Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

We’ve all forgotten our manners, so I asked a former royal butler to teach me some

July 23, 2026

linkedin.com

Enter Julius F Smith, a man who spent three decades gliding around royalty with a silver tray in hand. He served Elizabeth II on countless occasions, managed aristocratic households and looked after heads of state visiting the UK…

But now he’s turned his attention to a far greater challenge: teaching Gen Z how to behave.

“It’s becoming increasingly rare to hear someone be described as ‘a gentleman’ or ‘a lady’,” he declares at the beginning of the class.

“But when you’re gone, that’s exactly how you should hope to be remembered. There is no higher compliment.”

h/t: www.telegraph.co.uk

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July 23 – St. Bridget of Sweden

July 23, 2026

St. Bridget of Sweden

St. Catherine of Sweden (right) and her Mother, St. Bridget of Sweden(left). Painting from the Högsby church in Smalandia.

The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373.

She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep piety.

St. Ingrid, whose death had occurred about twenty years before Bridget’s birth, was a near relative of the family. Birger’s daughter received a careful religious training, and from her seventh year showed signs of extraordinary religious impressions and illuminations. To her education, and particularly to the influence of an aunt who took the place of Bridget’s mother after the latter’s death (c. 1315), she owed that unswerving strength of will which later distinguished her. In 1316, at the age of thirteen, she was united in marriage to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was then eighteen. She acquired great influence over her noble and pious husband, and the happy marriage was blessed with eight children, among them St. Catherine of Sweden. The saintly life and the great charity of Bridget soon made her name known far and wide. She was acquainted with several learned and pious theologians, among them Nicolaus Hermanni, later Bishop of Linköping, Matthias, canon of Linköping, her confessor, Peter, Prior of Alvastrâ, and Peter Magister, her confessor after Matthias. She was later at the court of King Magnus Eriksson, over whom she gradually acquired great influence. Early in the forties (1341-43) in company with her husband she made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. On the return journey her husband was stricken with an attack of illness, but recovered sufficiently to finish the journey. Shortly afterwards, however, he died (1344) in the Cistercian monastery of Alvastrâ in East Gothland. Bridget now devoted herself entirely to practices of religion and asceticism, and to religious undertakings. The visions which she believed herself to have had from her early childhood now became more frequent and definite. She believed that Christ Himself appeared to her, and she wrote down the revelations she then received, which were in great repute during the Middle Ages. They were translated into Latin by Matthias Magister and Prior Peter. St. Bridget now founded a new religious congregation, the Brigittines, or Order of St. Saviour, whose chief monastery, at Vadstena, was richly endowed by King Magnus and his queen (1346). To obtain confirmation for her institute, and at the same time to seek a larger sphere of activity for her mission, which was the moral uplifting of the period, she journeyed to Rome in 1349, and remained there until her death, except while absent on pilgrimages, among them one to the Holy Land in 1373. In August, 1370, Pope Urban V confirmed the Rule of her congregation. Bridget made earnest representations to Pope Urban, urging the removal of the Holy See from Avignon back to Rome. She accomplished the greatest good in Rome, however, by her pious and charitable life, and her earnest admonitions to others to adopt a better life, following out the excellent precedents she had set in her native land. The year following her death her remains were conveyed to the monastery at Vadstena. She was canonized, 7 October, 1391, by Boniface IX.

Reliquary of Saint Bridget of Sweden at Vadstena Monastery Church.

Vita S. Birgittœ, complied by her confessors PETER OF VADSTENA, and PETER OF ALVASTRÂ in 1373, ANNERSTEDT ed. in Script. rerum Svecicarum medii avi (Upeala, 1871-76), III, Pt. II, 188 sqq.; Vita S. Birgittœ auctore Birgero, archiep. Upsalensi in Acta SS., Oct., IV, 485 sqq.; Vita auctore Bartholdo de Roma (Rome) 495 sqq.; SCHÜCK, Svensk Literatur-historia (Stockholm, 1890), 129 sqq.; HAMMERICH, Den hellige Birgitta og Kirken i Norden (Copenhagen, 1863), German tr. MICHELSEN (Gotha, 1872); BINDER, Die hl. Birgitta von Schweden und ihr Klosterorden (Munich, 1891); RINGSEIS, Leben der hl. Birgitta (Ratisbon, 1890); FLAVIGNY, Ste. Birgitta de Suede (Paris, 1892); JOANN. DE TURRECREMATA, Liber revelationum celestium S. Birgitte de regno Swecie (Rome, 1488, and often reprinted), with notes by GUNDISALVI DURANTI (Rome, 1606); HEUSER (ed.), Revelationes selectœ (Cologne, 1851); KLEMMING (ed.), H. Birgittas uppenbarelser (4 vols., Sotckholm, 1857-62); Certayne reuelacyons of St. Birgitte, with an epistle of St. Bernard (London, s.d.); MEGERLE tr., Birgittæ von Schweden himmlische Offenbarungen (2 vols., Cologne, 1664).

J.P. HIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 24 – St. John Boste

July 23, 2026

St. John Boste

(Or JOHN BOAST.)

The Rack. The Rack-master, Richard Topcliffe, a Member of Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, was a fanatical persecutor of Catholics and the Church. He became notorious as a priest-hunter and torturer and was often referred to as the Queen’s principal “interrogator”. He claimed that his own instruments and methods were better than the official ones and was authorized to create a torture chamber in his home in London.

Priest and martyr, born of good Catholic family at Dufton, in Westmoreland, about 1544; died at Durham, 24 July, 1594. He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, 1569-72, became a Fellow, and was received into the Church at Brome, in Suffolk, in 1576. Resigning his Fellowship in 1580, he went to Reims, where he was ordained priest, 4 March, 1581, and in April was sent to England. He landed at Hartlepool and became a most zealous missioner, so that the persecutors made extraordinary efforts to capture him. At last, after many narrow escapes, he was taken to Waterhouses, the house of William Claxton, near Durham, betrayed by one Eglesfield [or Ecclesfield], 5 July, 1593. The place is still visited by Catholics. From Durham he was conveyed to London, showing himself throughout “resolute, bold, joyful, and pleasant”, although terribly racked in the Tower. Sent back to Durham for the July Assizes, 1594, he behaved with undaunted courage and resolution, and induced his fellow-martyr, Bl. George Swalwell [or Swallowell], a convert minister, who had recanted through fear, to repent of his cowardice, absolving him publicly in court.

He suffered at Dryburn, outside Durham. He recited the Angelus while mounting the ladder, and was executed with extraordinary brutality; for he was scarcely turned off the ladder when he was cut down, so that he stood on his feet, and in that posture was cruelly butchered alive. An account of his trial and execution was written by an eye-witness, Venerable Christopher Robinson, who suffered martyrdom shortly afterwards at Carlisle. British Museum MS. Lansdowne, 75, f. 44; CHALLONER, Memoirs; SHARPE, Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569; FOLEY, Records, III; Catholic Record Society, Miscellanea (Christopher Robinson’s account), I; COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog.; WAINEWRIGHT, Venerable John Boste (London, Cath. Truth Soc., 1907); GOLDIE, The Martyr of Waterhouses in Ushaw Magazine, 1902, 1903. Bede Camm.

He was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI and is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

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July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 23, 2026

Saint Kinga of Poland

Painting of St. Kinga by Grzegorz Czarnic

(also known as Cunegunda, Kunigunda, Kunegunda, Cunegundes, Kioga, Zinga; Polish: Święta Kinga, Hungarian: Szent Kinga) Poor Clare and patroness of Poland and Lithuania; born in 1224; died 24 July, 1292, at Sandeck, Poland.

She was the daughter of King Bela IV and niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and from her infancy it pleased God to give tokens of the eminent sanctity to which she was later to attain. With extreme reluctance she consented to her marriage with Boleslaus II, Duke of Cracow and Sandomir, who afterwards became King of Poland (Bolesław V the Chaste). Not long after their marriage, the pious couple made a vow of perpetual chastity in the presence of the Bishop of Cracow; and Cunegundes, amidst the splendour and pomp of the royal household, gave herself up to the practice of the severest austerities. She often visited the poor and the sick in the hospitals, and cared even for the lepers with a charity scarcely less than heroic.

Painting by Florian Cynk of the Miner presenting the engagement ring to the Queen.

In 1279, King Boleslaus died, and Kinga, despite the entreaties of her people that she should take in hand the government of the kingdom, sold all her earthly possessions for the relief of the poor and entered the monastery of the Poor Clares at Sandeck. The remaining thirteen years of her life she spent in prayer and penance, edifying her fellow religious by her numerous virtues, especially by her heroic humility. She never permitted anyone to refer to the fact that she had once been a queen and was foundress of the community at Sandeck.

Pope Alexander VIII beatified Kinga in 1690. In 1695 she was made chief patroness of Poland and Lithuania. On June 16, 1999 she was canonized by Pope John Paul II.

Wieliczka Salt Mine, started in the 13th century and operated until 2007, is often referred to as “the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland.” The miners attended Mass daily, but with the mine being over 300 km long it was necessary to construct several chapels within the mine. The Cathedral of St. Kinga is the largest, and most elaborate of Wieliczka’s forty chapels. It is lined with several highly detailed frescos that were carved by three men and their assistants, working for 60 years. The altar, chandeliers, and even the floor are all made of salt. According to Polish tradition, the mine’s discovery in the 13th century was due to Queen St. Kinga. Queen St. Kinga threw her engagement ring into the Maramures salt mine in Hungary, and the ring was carried by the salt deposits to Wieliczka where it was rediscovered and presented to the Queen. Within the Janowice Chamber, there is a salt sculpture depicting the story of St. Kinga, with a miner handing a block of salt to Queen Kinga, containing her engagement ring. Saint Kinga’s relics were placed in a niche of the altar in the Cathedral of St. Kinga.

(cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia: Bl. Cunegundes)

Nobility.org Editorial comment:

Saint Kinga is one more magnificent example of the many saintly kings and queens of the Middle Ages.
These holy sovereigns understood their temporal duties and fulfilled them to perfection and labored without respite for the common good of their peoples.
At the death of her husband, St. Kinga became a Poor Clare. Her famous aunt, St. Elizabeth ofHungary, had become a Third Order Franciscan. How different her times are to ours today.

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July 24 – She Was Fearless, Courageous, and Unswerving

July 23, 2026

Matilda of Canossa

Countess of Tuscany, daughter and heiress of the Marquess Boniface of Tuscany, and Beatrice, daughter of Frederick of Lorraine, b. 1046; d. 24 July, 1114.

In 1053 her father was murdered. Duke Gottfried of Lorraine, an opponent of the Emperor Henry III, went to Italy and married the widowed Beatrice. But, in 1055, when Henry III entered Italy he took Beatrice and her daughter Matilda prisoners and had them brought to Germany. Thus the young countess was early dragged into the bustle of these troublous times. That, however, did not prevent her receiving an excellent training; she was finely educated, knew Latin, and was very fond of serious books. She was also deeply religious, and even in her youth followed with interest the great ecclesiastical questions which were then prominent.

Painting possibly by Giuseppe Rivelli, 16th century.

Before his death in 1056 Henry III gave back to Gottfried of Lorraine his wife and stepdaughter. When Matilda grew to womanhood she was married to her stepbrother Gottfried of Lower Lorraine, from whom, however, she separated in 1071. He was murdered in 1076; the marriage was childless, but it cannot be proved that it was never consummated, as many historians asserted. From 1071 Matilda entered upon the government and administration of her extensive possessions in Middle and Upper Italy. These domains were of the greatest importance in the political and ecclesiastical disputes of that time, as the road from Germany by way of Upper Italy to Rome passed through them. On 22 April, 1071, Gregory VII became pope, and before long the great battle for the independence of the Church and the reform of ecclesiastical life began. In this contest Matilda was the fearless, courageous, and unswerving ally of Gregory and his successors.

Signature of Countess Matilda of Tuscany on Notitia Confirmationis. The souble S means “SubScripsi” (“I undersigned”), telling that the Countess has approved the document. It is signed: “Matilda, Dei Gratia Si Quid Est” (Matilda, by the grace of God, if she is anything).

Immediately on his elevation to the papacy Gregory entered into close relations with Matilda and her mother. The letters to Matilda (Beatrice d. 1076) give distinct expression to the pope’s high esteem and sympathy for the princess. He called her and her mother “his sisters and daughters of St. Peter” (Regest., II, ix), and wished to undertake a Crusade with them to free the Christians in the Holy Land (Reg., I, xi). Matilda and her mother were present at the Roman Lenten synods of 1074 and 1075, at which the pope published the important decrees on the reform of ecclesiastical life. Both mother and daughter reported to the pope favourably on the disposition of the German king, Henry IV, and on 7 December, 1074, Gregory wrote to him, thanking him for the friendly reception of the papal legate, and for his intention to co- operate in the uprooting of simony and concubinage from among the clergy. However, the quarrel between Gregory and Henry IV soon began. In a letter to Beatrice and Matilda (11 Sept., 1075) the pope complained of the inconstancy and changeableness of the king, who apparently had no desire to be at peace with him. In the next year (1076) Matilda’s first husband, Gottfried of Lorraine, was murdered at Antwerp. Gregory wrote to Bishop Hermann of Metz, 25 August, 1076, that he did not yet know in which state Matilda “the faithful handmaid of St. Peter” would, under God’s guidance, remain.

