August 13 – St. Maximus of Constantinople

August 13, 2026

St. Maximus of Constantinople

Known as the Theologian and as Maximus Confessor, born at Constantinople about 580; died in exile 13 August, 662. He is one of the chief names in the Monothelite controversy one of the chief doctors of the theology of the Incarnation and of ascetic mysticism, and remarkable as a witness to the respect for the papacy held by the Greek Church in his day. This great man was of a noble family of Constantinople. He became first secretary to the Emperor Heraclius, who prized him much, but he quitted the world and gave himself up to contemplation in a monastery at Chrysopolis, opposite Constantinople. He became abbot there- but seems to have left this retreat on account of its insecurity from hostile attacks. He speaks of the Palestinian ascetic St. Sophronius afterwards Patriarch of Jerusalem, as his master, father, and teacher (Ep. 13), so that he probably passed some time with him, and he was with him in Africa with other monks during the preparations which issued in the “watery union” by which Cyrus the…

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August 13 – The Pope Who Resigned

August 13, 2026

Pope St. Pontian

Pope St. Pontian

Dates of birth and death unknown. The “Liber Pontificalis” (ed. Duchesne, I, 145) gives Rome as his native city and calls his father Calpurnius. With him begins the brief chronicle of the Roman bishops of the third century, of which the author of the Liberian Catalogue of the popes made use in the fourth century and which gives more exact data for the lives of the popes. According to this account Pontian was made pope 21 July, 230, and reigned until 235. The schism of Hippolytus continued during his episcopate; towards the end of his pontificate there was a reconciliation between the schismatic party and its leader with the Roman bishop. After the condemnation of Origen at Alexandria (231-2), a synod was held at Rome, according to Jerome (Epist. XXXII, iv) and Rufinus (Apol. contra Hieron., II, xx), which concurred in the decisions of the Alexandrian synod against Origen; without doubt this synod was held by Pontian (Hefele, Konziliengeschichte, 2nd ed., I, 106 sq.).

In 235 in the reign of Maximinus the Thracian began a persecution directed chiefly against the heads of the Church.

St Pontianus, painted by Spinello Aretino

Pope St. Pontianus, painted by Spinello Aretino

One of its first victims was Pontian, who with Hippolytus was banished to the unhealthy island of Sardinia. To make the election of a new pope possible, Pontian resigned 28 Sept., 235, the Liberian Catalogue says “discinctus est”. Consequently Anteros was elected in his stead. Shortly before this or soon afterwards Hippolytus, who had been banished with Pontian, became reconciled to the Roman Church, and with this the schism he had caused came to an end.

How much longer Pontian endured the sufferings of exile and harsh treatment in the Sardinian mines is unknown. According to old and no longer existing Acts of martyrs, used by the author of the “Liber Pontificalis”, he died in consequence of the privations and inhuman treatment he had to bear.

Pope Fabian (236-50) had the remains of Pontian and Hippolytus brought to Rome at a later date and Pontian was buried on 13 August in the papal crypt of the Catacomb of Callistus. In 1909 the original epitaph was found in the crypt of St. Cecilia, near the papal crypt. The epitaph, agreeing with the other known epitaphs of the papal crypt, reads: PONTIANOS, EPISK. MARTUR (Pontianus, Bishop, Martyr). The word mártur was added later and is written in ligature [cf. Wilpert, “Die Papstgräber und die Cäciliengruft in der Katakombe des hl. Kalixtus” (Freiburg, 1909), 1 sq., 17 sq., Plate III]. He is placed under 13 Aug. in the list of the “Depositiones martyrum” in the chronographia of 354. The Roman Martyrology gives his feast on 19 Nov.

Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne I, Introd., xxiv sq., 145 sq.; DE ROSSI, Roma Sotteranea, ii, 73 sqq.

J. P. Kirsch (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 14 – Founding Father

August 13, 2026

Pierre Chastellain

The mouth of the Trois-Rivières in Quebec, Canada. The Three Rivers trading post, an up-river settlement, was consecrated by the Jesuits to the Immaculate Conception in 1634.

The mouth of the Trois-Rivières in Quebec, Canada. The Three Rivers trading post, an up-river settlement, was consecrated by the Jesuits to the Immaculate Conception in 1634.

Missionary among the Huron Indians, born at Senlis, France, in 1606; died at Quebec, 14 August, 1684. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and at the age of thirty sailed from France with two future martyrs, Fathers Isaac Jogues and Charles Garnier, and the new Governor of Canada, Montmagny, the successor in that post of Champlain. In July, 1636, Chastellain and Garnier left Three Rivers with the Indian trading canoes to join the mission in the Huron country. In the September following, both were attacked by smallpox, but recovered.

Jesuit Missionaries to the HuronsFor nearly fifty years Chastellain toiled on the mission of Canada at different stations among the Hurons as well as in Quebec. With great strength of character he combined a gentleness that was never ruffled and an unfailing charity towards others. During his laborious mission work he composed his book “Affectus amantis Christum seu Exercitium amoris erga Dominum Jesum pro totâ hebdomadâ,” a quarto of 483 pages (Paris, 1647).

EDWARD P. SPILLANE (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 14 – St. Eusebius, Roman patrician and priest

August 13, 2026

St. Eusebius of Rome

A presbyter at Rome; date of birth unknown; d. 357(?). He was a Roman patrician and priest, and is mentioned with distinction in Latin martyrologies. The ancient genuine martyrology of Usuard styles him confessor at Rome under the Arian emperor Constantius and adds that he was buried in the cemetery of Callistus. Some later martyrologies call him a martyr.

St. Eusebius of RomeThe “Acta Eusebii”, discovered in 1479 by Mombritius and reproduced by Baluze in his “Miscellanea” (1678-1715), tell the following story: When Pope Liberius was permitted by Constantius to return to Rome, supposedly at the price of his orthodoxy, by subscribing to the Arian formula of Sirmium, Eusebius, a priest, an ardent defender of the Nicene Creed, publicly preached against both pope and emperor, branding them as heretics. When the orthodox party who supported the antipope Felix were excluded from all the churches, Eusebius continued to hold Divine service in his own house. He was arrested and brought before Liberius and Constantius. Here he boldly reproved Liberius for deserting the Catholic Faith. In consequence he was placed in a dungeon, four feet wide (or was imprisoned in his own house), where he spent his time in prayer and died after seven months. His body was buried in the cemetery of Callistus with the simple inscription: “Eusebio homini Dei”. This act of kindness was performed by two priests, Gregory and Orosius, friends of Eusebius. Gregory was put into the same prison and also died there. He was buried by Orosius, who professes to be the writer of the Acts.

