026

Once upon a time, there was once a just and most Christian King of Britain, called Maurus. To him and to his wife Daria was born a little girl, the fairest creature that this earth ever saw. She came into the world wrapped in a hairy mantle, and all men wondered greatly what this might mean. Then the King gathered together his wise men to inquire of them. But they could not make known the thing to him, for only God in Heaven knew how the rough robe signified that she should follow holiness and purity all her days, and the wisdom of Saint John the Baptist. And because of the mantle, they called her Ursula, ‘Little Bear.’

Click Here To Buy the Book

Book Launching, 33 Years Ago in Milan, October 15, 1993

October 15, 2026

Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility

Pius XII: Great Goals and Immense Means to Bring About the Restoration of the Christian Social Order

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

One of the most important results of the First World War, though not the most noticed, was a transformation, in fact a fundamental revolution, not only in the political and economic sphere but also with regard to the mentality and customs in force before the war.
In other words, much of what was regarded as essential, elevated, sublime, and perhaps intangible before the conflict was mercilessly swept away by the whirlwind of events and replaced with other customs and attitudes diametrically opposed to the earlier ones.
A similar phenomenon occurred after the Second World War. So we can say that the two great wars of the twentieth century—God forbid we should get a third one before this troubled century ends—were two major revolutions.
It is a duty of justice to note that in his 14 allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, Pius XII tried to mitigate the effects of these revolutions by giving directives of an admirable wisdom.
Specifically with respect to the second post-war period, the Pope says:
This time the work of restoration is incomparably more immense, more delicate, and more complex. It is not a question of bringing one sole nation back to normalcy. One can say that the entire world must be rebuilt; the universal order must be re-established. The material order, the intellectual order, the social order, the international order—all must be remade and set back in a regular, constant motion. That tranquil order that is peace, that is the only true peace, cannot be reborn and endure except by building human society upon Christ, so as to gather, recapitulate, reunite everything in Him (Allocution of January 14, 1945).
So, one who reads this Pope’s documents easily realizes he had in mind to oppose that massive Revolution with a Counter-Revolution. A Counter-Revolution that would save from ruin a great many traditions and enable a number of others that still had every reason to exist but crumbled, to get back on their feet and recover their vitality.
Of course, since the Pope addressed only the nobles and the traditional elites, some people supposed that he counted on them alone to carry out that work. The persons who thought so, perhaps also deemed those classes the only ones capable of understanding, loving and defending the traditions of which they were specifically the carriers.

Indeed, one sees that Pius XII called particularly on those elites to take up that great mission. This is understandable as they are the guarantors of the perennial values the Pope believes should not be allowed to vanish.

We should note how he really wanted a comprehensive collaboration in this regard. He asked such collaboration not only from members of an elite still in possession of sufficient assets to radiate all the prestige coming from their past and thus place at the service of the Counter-Revolution all the force of impact with that one might expect.

It is obvious, however, that the Pontiff expected even more from the Patriciate and Nobility. He also counted—and notably so—on persons from that social class who, having been ruined by the misfortunes of war, no longer had material resources to remain influential. Though reduced to very fragile and often times shockingly frugal economic situations, those persons, with great family names, still had to give the precious example of true nobility and the best that could be expected of it; in other words, to show how their class can keep virtue, grandeur of soul and moral dignity unscathed and can radiate them to other social classes even when deprived of all kinds of material goods.

But we must go beyond that. Pius XII manifestly counted on the ensemble of the social body not only to save the still existing elites and traditions they carried but also to make sure that new elites would spring up alongside the old. To these new elites would befall—in the face of new situations and animated with a truly Catholic mentality—the development of new habits, customs and forms of power. And all this without destroying or denying the past in any way, but completing it when necessary.

The famous Saint-Cyr boarding house that the Marquise of Maintenon, morganatic wife of Louis XIV, founded to help the numerous young ladies of the aristocracy whose parents had become impoverished.

It would be reasonable for Pius XII, in pursuit of such a lofty goal, to think of founding some specific type of association or institution and ask it to make a special effort to deal with the new circumstances. It would be something in the lines of the famous Saint-Cyr boarding house that the Marquise of Maintenon, morganatic wife of Louis XIV, founded to help the numerous young ladies of the aristocracy whose parents had become impoverished.

Obviously, however, that was not the main project in which Pope Pacelli placed his best hopes.

Note that, when speaking about his hopes, in spite of somehow playing the role of advocate for a certain past in face of new situations that arise, the Pontiff hoped to plead as much as he could for the cause of tradition and nobility. Therefore, his words have the value of a warm encouragement and a precise guideline.