St. Hugh the Great played a crucil part in the historic clash between Pope St. Gregory VII and the Emperor Henry IV. In this medieval illustration, St. Hugh and Countess Matilda of Tuscany meet with Henry IV

On account of the action of the Synod of Worms against Gregory (1076), the latter was compelled to lay Henry IV under excommunication. As the majority of the princes of the empire now took sides against the king, Henry wished to be reconciled with the pope, and consequently travelled to Italy in the middle of a severe winter, in order to meet the pope there before the latter should leave Italian soil on his journey to Germany. Gregory, who had already arrived in Lombardy when he heard of the king’s journey, betook himself at Matilda’s advice to her mountain stronghold of Canossa for security. The excommunicated king had asked the Countess Matilda, his mother- in-law Adelaide, and Abbot Hugh of Cluny, to intercede with the pope for him. These fulfilled the king’s request, and after long opposition Gregory permitted Henry to appear before him personally at Canossa and atone for his guilt by public penance. After the king’s departure the pope set out for Mantua. For safety Matilda accompanied him with armed men, but hearing a rumour that Archbishop Wibert of Ravenna, who was unfriendly to Gregory, was preparing an ambush for him, she brought the pope back to Canossa. Here she drew up a first deed of gift, in which she bequeathed her domains and estates from Ceperano to Radicofani to the Roman Church. But as long as she lived she continued to govern and administer them freely and independently. When, soon after, Henry again renewed the contest with Gregory, Matilda constantly supported the pope with soldiers and money. On her security the monastery of Canossa had its treasure melted down, and sent Gregory seven hundred pounds of silver and nine pounds of gold as a contribution to the war against Henry. The latter withdrew from the Romagna to Lombardy in 1082, and laid waste Matilda’s lands in his march through Tuscany. Nevertheless the countess did not desist from her adherence to Gregory. She was confirmed in this by her confessor, Anselm, Bishop of Lucca.

Monument to Countess Matilda at the Basilica of St. Peter, Rome.

In similar ways she supported the successors of the great pope in the contest for the freedom of the Church. When in 1087, shortly after his coronation, Pope Victor III was driven from Rome by the antipope Wibert, Matilda advanced to Rome with an army, occupied the Castle of Sant’Angelo and part of the city, and called Victor back. However, at the threats of the emperor the Romans again deserted Victor, so that he was obliged to flee once more. At the wish of Pope Urban II Matilda married in 1089 the young Duke Welf of Bavaria, in order that the most faithful defender of the papal chair might thus obtain a powerful ally. In 1090 Henry IV returned to Italy to attack Matilda, whom he had already deprived of her estates in Lorraine. He laid waste many of her possessions, conquered Mantua, her principal stronghold, by treachery in 1091, as well as several castles. Although the vassals of the countess hastened to make their peace with the emperor, Matilda again promised fidelity to the cause of the pope, and continued the war, which now took a turn in her favour. Henry’s army was defeated before Canossa. Welf, Duke of Bavaria, and his son of the same name, Matilda’s husband, went over to Henry in 1095, but the countess remained steadfast. When the new German king, Henry V, entered Italy in the autumn of 1110, Matilda did homage to him for the imperial fiefs. On his return he stopped three days with Matilda in Tuscany, showed her every mark of respect, and made her imperial vice-regent of Liguria. In 1112, she reconfirmed the donation of her property to the Roman Church that she had made in 1077 (Mon. Germ. Hist.: Legum, IV, i, 653 sqq.). After her death Henry went to Italy in 1116, and took her lands — not merely the imperial fiefs, but also the freeholds. The Roman Church, though, put forward its legitimate claim to the inheritance. A lengthy dispute now issued over the possession of the dominions of Matilda, which was settled by a compromise between Innocent II and Lothair III in 1133. The emperor and Duke Henry of Saxony took Matilda’s freeholds as fiefs from the pope at a yearly rent of 100 pounds of silver. The duke took the feudal oath to the pope; after his death Matilda’s possessions were to be restored wholly to the Roman Church. Afterwards there were again disputes about these lands, and in agreements between the popes and emperors of the twelfth century this matter is often mentioned. In 1213 the Emperor Frederick II recognized the right of the Roman Church to the possessions of Matilda.

DONIZO, Vita Mathildis, ed. BETHMANN in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XII, 348-409; Vita alia in MURATORI,Scriptores rer. Italicorum, V, 389-397; Libelli de lite in Mon. Germ. Hist., I-III; HUDDY, Matilda, Countess of Tuscany (London, 1905); FIORENTINI, Memorie di Matilda, la gran contessa di Toscana (Lucca, 1642; new ed., 1756); TOSTI, La contessa Matilde e i Romani Pontefici (Florence, 1859; new ed., Rome, 1886);RENÉE, La grande Italienne, Mathilde de Toscane (Paris, 1859); OVERMANN, Die Besitzungen der Grossgräfin Mathilde von Tuscien (Berlin, 1892); HEFELE, Konziliengeschichte, v (2nd ed., Freiburg im Br., 1886); MEYER VON KNONAU, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reiches unter Heinrich IV. und Heinrich V. (6 vols., Leipzig, 1890-1907); POTTHAST, Bibl. hist. med. ævi, 2nd., II, 1486.

J.P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 25 – St. Apollinaris

July 23, 2026

St. Apollinaris

The most illustrious of the Bishops of Valence, b. at Vienne, 453; d. 520. He lived in the time of the irruption of the barbarians, and unhappily Valence, which was the central see of the recently founded Kingdom of Burgundy, had been scandalized by the dissolute Bishop Maximus, and the see in consequence had been vacant for fifty years. Apollinaris was of a family of nobles and saints. He was little over twenty when he was ordained priest. In 486, when he was thirtythree years old, he was made Bishop of the long vacant See of Valence, and under his zealous care it soon recovered its ancient glory. Abuses were corrected and morals reformed. The Bishop was so beloved that the news of his first illness filled the city with consternation. His return to health was miraculous. He was present at the conference at Lyons, between the Arians and Catholics, which was held in presence of King Gondebaud. He distinguished himself there by his eloquence and learning.

A memorable contest in defence of marriage brought Apollinaris again into special prominence. Stephen, the treasurer of the kingdom, was living in incest. The four bishops of the province commanded him to separate from his companion, but he appealed to the King, who sustained his official and exiled the four bishops to Sardinia. As they refused to yield, the King relented, and after some time permitted them to return to their sees, with the exception of Apollinaris, who had rendered himself particularly obnoxious, and was kept a close prisoner for a year. At last the King, stricken with a grievous malady, repented, and the Queen in person came to beg Apollinaris to go to the court to restore the monarch to health. On his refusal, the Queen asked for his cloak to place on the sufferer. The request was granted, the King was cured, and came to beg absolution for his sin. Apollinaris was sixtyfour years old when he returned from Sardinia to Valence, and his people received him with every demonstration of joy. He died after an episcopate of thirtyfour years, at the age of sixtyseven, his life ending, as it had begun, in the constant exercise of the most exalted holiness.

Acta SS., October, III.

T.J. CAMPBELL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Joachim and Confidence

July 23, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (*)

The excerpts about Our Lady’s father, Saint Joachim, are taken from The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Gueranger, OSB.

Joachim’s wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God’s blessing upon it. But the greatest of all his desires heaven seemed to refuse him. His holy spouse Anne was barren. Amongst all the daughters of Israel expecting the Messias, there was no hope for her. One day the victims Joachim presented in the Temple were contemptuously rejected. Those were not the gifts the Lord of the Temple desired of him; later on, instead of lambs from his pastures, he was to present the mother of the Lamb of God, and His offering would not be rejected.

During Old Testament times, the Jews scorned sterile couples. They prided themselves in the possibility that one of their descendants would be the Messias and derided those for whom this was impossible. Thus, Saints Joachim and Anne were looked down upon.

The Expulsion of St. Joachim from the Temple by Giotto

Their disgrace was augmented when they reached the threshold of old age, still childless. It seemed that all their hopes were vain. Nevertheless, Saint Joachim prayed for God’s mercy and they had a daughter…and what a daughter she was!

This day, however, he was filled with sorrow and fled away without returning to his wife.

St. Joachim felt deeply the shame of his sacrifice’s rejection and fled into the mountains.

The Annunciation to Joachim by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

He felt shame since his offering rejected and despondent since his ardent desire that the Messias come from his lineage, was impossible. Faced with these sufferings, he felt a tremendous sorrow and fled into the mountains without even speaking to Saint Anne.

He hastened to the mountains where his flocks were at pasture; and living in a tent, he fasted continually, for he said: “I will take no food till the Lord my God look mercifully upon me; prayer shall be my nourishment.”

This is a very beautiful way to pray. It is a way of storming Heaven with the certainty of being heard, and forcefully taking the grace one desires. This is the type of violence that, according to scripture, gains the Kingdom of Heaven. We must doggedly refuse to give up, even when God seems to deny our requests.

Annunciation to St Anne by Giotto.

Once when Saint Catherine of Siena was praying to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, she extended her hand and said: “I will not leave this place, until You extend me Your hand.” Then, Our Lord mercifully opened the tabernacle, extended His Hand and pressed hers in It. What confidence the saints have! This is what makes them saints. This is how they obtain everything from Our Lady.

Meanwhile, Anne was mourning her widowhood and her barrenness.

She thought her husband had died.

She prayed in the garden as Joachim was praying on the mountain. Their prayers ascended at the same time to the Most High, and He granted them their request. An angel of the Lord appeared to each of them and bade them meet at the Golden Gate; and soon Anne could say: “Now I know that the Lord has greatly blessed me. For I was a widow and I am one no longer, and I was barren, and lo! I have conceived!”

St. Joachim with Our Lady, painting by
Francisco Camilo.

Our Lord wanted to purify them by culminating their long trial with an extreme suffering. Consider their respective situations. Saint Joachim went into the mountains after his sacrifice was rejected. Saint Anne mourned her presumed widowhood and barrenness in a garden.

When their respective pains reached this climax, the pinnacle of grace and consolation arrived as well. Saint Joachim was still alive and Saint Anne had conceived Our Lady who was to be channel for Our Lord’s coming. This should teach us the eternal lesson of confidence.

Close up of a painting of St. Joachim on the wall of the Convento de Santa Catalina de Siena in Arequipa, Perú by an unidentified Cuzco Artist.

Sometimes everything seems lost, we find no way to proceed and Providence treats us in an inexplicable way. These are the times we must confide most of all, because it is when everything is explained. Happy are those, whom the Lord leads in inexplicable ways. These will receive the greatest explanations.

We should ask Our Lady of the Assumption, whose feast day is today, and St. Joachim, whose feast day is tomorrow, that they grant us this confidence that can withstand anything, even the most inexplicable problems and greatest sadness’s.

(*) The text is taken from an informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on August 15, 1963. It has been translated and adapted for publication without the his revision. –Ed.

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July 26 – Blessed John Ingram

July 23, 2026

Blessed John Ingram

English martyr, born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, in 1565; executed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26 July, 1594.

He was probably the son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was educated first in Worcestershire, then at the English College, Reims, at the Jesuit College, Pont-a-Mousson, and at the English College, Rome.

Ordained at Rome in 1589, he went to Scotland early in 1592, and there frequented the company of Lords Huntly, Angus, and Erroll, the Abbot of Dumbries, and Sir Walter Lindsay of Balgavies. Captured on the Tyne, 25 November, 1593, he was imprisoned successively at Berwick, Durgam, York, and in the Tower of London, in which place he suffered the severest tortures with great constancy, and wrote twenty Latin epigrams which have survived.

Sent north again, he was imprisoned at York, Newcastle, and Durgam, where he was tried in the company of John Bostle and George Swalwell, a converted minister. He was convicted under 27 Eliz. c. 2 (which made the mere presence in England of a priest ordained abroad high treason), though there was no evidence that he had ever exercised any priestly function in England.

It appears that some one in Scotland in vain offered the English Government a thousand crowns for his life.

[ed. note: He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.]

John B. Wainewright (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 26 – St. Anne

July 23, 2026

St. Anne, Our Lady and the Infant Jesus. Statue in Triana, Seville, Spain.