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It is generally admitted that these Acts were a forgery either entirely or at least in part, and written in the same spirit if not by the same hand, as the notice on Liberius in the “Liber Pontificalis”. The Bollandists and Tillemont point out some grave historical difficulties in the narrative, especially the fact that Liberius, Constantius and Eusebius were never in Rome at the same time. Constantius visit Rome but once, and remained there for about a month, and Liberius was then still in exile. Some, taking for granted the alleged fall of Liberius, would overcome this difficulty by stating that, at the request of Liberius, who resented the zeal of the priest, the secular power interfered and imprisoned Eusebius. It is not at all certain whether Eusebius died after the return of Liberius, during his exile, or even much before that period.

Sant'Eusebio Church on the Esquiline in Rome is said to have been built on the site of his house. Photo by LPLT.

Sant’Eusebio Church on the Esquiline in Rome is said to have been built on the site of his house. Photo by LPLT.

The feast of St. Eusebius is kept on 14 August. The church of the Equiline in Rome dedicated to him, said to have been built on the site of his house, is mentioned in the acts of a council held in Rome under Pope Symmachus in 498 (Manai, VIII, 236-237), and was rebuilt by Pope Zacharias. Formerly it had a statio on the Friday after the fourth Sunday in Lent. It once belonged to the Celestines (an order now extinct); Leo XII gave it to the Jesuits. A good picture representing the triumph of Eusebius, by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1759 is on the ceiling. San Eusebio is the title of the cardinal-priest. The title was transferred by Gregory XVI, but restored by Pius IX.

Francis Mershman (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 15 – Prester John

August 13, 2026

Prester John

Name of a legendary Eastern priest and king.

FIRST STAGE

Prester John, King of Ethiopia. Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of The Saint Thomas Christians resided.

The mythical journey to Rome of a certain Patriarch John of India in 1122, and his visit to Callistus II, cannot have been the origin of the legend. Not until much later, in a manuscript dating from the latter part of the fifteenth-century “Tractatus pulcherrimus” (Zarncke), do we find the patriarch and priest united in one person. The first combination of the two legends appears at the end of the twelfth century, in an apocryphal book of devotions called the “Narrative of Eliseus”. The first authentic mention of Prester John is to be found in the “Chronicle” of Otto, Bishop of Freising, in 1145. Otto gives as his authority Hugo, Bishop of Gabala. The latter, by order of the Christian prince, Raymond of Antioch, went in 1144 (after the fall of Edessa) to Pope Eugene II, to report the grievous position of Jerusalem, and to induce the West to send another crusade. Otto met the Syrian prelate at Viterbo, where in the pope’s presence he learned that a…

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August 15 – The Knights of St. John capture Rhodes and establish their sovereignty

August 13, 2026

On 15 August, 1310, under the leadership of Grand Master Foulques de Villaret, the Knights of St. John captured the island in spite of the Greek emperor, Andronicus II.

Foulques de Villaret, 25th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.

Foulques de Villaret, 25th Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.

The Knights of Rhodes, the successors of the Hospitallers of St. John, were distinguished from the latter in many ways. In the first place, the grand master of the order was thenceforward a temporal sovereign in that island, which constituted a true ecclesiastical principality, under the nominal suzerainty of the Emperors of the East. Secondly, although Villaret’s first care was to build a new infirmary, the care of the sick took a secondary place, as the members of the order had scarcely occasion to devote themselves to any save the members of the community. The name knights then prevailed over that of hospitallers. This character was accentuated by the fusion of the Hospitallers with the remaining Knights Templars subsequent to the suppression of the latter (1312). This fusion at the same time increased the wealth of the order, to which the pope assigned the property of the Templars in every country except Aragon and Portugal. In France, where Philip the Fair had sequestrated this property, the order obtained restitution only by paying large indemnities to the king. From this time its organization took its definitive form, the whole body being divided into tongues, priories, and commanderies. The tongues, or nations, were eight in number, each having its own bailiff; and one of the eight supreme dignities was reserved to each tongue — to Provence, that of the grand commander; to Auvergne, that of marshal; to France, grand hospitaller; to Italy, admiral; to Aragon, standard-bearer; to Castile, grand chancellor; to Germany, grand bailiff; to England, turcoplier. (On these dignities see .) The grand master might be elected from any of the various tongues; he exercised supreme authority, but under control of the grand chapter and with the aid of several councils. Each tongue was subdivided into priories, and the head of each priory had the right to receive new knights and to visit the commanderies. The priories number twenty-four, and the commanderies, which were subdivisions of the priories, 656. All these posts were held according to seniority, the commanderies after three campaigns, which were known as “caravans”.

Main entrance to Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes on the Island of Rhodes, Greece.

Main entrance to Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes on the Island of Rhodes, Greece.

A most important change in the character of the order was the transformation of the knights into corsairs. The piracy practiced by the Muslims was the scourge of the Mediterranean and especially of Christian commerce. The Knights of Rhodes, on their side, armed cruisers not only to give chase to the pirates, but to make reprisals on the Turkish merchantmen. With increasing audacity they made descents on the coast and pillaged the richest ports of the Orient, such as Smyrna (1341) and Alexandria (1365). However, a new Muslim power arose at this period — the Ottoman Turks of Iconium — and took the offensive against Christianity. After the fall of Constantinople, Mahomet II directed his attention to the task of destroying this den of pirates which made Rhodes the terror of the Muslim world. Henceforth the order, thrown on the defensive, lived perpetually on the alert. Once, under its grand master, Pierre d’Aubusson, it repulsed all the forces of Mahomet II in the siege of 1480. In 1522 Solyman II returned to the attack with a fleet of 400 ships and an army of 140,000 men. The knights sustained this great onslaught with their habitual bravery for a period of six months under their grand master, Villiers de l’Isle Adam, and capitulated only when their supplies were completely exhausted. Their lives were spared, and they were permitted to withdraw. Solyman II, in homage to their heroism, lent them his ships to return to Europe. They dispersed to their commanderies and begged Charles V to grant them the island of Malta, which was a dependency of his kingdom of Sicily, and this sovereignty was granted them in 1530, under the suzerainty of the kings of Spain.

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In order to have the spirit of chivalry, love the sublimity of the fight

August 13, 2026

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The problem is, for you to have the spirit of chivalry you need to be fully imbued with the sublimity of what you do, and to love this sublimity. If you do not do that, you will not have the true spirit of the knight.

Oklahoma City Black Mass Protest on Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, August 15, 2016.

You may say: “If we see ourselves in this light, we will become proud.”

No you won’t. You won’t because he who loves true sublimity, not the sublimity of his person, but the sublimity of his [fighting] vocation – and here is the question – the sublimity of that for which he was made, for which he was called, of what he has to do; he who was invited to this by grace and says yes, elevates himself instead of falling into pride.

Traditional Marriage, Pro-Life, Protesting Socialist Health Care Mandates and various Blasphemous plays and “art work”. Rosary Rallies across this country….this is our Crusade.

It would be pride for him to imagine, “Look how formidable I have become! I am now a boss in this or that!” Then he falls into pride. But this is not chivalry.