It is timely to stress this idea here, that is, that society considered as a whole is a great body made up not only by institutions and smaller societies but also by a multitude of individuals who, by carrying out a merely personal action on behalf of the common good, form a first rate social force which the Pontiff counted very much upon.

One has the impression that, as he saw it, no success is possible in this matter without the collaboration of the whole social body.

That is very far indeed from the servitude into which the modern media’s propaganda machines cast peoples and nations, superseding the so-to-speak autocephalous organizations that should genuinely influence society. Today it is almost impossible to make a cause successful without the “placet” of the ensemble of the media or at least some of their major players. So that, no matter how much they talk about democracy, the truth of the matter is that in our so-called democratic societies the decision-making power is almost always in the hands of media moguls. Pius XII could easily and comfortably appeal to them, who could heed his entreaties, or at least feign to.

“What is, then, the power which Pius XII counted on? Obviously, and first of all, it was the power of God almighty, Who made Constantine victorious in the battle of the Milvian Bridge…

Naturally, he wanted their effective collaboration, and obtained it on many points. But in his allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, the media do not appear as the essential element of an ideal society. Probably because its leaders are essentially and permanently tempted to be inauthentic; and as is known, human frailty often times succumbs to such temptations.

…and John of Austria the winner in the battle of Lepanto, to mention only two outstanding historic examples.”

What is, then, the power which Pius XII counted on? Obviously, and first of all, it was the power of God almighty, Who made Constantine victorious in the battle of the Milvian Bridge and John of Austria the winner in the battle of Lepanto, to mention only two outstanding historic examples. In fact, the lesson from the teaching of Pius XII is that if each individual Catholic heeds it and strives to fulfill his duty accordingly by acting in his own personal sphere, the end result can be a huge force with global impact.

Finally, in these allocutions we should see above all the Pontiff’s profound commitment to have everyone orient their ideal aspirations in unison with him and concentrate their efforts mainly in their immediate sphere of action: In other words, those with whom they live at home and in the exercise of their profession. If all Catholics, proud to collaborate with the Pope in this indisputably great crusade, perhaps the crusade of the 20^th century, worked in earnest in pursuit of this goal beyond all organizations and coalitions, victory would affirm itself. The victory of great causes is not ensured so much by large armies as by the individual action of great multitudes imbued with great ideals and disposed to make every sacrifice in order to win.

It seems important to emphasize this point because there are far too many people today who, in order to concentrate their whole existence within the tranquil and carefree confines of their personal comfort zone, and to deem themselves exempt from any obligation to great causes, conveniently allege that individual action is doomed to fail in our times of huge human masses huddled in Babylonian-size urban centers. And even when spread over vast expanses of land, sea or air—they claim—those masses are continuously subjected to psychological and ideological manipulation by an ever-present and seemingly all-encompassing media.

“The victory of great causes is not ensured so much by large armies as by the individual action of great multitudes imbued with great ideals and disposed to make every sacrifice in order to win.”

I want to make this very clear so that no one can have a pretext to do nothing by alleging personal weakness, a puny influence at best, and the consequent uselessness of any effort he might make. Let no one, from the greatest to the smallest, spare any effort to strive in the direction indicated by the Pontiff, and victory is assured.

This is the central thought of Pius XII, and thus, far from discouraging organized efforts by associations and social groups desirous of promoting this great good and capable of carrying out this great common task, I would like these groups to also have the collaboration of all those sensitive to the teaching of Pius XII, as they represent an immense force.

For you to gauge this force, I want to close by recalling a well-known historic episode. When Napoleon’s power in Italy was reaching its apex, one of his generals asked him with what degree of deference he should treat the reigning Pope. Napoleon’s answer was quick and razor-sharp: “Treat him like a general with imposing armies at his command.” While the white-haired occupant of the Throne of St. Peter might seem, to many, only as powerful as other old men, the sagacious Napoleon saw him as a world power. Why? Because a countless multitude of people, seemingly without importance, capacity or individual force of impact, nevertheless recognized him as the Vicar of Christ on earth and was ready to do anything for him. And that coalition of seemingly worthless faithful instilled fear in the man who made tremble the great of this world.

A well-made historic analysis will show that one of the causes why Napoleon felt isolated and broken after Waterloo, was that he did not have on his side the “General” who had command over that invisible but redoubtable army, the multitude of those who, though small in the eyes of men, are very powerful at the feet of God’s throne with their prayers and sacrifices. In other words, the Church no longer looked with sympathy at the apparent conqueror of Europe.