Anne (Hebrew, Hannah, grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna) is the traditional name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

All our information concerning the names and lives of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, is derived from apocryphal literature, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Protoevangelium of James. Though the earliest form of the latter, on which directly or indirectly the other two seem to be based, goes back to about A.D. 150, we can hardly accept as beyond doubt its various statements on its sole authority.

Interior of the Shell Chapel, decorated with the shells from the nearby Wabash River and the statue of St. Anne that Mother Théodore brought from France.

In the Orient the Protoevangelium had great authority and portions of it were read on the feasts of Mary by the Greeks, Syrians, Copts, and Arabians. In the Occident, however, it was rejected by the Fathers of the Church until its contents were incorporated by Jacobus de Voragine in his “Golden Legend” in the thirteenth century. From that time on the story of St. Anne spread over the West and was amply developed, until St. Anne became one of the most popular saints also of the Latin Church.

Statue of St. Anne and Our Lady holding Our Lord. Museum in Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The Protoevangelium gives the following account: In Nazareth there lived a rich and pious couple, Joachim and Hannah. They were childless. When on a feast day Joachim presented himself to offer sacrifice in the temple, he was repulsed by a certain Ruben, under the pretext that men without offspring were unworthy to be admitted. Whereupon Joachim, bowed down with grief, did not return home, but went into the mountains to make his plaint to God in solitude. Also Hannah, having learned the reason of the prolonged absence of her husband, cried to the Lord to take away from her the curse of sterility, promising to dedicate her child to the service of God. Their prayers were heard; an angel came to Hannah and said: “Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world”. The angel made the same promise to Joachim, who returned to his wife. Hannah gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary). Since this story is apparently a reproduction of the biblical account of the conception of Samuel, whose mother was also called Hannah, even the name of the mother of Mary seems to be doubtful.

Shrine of St. Anne at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada, which houses the relic of Saint Anne’s forearm.

The renowned Father John of Eck of Ingolstadt, in a sermon on St. Anne (published at Paris in 1579), pretends to know even the names of the parents St. Anne. He calls them Stollanus and Emerentia. He says that St. Anne was born after Stollanus and Emerentia had been childless for twenty years; that St. Joachim died soon after the presentation of Mary in the temple; that St. Anne then married Cleophas, by whom she became the mother of Mary Cleophae (the wife of Alphaeus and mother of the Apostles James the Lesser, Simon and Judas, and of Joseph the Just); after the death of Cleophas she is said to have married Salomas, to whom she bore Maria Salomae (the wife of Zebedaeus and mother of the Apostles John and James the Greater). The same spurious legend is found in the writings of Gerson (Opp. III, 59) and of many others. There arose in the sixteenth century an animated controversy over the marriages of St. Anne, in which Baronius and Bellarmine defended her monogamy. The Greek Menaea (25 July) call the parents of St. Anne Mathan and Maria, and relate that Salome and Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist, were daughters of two sisters of St. Anne. According to Ephiphanius it was maintained even in the fourth century by some enthusiasts that St. Anne conceived without the action of man. This error was revived in the West in the fifteenth century. (Anna concepit per osculum Joachimi.) In 1677 the Holy See condemned the error of Imperiali who taught that St. Anne in the conception and birth of Mary remained virgin (Benedict XIV, De Festis, II, 9). In the Orient the cult of St. Anne can be traced to the fourth century. Justinian I (d. 565) had a church dedicated to her. The canon of the Greek Office of St. Anne was composed by St. Theophanes (d. 817), but older parts of the Office are ascribed to Anatolius of Byzantium (d. 458). Her feast is celebrated in the East on the 25th day of July, which may be the day of the dedication of her first church at Constantinople or the anniversary of the arrival of her supposed relics in Constantinople (710). It is found in the oldest liturgical document of the Greek Church, the Calendar of Constantinople (first half of the eighth century). The Greeks keep a collective feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne on the 9th of September. In the Latin Church St. Anne was not venerated, except, perhaps, in the south of France, before the thirteenth century. Her picture, painted in the eighth century, which was found lately in the church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome, owes its origin to Byzantine influence. Her feast, under the influence of the “Golden Legend”, is first found (26 July) in the thirteenth century, e.g. at Douai (in 1291), where a foot of St. Anne was venerated (feast of translation, 16 September). It was introduced in England by Urban VI, 21 November, 1378, from which time it spread all over the Western Church. It was extended to the universal Latin Church in 1584.

Statue of St. Anne in Brazil.

The supposed relics of St. Anne were brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in 710 and were still kept there in the church of St. Sophia in 1333. The tradition of the church of Apt in southern France pretends that the body of St. Anne was brought to Apt by St. Lazarus, the friend of Christ, was hidden by St. Auspicius (d. 398), and found again during the reign of Charlemagne (feast, Monday after the octave of Easter); these relics were brought to a magnificent chapel in 1664 (feast, 4 May). The head of St. Anne was kept at Mainz up to 1510, when it was stolen and brought to Düren in Rheinland. St. Anne is the patroness of Brittany. Her miraculous picture (feast, 7 March) is venerated at Notre Dame d’Auray, Diocese of Vannes. Also in Canada, where she is the principal patron of the province of Quebec, the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré is well known. St. Anne is patroness of women in labour; she is represented holding the Blessed Virgin Mary in her lap, who again carries on her arm the child Jesus. She is also patroness of miners, Christ being compared to gold, Mary to silver.

FREDERICK G. HOLWECK (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 20 – Carolingian Reformer

July 20, 2026

St. Ansegisus

Born about 770, of noble parentage; died 20 July, 833, or 834.

At the age of eighteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Fontanelle (also called St. Vandrille after the name of its founder) in the diocese of Rouen. St. Girowald, a relative of Ansegisus, was then Abbot of Fontanelle.

From the beginning of his monastic life St. Ansegisus manifested a deep piety united with great learning, and upon the recommendation of the Abbot St. Girowald he was entrusted by the Emperor Charlemagne with the government and reform of two monasteries, St. Sixtus near Reims and St. Memius (St. Mange) in the diocese of Challons-sur-Marne. Under the direction of St. Ansegisus these two monasteries soon regained their original splendour.

Abbey of Saint-Germer-de-Fly

Charlemagne, being much pleased with the success of Ansegisus, appointed him Abbot of Flay, or St. Germer, a monastery in the Diocese of Beauvais, the buildings of which were threatening to fall into ruins. At the same time Charlemagne made Ansegisus supervisor of royal works under the general direction of Abbot Einhard. Under the management of Ansegisus the structures of the monastery of Flay were completely renovated, monastic discipline was restored, and the monks were instructed in the sacred and the profane sciences.

Fontenelle Abbey Photo by Urban

Louis le Débonnaire esteemed Ansegisus as highly as his father Charlemagne had done and, seeing how all monasteries flourished that had at one time been under the direction of Ansegisus, he put him at the head of the maonastery of Luxeuil in the year 817. This monastery was founded by St. Columban as early as 590 and, during the seventh and the first half of the eighth century, was the most renowned monastery and school of Christendom. Of late, however, its discipline had grown lax. Having restored this monastery to its former splendour, he was in 823, after the death of Abbot Einhard, transferred as abbot to the monastery of Fontanelle, where he had spent the early days of his monastic life. He immediately applied himself with vigour to restore monastic fervour by pious exhortations and, most of all, by his own edifying example. Some learned and saintly monks whom he invited from Luxeuil to Fontanelle assisted him in his great work of reform. Hand in hand with a reform of discipline came a love for learning. The library was enriched with valuable books, such as the Bible, some works of St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory the Great, St. Bede, etc. The most learned of the monks were put to writing original works, while the others occupied themselves with transcribing valuable old books and manuscripts. In a short time the library of Fontanelle became one of the largest in Europe and acquired great renown for accuracy of transcribing and beauty of writing. A dormitory, a refectory, a chapterhouse, a library, and other new structures were erected at Fontanelle by St. Ansegisus. On account of his great learning and prudence he was often sent as legate to distant countries by Louis le Débonnaire. The many and costly presents which he received as legate from foreign princes he distributed among various monasteries. While Abbot of Fontanelle he wrote a “Constitutio pro monachis de victu et vestitu”, in which he determines exactly how much food, what articles of dress, etc., the monks were to receive from the different landed properties of the monastery. The work which made the name of Ansegisus renowned for all times is his collection of the laws and decrees made by the Emperor Charlemagne and his son Louis le Débonnaire. These laws and decrees being divided into articles or chapters, are generally called “Capitulars”. Ansegisus was the first to collect all those “Capitulars” into the four books entitled “Quatuor libri Capitularium Regum Francorum”. The first and the second book contained all “Capitulars” relating to church affairs, while the third and the fourth books had all the “Capitulars” relating to state affairs. It was completed in the year 827. Shortly afterwards it was approved by the Church in France, Germany, and Italy, and remained for a long time the official book on civil and canon law. Shortly before his death Ansegisus was attacked by paralysis which ended his holy and useful life on 20 July, 833 or 834. His earthly remains lie buried in the Abbey of Fontanelle, where his feast is celebrated on 20 July, the day of his death.

LECHNER, Martyrologium des Benediktiner Ordens (Augsburg, 1855); STADLER, Heiligen Lexikon (Augsburg, 1858), I, 234; Gesta abbat. Fontanell. in DACHERY, Spicileg., 1st ed., II, 279 sqq., and Mon. Germ. Hist. (Scriptores), II, 293, sqq.; MABILLON, Acta ss. ord. s. Bened. (Sæc., IV), IV (I), 630 sqq.; ZIEGELBAUER, Hist. Rei Lit. Bened., IV, 216, 259. The Capitularia were first edited by BALUZE (Paris, 1677-88); for a new and critical edition see BORETIUS, in Mon. Germ. Hist. (Leges, Sect. II), Capitularia regum Francorum (Hanover, 1883, 1890, 1897), I-II; the second volume is by BOTIUS AND KRAUSE. The PERTZ edition (op. cit., Leges, I, 256 sqq.) is found in P.L., XCVII, 489 sqq.; SCHMID in Kirchenlex.

MICHAEL OTT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 21 – He raised the king’s son back to life, but wished to be buried among the criminals

July 20, 2026

St. Arbogast

(Gaelic Arascach).

St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name “Scotia”, which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled as a hermit in a German forest, and then proceeded to Alsace, where his real name, Arascach, was changed to Arbogast. This change of name was owing to the difficulty experienced by foreigners in pronouncing Irish Christian names; thus it is that Moengal, Maelmaedhog, Cellach, Gillaisu, Gilla in Coimded, Tuathal, and Arascach were respectively transformed into Marcellus, Malachy, Gall, Gelasius, Germanus, Tutilo, and Arbogast. St. Arbogast found a warm friend in King Dagobert II of Austrasia, who had been educated at Slane, in Meath, in Ireland, and was restored to his kingdom on the demise of King Childeric II. Monstrelet authenticates the story of King Dagobert in Ireland; and the royal exile naturally fled to Slane in order to be under the ægis of the Ard-Righ (High-King) of Ireland, at Tara. On Dagobert’s accession to the throne of Austrasia, Arbogast was appointed Bishop of Strasburg, and was famed for sanctity and miracles. It is related that the Irish saint raised to life Dagobert’s son, who had been killed by a fall from his horse. St. Arbogast died in 678, and, at his own special request, was buried on the side of a mountain, where only malefactors were interred. The site of his burial was subsequently deemed suitable for a church. He is commemorated 21 July.

Grattan Flood, Irish Saints; Boschius in Acta SS. (1727), July, V, 168-177; Burgener, Helvetia Sancta (1860), I, 56-58; Hist. litt. de la France (1735), III, 621-622; Postina, in Römische Quartalschrift (1898), XII, 299-305; Analecta Bolland., XVIII, 195; Bibl. hagiogr. Lat. (1898), 106, 1317; O’Hanlon, Lives of Irish Saints, VII (21 July); Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, 6th ed.; Grandidier, Hist de l’église de Strasbourg (1770), I, 199.

W. H. Grattan-Flood (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 22 – The Siege of Belgrade (1456)

July 20, 2026

The Siege of Belgrade (or Battle of Belgrade, or Siege of Nándorfehérvár) occurred from July 4 to July 22, 1456.

Statue of John Hunyadi in Budapest, Heroes’ Square

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort of the town of Belgrade (in old Hungarian Nándorfehérvár). John Hunyadi, a Hungarian nobleman and warlord, who had fought many battles against the Ottomans in the previous two decades, prepared the defense of the fortress.

The siege eventually escalated into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Ottoman camp, ultimately compelling the wounded Sultan Mehmed II to lift the siege and retreat. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century and thus considerably delayed the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

The Pope celebrated the victory as well, and he previously ordered all Catholic kingdoms to pray for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade. This led to the noon bell ritual that is still undertaken in Catholic churches to this day.