Chivalry is for man to think, “I am a knight of God and of the Virgin and am here facing the adversaries, I’m in the battle.” This is chivalry.

A special delivery to Fatima! Results of the America Needs Fatima Rosary Rally, with a red rose in the name of every Rosary Rally captain and white roses in the name of each Rosary Rally sponsor.

It was much easier for a knight of the Middle Ages to become proud than for you. Because a man all decked up in armor, riding a horse in the street with everyone looking and finding it beautiful, would be like a man today riding around in a Rolls Royce or something of the sort. A great horse with a beautiful armor was the equivalent to a Rolls Royce today, but with much more elevation than even a Rolls Royce today. Well, while that man was still moving about in Christian lands, he would feel the object of general admiration, and so it was very easy for him to become proud.

Today you almost run the opposite risk: that of losing your combativeness for not having the courage to look at the sublimity of your [fighting] vocation and be conscious of your dignity, walking with your heads high knowing that others will mock and despise you, etc. This is what we must do.

Well, so in order for you to acquire the spirit of chivalry you need to acquire more and more the notion of the marvel that you are carrying out.

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(Excerpt from a Tea, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 1989 – Nobility.org translation)

 

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August 16 – His incorrupt right hand is treasured as the most sacred relic in Hungary

August 13, 2026

St. Stephen of Hungary

Statue of King Stephen I and Queen Gisela in Veszprém.

Statue of King Stephen I and Queen Gisela in Veszprém.

First King of Hungary, born at Gran, 975; died 15 August, 1038. He was a son of the Hungarian chief Géza and was baptized, together with his father, by Archbishop St. Adalbert of Prague in 985, on which occasion he changed his heathen name Vaik (Vojk) into Stephen.

In 995 he married Gisela, a sister of Duke Henry of Bavaria, the future Emperor St. Henry II, and in 997 succeeded to the throne of Hungary.

St. Stephen of Hungary

St. Stephen of Hungary

In order to make Hungary a Christian nation and to establish himself more firmly as ruler, he sent Abbot Astricus to Rome to petition Pope Sylvester II for the royal dignity and the power to establish episcopal sees. The pope acceded to his wishes and, in addition, presented him with a royal crown, addressing him with these words:

“Sylvester, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Stephen, king of the Hungarians, greeting and apostolic benediction. Your ambassadors, especially our dear brother, Astricus, bishop of Colocza, were received by us with the greater joy and accomplished their mission with the greater ease, because we had been divinely forewarned to expect an embassy from a nation still unknown to us. …

“Surely, according to the apostle : ‘ It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy’ [Rom. 9 :16] ; and according to the testimony of Daniel : ‘He changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings and setteth up kings; he revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness’ [Dan. 2:21, 22]; for in him is that light which, as John teaches, ‘lighteth every man that cometh into the world’ [John 1 :9].

“Therefore we first give thanks to God the Father, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, because he has found in our time another David, and has again raised up a man after his own heart to feed his people Israel, that is, the chosen race of the Hungarians. Secondly, we praise you for your piety toward God and for your reverence for this apostolic see, over which, not by our own merits, but by the mercy of God, we now preside. Finally, we commend the liberality you have shown in offering to St. Peter yourself and your people and your kingdom and possessions by the same ambassadors and letters.

“For by this deed you have clearly demonstrated that you already are what you have asked us to declare you [i.e., a king]. But enough of this; it is not necessary to commend him whom God himself has commended and whose deeds openly proclaim to be worthy of all commendation.

“Now therefore, glorious son, by the authority of omnipotent God and of St. Peter, the prince of apostles, we freely grant, concede, and bestow, with our apostolic benediction, all that you have sought from us and from the apostolic see; namely, the royal crown and name, the creation of the metropolitanate of Gran, and of the other bishoprics. Moreover, we receive under the protection of the holy church the kingdom which you have surrendered to St. Peter, together with yourself and your people, the Hungarian nation; and we now give it back to you and to your heirs and successors to be held, possessed, ruled, and governed. And your heirs and successors, who shall have been legally elected by the nobles, shall duly offer obedience and reverence to us and to our successors in their own persons or by ambassadors, and shall confess themselves the subjects of the Roman church, who does not hold her subjects as slaves, but receives them all as children. They shall persevere in the catholic faith and the religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and strive always to promote it.

Statue of Stephen I of Hungary - Stephen I of Hungary, Millenium Monument on Heroes' square, Budapest, Hungary.

Statue of Stephen I of Hungary – Stephen I of Hungary, Millenium Monument on Heroes’ square, Budapest, Hungary.

“And because you have fulfilled the office of the apostles in preaching Christ and propagating his faith, and have tried to do in your realm the work of us and of our clergy, and because you have honored the same prince of apostles above all others, therefore by this privilege we grant you and your successors, who shall have been legally elected and approved by the apostolic see, the right to have the cross borne before you as a sign of apostleship, after you have been crowned with the crown which we send and according to the ceremony which we have committed to your ambassadors. And we likewise give you full power by our apostolic authority to control and manage all the churches of your realm, both present and future, as divine grace may guide you, as representing us and our successors.

“All these things are contained more fully and explicitly in that general letter which we have sent by our messenger to you and to your nobles and faithful subjects. And we pray that omnipotent God, who called you even from your mother’s womb to the kingdom and crown, and who has commanded us to give you the crown which we had prepared for the duke of Poland, may increase continually the fruits of your good works, and sprinkle with the dew of his benediction this young plant of your kingdom, and preserve you and your realm and protect you from all enemies, visible and invisible, and, after the trials of the earthly kingship are past, crown you with an eternal crown in the kingdom of heaven.”

St. Stephen I of Hungary in Makó, Hungary.

St. Stephen I of Hungary in Makó, Hungary.

Stephen founded a monastery in Jerusalem and hospices for pilgrims at Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople. He was a personal friend of St. Bruno of Querfurt and corresponded with Abbot St. Odilo of Cluny. The last years of his life were embittered by sickness and family troubles. When on 2 September, 1031, his only son, St. Emeric, lost his life on a bear hunt, his cherished hope of transferring the reins of government into the hands of a pious Christian prince were shattered.

During his lifetime a quarrel arose among his various nephews concerning the right of succession, and some of them even took part in a conspiracy against his life. He was buried beside his son at Stuhlweissenburg, and both were canonized together in 1083.  In Hungary his chief festival is observed on 20 August, the day on which his relics were transferred to Buda. His incorrupt right hand is treasured as the most sacred relic in Hungary.

L. The Incorrupt hand of St. Stephen of Hungary. R. The Reliquary that holds the Incorrupt hand (also called “The Holy Right”) of St. Stephen I of Hungary.

 

(Catholic Encyclopedia)

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St. Stephen of Hungary in Budapest

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August 16 – Apostle of the North

August 13, 2026

St. Hyacinth

Statue of St Hyacinth overlooking Rosary Square in Lourdes.