One no longer saw, around him, the friendly gaze of men with a simple but honest mentality, who had hoped he would be, at a certain point, a restorer of the Church’s rights out of the ruins the French Revolution tried to turn her into; those who had hoped that his sword would avenge so many overthrown legitimacies, both in the sphere of public law and that of individual rights; those who, seeing him ask Pius XII to crown him in Notre Dame, were so filled with hope that his gesture was a recognition of the divine origin of Power, that they missed the fact that Napoleon did not allow the Pope to crown his head with the imperial diadem; instead, he took it from the Pontiff’s hands and proudly crowned himself, denying the power he was seemingly going to restore.

“The Church no longer looked with sympathy at the apparent conqueror of Europe.”

Yet, another celebrated saying eventually illustrated the abandonment the tyrant had reduced himself to, with his ambiguous religious—when not openly anti-religious—policies.

The chronicles say that, as the troops of Bonaparte marched victoriously toward Moscow, a Russian officer, special envoy of Alexander I, asked to have an audience with him. After some negotiations, lunch time came and Bonaparte invited to his table the envoy of the Czar of all Russias. During the meal, the conversation dealt with the number of religious buildings that the invading monarch had noticed on Russian soil. Trying to attribute the weak Russian resistance to a supposedly excessive religiosity, Napoleon asked the officer if Russia was, in European territory, the nation which had spent the most money on religious buildings.

The Czar’s envoy cleverly answered: “No, Sire, there is Spain too.” Now then, precisely around that time, heroic Spanish Catholics were inflicting unprecedented and humiliating defeats on some of Napoleon’s greatest generals. Understanding the allusion and the admirable military scope of Iberian religious fervor, the Corse general fell silent. Shortly afterward, Moscow was set ablaze and withdrawal from Russia became for Napoleon an inescapable necessity. He might also have recalled, amid his afflictions in Waterloo, everything he had lacked in order to win. And he possibly understood, more than ever, the importance of the religious factor confronting even the greatest generals.

If the lack of that factor causes such great weakness, its presence can be tremendously constructive. That is the power of the multitudes of faithful who crown with success the works of Popes when, moved by the Holy Ghost, they feel capable of exercising what Camões beautifully called “Christian daring” (Lusíadas, VII, 14).

Such were certainly the thoughts that filled with hope the heart of Pope Pacelli as he delivered his famous allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility.

“Deus vult,” exclaimed in unison, in Clermont, France, feudal warriors theretofore indolent facing the advancing Muslim danger. But the action of the Holy Ghost, making itself felt in the voice of Blessed Pope Urban II, filled with mystical inflections, rapidly kindled in those numb hearts the sublime flames of crusader combativeness. And the course of history changed.

View of the public at the display table during the Oct. 15, 1993 launching of Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII in Milan, Italy

The voice of Pius XII still resounds in his allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility; and this is why those allocutions, unable to shake the inertia of so many Catholics at the time they were made, today appear admirably vivified by a renewal of grace that leads every greater legions of our contemporaries to long for the restoration of a Christian and hierarchical society in which the tranquility of order reigns in an atmosphere of peace; a society in which all legitimate hierarchies are respected for the sake of the common good.

This explains the fact that, with renewed ardor for this grand ideal, the allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility are now featured in the book being launched today and are thus seeing new days of efficacy and glory in ever larger civilized circles of the West.

Portugal, Spain, the Iberian-American world, the Anglo-American world, France, South Africa, are nations in which these admirable allocutions circulate today in the unpretentious pages of this book with the vigor and force of impact they would have if pronounced by the great Pontiff only a few days ago. This raises the hope that in other countries such as England and Germany the same thing will happen as it now does in this admirable Italy, the joy and glory of the whole world, with book launchings in Milan, Rome and Naples.

Thus, may the Virgin Most Holy deign bring to fruition the so very just, timely and indispensable longings of Pope Pacelli.

October 15 – Interior Castle

October 15, 2026

St. Teresa of Avila

Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, born at Avila, Old Castile, 28 March, 1515; died at Alba de Tormes, 4 Oct., 1582.

This is the only portrait of St. Teresa, which day after day, she obediently sat for as a penance. It was painted when St. Teresa was 61, by Friar Juan de la Miseria in 1576. When the picture was finished, with a faint smile, she said, “God forgive you Fray Juan! To think that after all I have suffered at your hands, you should paint me so bleary eyed and ugly!”

The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda by his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when the saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa was brought up by her saintly father, a lover of serious books, and a tender and pious mother. After her death and the marriage of her eldest sister, Teresa was sent for her education to the Augustinian nuns at Avila, but owing to illness she left at the end of eighteen months, and for some years remained with her father and occasionally with other relatives, notably an uncle who made her acquainted with the Letters of St. Jerome, which determined her to adopt the religious life, not so much through any attraction towards it, as through a desire of choosing the safest course. Unable to obtain her father’s consent she left his house unknown to him on Nov., 1535, to enter the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Avila, which then counted 140 nuns. The wrench from her family caused her a pain which she ever afterwards compared to that of death. However, her father at once yielded and Teresa took the habit.