Since 2011, the date 22nd of July, when Christian forces led by John Hunyadi defeated the Ottoman Turks besieging Belgrade in 1456, is a national memorial day in Hungary.

Portrait of Mehmed II by Venetian artist Gentile Bellini

Preparations

At the end of 1455, after a public reconciliation with all his enemies, Hunyadi began preparations. At his own expense, he provisioned and armed the fortress. Leaving in it a strong garrison under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László. Hunyadi then proceeded to form a relief army and an additional fleet of two hundred corvettes. The barons fearing Hunyadi’s growing power more than the Ottoman threat, leaving Hunyadi entirely to his own resources.

A Franciscan friar allied with Hunyadi, Giovanni da Capistrano, preached a crusade to attract peasants and yeomanry to Hunyadi’s cause. The recruits were ill-armed (many with only slings and scythes) but full of enthusiasm. The recruits flocked to the standard of Hunyadi, the core of which consisted of a small band of seasoned mercenaries and a few banderia of noble horsemen. All in all, Hunyadi managed to build a force of 25–30,000 men.

Siege

However, before these forces could be assembled, Mehmed II’s invasion army (160,000 men in early accounts, 60-70,000 according to newer research) arrived at Belgrade. On July 4, 1456, the siege began. Szilágyi could rely on a force of only 5,000-7,000 men in the castle. Mehmed set up his siege on the neck of the headland and started firing on the walls on June 29. He arrayed his men in three sections. The Rumelian (that is, European) corps had the majority of his 300 cannons, and his fleet of 200 or so river vessels had the rest. The Rumelians were arrayed on the right wing and the Anatolian corps was arrayed on the left. In the middle were the sultan’s personal guards, the janissaries, and his command post. The Anatolian corps and the janissaries were both heavy infantry troops. Mehmed posted his river vessels mainly to the northwest of the city to patrol the marshes and ensure that the fortress was not reinforced. They also kept an eye on the Sava to the southwest to avoid the infantry’s being outflanked by Hunyadi’s army. The Danube to the east was guarded by the spahi, the sultan’s light cavalry corps, to avoid being outflanked on the right.

St. John in the middle of the Battle

When word of this reached Hunyadi, he was in the south of Hungary recruiting additional light cavalry troops for the army with which he intended to lift the siege. Although relatively few of his fellow nobles had were willing to provide manpower, the peasants were more than willing to do so. Cardinal Giovanni Capistrano had been sent to Hungary by the Vatican both to preach against heretics, such as Greek Orthodox Christians, and to preach the Crusade against the Ottomans. Capistrano managed to raise a large, albeit poorly trained and equipped, peasant army, with which he left for Belgrade. Capistrano and Hunyadi traveled together, but commanded separately. Between the two of them, they had roughly 40,000-50,000 men.

The outnumbered defenders relied mainly on the strength of the formidable castle of Belgrade which was at the time one of the best engineered in the Balkans. As Belgrade was designated to be the capital of the Serbian Despotate by Despot Stefan Lazarević. Ottoman raids were expected after they recovered from the heavy loss against the Mongols. Utilising advanced building techniques from Byzantine and Arab fortress designs from the period of Seljuk and Ottoman military conflicts of the mid-11th century.

The castle was designed in an elaborate form with three lines of defense: the inner castle with the palace and huge Donjon, the upper town with the main military camps with four gates and a double wall. as well as the lower town with the cathedral in the urban center and a port at the Danube. This building endeavor was one of the most elaborate military architecture achievements of the Middle Ages. After the Siege, the Hungarians reinforced the north and eastern side with an additional gate and several towers, one of which, the Nebojsa tower, was designed for artillery purposes.

John Hunyadi

On July 14, 1456, Hunyadi arrived to the completely encircled city with his flotilla on the Danube while the Ottoman navy lay astride the Danube River. He broke the naval blockade on July 14, sinking three large Ottoman galleys and capturing four large vessels and 20 smaller ones. By destroying the Sultan’s fleet, Hunyadi was able to transport his troops and much-needed food into the city. The fort’s defense was also reinforced.

But Mehmed II was not willing to end the siege and after a week of heavy artillery bombardment, the walls of the fortress were breached in several places. On July 21 Mehmed II ordered an all-out assault which began at sundown and continued all night. The besieging army flooded the city, and then started its assault on the fort. As this was the most crucial moment of the siege, Hunyadi ordered the defenders to throw tarred wood, and other flammable material, and then set it afire. Soon a wall of flames separated the Janissaries fighting in the city from their comrades trying to breach through the gaps into the upper town. The fierce battle between the encircled Janissaries and Szilágyi’s soldiers inside the upper town was turning in favour of the Christians and the Hungarians managed to beat off the fierce assault from outside the walls. The Janissaries remaining inside the city were thus massacred while the Ottoman troops trying to breach the upper town suffered heavy losses. When an Ottoman soldier almost managed to plant the Sultan’s flag on top of a bastion, a Hungarian knight named Titus Dugović (Dugovics Titusz in Hungarian) grabbed him and together they plunged from the wall. However, according to historians the name “Titus Dugović” is fictitious because it derives from falsified records.

Battle of Belgrade

Battle

The next day something unexpected happened. By some accounts, the peasant crusaders started a spontaneous action, and forced Capistrano and Hunyadi to make use of the situation. Despite Hunyadi’s orders to the defenders not to try to loot the Ottoman positions, some of the units crept out from demolished ramparts, took up positions across from the Ottoman line, and began harassing enemy soldiers. Ottoman spahis (provincial cavalry) tried without success to disperse the harassing force. At once, more Christians joined those outside the wall. What began as an isolated incident quickly escalated into a full-scale battle.

John of Capistrano at first tried to order his men back inside the walls, but soon found himself surrounded by about 2,000 Crusaders. He then began leading them toward the Ottoman lines, crying, “The Lord who made the beginning will take care of the finish!”

Capistrano led his crusaders to the Ottoman rear across the Sava river. At the same time, Hunyadi started a desperate charge out of the fort to take the cannon positions in the Ottoman camp.

Part of Belgrade Fortress from the 17th century.

Taken by surprise at this strange turn of events and, some chroniclers say, paralyzed by some inexplicable fear, the Ottomans took flight. The Sultan’s bodyguard of about 5,000 Janissaries tried desperately to stop the panic and recapture the camp, but by that time Hunyadi’s army had also joined the unplanned battle, and the Ottoman efforts became hopeless. The Sultan himself advanced into the fight and killed a knight in single combat, but then took an arrow in the thigh and was rendered unconscious. After the battle, the Hungarian raiders were ordered to spend the night behind the walls of the fortress and to be on the alert for a possible renewal of the battle, but the Ottoman counterattack never came.

Under cover of darkness the Ottomans retreated in haste, bearing their wounded in 140 wagons. They withdrew to Constantinople.

Turkish miniature of the siege of Belgrade 1456

Aftermath

However, the Hungarians payed dearly for this victory. Plague broke out in the camp, from which John Hunyadi himself died three weeks later (August 11, 1456). He was buried in the Cathedral of Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia), the capital of Transylvania.

As the design of the fortress had proved its merits during the siege, some additional reinforcements were made by the Hungarians. The weaker eastern walls, where the Ottomans broke through into the upper town were reinforced by the Zindan gate and the Heavy Nebojsa tower. This was the last of the great modifications to the fortress until 1521 when Sultan Süleyman eventually captured it.

Noon Bell

Pope Callixtus III

Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of the city. The practice of the noon bell is traditionally attributed to the international commemoration of the victory at Belgrade and to the order of Pope Callixtus III, since in many countries (like England and the Spanish Kingdoms) news of the victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon was thus transformed into a commemoration of the victory. The Pope didn’t withdraw the order, and Catholic churches still ring the noon bell to this day.

In the history of Oxford University, the victory was welcomed with a peals of bells and great celebrations in England too. Hunyadi sent a special courier (among others), Erasmus Fullar, to Oxford with the news of the victory.

Stone in the Kalemegdan park, in Belgrade, with engraved inscription on the place where Catholic forces under command of Yanosh Huniady won the battle against the Turks in the year 1456.

Follow Up

The victory stopped the Ottoman advance towards Catholic Europe for 70 years, though they made other incursions such as the taking of Otranto in 1480–1481 and the raid of Croatia and Styria in 1493. Belgrade would continue to protect Hungary from Ottoman attacks until the fort fell to the Ottomans in 1521.

After the Siege of Belgrade stopped the advance of Mehmed II towards Central Europe, Serbia and Bosnia were absorbed into the Empire. Wallachia, the Tartar Khanate of Crimea, and eventually Moldavia were merely converted into vassal states thanks to strong military resistance to Mehmed’s attempts at conquest. There were several reasons why the sultan did not directly attack Hungary and why he gave up the idea of advancing in that direction after his unsuccessful siege of Belgrade. The mishap at Belgrade indicated that the Empire could not expand further until Serbia and Bosnia were transformed into a secure base of operations. Furthermore, the significant political and military power of Hungary under Matthias Corvinus no doubt had something to do with this hesitation. Mehmed was also distracted by resistance from two semi-independent vassals to the north of the Danube, over whom he was attempting to exercise greater authority.

While Hunyadi’s victory at Belgrade and the lasting legacy of his political decisions (Vlad III the Impaler and Stephen III both came to power under Hunyadi, and he went to great lengths to have his son Matthias placed on the throne) rendered the daunting Mehmed II far less of a threat to Christendom, his ultimate dream of a Christian reconquest of Constantinople would never be realized. Hunyadi had chosen to stay out of the Siege of Constantinople because he was militarily unprepared to fight Mehmed’s mighty army at the time, and instead opted to protect Hungary and fortify the Balkans. Matthias did not share the concept of a great war against the Ottomans and was too embroiled in political disputes with the Holy Roman Empire to his West to be the aggressive warrior his father was, so his role was limited mostly to defending his own territory and letting the Balkan leaders bear the brunt of the struggle against the Ottoman Empire.

While fierce resistance and Hunyadi’s effective leadership ensured that the daring and ambitious Mehmed the Conqueror would only get as far into Europe as the Balkans, the sultan had already managed to transform the Ottoman Empire into what would be one of the most feared powers in Europe (as well as Asia) for centuries. Most of Hungary was eventually conquered in 1526 at the Battle of Mohács. Ottoman expansion into Europe continued with menacing success until the Siege of Vienna in 1529, and Ottoman power in Europe remained strong and still threatening to Central Europe at times until the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 404

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July 22 – With his lady’s permission, this lord left court to become a monk, then abbot

July 20, 2026

St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot

[Abbot of Fontenelles, in Normandy.] He was nearly related to Pepin of Landen and Erchinoald, the two first lords in the kingdom of Austrasia; and in his youth was made count of the palace under Dagobert I. He was humble on the highest pinnacle of honors, and mortified amidst pleasures. To retrieve himself from the dissipation and other ill effects, of which hurry and much conversation with the world are dangerous occasions, he frequently retired into his closet, and there conversed much with God by devout prayer, and with himself by serious consideration on his own duties, condition, and spiritual miseries.

St. Wandrille

In compliance with the will of his parents he took to wife a virtuous and noble lady; but, on the very day of his marriage, obtained her consent that they should both consecrate their virginity to God, which they did by a mutual vow on the same day. Wandrille, in 629, took the monastic habit at Montfaucon, in Champagne, an abbey then lately founded by St. Baudri. He afterwards built a monastery upon his own estate, called Elisang. In order to perfect himself in the most approved rules and exercises of an ascetic or monastic life, he took a journey to Bobio and to Rome. After his return into France, he spent ten years in the monastery of Romans, on the Isere. After which term, with the blessing of his abbot, he repaired to St. Oüen, archbishop of Rouen, by whom he was some time after ordained priest. In 648 the saint founded the famous monastery of Fontenelles, five leagues below Rouen, in the territory of Caux, in which he in a short time saw himself at the head of three hundred monks.

Stained glass window in Clichy, France. Picture by GFreihalter

His life was always most austere; he slept little, was clad in sackcloth, and was most scrupulously exact in all the exercises of the monastic rule, in which, he was well assured, the sanctification of his state consisted. He went to receive the recompense of his labors on the 22nd of July, in 666, being ninety-six years old. He was buried in the church of St. Paul, now in ruins: his body was translated by St. Bainus into that of St. Peter’s, still standing; and in 944 to Ghent. It was lost in the persecution of the Calvinists in 1578; but an arm had been restored to Fontenelles, and the other arm had been given to the abbey of Brone, where these relics are still preserved.