Dominican, called the Apostle of the North, son of Eustachius Konski of the noble family of Odrowacz [or Odrowaz]; born 1185 at the castle of Lanka, at Kamin, in Silesia, Poland…; died 15 August, 1257, at Cracow. Feast, 16 Aug.

A near relative of Saint Ceslaus, he made his studies at Cracow, Prague, and Bologna, and at the latter place merited the title of Doctor of Law and Divinity. On his return to Poland he was given a prebend at Sandomir. He subsequently accompanied his uncle Ivo Konski, the Bishop of Cracow, to Rome, where he met St. Dominic, and was one of the first to receive at his hands (at Santa Sabina, 1220) the habit of the newly established Order of Friars Preachers. After his novitiate he made his religious profession, and was made superior of the little band of missionaries sent to Poland to preach. On the way he was able to establish a convent of his order at Friesach in Carinthia.

In Poland the new preachers were favourably received and their sermons were productive of much good. Hyacinth founded communities at Sandomir, Cracow, and at Plocko on the Vistula in Moravia. He extended his missionary work through Prussia, Pomerania, and Lithuania; then crossing the Baltic Sea he preached in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. He came into Lower or Red Russia, establishing a community at Lemberg and at Haletz on the Mester; proceeded into Muscovy, and founded a convent at Dieff, and came as far as the shores of the Black Sea. He then returned to Cracow, which he had made the centre of his operations. On the morning of 15 August he attended Matins and Mass, received the last sacraments, and died a saintly death. God glorified His servant by numberless miracles, the record of which fills many folio pages of the Acta SS., August, III, 309. He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1594. A portion of his relics is at the Dominican church in Paris.

The body of St. Hyacinth in the former Cistercian abbey church of St. Mary. Fürstenfeld Fürstenfeldbruck.

BUTLER, Lives of the Saints; KNOPFLER in Kirchenlex.; HEIMBUCHER, Die Orden u. Kongreg., II (Paderborn, 1907), 110, 154; BERTOLOTTI, Vita di San Giacinto (Monza, 1903); Lebensbeschr. der Heil. und Sel. des Dominikanerordens (Dulmen, 1903); FLAVIGNY, H. et ses compagnons (Paris, 1899).

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 10 – Defiant under torture, he inspires noble souls until today

August 10, 2026

St. Lawrence

Martyr; died 10 August, 258.

St. Lawrence Print by Wenzel Hollar

St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church, was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus II and many other members of the Roman clergy. At the beginning of the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, commanding that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death (“episcopi et presbyteriet diacones incontinenti animadvertantur” — Cyprian, Epist. lxxx, 1). This imperial command was immediately carried out in Rome. On 6 August Pope Sixtus II was apprehended in one of the catacombs, and executed forthwith (“Xistum in cimiterio animadversum sciatis VIII id. Augusti et cum eo diacones quattuor.” Cyprian, ep. lxxx, 1). Two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were put to death the same day. In the Roman Calendar of feasts of the fourth century their feast day is on the same date. Four days later, on the 10th of August of that same year, Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, also suffered a martyr’s death. The anniversary of this holy martyr falls on that day, according to the Almanac of Philocalus for the year 354, the inventory of which contains the principal feasts of the Roman martyrs of the middle of the fourth century; it also mentions the street where his grave is to be found, the Via Tiburtina (“III id. Aug. Laurentii in Tibertina”; Ruinart, “Acta sincera”, Ratisbon, 1859, 632). The itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs, as given in the seventh century, mention the burial-place of this celebrated martyr in the Catacomb of Cyriaca in agro Verano (De Rossi, “Roma Sott.”, I, 178).

St. Lawrence before Valerianus. Painting by Bl. Fra Angelico

Since the fourth century St. Lawrence has been one of the most honoured martyrs of the Roman Church. Constantine the Great was the first to erect a little oratory over his burial-place, which was enlarged and beautified by Pope Pelagius II (579-90). Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-40) built a large basilica with three naves, the apse leaning against the older church, on the summit of the hill where he was buried. In the thirteenth century Honorius III made the two buildings into one, and so the basilica of San Lorenzo remains to this day. Pope St. Damasus (366-84) wrote a panegyric in verse, which was engraved in marble and placed over his tomb. Two contemporaries of the last-named pope, St. Ambrose of Milan and the poet Prudentius, give particular details about St. Lawrence’s death. Ambrose relates (De officiis min. xxviii) that when St. Lawrence was asked for the treasures of the Church he brought forward the poor, among whom he had divided the treasure, in place of alms; also that when Pope Sixtus II was led away to his death he comforted Lawrence, who wished to share his martyrdom, by saying that he would follow him in three days. The saintly Bishop of Milan also states that St. Lawrence was burned to death on a gird-iron (De offic., xli). In like manner, but with more poetical detail, Prudentius describes the martyrdom of the Roman deacon in his hymn on St. Lawrence (“Peristephanon”, Hymnus II).

The grill of St. Lawrence and his mortal remains, along with the body of St. Stephen the proto-martyr at the Basilicia of St. Lawrence-Outside-the-Walls.

However, in spite of this criticism of the later accounts of the martyrdom, there can be no question that St. Lawrence was a real historical personage, nor any doubt as to the martyrdom of that venerated Roman deacon, the place of its occurrence, and the date of his burial.

Pope Damasus built a basilica in Rome which he dedicated to St. Lawrence; this is the church now known as that of San Lorenzo in Damaso. The church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, also dedicated to this saint, still exists. The feast day of St. Lawrence is kept on 10 August.

(cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Meeting of Pope Sixtus II and St. Lawrence.

St Lawrence is especially honoured in the city of Rome, where he is one of the city’s patrons. There are several churches in Rome dedicated to him, including San Lorenzo in Panisperna, traditionally identified as the place of his execution. He is invoked by librarians, archivists, cooks, and tanners as their patron. His celebration on 10 August has the rank of feast throughout the entire Catholic world. On this day, the reliquary containing his burnt head is displayed in the Vatican for veneration.

El Escorial

The Escorial Palace, situated at the foot of Mt. Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama, was built by King Philip II of Spain to commemorate the victory of Spanish forces over those of King Henry II of France at the Battle of St Quentin, which took place on the feast of St Lawrence on 10 August 1557. To honour the martyr, the entire floor plan of this imposing edifice was laid out in the form of a gridiron, the means by which St Lawrence was martyred.

St. Lawrence River at Trois-Rivières, Canada

French explorer Jacques Cartier gave the name of Saint Lawrence to the widest river estuary in the world. At the mouth of this river is the large Gulf of Saint Lawrence, surrounded by all the Canadian Maritime provinces. Closer to the source of this river are the Laurentian mountains (north of the city of Montreal), the major Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent (borough), as well as the famed Saint Lawrence Boulevard that spans the full 11.25 km width of the island of Montreal. Further upstream, on the south side of the river near its source at Lake Ontario, is St. Lawrence County, New York.