The incorrupt arm of St. Teresa of Avila in Alba de Tormes, Spain.

After her profession in the following year she became very seriously ill, and underwent a prolonged cure and such unskillful medical treatment that she was reduced to a most pitiful state, and even after partial recovery through the intercession of St. Joseph, her health remained permanently impaired. During these years of suffering she began the practice of mental prayer, but fearing that her conversations with some world-minded relatives, frequent visitors at the convent, rendered her unworthy of the graces God bestowed on her in prayer, discontinued it, until she came under the influence, first of the Dominicans, and afterwards of the Jesuits.

This is the stone that St. Teresa sat on, waiting for King Philip II. This stone, generally unnoticed, is on the front left corner of El Escorial.

Meanwhile God had begun to visit her with “intellectual visions and locutions”, that is manifestations in which the exterior senses were in no way affected, the things seen and the words heard being directly impressed upon her mind, and giving her wonderful strength in trials, reprimanding her for unfaithfulness, and consoling her in trouble. Unable to reconcile such graces with her shortcomings, which her delicate conscience represented as grievous faults, she had recourse not only to the most spiritual confessors she could find, but also to some saintly laymen, who, never suspecting that the account she gave them of her sins was greatly exaggerated, believed these manifestations to be the work of the evil spirit. The more she endeavoured to resist them the more powerfully did God work in her soul. The whole city of Avila was troubled by the reports of the visions of this nun. It was reserved to St. Francis Borgia and St. Peter of Alcantara, and afterwards to a number of Dominicans (particularly Pedro Ibañez and Domingo Bañez), Jesuits, and other religious and secular priests, to discern the work of God and to guide her on a safe road.

Her incorrupt body, which is above the main altar, in Alba de Tormes. Despite all her illnesses, which she endured her entire life, the body of St. Teresa, remained as white and smooth as alabaster, like that of a child of three. All the wrinkles that had gathered since her illness had vanished. A sweet smell which nobody could describe or identify came from the body and everything that had touched it — towels, garments, even St. Teresa’s fingerprints on a plate. It became so overpowering in the cell where she died that the windows had to be opened to prevent headaches and fainting.

The account of her spiritual life contained in the “Life written by herself” (completed in 1565, an earlier version being lost), in the “Relations”, and in the “Interior Castle”, forms one of the most remarkable spiritual biographies with which only the “Confessions of St. Augustine” can bear comparison. To this period belong also such extraordinary manifestations as the piercing or transverberation of her heart, the spiritual espousals, and the mystical marriage. A vision of the place destined for her in hell in case she should have been unfaithful to grace, determined her to seek a more perfect life. After many troubles and much opposition St. Teresa founded the convent of Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Rule of St. Joseph at Avila (24 Aug., 1562), and after six months obtained permission to take up her residence there.

The hourglass, spoon, and various dishes that were used by St. Teresa. St. Teresa was especially fond of the gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well seeking the water of life and she would say to Him over and over again, “Lord, give me that water!” To her, water always seemed something delightful and marvelous, something at once so natural and so inexplicable, so clearly an evidence of the power and goodness of God, that she was constantly admiring it and trying to think of ways to describe its properties. From her childhood till her death, she never lost this wonder and delight at the sight and feeling of water.

Four years later she received the visit of the General of the Carmelites, John-Baptist Rubeo (Rossi), who not only approved of what she had done but granted leave for the foundation of other convents of friars as well as nuns. In rapid succession she established her nuns at Medina del Campo (1567), Malagon and Valladolid (1568), Toledo and Pastrana (1569), Salamanca (1570), Alba de Tormes (1571), Segovia (1574), Veas and Seville (1575), and Caravaca (1576). In the “Book of Foundations” she tells the story of these convents, nearly all of which were established in spite of violent opposition but with manifest assistance from above. Everywhere she found souls generous enough to embrace the austerities of the primitive rule of Carmel. Having made the acquaintance of Antonio de Heredia, prior of Medina, and St. John of the Cross (q.v.), she established her reform among the friars (28 Nov., 1568), the first convents being those of Duruelo (1568), Pastrana (1569), Mancera, and Alcalá de Henares (1570).

Her incorrupt heart, which was pierced with an arrow. Her body was exhumed several times after her death, and each time the body was found incorrupt, firm, and sweet-smelling. Her heart, hands, right foot, right arm, left eye and part of her jaw are on display in various sites around the world.