Abbey of St. Wandrille Photo by Urban

See his two lives of the same age in Mabillon, and in Bosch the Bollandist, Julij, t. 5, p. 253. Also Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 11, pp. 155, 166, and the history of the translation of his relics to the abbey of Blandine, now St. Peter’s, at Ghent, and a history of his miracles, with F. Bosch’s notes, t. 5, p. 281; also, F. Toussaint-du-Plessis, Descript. Geogr. Hist. de la Haute Normandie.

from The Lives of the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler, Volume VII. 1866.

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The Traditional Burial Ceremony of a Hapsburg Prince

July 16, 2026

This traditional ceremony for the burial of Hapsburg emperors and princes is a glorious specimen of the profound influence of Christianity on this “first family of Christendom” and a luminous example of faith for Christians not just in Austria, but throughout the world. It will be used on July 16, 2011 for the burial of HIRH Archduke Otto of Hapsburg-Lorraine.

The Grand Chamberlain knocks three times with a silver cane on the door of the Capuchin convent which contains the Imperial crypt.

The Capuchin porter asks:
– “Who is there?”

The Grand Chamberlain proclaims the name and titles of the deceased Hapsburg emperor:

Empress Zita and her son Crown Prince Otto during the former’s coronation as Queen of Hungary in 1916. Painting by Gyula Éder (1875-1935)

– “I am (Name) … Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria, of Illyria, and King of Jerusalem, Archduke of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Duke of Lorraine , Salzburg, STIR, Carinthia, of Carniola and Bukovina, Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator of Ticino, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara, Prince of Conde-Hapsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, in Goritz and Gradisca, Prince of Trent and Brixen, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria, Earl of Hohenembs of Feldkirch of Brigance, in Sonnenberg, Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and Marche, Great Voivode of Serbia, etc. … ”

Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. Painting by Julius von Blaas (1845-1923)

Upon hearing this, the porter refuses to open the door and says:

– “I do not know you.”

The Grand Chamberlain knocks on the door again and in answer to the porter’s question “Who is there?” gives just the name of the deceased prince:

– “I am (Name) … His Majesty the Emperor and the King. ”

The porter again refuses admission:

– “I do not know you.”

For a third time, the Grand Chamberlain knocks on the door and the porter asks anew, “Who is there?”

This time, the Grand Chamberlain simply says:

– “I am (Name)… a poor mortal and a sinner.”

To this, the Capuchin friar responds:

– “Come in.”

Main entrance to the Capuchin friary that contains the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Photo by Politikaner

The convent doors open wide and the casket is carried in, being received by a double row of Capuchin friars.

A funeral oration in the chapel follows, and then the casket is taken to the crypt.

A salvo of 21 cannon shots is heard in Vienna as the coffin enters forever in the sacred crypt.

A salvo of 21 cannon shots is heard in Vienna as the coffin enters forever in the sacred crypt

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July 19 – Her whole family became saints

July 16, 2026

St. Macrina the Younger

St. Macrina the Younger (fresco in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev)

Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaughter of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a panegyric (“Vita Macrinae Junioris” in PG XLVI, 960 sq.). She received an excellent intellectual training, though one based more on the study of the Holy Bible than on that of profane literature. When she was but twelve years old, her father had already arranged a marriage for her with a young advocate of excellent family. Soon afterwards, however, her affianced husband died suddenly, and Macrina resolved to devote herself to a life of perpetual virginity and the pursuit of Christian perfection. She exercised great influence over the religious training of her younger brothers, especially St. Peter, afterwards Bishop of Sebaste, and through her St. Gregory received the greatest intellectual stimulation.

Statue of St. Basil the Great in Prague

On the death of their father, Basil took her, with their mother, to a family estate on the River Iris, in Pontus. Here, with their servants and other companions, they led a life of retirement, consecrating themselves to God. Strict asceticism, zealous meditation on the truths of Christianity, and prayer were the chief concerns of this community. Not only the brothers of St. Macrina but also St. Gregory of Nazianzus and Eustathius of Sebaste were associated with this pious circle and were there stimulated to make still further advances towards Christian perfection. After the death of her mother Emmelia, Macrina became the head of this community, in which the fruit of the earnest Christian life matured so gloriously.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

On his return from a synod of Antioch, towards the end of 379, Gregory of Nyssa visited his deeply venerated sister, and found her grievously ill. In pious discourse the brother and sister spoke of the life beyond and of the meeting in heaven. Soon afterwards Macrina passed blissfully to her reward. Gregory composed a “Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection” (peri psyches kai anastaseos), treating of his pious discourse with his dying sister. In this, Macrina appears as teacher, and treats of the soul, death, the resurrection, and the restoration of all things. Hence the title of the work, ta Makrinia (P.G. XLVI, 12 sq.). Her feast is celebrated on 19 July.

J.P. KIRSCH 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Born about 330; died 379. She was the eldest child of Basil the Elder and Emmelia, the granddaugher of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a panegyric (“Vita Macrinae Junioris” in PG XLVI, 960 sq.). She received an excellent intellectual training, though one based more on the study of the Holy Bible than on that of profane literature. When she was but twelve years old, her father had already arranged a marriage for her with a young advocate of excellent family. Soon afterwards, however, her affianced husband died suddenly, and Macrina resolved to devote herself to a life of perpetual virginity and the pursuit of Christian perfection. She exercised great influence over the religious training of her younger brothers, especially St. Peter, afterwards Bishop of Sebaste, and through her St. Gregory received the greatest intellectual stimulation. On the death of their father, Basil took her, with their mother, to a family estate on the River Iris, in Pontus. Here, with their servants and other companions, they led a life of retirement, consecrating themselves to God. Strict asceticism, zealous meditation on the truths of Christanity, and prayer were the chief concerns of this community. Not only the brothers of St. Macrina but also St. Gregory of Nazianzus and Eustathius of Sebaste were associated with this pious circle and were there stimulated to make still further advances towards Christian perfection. After the death her mother Emmelia, Macrina became the head of this community, in which the fruit of the earnest Christian life matured so gloriously. On his return from a synod of Antioch, towards the end of 379, Gregory of Nyssa visited his deeply venerated sister, and found her grievously ill. In pious discourse the brother and sister spoke of the life beyond and of the meeting in heaven. Soon afterwards Macrina passed blissfully to her reward. Gregory composed a “Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection” (peri psyches kai anastaseos), treating of his pious discourse with his dying sister. In this, Macrina appears as teacher, and treats of the soul, death, the resurrection, and the restoration of all things. Hence the title of the work, ta Makrinia (P.G. XLVI, 12 sq.). Her feast is celebrated on 19 July.

J.P. KIRSCH

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July 19 – Penitent Nobility

July 16, 2026

St. Arsenius

Anchorite; born 354, at Rome; died 450, at Troe, in Egypt. Theodosius the Great having requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus to find him in the West a tutor for his son Arcadius, they made choice of Arsenius, a man well read in Greek literature, member of a noble Roman family, and said to have been a deacon of the Roman Church. He reached Constantinople in 383, and continued as tutor in the imperial family for eleven years, during the last three of which he also had charge of his pupil’s brother Honorius. Coming one day to see his children at their studies, Theodosius found them sitting while Arsenius talked to them standing. This he would not tolerate, and caused the teacher to sit and the pupils to stand. On his arrival at court Arsenius had been given a splendid establishment, and probably because the Emperor so desired, he lived in great pomp, but all the time felt a growing inclination to renounce the world. After praying long to be enlightened as to what he should do, he heard a voice saying “Arsenius, flee the company of men, and thou shalt be saved.” Thereupon he embarked secretly for Alexandria, and hastening to the desert of Scetis, asked to be admitted among the solitaries who dwelt there. St. John the Dwarf, to whose cell he was conducted, though previously warned of the quality of his visitor, took no notice of him and left him standing by himself while he invited the rest to sit down at table. When the repast was half finished he threw down some bread before him, bidding him with an air of indifference eat if he would. Arsenius meekly picked up the bread and ate, sitting on the ground. Satisfied with this proof of humility, St. John kept him under his direction. The new solitary was from the first most exemplary yet unwittingly retained certain of his old habits, such as sitting cross-legged or laying one foot over the other. Noticing this, the abbot requested some one to imitate Arsenius’s posture at the next gathering of the brethren, and upon his doing so, forthwith rebuked him publicly. Arsenius took the hint and corrected himself. During the fifty-five years of his solitary life he was always the most meanly clad of all, thus punishing himself for his former seeming vanity in the world. In like manner, to atone for having used perfumes at court, he never changed the water in which he moistened the palm leaves of which he made mats, but only poured in fresh water upon it as it wasted, thus letting it become stenchy in the extreme. Even while engaged in manual labour he never relaxed in his application to prayer. At all times copious tears of devotion fell from his eyes. But what distinguished him most was his disinclination to all that might interrupt his union with God. When, after long search, his place of retreat was discovered, he not only refused to return to court and act as adviser to his former pupil the Emperor Arcadius, but he would not even be his almoner to the poor and the monasteries of the neighbourhood. He invariably denied himself to visitors, no matter what their rank and condition and left to his disciples the care of entertaining them. His contemporaries so admired him as to surname him “the Great”.

See Acta SS. (19 July) for his life by ST. THEODORE THE STUDITE (d. 826) and another in META.PHRASTES (apud SURILM. De probatis Sanctorum vitis IV, 250), the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert in ROSWEYDE and D’ANDILLY, or P. L., LXXIV; MARIN Vies des pères des déserts d orient, BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 19 July.

A.J.B. VUIBERT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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July 18 – After he captured Jerusalem, he refused the crown

July 16, 2026

Godfrey of Bouillon

Duke of Lower Lorraine and first King of Jerusalem, son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey the Bearded, Duke of Lower Lorraine; b. probably at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1060; d. at Jerusalem, 18 July, 1100 (according to a thirteenth-century chronicler, he was born at Baisy, in Brabant; see Haigneré, Mémoires lus à la Sorbonne, Paris, 1868, 213).

Godfrey of Bouillon

The history of his early years has been distorted by legend, according to which he slew with his own hand the anti-king Rodolphe at the battle of Moelsen (1080), and was first to enter Rome after it had been besieged by Henry IV (1084). What appears certain is that he was chosen to succeed his uncle Godfrey the Hunchback, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who was assassinated in 1076. But Henry IV took Lorraine, leaving to Godfrey only the marquessate of Antwerp. As a vassal of the German Empire Godfrey took sides with the army of Henry IV in the War of the Investitures and followed the emperor on his expedition to Italy against Gregory VII (1080-1084). In the interval he was compelled to return in order to defend his possessions which had been attacked by the Count of Namur, and about 1089 Henry IV restored to him the legacy of Godfrey the Hunchback by creating him Duke of Lower Lorraine. The new duke’s authority was extremely weak when opposed to the feudal power which had developed in the vicinity.

Godfrey of Bouillon with two ministers of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus to his side, and his younger brother Baldwin of Boulogne and his wife Godvere Tosny and their young children.

At this time the whole north of France was aroused by the letter of Urban II, who besought the nobility of Flanders to go on the Crusade. Godfrey was among the first to take the cross, together with his two brothers, Eustache and Baldwin (1096). To procure resources he sold or pledged many of his estates. Many nobles at once arrayed themselves under his banner, and about 15 August, 1096, he departed at the head of 10,000 knights and 30,000 foot soldiers. His army was composed of Walloons and Flemings. “Born at the frontier of the two nations and himself speaking both languages”, he served as the link between them, and by his authority appeased the quarrels provoked by their national self-esteem (Otto of Freisingen, Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XX, 250).

Godfrey of Bouillon

The crusaders reached the valley of the Danube and in September, 1096, arrived at Tollenburch (Tulin, west of Vienna), on the frontier of Hungary, where they learned of the disaster that had befallen the followers of Peter the Hermit. Before entering Hungary Godfrey negotiated with King Coloman for a free passage through his dominions. He himself met the king, who welcomed him warmly, but took Godfrey’s brother Baldwin as a hostage, together with his wife. During the march through Hungary (October, 1096) the strictest disciplines prevailed among the crusaders, to whom the inhabitants furnished provisions in abundance. After crossing the Save, the army entered the territory of the Byzantine Empire. At Belgrade Godfrey received a letter from the Emperor Alexius I (Comnenus), promising him assistance if the crusaders would refrain from violence. At Nish and at Sterniz (Sofia), they found abundant provisions and presents from the emperor. After a halt of eight days at Philippopolis (26 Nov.-3 Dec.) the army approached Adrianople (8 December) and marched towards the Hellespont. Here occurred the first conflict between the crusaders and the imperial government. According to Albert of Aix, Godfrey, learning that the emperor held in captivity Hugues, a prince of France, demanded the latter’s freedom, and on the emperor’s refusal pillaged the neighborhood of Salabria (Selymbria). As a matter of fact, the French prince was not a prisoner, but Godfrey and his army arrived before Constantinople (23 Dec., 1096) in a hostile mood, and closely watched by the imperial troops. Warned against the emperor, Godfrey kept away from the imperial palace.