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August 10 – His sister founded the Conceptionists

August 10, 2026

João Mendes de Silva

Blessed Amadeu da Silva, also called Amadeus of Portugal.

Better known as Amadeus of Portugal, O.F.M., (1420–1482), was a Portuguese nobleman who became first a monk, then left that life to become a friar of the Franciscan Order. Later he became a reformer of that Order, which led to his founding of a distinct branch of the Friars Minor that was named after him, later suppressed by the Pope in order to unite them into one great family of Friars Minor Observants (1568).

He was born João de Menezes da Silva in 1420 in Campo Maior, Portugal, the youngest of the eleven children of Rui Gomes da Silva, the first Magistrate of Campo Maior, on the border of Spain and Portugal, and of Isabel de Menezes, an illegitimate daughter of Dom Pedro de Menezes, 1st Count of Vila Real and 2nd Count of Viana do Alentejo, under whom Silva served in Ceuta. One of his sisters was Saint Beatrice of Silva, a noted Marian mystic and the foundress of the monastic Order of the Immaculate Conception.

His sister was Saint Beatrice of Silva, a noted Marian mystic and the foundress of the monastic Order of the Immaculate Conception.

He began his religious life in the Hieronnymite monastery of Notre-Dame de Guadalupe (Spain), where he spent about ten years. Desirous of joining the Franciscans, he went to Italy, where after some delay he was received into the order and, living in various convents, chiefly at Milan, attracted attention by his virtue and miracles.

Under the protection of the Archbishop of Milan, he established the convent of Notre-Dame de la Paix (1469) which became the centre of a Franciscan reform. The minister general of the order Francesco della Rovere, later pope under the name of Sixtus IV, extended his protection to him. Other foundations were made in Italy, among one at Rome.

Supernatural favours obtained through his intercession aided in the spread of his cult, and the Bollandists testify to the authenticity of the title “Blessed” bestowed on him. He composed a yet published treatise entitled “De revelationibus et prophetiis”, two copies of which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio. The work of another Amadeus, “Homilies on the Blessed Virgin”, has been erroneously attributed to him.

Notre-Dame de la Paix, Milan

The convents he founded continued after his death to form a distinct branch of the Franciscans, the friars were called the Amadeans or Amadists, and they had twenty-eight houses in Italy, the chief one, Saint Peter de Montorio, in Rome. Innocent VIII gave them the convent of Saint Genesto near Cartagena in Spain (1493). The successors of Blessed João, Georges de Val-Camonique, Gilles de Montferrat, Jean Allemand, Bonaventura de Cremona, preserved his foundation in its original spirit until Saint Pius V suppressed it along with similar branches of the Franciscan Order uniting them into one great family of Friars Minor Observants (1568).

(Cfr: Catholic Encyclopedia, Acta SS., August. II, .562-606; ANTONIO, Bibliotheca vetus hispana, II, 217-18; WADDING, Annales Minorum, VI, VII, VIII; HELYOT, Histoire des ordres religieux, VII, 106-12.)

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Many members of the Society of the Cincinnati were killed during the Terror

August 10, 2026

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

One of the more agreeable duties that took [the Count of] Rochambeau to Paris was the organization of the French members of the Society of the Cincinnati…. Some difficulties had to be ironed out, since no foreign order was then allowed in France, but the King was so much interested in the whole proceeding that he waived all objections….

Rochambeau distributed the golden eagles…. It was the kind of ceremony he liked, commemorating as it did the links of friendship forged on the battlefield. Rochambeau took great pride in the Cincinnati, but not everybody in France or in America agreed with him about its importance. Benjamin Franklin indulged in some ridicule of the institution and condemned the members as “forming an order of Hereditary Knights….” Jefferson felt that the Society was incompatible with the natural equality of men, and advised the members to “distribute their funds, renounce their existence, and melt up their eagles….”

The Society of the Cincinnati Insignia

By the time Robespierre came into power, when every sign of personal and hereditary distinction was being wiped out, any man known to be in possession of the eagle of the Cincinnati was in grave danger. A Society with so many aristocrats on its rolls was obviously a threat to the Republic. With the overthrow of the French monarchy on August 10, 1792, l’Ordre de Cincinnatus dropped out of sight, not to be heard of again until it was officially reconstituted in 1923. Many of the original members, including the President, Admiral d’Estaing, perished on the scaffold.

Charles Henri Jean-Baptiste, Comte d’Estaing

Arnold Whitridge, Rochambeau: America’s Neglected Founding Father (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1965), pp. 259-260.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 202

 

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Paris pours out its heart in welcoming the brother of the King it executed

August 10, 2026

King Charles X of France in his coronation robes by Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin.

Meanwhile, Monsieur [the Count of Chambord, the future Charles X], invested with the Lieutenancy-general of the kingdom, slowly advanced from Nancy to Paris. The formation of a royal guard greatly occupied the capital. Such devotion was shown that it was improvised in a week. In seven days seven hundred men belonging the best families in France were accepted, equipped, clothed, and furnished with horses, all at their own expense, and were in fairly good exercise. The handsome Duc de Mouchy sought after the command—to what do you not aspire when you are a Noailles? But Comte Charles de Damas was preferred to him. As regards myself, military glory consisted in putting on again that coat of a national guardsman which I had take off on August 10, 1792.

Charles X Enters Paris

It was on Easter Sunday, April 10, that Monsieur entered Paris. He came by way of the Rue Saint Denis, escorted by his new guard. The number of windows and roofs were insufficient to hold the enthusiastic crowd that was shouting itself hoarse. Everything was adorned with flags and flowers, and every handkerchief was waving. It was a touching spectacle, and one full of hope for the future had people only wished. I went with the crowd to see it at the Porte Saint Denis, where the prince stopped and saluted the figure of his ancestor. This act of homage was loudly applauded. As the procession turned on to the boulevards, I ran at full speed to Mme. De Vindé’s to get a place on her terrace, where I could once more see it at my ease. Everybody there was of one heart and voice.

Arthur Chuquet, ed., Recollections of Baron de Frénilly, Peer of France (1768-1828) (London: William Heinemann, 1909), p.248.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 207

Nobility.org Editorial comment: 

How can one explain the Terror? France was the heart of culture, refinement, civilization. How could it sink into such barbarity? A determined and organized minority carried out the Revolution, while a “silent majority” let it happen. It would seem that most Frenchmen were under anesthesia or something during the revolutionary years, for this enthusiastic acclaim to welcome the brother of Louis XVI into Paris and the Restoration of the Throne in 1814,  was undoubtedly sincere and general.

 

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August 11 – St. Attracta

August 10, 2026

St. Attracta

(Or ST. ARAGHT).

Stained glass window of St. Attracta in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland. Photo taken by Andreas F. Borchert.

Stained glass window of St. Attracta in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland. Photo taken by Andreas F. Borchert.