A new epoch began with the entrance into religion of Jerome Gratian, inasmuch as this remarkable man was almost immediately entrusted by the nuncio with the authority of visitor Apostolic of the Carmelite friars and nuns of the old observance in Andalusia, and as such considered himself entitled to overrule the various restrictions insisted upon by the general and the general chapter. On the death of the nuncio and the arrival of his successor a fearful storm burst over St. Teresa and her work, lasting four years and threatening to annihilate the nascent reform. The incidents of this persecution are best described in her letters. The storm at length passed, and the province of Discalced Carmelites, with the support of Philip II, was approved and canonically established on 22 June, 1580. St. Teresa, old and broken in health, made further foundations at Villnuava de la Jara and Palencia (1580), Soria (1581), Granada (through her assiatant the Venerable Anne of Jesus), and at Burgos (1582). She left this latter place at the end of July, and, stopping at Palencia, Valldolid, and Medina del Campo, reached Alba de Torres in September, suffering intensely. Soon she took to her bed and passed away on 4 Oct., 1582, the following day, owing to the reform of the calendar, being reckoned as 15 October. After some years her body was transferred to Avila, but later on reconveyed to Alba, where it is still preserved incorrupt. Her heart, too, showing the marks of the Transverberation, is exposed there to the veneration of the faithful. She was beatified in 1614, and canonized in 1622 by Gregory XV, the feast being fixed on 15 October.

This is the room where St. Teresa died. Shortly before St. Teresa died, Bl. Ana de San Bartolomé saw Our Lord at the foot of St. Teresa’s bed in majesty and splendor, attended by myriad angels, and at the head, the Ten Thousand Martyrs who had promised St. Teresa, in a rapture years before, to come for her in the moment of death. When she sighed her last, one of the sisters saw something like a white dove pass from her mouth. And while Sister Catalina de la Concepción, who was very holy and had less than a year to live, was sitting by the low window opening on the cloister by La Madre’s cell, she heard a great noise as of a throng of joyful and hilarious people making merry, and then saw innumerable resplendent persons, all dressed in white, pass the cloister and into the room of the dying Saint, where the nuns gathered about her seemed but a handful in comparison; and then all advanced toward the bed. And this was the moment when St. Teresa died.

St. Teresa’s position among writers on mystical theology is unique. In all her writings on this subject she deals with her personal experiences, which a deep insight and analytical gifts enabled her to explain clearly. The Thomistic substratum may be traced to the influence of her confessors and directors, many of whom belonged to the Dominican Order. She herself had no pretension to found a school in the accepted sense of the term, and there is no vestige in her writings of any influence of the Aeropagite, the Patristic, or the Scholastic Mystical schools, as represented among others, by the German Dominican Mystics. She is intensely personal, her system going exactly as far as her experiences, but not a step further.

BENEDICT ZIMMERMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

October 16 – Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 15, 2026

A miniature portrait of Marie-Antoinette by Anne Vallayer-Coster, one of the queen’s favorite artists and who received several important portrait commissions from the royal family. This miniature is housed at the Walters Art Museum, in Maryland.

Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians:

A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Habsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make up the fabric of the most interesting female existences of the eighteenth century.

In its first phase, the life of this princess unfolds as happily and brightly as a golden dream, uniting in the same person all the glory of power, all the brilliance of fortune, and all the charm of a radiant youth. Suddenly, however, that long chain of fortunes is cut short by a ghastly typhoon that causes the wreck of the monarchy, the desecration of altars, and the collapse of a nobility which, for many centuries, had been writing with its sword the brightest pages in the history of France.

An Act Of Kindness – Never To Be Forgotten

October 15, 2026

The Forest of Fontainebleau by François-Auguste Ortmans.

But her best-known deed, and the one which made the greatest sensation, was that which is known as the incident of Achères. It was at Fontainebleau, during the hunt again, on Oct 16, 1773. The deer, being at bay, took refuge in a small enclosure of the village of Achères. Finding no issue thence, and rendered furious by his despair, he turned upon a peasant who was cultivating the enclosure, and gored him twice with his antlers, – once in the thigh and once in the body. The man was thrown down, severely wounded. His wife, wild with grief, flew toward the hunters and fell in a faint. The king, after giving orders that she should be looked after, withdrew.

Deer in the forest at Fontainebleau, by Rosa Bonheur.

The dauphiness descended from her carriage, made the unfortunate woman inhale her salts, and after having brought her out of her faint, showered upon her money, consolation, and tears. She then made her get into her carriage and commanded that she should be taken to her house; nor did she rejoin the hunt until she had assured herself that the two invalids would receive the necessary attention. The entire court, moved by her noble example, hastened to aid the unfortunate ones. The dauphin emptied his purse into their hands; the Comtesse de Provence did the same. On the following day, Marie Antoinette did not fail to send to inquire after the wounded man, whose condition had at first seemed critical, but who recovered, nevertheless, thanks to the care that the surgeons of the court, on the order of the young princess, bestowed upon him.