Stained glass window of Godfrey of Bouillon in the Belfry of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

However, during the Christmas festivities, he consented to cross the Golden Horn, and went into camp at Pera (29 Dec.). The chief desire of Alexius was to prevent the junction of Godfrey’s army with that of Bohemond, leader of the Normans of Italy; Alexius had hoped to induce Godfrey to swear fealty to him and then to remove his army to Asia. Throughout the winter Godfrey resisted the imperial demands. At last, 2 April, 1097 (the date given by Anna Comnena is preferable to 13 January given by Albert of Aix; see Chalandon, “Alexis Comnène”, 179), on the approach of Bohemond, the emperor decided to act, and cut off the supplies of the crusaders. Several combats ensued, and, despite the contrary assertion of Albert of Aix, Godfrey must have been defeated. Anna Comnena states that he then consented to do homage to the emperor, promising to restore him any former imperial possessions which he might wrest from the infidels. Some days later the Lorraine army was conveyed to Pelekan on the Gulf of Nicomedia, and at the end of April all the leaders of the crusade were reunited. Godfrey appears to have acted as peacemaker, and he induced Raymond IV, of St-Gilles, Count of Toulouse, to swear fealty to the emperor. Far from directing the crusade, he appears to have taken an obscure part in the siege of Nicæa and the battle of Dorylæum (1 July, 1097).

Godfrey of Bouillon before the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus in Constantinople, 1097. Painting by Alexandre Hesse.

During the crossing of Asia Minor he was seriously wounded while hunting. At the siege of Antioch he consented to obey the orders of Bohemond, and after the capture of the city he had to give up the castle which his followers had taken (July, 1098). On the way to Jerusalem, while others quarrelled, Godfrey marched towards Edessa, where his brother, Baldwin, had just established himself. He returned from this expedition in October, 1098, and before entering Antioch, with only twelve knights, put to flight one hundred and fifty Turks. According to the tradition repeated by Guibert de Nogent (Gesta, VII, 11), he had, with a stroke of the sword, hewn a Turkish horseman through the middle so that his body fell in two equal halves. Having returned to Antioch, he took part, together with Robert Courte-Heuse, Duke of Normandy, in the council of arbitration assembled to reconcile Bohemond and Raymond of St-Gilles. After 23 November, 1098, a number of the crusaders left Antioch with Raymond, but Godfrey of Bouillon and Robert, Count of Flanders, began to march on Jerusalem only at the end of February, 1099. After besieging Gibel they rejoined the main army before Arka (12 March), were at Tripoli (13 May), Beirut (19 May), Cæsarea (30 May), and reached Jerusalem on 7 June.

“I will not wear a crown of gold wear Our Lord wore a crown of thorns.” – Godfrey of Bouillon

Godfrey and his army took an active part in the siege of the Holy City. His camp was pitched to the westward. On 15 July, 1099, about nine in the morning, Godfrey and his brother Eustache placed a movable tower against the walls and were the first to enter the city. During the ensuing massacre of Mussulmans, Godfrey, thinking only of his vow, stripped himself of his arms, and, barefooted and in his under-garments, made the rounds of the ramparts, and then went to pray at the Holy Sepulchre. The crusaders were soon intent on providing a new king for the conquest. Several bishops offered the crown to Raymond of St-Gilles, who refused, declaring “that the title of king seemed to him out of place in that city” (Raimond de Aguilers, Histor. Occid. des Crois., III, 301). Robert Courte-Heuse being urged declined in like manner. All refused to accept the burden which the new royalty must prove. Finally, Godfrey, being unanimously elected, accepted “for the love of Christ” (22 July). According to the chronicles of those times, he refused to wear the crown “through respect for Him who had been crowned in that place with the Crown of Thorns”. Indeed, he seems never to have borne the title of king (which only appears under his successor), and to have been content with that of Duke and Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.

The sword of Godfrey of Bouillon, displayed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by Deror avi

It may be that he acted in this manner through respect for the clergy, who regarded the new conquest as the property of all Christendom, and some of whom were averse to the election of a king (Raimond de Aguilers, Hist. Occid. Crois., III, 295). Godfrey seems to have always considered himself the protector of the Church. Not only did he make so many donations that William of Tyre despairs of enumerating them, not only did he cede a fourth of Jaffa (Joppa), the city of Jerusalem, and the tower of David to the patriarch Daimbert, but he consented, as did Bohemond, to receive investiture from the patriarch (William of Tyre, Historia, IX, XV). Godfrey displayed great energy in meeting the many difficulties which threatened the new State, but he was destined to succumb to sickness. On 12 August, 1099, having rallied the crusading forces, he gained a victory at Ascalon, thus preserving Palestine from Egyptian invasion.

Godfrey of Bouillon chosen as leader by the barons in Jerusalem.

Assisted by the Pisans, he rebuilt the city of Jaffa, which became a port of arrival for crusaders. He signed a treaty of alliance with the Venetian fleet, agreeing to besiege Acre, but was attacked by the plague at Cæsarea, 10 June. After a short stay at the hospital which he had founded at Jaffa, he returned to Jerusalem, where he died on 18 July, having named his brother Baldwin as his successor. He was buried in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The tomb of Godfrey was destroyed in 1808, but at that time a large sword, said to have been his, was still shown. Legend soon laid claim to him; in the contemporary accounts of the First Crusade (Gesta Francorum, Raimond de Aguilers, Foucher de Chartres, Anna Comnena, etc.), he is portrayed as the perfect type of a Christian knight. Tall of stature, with pleasing countenance, and with so courteous a manner “that he seemed more a monk than a knight” (Robert the Monk, Hist. Occid. Crois., III, 731), in the hour of danger he showed admirable courage. As a zealous Christian, he was among the first to take the cross, accomplished his vow without the slightest deviation, and at great personal cost accepted the defence of the new conquest. Such is Godfrey as he appears in actual history. In the chronicle of Albert of Aix (d. 1120, edit. Hist. Occid. Crois., IV), the author already exhibits a tendency to put the figure of Godfrey in the foreground and to attribute to him, to a certain extent, the direction of the crusade. Albert of Aix and Guibert de Nogent attribute to Godfrey exploits of an epic character (Guibert de Nogent, Gesta, VII, 11).

Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade. He was elected King of Jerusalem by the Crusaders after the Holy City’s capture in 1099

When, in the thirteenth century, Jean d’Ibelin and Philip of Novara edited the “Assises” of Jerusalem, they referred to Godfrey as a law-making king, and attributed to him a code, the “Letters of the Holy Sepulchre”, which never existed. Indeed, at that time, and perhaps as early as the twelfth century, Godfrey of Bouillon had become, like Roland and Arthur, a hero of the chansons de geste. The trouvères provided him with a mythical origin, making him a descendant of the legendary “King of the Swan”, whose feats he is made to repeat, and, after relating the events of his childhood, continued his adventures to the taking of Jerusalem. Under Philip Augustus, Graindor of Douai reconstructed the works of a certain Richard the Pilgrim, and composed a complete history of this crusade: (1) “Elioxe”, ed. Todd (Baltimore, 1889); (2) “Beatrix”, ed. Hippeau (Paris, 1868); (3) “Antioche”, ed. P. Paris (Paris, 1848); (4) “Jérusalem”, ed. Hippeau (Paris, 1868); see L. Gautier, “Bibliographie des chansons de gestes” (Paris, 1897). In the fourteenth century, all these poems were collected under the title of “Roman du chevalier au Cygne” (ed. de Reiffenberg, Brussels, 1846-59).

BREYSIG, Gottfried von Bouillon vor dem Kreuzzüge in Westdeutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kunst, XVII; HAGENMEYER, Chronologie de la première croisade (Paris, 1902); IDEM, Epistulæ et chartæ ad historiam primi belli sacri pertinentes (Innsbruck, 1901); PIRENNE, Histoire de Belgique (Brussels, 1901), I; VÉTAULT, Godefroy de Bouillon (Tours, 1874); BEYER, Vita Godefridi Bullionis (Marburg, 1874); CHALANDON, Essai sur le règne d’Alexis Comnène (Paris, 1900); DODU, Histoire des institutions monarchiques dans le royaume latin de Jérusalem (Paris, 1894); CONDER, The Kingdom of Jerusalem (London, 1897); RÖHRICHT, Geschichte des Königreichs Jerusalem (Innsbruck, 1898); PIGEONNEAU, Le cycle de la croisade et la famille de Bouillon (Paris, 1877).

LOUIS BRÉHIER, 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

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July 18 – “Don’t drink water, drink beer” said the bishop

July 16, 2026

Saint Arnulf of Metz

Statesman, bishop under the Merovingians, born c. 580; died c. 640.

Stained glass window of St. Arnulf of Metz in the Chapel of Sainte-Glossinde.

His parents belonged to a distinguished Frankish family, and lived in Austrasia, the eastern section of the kingdom founded by Clovis. In the school in which he was placed during his boyhood he excelled through his talent and his good behaviour. According to the custom of the age, he was sent in due time to the court of Theodebert II, King of Austrasia (595-612), to be initiated in the various branches of the government. Under the guidance of Gundulf, the Mayor of the Palace, he soon became so proficient that he was placed on the regular list of royal officers, and among the first of the kings ministers. He distinguished himself both as a military commander and in the civil administration; at one time he had under his care six distinct provinces. In due course Arnulf was married to a Frankish woman of noble lineage, by whom he had two sons, Anseghisel and Clodulf.

While Arnulf was enjoying worldly emoluments and honours he did not forget higher and spiritual things. His thoughts dwelled often on monasteries, and with his friend Romaricus, likewise an officer of the court, he planned to make a pilgrimage to the Abbey of Lérins, evidently for the purpose of devoting his life to God. But in the meantime the Episcopal See of Metz became vacant. Arnulf was universally designated as a worthy candidate for the office, and he was consecrated bishop of that see about 611. In his new position he set the example of a virtuous life to his subjects, and attended to matters of ecclesiastical government. In 625 he took part in a council held by the Frankish bishops at Reims. With all this Arnulf retained his station at the court of the king, and took a prominent part in the national life of his people. In 613, after the death of Theodebert, he, with Pepin of Landen and other nobles, called to Austrasia Clothaire II, King of Neustria. When, in 625, the realm of Austrasia was entrusted to the kings son Dagobert, Arnulf became not only the tutor, but also the chief minister, of the young king. At the time of the estrangement between the two kings, and 625, Arnulf with other bishops and nobles tried to effect a reconciliation. But Arnulf dreaded the responsibilities of the episcopal office and grew weary of court life. About the year 626 he obtained the appointment of a successor to the Episcopal See of Metz; he himself and his friend Romaricus withdrew to a solitary place in the mountains of the Vosges. There he lived in communion with God until his death. His remains, interred by Romaricus, were transferred about a year afterwards, by Bishop Goeric, to the basilica of the Holy Apostles in Metz.

Statue of St. Arnulf of Metz

Of the two sons of Arnulf, Clodulf became his third successor in the See of Metz. Anseghisel remained in the service of the State; from his union with Begga, a daughter of Pepin of Landen, was born Pepin of Heristal, the founder of the Carlovingian dynasty. In this manner Arnulf was the ancestor of the mighty rulers of that house. The life or Arnulf exhibits to a certain extent the episcopal office and career in the Merovingian State. The bishops were much considered at court; their advice was listened to; they took part in the dispensation of justice by the courts; they had a voice in the appointment of royal officers; they were often used as the king’s ambassadors, and held high administrative positions. For the people under their care, they were the protectors of their rights, their spokesmen before the king and the link uniting royalty with its subjects. The opportunities for good were thus unlimited; and Arnulf used them to good advantage.

(Catholic Encyclopedia)

_______________________

St. Arnold and Beer

During an outbreak of the plague a monk named Arnold, who had established a monastery in Oudenburg, persuaded people to drink beer in place of water and when they did, the plague disappeared.

Arnold spent his holy life warning people about the dangers of drinking water. Beer was safe, and “from man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world,” he would say.

St. Arnold is revered as the Patron Saint of Brewers.