A contemporary of St. Patrick from whom she received the veil. She is known as the foundress of several churches in the Counties of Galway and Sligo, Ireland. Colgan’s account of her life is based on that written by Augustine Magraidin in the last years of fourteenth century, and abounds in improbable statements. However, the fact of St. Attracta receiving the veil from St. Patrick is corroborated by Tirechán, in the “Book of Armagh”, as is evident from the following passage in the “Documenta de S. Patricio” (ed. Edmund Hogan, S.J.): “Et ecclesiam posuit in cella Adrachtae, filiae Talain, et ipsa accepit pallium de manu Patricii.” A native of the County Sligo, she resolved to devote herself to God, but being opposed by her parents, fled to South Connacht and made her first foundation at Drumconnell, near Boyle, County Roscommon, whence she removed to Greagraighe or Coolavin, County Sligo. At Killaraght, St. Attracta established a hospice for travellers, which existed as late as 1539. Her name was so great that numerous places were named after her, e.g. Killaraght (Cill Attracta), Toberaraght, Cloghan Araght, etc., and a large village which grew up around her oratory at Killaraght in Coolavin. Colgan gives an account of the Cross of St. Attracta which was famed during the Middle Ages, and of which the O’Mochain family were hereditary keepers. A striking confirmation of the existence of this relic in the early years of the fifteenth century is afforded by an entry in the “Calendar of Papal Letters” (VI, 45l) from which we learn that in 1413 the cross and cup of St. Attracta (Crux ac Cuach Aracht) were then venerated in the church of Killaraght, in the Diocese of Achonry. By an Indult of 28 July, 1864, Pius IX authorized the Office and Mass of St. Attracta, which had lapsed into desuetude, to be again celebrated in the Irish Church. The feast of St. Attracta, on 11 August, is given special honour in the Diocese of Achonry, of which she is the patroness. The prayers and proper lessons for her Office were drawn up by Cardinal Moran.

W. H. Grattan-Flood (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 11 – Feast of the Crown of Thorns and the Five Sacred Wounds

August 10, 2026

Feast of the Crown of Thorns

Reliquary of the Crown of Thorns.

The first feast in honour of the Crown of Thorns (Festum susceptionis coronae Domini) was instituted at Paris in 1239, when St. Louis brought thither the relic of the Crown of Thorns, which was deposited later in the Royal Chapel, erected in 1241-8 to guard this and other relics of the Passion. The feast, observed on 11 August, though at first special to the Royal Chapel, was gradually observed throughout the north of France. In the following century another festival of the Holy Crown on 4 May was instituted and was celebrated along with the feast of the Invention of the Cross in parts of Spain, Germany, and Scandinavia. It is still kept in not a few Spanish dioceses and is observed by the Dominicans on 24 April. A special feast on the Monday after Passion Sunday was granted to the Diocese of Freising in Bavaria by Clement X (1676) and Innocent XI (1689) in honour of the Crown of Christ. It was celebrated at Venice in 1766 on the second Friday of March. In 1831 it was adopted at Rome as a double major and is observed on the Friday following Ash Wednesday. As it is not kept throughout the universal Church, the Mass and Office are placed in the appendices to the Breviary and the Missal. The hymns of the Office, which is taken from the seventeenth-century Gallican Breviary of Paris, were composed by Habert. The “Analecta hymnica” of Dreves and Blume contains a large number of rhythmical offices, hymns, and sequences for this feast.

ROHAULT DE FLEURY, Instruments de la Passion (Paris, 1870); NILLES, Kalendarium manuale (Innsbruck, 1897); GROTEFEND, Zeitrechnung, II, 2, 88.

________________

The Feast of the Five Sacred Wounds

Devotion. The revival of religious life and the zealous activity of St. Bernard and St. Francis in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, together with the enthusiasm of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land, gave a wonderful impulse to devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and particularly to practices in honour of the Wounds in His Sacred Hands, Feet, and Side. The reason for this devotion was well expressed at a later period in the memorial of the Polish bishops to Clement XIII:

Piercing of Christ’s Side, painting by Fra Angelico.

“Moreover, the Five Wounds of Christ are honoured by a Mass and an Office, and on account of these wounds we venerate also the feet, hands and side of the most loving Redeemer, these parts of Our Lord’s most holy body being held more worthy of a special cult than the others, precisely because they suffered special pains for our salvation, and because they are decorated with these wounds as with an illustrious mark of love. Therefore, with living faith they cannot be looked upon without a special feeling of religion and devotion” (Nilles, “De rat. fest. SS. Cord. Jesu et Mariae”, I, 126).

The Chaplet of the Holy Wounds (or “Holy Wounds Rosary”) was first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century by Marie Martha Chambon (1841 – 1907), Sister of the Monastery of the Visitation Order in Chambéry, France.

Many beautiful medieval prayers in honour of the Sacred Wounds, including some attributed to St. Clare of Assisi (indulgenced on 21 November, 1885), have been preserved. St. Mechtilde and St. Gertrude of Helfta were devoted to the Holy Wounds, the latter saint reciting daily a prayer in honour of the 5466 wounds, which, according to a medieval tradition, were inflicted on Jesus during His Passion. In the fourteenth century it was customary in southern Germany to recite fifteen Pater Nosters each day (which thus amounted to 5475 in the course of a year) in memory of the Sacred Wounds. Corresponding to the Mass “Humiliavit” in the Roman Missal, there was in the medieval Missals a special Mass in honour of Christ’s Wounds, believed to have been composed by St. John the Evangelist and revealed to Boniface II (532). It was known as the Golden Mass, and was indulgenced by Innocent VI (1362) or John XXII (1334); during its celebration five candles were always lighted. It was popularly held that if anyone should say or hear it on five consecutive days he should never suffer the pains of hell fire (Franz, “Messe im Mittelalter”, 159).

An illumination in an antiphonary of the Sacred Wounds of Our Lord.

The Dominican Rosary also helped to promote devotion to the Sacred Wounds, for while the fifty small beads refer to Mary, the five large beads and the corresponding Pater Nosters are intended to honour the Five Wounds of Christ (Beissel, “Verehrung Marias”, I, 525). Again, in some places it was customary to ring a bell at noon on Fridays, to remind the faithful to recite five Paters and Aves in honour of the Holy Wounds. A corona, or rosary, of the Five Wounds was approved by the Holy See on 11 August, 1823, and again in 1851. It consists of five divisions, each composed of five Glories in honour of Christ’s Wounds and one Ave in commemoration of the Sorrowful Mother. The blessing of the beads is reserved to the Passionists.

Portugal’s shield. Within the white inescutcheon, the five small blue shields with their five white bezants representing the five wounds of Our Lord. The sum of all bezants (doubling the ones in the central shield) would give thirty, symbolizing the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot with thirty pieces of silver.