Marie Antoinette’s act of compassion was immortalized in a pencil and ink drawing by Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger. The print, titled “Act of Kindness by the Dauphine, October 16, 1773”, now hangs in a museum in Vienna.

The public, on learning these details, and delighted with the tears of sympathy that the dauphiness had shed, was inexhaustible in its praises of her. There was but one cry of admiration for her. At Fontainebleau the people crowded together wherever there was a chance of seeing her. At Marly, at Versailles, they greeted her with such enthusiasm and acclamation when she went out as almost to frighten her.

The Life of Marie Antoinette, Volume 1 By Maxime de La Rocheterie, Chapter VII, Page 78-79.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 793

The Guillotine and Its Servants

October 15, 2026

By Gustave Lenotre* “The scaffold had become a part of the people’s life, and a certain number of Parisians, were extremely entertained by the new plaything. Someone conceived the idea of beheading, in the porches of the old basilica of Notre-Dame, all the stone Saints that adorned the church-fronts. The whiteness of the broken stone […]

October 16 – Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

October 15, 2026

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Religious of the Visitation Order. Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, born at Lhautecour, France, 22 July, 1647; died at Paray-le-Monial, 17 October, 1690. Her parents, Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, were distinguished less for temporal possessions than for their virtue, which gave them an honourable position. […]

October 16 – St. Bercharius

October 15, 2026

St. Bercharius (BERERUS). Abbot of Hautvillers in Champagne, b. 636; d. 28 March, 696. Descended from a distinguished Aquitanian family, he received his instruction from St. Nivard (Nivo), Archbishop of Reims, under whose charge he advaneed rapidly in virtue and learning. Believing himself called to the sacred ministry, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil under […]

October 17 – The Battle of Cholet

October 15, 2026

The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d’Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; […]

Amidst the Revolution, the women of Paris acclaim Marie Antoinette as their Queen

October 15, 2026

The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She took away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du-Pin, to whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted “pro tempore,” came and gave orders […]

Be Faithful to Your Duty and Fight, But Never Surrender the City

October 15, 2026

The victory of the Carizmians delivered up the greater part of Palestine to the most redoubtable enemies of the Christian colonies. The Egyptians took possession of Jerusalem, Tiberias, and the cities ceded to the Franks by the prince of Damascus. The hordes of Carismia ravaged all the banks of the Jordan, with the territories of […]

October 18 – A date which will live in infamy

October 15, 2026

Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre On October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, orders for the complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection, were carried out. The measures against the church were part of a more general campaign against Christian places […]

October 18 – Adopted nobility

October 15, 2026

Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini). B. at Siena, 29 May, 1439; elected 22 Sept., 1503; d. in Rome, 18 Oct., 1503, after a pontificate of four weeks. Piccolomini was the son of a sister of Pius II. He had passed his boyhood in destitute circumstances when his uncle took him into his household, bestowed […]

Mount Vernon Welcomes Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh

October 12, 2026

h/t: thezebra.org As part of a continuing celebration of America250, the Duke also visited Baltimore and New York… Every facet of George Washington’s life and times, including [George Washington’s] role in the quest for independence from the British crown, proved to be a subject of interest to the Prince who was once third in line […]

St. Lawrence and the Siege of Székesfehérvár

October 12, 2026

…The October of 1601 came – that same month, thirty years ago exactly, the Turks had their pride broken at Lepanto. Now they had crossed the Danube, and in numbers, variously estimated between 80,000 and 90,000, they were drawn up a few miles from Albareale. Laurence, on horseback, in his Capuchin habit and cross in […]

Why celebrate Columbus Day?

October 12, 2026

Columbus and Divine Providence By Jeremias Wells Christopher Columbus certainly ranks as one of the greatest men of achievement the world has ever known, and also justly one of the most renowned, for the entire history of Europeans in America originated from his vision, religious sense and adventurous spirit. As can be expected in a […]

Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

October 12, 2026

When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on October 12, 1492–a feat that earned for him the title of Admiral of the Indies and for his grandson Louis and his descendants in perpetuity the noble title of Duke of Veragua–he introduced into the Americas the greatest treasure possible: the Catholic Faith… Read more here.