Belgium Brewing History The small country of Belgium calls itself the ‘Beer Paradise’ with over 300 different styles of beer to choose from. Belgium boasts of centuries old tradition in the art of brewing. In the early Middle Ages monasteries were numerous in that part of Europe, being the centers of culture, pilgrimage and brewing. Belgium still has a lot of monasteries and five of these are Trappist, a strict offshoot of the Cistercian order, which still brews beer inside the monastery. During one outbreak of the plague St. Arnold, who had established a monastery in Oudenburg, convinced people to drink beer instead of the water and the plague disappeared as a result. Saint Arnold (also known as St. Arnoldus), is recognized by the Catholic Church as the Patron Saint of Brewers. St. Arnold was born to a prominent Austrian family in 580 in the Chateau of Lay-Saint-Christophe in the old French diocese of Toul, north of Nancy. He married Doda with whom he had many sons, two of whom were to become famous: Clodulphe, later called Saint Cloud, and Ansegis who married Begga, daughter of Pépin de Landen. Ansegis and Begga are the great-great-grandparents of Charlemagne, and as such, St. Arnold is the oldest known ancestor of the Carolingian dynasty. St. Arnold was acclaimed bishop of Metz, France, in 612 and spent his holy life warning people about the dangers of drinking water. Beer was safe, and “from man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world,” he would say. The people revered St. Arnold. In 627, St. Arnold retired to a monastery near Remiremont, France, where he died on August 16, 640. In 641, the citizens of Metz requested that Saint Arnold’s body be exhumed and ceremoniously carried to Metz for reburial in their Church of the Holy Apostles. During this voyage a miracle happened in the town of Champignuelles. The tired porters and followers stopped for a rest and walked into a tavern for a drink of their favorite beverage. Regretfully, there was only one mug of beer to be shared, but that mug never ran dry and all of the thirsty pilgrims were satisfied. The number of breweries increased over the centuries and by the 1900’s there were around 3,000 breweries in Belgium; nearly one in every village. The successive shocks of the industrial revolution, World War I and the 1929 crash (the stock market) meant that the smallest breweries either merged or disappeared. Today there are 178 breweries in Belgium, but the most astonishing fact for observers is not the number of breweries but the incredible variety of beers to choose from. The principal characteristic of Belgian breweries is their creativity. Though it is true that pilsner style beers account for 70% of sales, the remaining 30 % is made up of Belgium’s famous specialty beers.

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Moving God, Moving History

July 16, 2026

Written by John Horvat II

There are times when history is seen from an all-too-human perspective.

Granted, man is the principal agent in history. His great deeds and misdeeds fill the history books, blending fact, myth, and legend to intrigue future generations.

However, man is not the only agent. There are times when men perform acts so sublime that yet another agent enters. In these cases, men move God to act in history — and these feats capture the imagination and are immortalized for all times.

Such a thesis fares ill among today’s secular historians. They would prefer to explain away history in a thousand other ways. Nevertheless, this is William Bush’s compelling thesis in his 1999 book To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, Guillotined July 17, 1794.

Uncovering History
Professor Bush’s story could not be more dramatic. It is set at the height of the French Revolution’s “Great Terror.” Sixteen Carmelite nuns were martyred at the guillotine while praising the glory of God in song and hymn, thus setting themselves apart from thousands who shared a similar fate.

No one disputes the fact that the story of these Compiegne martyrs — Blessed Thérèse of St. Augustine and companions — captured the popular imagination, even among non-Catholics. Fictional representations of their story were retold in Gertrude von Le Fort’s novella Song of the Scaffold and Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues of the Carmelites.

However, William Bush, professor emeritus of French literature at Canada’s University of Western Ontario, delves yet deeper into this sublime event, developing a theme that cannot but leave the reader in captivating awe.

Mugged by historical reality, Professor Bush likewise goes beyond the popular myth of a “good” French Revolution turned bad. Rather, he sees it for what it was: the beginning of a radical new order that overthrew “the ancient pact between France’s kings and Christianity’s triune God.”

Beyond Fiction
Fiction often manages to embellish reality, the writers taking liberties that highlight the dramatic and obscure the imperfect. Ironically, Professor Bush’s meticulous research of the Carmelite archives does the opposite. The facts he uncovers reveal the poverty of the fiction.

The literary representations of the Carmelites’ story were made to satisfy secular audiences. The fictitious Blanche de la Force, von le Fort’s vacillating nun afraid to face her martyrdom, stressed the all-too-human perspective where personal drama eclipsed the supernatural calling of these nuns who moved God to act in history.

Thus, Professor Bush succeeds where others have failed. He pierces the supernatural mystery of the Carmelites’ martyrdom. He recounts how the nuns, moved by grace, took upon themselves a task so daring as to seem impossible: They intended to save France.

A Sublime Offering
What history reveals is indeed sublime.

For a full twenty months before their execution, the sisters came together in an act of consecration “whereby each member of the community would join with the others in offering herself daily to God, soul and body in holocaust to restore peace to France and to her Church.”

The nuns were not just mere victims of the Revolution overcome by circumstances. Contrary to the fiction, each contemplated her martyrdom; each understood her offering. Each sought that “greater love” of giving herself for her fellow man in imitation of the Divine Lamb Who redeemed humanity.

A Tale of Courage and Holiness
Professor Bush recounts the complete story of each of the sixteen Carmelites, relating in lively detail virtually all that is known of their lives and backgrounds.

Each story is in itself a drama as varied as the personalities involved. There was the strong Mother Thérèse of Saint Augustine, a maternal woman of courage and character who led her daughters to martyrdom.

There was 74-year old Sister Jesus Crucified who, despite her age, endured all. Sister Julia Louise was a poet and painter who composed a parody of the Marseillaise. The impulsive and philosophical Sister Euphrasie on her way to the guillotine passed her office book to a young girl, who later became a nun.

There was the young unprofessed Sister Constance, forbidden by the Revolution to make her final vows. She did finally take her vows at the foot of the scaffold, where her first and last act as a professed Carmelite was to ask permission to die.

These and all the other nuns, lay sisters, and even two hired extern sisters endured harassment, expulsion, suppression, and insult at the hands of the Revolution. And their story, told by Professor Bush, is a chronicle of sublime deeds aimed at moving God.

A Sacrifice Accepted
Perhaps the most impressive part of the Carmelite story is that God was actually moved. Indeed, their arrest, trial, and execution represented not a Catholic defeat but a triumph.

In a courtroom once used by Saint Louis himself, the nuns defended themselves with valor before a Revolutionary tribunal, yet they were condemned to death before nightfall.

The news of their impending death was received with great happiness. It is related that as they waited to be boarded on the tumbrels, the Carmelites joyfully sang Sister Julia’s parody of the Marseillaise, defiantly forcing the Revolutionary hymn to proclaim:

“Let’s climb, let’s climb the scaffold high!
“Let’s give God the victory!”

No one jeered and hooted at the nuns as they went to the place of execution. Rather, an eerie silence surrounded the cortege as the nuns continued their song. Naught was heard but the “austere chant of high solemn joy” of those who, after some twenty months of consecrating themselves each day for this hour, God’s mercy allowed them to make this final act of holocaust. Each nun knelt before the prioress, renewed her vows, kissed a tiny terracotta statuette of Madonna and Child, and then mounted the scaffold high.

To Quell the Terror
Ten days after their deaths, Robespierre fell and the Reign of Terror effectively ended. Skeptical historians may scowl at making this connection, but it is hard to deny that the final acts of their death touched a profound chord.

Something in the very foundation of the edifice of the French Revolution was shaken by the nuns’ defiant and joyful gesture. The eerie silence around the scaffold presaged the regime’s fall from power.

Professor Bush concludes that God manifested Himself in this martyrdom, which he claims frustrated the Revolution’s attempt to annihilate France’s “ancient pact” with God.

In a secular epoch, which excludes God from history, To Quell the Terror leaves the reader with the conviction that while man may abandon God, God does not abandon man. Come what may, God inspires His Church to act in history with astonishing power and results.

The book begs the question. If today, God is not moved to act in history to deliver man from the iniquities of the modern world, perhaps it is because there are none to quell the modern day terror, none who dare offer themselves as victims to abate the raging storm.

To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, Guillotined July 17, 1794
By William Bush
Paperback – (November 1999)
ICS Publications; ISBN: 0935216677

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July 17 – “You Do Not Know What You Do”

July 16, 2026

Execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Photo taken in 1913.

In the early hours of 17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family’s safety — that anti-Bolshevik forces were approaching Yekaterinburg, and the house might be fired upon. There are also unsubstantiated claims that the family was led to the basement under the pretense that family photographs would be made.

Ipatiev House, where the Imperial Family was murdered. The left lower-level (small) arched window is the room where they executed. Boris Yeltsin ordered the Ipatiev House to be demolished in 1977 in the hopes of stopping the many people who came to honor the memory of the Imperial Famiy’s murder.

Present with Nicholas, Alexandra and their children were their doctor and three of their servants, who had voluntarily chosen to remain with the family—the Tsar’s personal physician Eugene Botkin, his wife’s maid Anna Demidova, and the family’s chef, Ivan Kharitonov, and footman, Alexei Trupp. A firing squad had been assembled and was waiting in an adjoining room, composed of seven Communist soldiers from Central Europe, and three local Bolsheviks, all under the command of Bolshevik officer Yakov Yurovsky. The soldiers are often described as Hungarians; in his account, Yurovsky described them as “Latvians”.

Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (1878-1938), executioner of the Russian royal family in 1918. After all the firing was over, it was found that Tsarevich Alexei was still alive and Yurovsky went up to the Tsarevich and shot him in the head.

Nicholas was carrying his son; when the family arrived in the basement, the former empress complained that there were no chairs for them to sit in. Yurovsky ordered chairs brought in, and when the empress and the heir were seated, the executioners filed into the room. Yurovsky announced to them that they had been condemned to death by the Ural Soviet of Workers’ Deputies. A stunned Nicholas asked, “What? What?” and turned toward his family. Accounts differ on whether Yurovsky quickly repeated the order or whether he simply shot the former emperor outright. One witness among the several who later wrote accounts of Nicholas’s last moments reported that the Tsar said, “You know not what you do,” paraphrasing Jesus’s words on the cross.

A photograph of the room where the execution of the Imperial Family took place in the basement of the Ipatyev House.

The executioners drew revolvers and the shooting began. Nicholas was the first to die; Yurovsky shot him multiple times in the chest (sometimes incorrectly said the head, since his skull bore no bullet wounds when it was discovered in 1991). Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria survived the first hail of bullets; the sisters were wearing over 1.3 kilograms of diamonds and precious gems sewn into their clothing, which provided some initial protection from the bullets and bayonets. They were stabbed with bayonets and then shot at close range in the head.

L to R: A photograph of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia in prison shortly before their murders. They were the last to die.

An announcement from the Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government emphasized that conspiracies had been exposed to free the ex-tsar, as well as how counter-revolutionary forces were pressing in on Soviet Russian territory, and that the ex-tsar was guilty of unforgivable crimes against the nation.

In view of the enemy’s proximity to Yekaterinburg and the exposure by the Cheka of a serious White Guard plot with the goal of abducting the former Tsar and his family… In light of the approach of counterrevolutionary bands toward the Red capital of the Urals and the possibility of the crowned executioner escaping trial by the people (a plot among the White Guards to try to abduct him and his family was exposed and the compromising documents will be published), the Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet, fulfilling the will of the Revolution, resolved to shoot the former Tsar, Nikolai Romanov, who is guilty of countless, bloody, violent acts against the Russian people.

Nobility.org Editorial comment: —

The murder of the Russian Imperial Family was the signal for the beginning of the wholesale butchery that has forever become synonymous with Communism.
No one will ever know the number of this philosophical sect’s victims, but they are estimated to surpass 100,000,000. They were killed out of pride, in the mad pursuit of an unnatural, egalitarian utopia.
After Abel’s murder, God cursed Cain saying: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!” (Gen. 4:10.)
God’s curse is upon egalitarian Communism as well. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West convened no “Nuremburg trial” to condemn the philosophical errors and the criminals who visited so much suffering on mankind, but “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7) and He does not forget. The blood of countless victims cries out to Him for vengeance.