Feast. The earliest evidence of a feast in honour of the Wounds of Christ comes from the monastery of Fritzlar, Thuringia, where in the fourteenth century a feast was kept on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi. The Office was rhythmical (Dreves, “Anal. hymnica”, XXIV, 20; Grotefend, “Zeitrechnung”, II, 1, 115). In the fifteenth century it had spread to different countries, to Salisbury (England), Huesca and Jaca (Spain), Vienna, and Tours, and was included in the Breviaries of the Carmelites, Franciscans, Dominicans,and other orders (Dreves, op. cit., XXIV, XL, XLII). The Feast of the Five Wounds, celebrated since the Middle Ages at Evora and elsewhere in Portugal on 6 February (at Lisbon on the Friday after Ash-Wednesday) is of historical interest. It commemorates the founding of the Portuguese kingdom in 1139, when, before the battle on the plains of Ourique, Christ appeared to Alfonso Henriquez, promising victory over the Moors and commanding him to insert into the coat of arms of the new kingdom the emblem of the Five Wounds (“Propr. Portugalliae” in Weiss, “Weltgeschichte”, III, 251).

The Miracle of Ourique), by Domingos Sequeira.

This feast is celebrated to-day in all Portuguese-speaking countries. The Proprium of Venice of 1766, which contains perhaps the earliest series of movable feasts in honour of Christ’s Passion, has the Feast of the Five Wounds on the second Sunday in March; it was granted in 1809 to Leghorn for the Friday after Ash-Wednesday, on which day it is still kept in many dioceses of Tuscany, and elsewhere (Mexico). Since 1831, when the feasts in honour of the Passion were adopted at Rome by the Passionists and the city, this feast was assigned to the Friday after the third Sunday in Lent. The Office is one of those bequeathed to us by the Middle Ages. As this feast is not celebrated in the entire Church, the Office and Mass are placed in the appendix of the Breviary and the Missal.

NILLES, Kalendarium manuale, II, 140; HELLER in Zeitschr. fur kath. Theol. (1895), 582-5; BENEDICT XIV, De festus D. N. J. Christi, I, 279; BERINGER, Die Ablasse (Paderborn, 1906), 173, 174, 277, 382.

F.G. HOLWECK (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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August 11 – Charcoal Burner

August 10, 2026

St. Alexander the Charcoal Maker.

Alexander, Saint, known as “The charcoal burner,” was Bishop of Comana, in Pontus, Whether he was the first to occupy that see is open to discussion. The Bollandists have also a long paper as to the exact location of Comana as there were several places of that name, but decide for Pontus, near Neo-Cæsarea. The curious name of the saint comes from the fact that he had, out of humility, taken up the work of burning charcoal, so as to escape worldly honours. He is called a philosopher, but it is not certain that the term is to be taken literally. His philosophy consisted rather in his preference of heavenly to earthly things. The discovery of his virtues was due to the very contempt with which he had been regarded. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus had been asked to come to Comana to help select a bishop for that place. As he rejected all the candidates, someone in derision suggested that he might accept Alexander, the charcoal-burner. Gregory took the suggestion seriously, summoned Alexander, and found that he had to do with a saint and a man of great capabilities. Alexander was made bishop of the see, administered it with remarkable wisdom and ultimately gave up his life for the Faith, being burned to death in the persecution of Decius. The vagueness of the information we have about him comes from the fact that his name is not found in any of the old Greek or Roman calendars. He would have been absolutely unknown were it not for a discourse pronounced by St. Gregory of Nyssa, on the life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, in which the election of Alexander is incidentally described. In the modern Roman Martyrology his name occurs, and he is described as a “philosophus disertissimus.” His feast is kept on 11 August.

Acta Sanctorum, August I.

Thomas Joseph Campbell (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Columbus, and how to make Key Lime Pie

August 10, 2026

Christoper Columbus arrives in America. Painting by by Gergio Deluci

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

Flowers of a key lime plant.

However, his epic Atlantic crossing also introduced what has been called The Columbian Exchange. Columbus’s deed was the first step in the mutually enriching exchange of numerous animals and plants between the two hemispheres.
From the Americas, the potato, corn, tobacco, squash, tomato, bell peppers, new types of beans, cocoa, rubber, pineapple, and many other crops improved life for countless millions in Europe, Africa and Asia. Wheat, rice, barley, onions, coffee, sugar, grapes, apples, bananas, and many other plants from the Old World came westward, greatly enhancing the Americas.

Key Lime, Citrus aurantifolia. A tree-ripened key lime’s color is a bright yellow, unlike the more common green Persian limes.

All forms of citrus fruits were among the westbound plants, and among these, the Key lime. It is believed that Columbus himself brought the first limes. They became known as Key limes when planted on the Florida Keys, the chain of islands that, starting from Miami, sweeps southwesterly in a gentle curve, like the graceful train of a queen’s dress on her Coronation Day.

When making and enjoying your next Key Lime Pie, think for a moment of Christopher Columbus and his heroic Discovery of the Americas. Think of the almost superhuman courage of so many hidalgos, nobles and gentry who came behind him, extending the reach of the Christian Faith, culture and civilization to these lands. There would be no limes in the Florida Keys today without them.

 

Key Lime Pie

      Makes 1 – 9 inch pie

Graham Cracker Crust:

  • 1 ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs

  • 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

  • 5 – 6 tablespoons butter, melted

 

Filling:

  • 4 (white) egg yolks, (don’t use brown eggs)  Use the 4 egg whites if you wish to make the Meringue topping.

  • One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

  • 4 oz (1/2 cup) key lime juice (if you like it a bit more tart, add 3/4 cup) You will need between 25 to 28 Key limes; approximately 1 bag. The Key Limes are very small and not to be confused with the Persian Limes which are sometimes sold near by. Ripe Key Limes are yellow, not green.

 

Whipping Cream Topping:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

  • 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

 

Recipe

Graham Cracker Crust:

You can make the Graham Cracker Crust as directed or use a ready made. If ready-made, skip to filling directions. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter or lightly spray a 9 inch pie or tart pan. In a small bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie pan. Bake for 8 minutes (the crust will be lightly browned). Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool for 1 hour before filling.

 

Key Lime Juice:

There is no substitute for fresh Key Lime Juice. Before you cut a lime, roll it on a hard surface, applying pressure to loosen the skin from the pulp. You will get more juice out of it this way. Cut the lime in half and either hand squeeze or use a lime juicer (pictured). With the key lime there will be seeds. Before adding the juice to the filling, take a little strainer so you can catch any seeds that are in the juice.

A Lime Juicer with a key lime cut in half, with another key lime near by.

 

Filling:

In a glass bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Gradually add the condensed milk and beat until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the lime juice. (A true Key Lime Pie is not green, so no food coloring is used for this recipe.)

Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 20 minutes. If you prefer a meringue topping, skip this next step and go to Meringue Topping. Cool on a wire rack. Once it has completely cooled, cover and refrigerator for several hours or overnight. The pie tastes better when cooled.

 

Whipped Cream topping:

Once the filling has chilled, in a bowl, beat the whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form and decorate the pie top as you wish.