October 12 – Martyr King

October 12, 2026

St. Edwin The first Christian King of Northumbria, born about 585, son of Aella, King of Deira, the southern division of Northumbria; died October 12, 633. Upon Aella’s death in 588, the sovereignty over both divisions of Northumbria was usurped by Ethebric of Bernicia, and retained at his death by his son Ethelfrid; Edwin, Aella’s […]

Social Hierarchy Helps Us Love God

October 12, 2026

If we gauge the issue to its farthest horizon, it encompasses a way of looking at God, a way of the human spirit looking at itself and the reality around it. In other words, it involves a way of looking at the entire universe in its numerous aspects. For if we consider God as a […]

October 12 – Difficulties in his youth prepared him for later trials

October 12, 2026

St. Wilfrid Bishop of York, son of a Northumbrian thegn, born in 634; died at Oundle in Northamptonshire, 709. He was unhappy at home, through the unkindness of a stepmother, and in his fourteenth year he was sent away to the Court of King Oswy, King of Northumbria. Here he attracted the attention of Queen […]

October 13 – Reign of almost unbroken peace

October 12, 2026

St. Edward the Confessor King of England, born in 1003; died 5 January, 1066. God often gives bad princes in his wrath; but in a good king he bestows a great public blessing on a nation. A wise king is the upholding of his people. (1) As the judge of the people is himself, so […]

October 13 – They denounced the religion of Mahomet

October 12, 2026

St. Daniel and Companions Friars Minor and martyrs; dates of birth unknown; died 10 October, 1227. The martyrdom of St. Berard and his companions in 1219 had inflamed many of the religious of the Order of Friars Minor with the desire of preaching the Gospel in heathen lands; and in 1227, the year following St. […]

What Our Lady Said at Fatima on October 13, 1917

October 12, 2026

By Antonio A. Borelli* The Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima The Sixth Apparition — October 13, 1917 As on the other occasions, the seers first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak. Lúcia: What does Your Grace wish of me? Our Lady: I wish to tell you […]

October 14 – Barber Family

October 12, 2026

Daniel Barber Daniel Barber, soldier of the Revolution, Episcopalian minister and convert, b. at Simsbury, Connecticut, U.S.A., 2 October, 1756; d. at Saint Inigoes, Maryland, 1834. The conversion of the Barber family, despite the prejudices of a Puritan education and environment, was one of the most notable and far-reaching in its results of any recorded […]

October 8 – St. Keyne

October 8, 2026

Keyne was a princess, one of the many children of King Brycan of South Wales. Growing up into a very beautiful young woman she was sought in marriage by many noble lords, but resolutely refused all of them. Instead, she took a vow of virginity and retired into solitude. It was after this resolution that […]

October 9 – Superb and valiant knight

October 8, 2026

Baron Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie Born at Nantes, 3 Sept., 1832; died at Basse-Motte (Ille-et-Vilaine), 9 Oct., 1911. His father was a nephew of the famous General Charette who was shot at Nantes, 29 March, 1795, during the rising of the Vendee. His mother, Louise, Countess de Vierzon, was the daughter of the Duc […]

October 9 – Even in his lifetime his reputation was for great holiness and miraculous powers

October 8, 2026

St. John Twenge Canon regular, Prior of St. Mary’s, Bridlington, born near the town, 1319; died at Bridlington, 1379. He was of the Yorkshire family Twenge, which family in Reformation days supplied two priest-martyrs and was also instrumental in establishing the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bar Convent, York. John completed his studies […]

October 10 – What if you come from a family of bad nobility?

October 8, 2026

St. Francis Borgia (also known as Francisco de Borja y Aragon), born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome […]

October 10 – St. Paulinus, Archbishop of York

October 8, 2026

St. Paulinus Archbishop of York, died at Rochester, 10 October, 644. He was a Roman monk in St. Andrew’s monastery at Rome, and was sent by St. Gregory the Great in 601, with St. Mellitus and others, to help St. Augustine and to carry the pallium to him. He laboured in Kent — with the […]

October 11 – Model Archduke, both spiritual and temporal

October 8, 2026

St. Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne Bruno the Great (or Bruno I) (925–965) was Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, from 953 until his death, and Duke of Lotharingia from 954. He was the brother of Otto I, king of Germany and later Holy Roman Emperor. Bruno was the youngest son of Henry the Fowler and […]

October 11 – He dared step into the gap during the crisis

October 8, 2026

Pope Boniface VIII (BENEDETTO GAETANO) Born at Anagni about 1235; died at Rome, 11 October, 1303. He was the son of Loffred, a descendant of a noble family originally Spanish, but long established in Italy—first at Gaeta and later at Anagni. Through his mother he was connected with the house of Segni, which had already […]

October 5 – Second founder of the Dominicans

October 5, 2026

Bl. Raymond of Capua Called “the second founder of the Dominicans,” Raymond della Vigna was born in Capua of a prominent family in the kingdom of Naples. He entered the Dominican Order when attending the university in Bologna and went on to fill several posts, including prior in Rome and lector in Florence and Siena. […]