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July 16 – Alfonso VIII of Castile crushes the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa

July 16, 2026

The Almohads, the new dynasty of Moroccan fanatics who had subdued all the Moslems in al Andalus, launched an all-out attack on the Christians by moving a huge army north into south central Spain. The impetuous Alfonso VIII of Castile, without waiting for reinforcements, attempted to bar the way at Alarcos. On July 18, 1195, […]

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July 16 – Catholic Spain’s fate in the balance at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

July 16, 2026

The following year was a memorable one for all Spain. King Alfonso of Castile, in face of the Almohade danger, had launched an alert to Christendom; answering it, the Christian princes had assembled not only from Spain but also from other countries. Pope Innocent III proclaimed a Crusade against the Moors of Spain and bestowed […]

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July 13 – Saintly Elite

July 13, 2026

Blessed Marie-Azélie “Zélie” Martin née Guérin (23 December 1831 – 28 August 1877) was a French laywoman and the mother of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Her husband was Blessed Louis Martin. Marie-Azélie Guérin was born in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Orne, France and was the second daughter of Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé. She had an older sister, […]

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July 13 – Good King Henry

July 13, 2026

St. Henry II German King and Holy Roman Emperor, son of Duke Henry II (the Quarrelsome) and of the Burgundian Princess Gisela; b. 972; d. in his palace of Grona, at Gottingen, 13 July, 1024. Like his predecessor, Otto III, he had the literary education of his time. In his youth he had been destined […]

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July 13 – Saint Mildthryth

July 13, 2026

Saint Mildthryth (694–716 or 733), also Mildrith, Mildryth or Mildred, was an Anglo-Saxon abbess. Mildthryth was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, a sub-kingdom of Mercia, and Eormenburh (Saint Eormenburga), herself the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent, and as such appearing in the so-called Kentish royal legend. Her sisters Milburh (Saint Milburga of […]

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July 14 – The Lily of the Mohawks

July 13, 2026

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks Kateri Tekakwitha was daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a devout Roman Catholic Algonquian woman. She was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York, in 1656. Kateri’s mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many of Abenaki […]

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July 14 – St. Francis Solanus

July 13, 2026

South American missionary of the Order of Friars Minor; born at Montilla, in the Diocese of Cordova, Spain, 10 March, 1549; died at Lima, Peru, 14 July, 1610. His parents, Matthew Sanchez Solanus and Anna Ximenes, were distinguished no less for their noble birth than for their virtue and piety. When Francis was twenty years […]

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July 14 – St. Vincent

July 13, 2026

St. Vincent (MALDEGARIUS). Founder and abbot of the monasteries of Hautmont and Soignies, born of a noble family at Strepy les Binche, Hainault, early in the seventh century; died at Soignies, 14 July, 677. That he was not of Irish descent, as stated by Jean du Pont and some Irish writers, has been proved by […]

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July 15 – After conversion, he ordered the statues of the pagan gods chopped up and burned

July 13, 2026

St. Vladimir the Great Grand Duke of Kiev (Kieff) and All Russia, grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity, b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and brought up his son Vladimir […]

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July 9 – At the center of the controversy, when the Pope deposed King John of England

July 9, 2026

Stephen Langton Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury, b. in the latter half of the twelfth century; d. at Slindon Manor, Sussex, July 9, 1228. Although the roll of English churchmen has few names more illustrious, Langton’s fame is hardly equal to his achievements. Even among his own countrymen too few have an adequate knowledge of […]

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July 9 – St. Veronica Giuliani

July 9, 2026

St. Veronica Giuliani Born at Mercatello in the Duchy of Urbino, Italy, 1660; died at Città di Castello, 9 July, 1727. Her parents, Francesco Giuliana and Benedetta Mancini, were both of gentle birth. In baptism she was named Ursula, and showed marvelous signs of sanctity. When but eighteen months old she uttered her first words […]

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July 10 – Charlemagne Was Stricken for His Rudeness to Her

July 9, 2026

St. Amalberga A virgin, very much revered in Belgium, who is said to have been sought in marriage by Charles, afterwards Charlemagne. Continually repulsed, Charles finally attempted to carry her off by force, but though he broke her arm in the struggle he was unable to move her from the altar before which she had […]

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July 10 – Seven Holy Noble Brethren

July 9, 2026

Saints, martyred in Rome, in 150. According to legend, they were the sons of Saint Felicitas, and suffered martyrdom under Emperor Antoninus. Januarius, Felix, and Philip were scourged to death; Silvanus was thrown over a precipice; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were beheaded. Feast, Roman Calendar, 10 July. St. Felicitas, Martyr The earliest list of the […]

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July 11 – Worthy descendant of St. Elizabeth

July 9, 2026

Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode A Belgian prelate and statesman, born at Brussels, 1820; died at Rome, 1874. The son of Félix de Mérode-Westerloo who held successively the portfolios of foreign affairs, war, and finances under King Leopold, and of Rosalie de Grammont, he was allied to the best names of France, — Lafayette, Montmorency, Clemont-Tonnerre, […]

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July 11 – The noble saint who fled the world, but the world ran after him

July 9, 2026

Saint Benedict of Nursia Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of Saint Gregory’s “Dialogues”. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number… […]

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July 12 – Irish-American Aristocrat Physician

July 9, 2026

William James MacNeven Distinguished Irish-American physician and medical educator, b. at Ballynahowna, near Aughrim, Co. Galway, Ireland, 21 March, 1763; d. at New York, 12 July, 1841. His ancestors were driven by Cromwell from the North of Ireland where they held large possessions to the wilds of Connaught. William James MacNeven was the eldest of […]

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July 12 – Thomas Tunstall

July 9, 2026

Ven. Thomas Tunstall Martyred at Norwich, 13 July, 1616. He was descended from the Tunstalls of Thurland, an ancient Lancashire family who afterwards settled in Yorkshire. In the Douay Diaries he is called by the alias of Helmes and is described as Carleolensis, that is, born within the ancient Diocese of Carlisle. He took the […]

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Astonishing adult literacy rates in France before the 1789 French Revolution

July 9, 2026

From studying signatures of wills Daniel Roche has discovered astonishing figures of adult literacy in the capital at the end of the old regime [France, before the French Revolution of 1789]. In Montmartre, for example, where 40 percent of the testators belonged to the artisan or salaried classes, 74 percent of men and 64 percent […]

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Rekindling the Crusading Spirit

July 6, 2026

Written by Michael Whitcraft On a recent trip to Fatima, I stopped to spend a night in the city of Obidos, Portugal. As I stood atop the walls of that medieval city, I felt almost as though I were breathing history…but not just any history. I was filling my lungs with a Catholic combative history. […]

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July 6 – Mother-in-law Woes

July 6, 2026

St. Godelina Born at Hondeforte-lez-Boulogne, c. 1049; died at Ghistelles, 6 July, 1070. The youngest of the three children born to Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy, and his wife Ogina, Godelina was accustomed as a child to exercises of piety and was soon distinguished for a solidity of virtue extraordinary for one of her years. The […]

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July 6 – Bl. Thomas Alfield

July 6, 2026

Bl. Thomas Alfield (AUFIELD, ALPHILDE, HAWFIELD, OFFELDUS; alias BADGER). Priest, born at Gloucestershire; martyred at Tyburn, 6 July, 1585. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge (1568). He was afterwards converted and came to Douai College in 1576, but the troubles there compelled him to intermit his studies for four years, and he was eventually […]

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The Duchess of Navailles is unjustly punished by Louis XIV for upholding honor

July 6, 2026

It was about this time that the king appeared to attach himself to Mademoiselle de La Motte-Houdancourt, maid of honor to the queen…. The Duchesse de Navailles, lady of honor to the queen, believed herself obliged, in the discharge of her duties, one of which is the care of the maids of honor, to oppose […]

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July 7 – Prince Abbots

July 6, 2026

Sts. Willibald and Winnebald (WUNIBALD, WYNNEBALD). Members of the Order of St. Benedict, brothers, natives probably of Wessex in England, the former, first Bishop of Eichstätt, born on 21 October, 700 (701); died on 7 July, 781 (787); the latter, Abbot of Heidenheim, born in 702; died on 18 (19) December, 761. They were the […]

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July 7 – The Princess who left court and entered a forest monastery

July 6, 2026

St. Edelburga, Virgin, also called St. Æthelburh of Faremoutiers. She was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of which she succeeded […]

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July 7 – Only two cardinals dared to stand with the pope

July 6, 2026

Blessed Pope Benedict XI (Nicholas Boccasini) Born at Treviso, Italy, 1240; died at Perugia, 7 July, 1304. He entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. After fourteen years of study, he became lector of theology, which office he filled for several years. In 1296 he was elected Master General of the Order. As […]

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July 8 – Archbishops of Baltimore and St. Louis

July 6, 2026

Francis Patrick and Peter Richard Kenrick Archbishops respectively of Baltimore, Maryland, and of St. Louis, Missouri. They were sons of Thomas Kenrick and his wife Jane, and were born in the older part of the city of Dublin, Ireland, the first-named on 3 December, 1797, and the second on 17 August, 1806. An uncle, Father […]

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July 8 – Vasco da Gama Prays To Our Lady Before Setting Out For India

July 6, 2026

At Belém they were all kneeling at his side: Paulo da Gama, his brother, with Nicolau Coelho and Gonçalo Nunes, his other captains and their pilots, Pero de Alenquer, João de Coimbra, Pero Escolar, Afonso Gonçalves; and likewise the “secretaries” Diogo Dias, João de Sá and Álvaro de Braga. Bartolomeu Dias was also there, for […]

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July 8 – The Pope who fought the democrats

July 6, 2026

Pope Blessed Eugene III Bernardo Pignatelli, born in the neighbourhood of Pisa, elected 15 Feb., 1145; d. at Tivoli, 8 July, 1153. On the very day that Pope Lucius II succumbed, either to illness or wounds, the Sacred College, foreseeing that the Roman populace would make a determined effort to force the new pontiff to […]

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What Should We Ask from Our Lady on Our 250th Birthday?

July 2, 2026

By John Horvat II This year, we celebrate the 250th year of our nation’s birth. Over all those years, we have lived, suffered and triumphed together. We have known good times and bad. Overall, we have much to show for our efforts. Never has a more prosperous nation existed in history. It helps that God […]

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Patriotic Associations of a Hereditary Character

July 2, 2026

The 1986 Hereditary Register of the United States lists 109 hereditary associations, the oldest one founded in 1637 and the most recent one in 1976. Of course, some are more dynamic than others. They are normally described as cultural, historical, preservationist, and the like. From a certain point of view, the most important of these […]

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Our Lineage Greatly Influences Our Actions

July 2, 2026

From the funeral oration for Philippe-Emanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercoeur and Penthièvre, delivered in the metropolitan church of Notre-Dame in Paris on April 27, 1602, by Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop-Prince of Geneva and Doctor of the Church: “It is always God Who grants us salvation; He is its great architect, but He […]

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General Lee’s one rule for students: “Be a gentleman”

July 2, 2026

A new student once asked President Lee for a copy of the rules of Washington College. Lee replied, “Young gentleman, we have no printed rules. We have but one rule here, and it is that every student must be a gentleman.” What did Lee mean when he used the word “gentleman?” Found among his papers […]

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Nobility and Traditional Elites Today

July 2, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Le Nouvel Aperçu, no. 6, July-August 1994, published in French by the TFP Association Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, author of Noblesse et élites traditionnelles dans les allocutions de Pie XII, answers our questions Question: Two hundred years after the French Revolution, do you think that French society still has something to […]

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An Act Of Kindness – Never To Be Forgotten

July 2, 2026

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 […]

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The unyielding principles of Richard Lee II, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s great-great grandfather

July 2, 2026

Claiming to lead “the people,” Bacon defied the government at Jamestown and demanded reform…. Endangered by their leader’s vacillation, Berkeley’s supporters chose to scatter…. but not Richard. He had the courage of his convictions. Richard believed all social order, including Virginia’s, was imposed by God and should be maintained, no matter the “zealous inclination of […]

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19th C. Washington Societal Etiquette

July 2, 2026

Washingtonian Social Etiquette The wife of the chief-justice, and not the wife of the President, is the first lady in the land, and takes precedence of all others. She holds receptions and receives calls, but she alone is excluded from all duty of returning calls. The life of a lady in society at Washington is […]

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Liberty, Equality, Fraternity—the ambiguous trilogy

July 2, 2026

by Plinio Correa de Oliveira The reader might notice…an apparent contradiction among the pronouncements of the different popes who dealt with the trilogy Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. This impression fades the more the reader bears in mind that, properly considered in themselves—and therefore in the light of Catholic principles—each of these words designates concepts worthy of […]

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What Ever Happened to the Liberty Promised in 1789?

June 29, 2026

In his classic work on the French Revolution, Pierre Gaxotte shows the abysmal difference that exists between the respect shows by the Ancien Regime for the legitimate liberties of the individual and the family and the strong inclination of the modern State to meddle in the intimate lives of its citizens, a tendency which appeared […]

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Local Elites

June 29, 2026

In its first sense, an elite* is a group of fine persons who stand out as individuals from the mass of people constituting a community. Isolated individuals unrelated among themselves, do not constitute an elite. Rather, we speak of an elite only when its constituents interrelate with sufficient vitality and diligence so as to create […]

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Southern aristocracy dazzled ante-bellum Washington

June 29, 2026

With the installation of the aging Buchanan as President and the coming of young Lord Napier as British minister, society in Washington had taken on a brilliant luster. The lovely, cultivated Lady Napier was perhaps the most popular foreign hostess the capital had known, while the President’s niece, Harriet Lane, was as competent as any […]

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St. Bridget of Sweden

Saint Kinga of Poland

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Preparations

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Noon Bell

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St. Wandrille, or Wandregisilus, Abbot

St. Macrina the Younger

Godfrey of Bouillon

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Written by John Horvat II

Execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family

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