October 5 – St. Galla

October 5, 2026

A Roman widow of the sixth century; feast, 5 October. According to St. Gregory the Great (Dial. IV, ch. xiii) she was the daughter of the younger Symmachus, a learned and virtuous patrician of Rome, whom Theodoric had unjustly condemned to death (525). Becoming a widow before the end of the first year of her […]

Had Louis XVI Listened to His Sister, Madame Elizabeth…

October 5, 2026

…the Crown Would Have Been Saved On the fatal day, 5th October [1789], when the people attacked Versailles, she was on her terrace at Montreuil when she saw the crowd advancing on the Palace, and flew at once to join the Royal Family there. Gifted as she was with an excellent judgment, Mme. Elizabeth possessed […]

October 6 – Princes and popes coveted the advice of this silent man

October 5, 2026

St. Bruno Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death’s head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His […]

October 16 – Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Capetian Widow

October 5, 2026

Most Reverend Monsignor Director of this Academy, Gentlemen Academicians: A simple listing of the titles with which she was known during her short life as Marie Antoinette of Habsburg, and later Marie Antoinette of Bourbon, brings to memory the series of extraordinary and unforeseen events that together make up the fabric of the most interesting […]

The Blessed Sacrament and the Apostolate in the Modern World – Conclusion

October 5, 2026

Continued from Part II Contradiction between everyday life and the statistics – What a terrible phenomenon that undermines the Catholic population itself, and which leads the Brazilian spirit, unfortunately so accommodating, to a monstrous situation. We are a nation with an overwhelming Catholic majority. Statistics in fact show a near unanimity of Catholics in Brazil. […]

The Catholic Theory of War and the Soldier

October 5, 2026

One has hardly arrived at this conclusion when a great problem arises quickly in our minds. “Did the Church sanction war?” We know of no more important question, nor one more intimately connected with our subject. The Church’s theory is well known: in three words—She hates war! Vainly have certain sophists endeavored to tone down […]

The Intervention of Our Lady in History

October 5, 2026

By Jeremias Wells Just as in our daily lives we should always be cognizant of the presence of God, so in our analysis of historical events we should always keep in mind the power and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the sweep of history. In this series of studies titled Revolution and Counter-Revolution […]

October 7 – How the Rosary saved Christendom

October 5, 2026

by Jeremias Wells The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Here is but a small fraction of the victories directly obtained from God through the Holy Rosary: The Battle of Lepanto which saved Rome and Vienna, and thus the Pope and the Emperor, from Moslem subjugation The deliverance of Vienna by Sobieski The victory […]

October 7 – Lepanto: Turkish might buckles in the grandest naval battle of History

October 5, 2026

The Turkish fleet came on imposing and terrible, all sails set, impelled by a fair wind, and it was only half a mile from the line of galliasses and another mile from the line of the Christian ships.D. John waited no longer; he humbly crossed himself, and ordered that the cannon of challenge should be […]

In Forming the Holy League, St. Pius V Prepares for Victory at Lepanto

October 5, 2026

The Holy League agreement announced on 25 May had been solemnized five days earlier in the presence of [Saint] Pius V in his capacity as Pope, and signed by representatives of himself as ruler of the Papal State, King Philip of Spain, the republics of Venice and Genoa, Grand Duke Cosimo of Tuscany, Duke Emanuele […]

The Nobility of the Holy Family & Prayer For The Month of October

October 1, 2026

Mary, Joseph, and, Therefore, Jesus Were Born of Royal Stock From a sermon of Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) about Saint Joseph: Firstly, let us consider the nobility of the bride, that is, the Most Holy Virgin. The Blessed Virgin was more noble than any other creature that had been born in human form, that […]

October 1 – The martial and pious death of Don John of Austria: “A man sent by God”

October 1, 2026

Alarm was ended on the fourth day, seeing that the fever and other ills left D. John. But the next day, which was a Saturday, he suddenly grew worse, and while the other invalids went on getting better and became convalescent, he showed other symptoms of a strange illness, palpitations which made him get up […]

October 1 – St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Chapter VI & Chapter VII

October 1, 2026

ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX Excerpts from THE STORY OF A SOUL: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX SOEUR THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX, THE LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS ______________________________ PROLOGUE: THE PARENTAGE & BIRTH OF MARIE FRANÇOISE THÉRÈSE MARTIN and CHAPTER ONE – EARLIEST MEMORIES CHAPTER II: A CATHOLIC HOUSEHOLD and CHAPTER III: PAULINE ENTERS THE […]