 

Meringue topping:

While the pie filling is baking, beat (4) eggs whites in a mixer bowl on high speed until soft peaks form, then gradually add ½ cup sugar until meringue forms hard peaks. Spoon the meringue over the top of the hot pie and use a spoon to form peaks. Bake (again) at 350°F for about 10-15 minutes, or until meringue begins to brown.

Can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

 

Taken from various recipe sources. There are several other ways to make this recipe and you can try some others here: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/course/desserts/key-lime-pie/

Florida Governor Bob Graham in 1983, serving world’s largest Key Lime Pie, which is the “Official Pie of the State of Florida”.

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August 12 – St. Jane Frances de Chantal

August 10, 2026

St. Jane Frances de Chantal at the age of 30.

Born at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641.

Her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy, and leader of the royalist party during the League that brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry IV. In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, and lived in the feudal castle of Bourbilly. She restored order in the household, which was on the brink of ruin, and brought back prosperity. During her husband’s absence at the court, or with the army, when reproached for her extremely sober manner of dressing, her reply was: “The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from here”. She found more than once that God blessed with miracles the care she gave the suffering members of Christ. St. Francis de Sales’s eulogy of her characterizes her life at Bourbilly and everywhere else: “In Madame de Chantal I have found the perfect woman, whom Solomon had difficulty in finding in Jerusalem”. Baron de Chantal was accidently killed by an arquebus while out shooting in 1601. Left a widow at twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity. In all her prayers she besought God to send her a guide and God, in a vision, showed her the spiritual director He held in reserve for her. In order to safeguard her children’s property, she was obliged to go and live at Monthelon in the home of her father-in-law, who was ruled over by an arrogant and wicked servant. This was real servitude, which she bore patiently and gently for seven years. At last her virtue triumphed over the ill will of the old man and house keeper.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal and her family. Stained glass window in the Basilica in Annecy, France.

During Lent, 1604, she visited her father at Dijon, where St. Francis de Sales was preaching at the Sainte Chapelle. She recognized in him the mysterious director who had been shown her, and placed herself under his guidance. Then began an admirable correspondence between the two saints. Unfortunately, the greater number of letters are no longer in existence, as she destroyed them after the death of the holy bishop. When she had assured the future security of her children, and when she had provided the education of Celse-Bénigne, her fourteen year old son, whom she left to her father and her brother, the Archbishop of Bourges, she started for Annecy, where God was calling her to found the Congregation of the Visitation. She took her two remaining daughters with her, the elder having recently married the Baron of Thorens, a brother of St. Francis de Sales. Celse-Bénigne, impetous like those of her race, barred his mother’s way by lying across the threshold. Mme de Chandal stopped, overcome: ” Can the tears of a child shake her resolution? ” said a holy and learned priest, the tutor of Celse-Benigne. “Oh! no”, replied the saint, “but after all I am a mother!” And she stepped over her child’s body.

The Congregation of the Visitation was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, 6 June, 1610. Its aim was to receive, with a view to their spiritual advancement, young girls and even widows who had not the desire or strength to subject themselves to the austere ascetical practices in force in all the religious orders at that time. St. Francis de Sales was especially desirous of seeing the realization of his cherished method of attaining perfection, which consisted in always keeping one’s will united to the Divine will, in taking so to speak one’s soul, heart, and longings into one’s hands and giving them into God’s keeping, and in seeking always to do what is pleasing to Him. “I do always the things that please him” (John, viii, 29). The two holy founders saw their undertaking prosper. At the time of the death of St. Francis de Sales in 1622, the order already counted thirteen houses; there were eight-six when St. Jane Frances died; and 164 when she was canonized.

St. Frances de Sales giving the Rule of the Visitation to St. Jane Frances de Chantal. Painting by Noël Hallé

The remainder of the saint’s life was spent under the protection of the cloister in the practice of the most admirable virtues. If a gentle kindness, vivified and strengthened by a complete spirit of renunciation, predominates in St. Francis de Sales, it is firmness and great vigor which prevails in St. Jane Frances; she did not like to see her daughters giving way to human weakness. Her trials were continuous and borne bravely, and yet she was exceedingly sensitive. Celse-Bénigne was an incorrigible duelist. She prayed so fervently that he was given the grace to die a Christian death on the battlefield, during the campaign against the Isle of Ré (1627). He left a daughter who became the famous Marquise de Sévigné. To family troubles God added interior crosses which, particularly during the last nine years of her life, kept her in agony of soul from which she was not freed until three months before her death.

Her reputation for sanctity was widespread. Queens, princes, and princesses flocked to the reception-room of the Visitation. Wherever she went to establish foundations, the people gave her ovations. “These people”, she would say confused, “do not know me; they are mistaken”. Her body is venerated with that of St. Francis de Sales in the church of the Visitation at Annecy. She was beatified in 1751 and canonized in 1767.

Painting of St. Jane Frances de Chantal by Fr. Michael Fuchs of the Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales in Vienna, Kaasgraben

The life of the saint was written in the seventeenth century, with inimitable charm, by her secretary, Mother de Chaugy. Monsignor Bougaud, who died Bishop of Laval, published in 1863 a “Histoire de Sainte Chantal” which had a great and well-deserved success.

The words of the saint comprise instructions on the religious life, various minor works, among which is the admirable “Deposition for the Process of Beatification of St. Francis de Sales”, and a great many letters. The Saint’s qualities are seen in her precise and vigorous style, void of imagery but betraying a repressed emotion, and bursting forth spontaneously from the heart, anticipating in its method the beautiful French of the seventeenth century. The book which may be called her masterpiece, “Réponses sur les Régles, Constitutions et Coutumes”, a truly practical and complete code of the religious life, is not in circulation.

RAPHAL PERNIN 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

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August 12 – His pontificate was spent in opposing royal absolutism

August 10, 2026

Pope Blessed Innocent XI

(Benedetto Odescalchi)

Birthplace of Benedetto Odescalchi at Como

Born at Como, 16 May, 1611; died at Rome, 11 August, 1689. He was educated by the Jesuits at Como, and studied jurisprudence at Rome and Naples. Urban VIII appointed him successively prothonotary, president of the Apostolic Camera, commissary at Ancona, administrator of Macerata, and Governor of Picena. Innocent X made him Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano on 6 March, 1645, and, somewhat later, Cardinal-Priest of Sant’ Onofrio. As cardinal he was beloved by all on account of his deep piety, charity, and unselfish devotion to duty. When he was sent as legate to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the “father of the poor”, “Mittimus patrem pauperum”. In 1650 he became Bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his see to relieve the poor and sick in his diocese. With the permission of the pope he resigned as Bishop of Novara in favour of his brother Giulio in 1656 and went to Rome, where he took a prominent part in the consultations of the various congregations of which he was a member.

He was a strong candidate for the papacy after the death of Clement IX on 9 December, 1669, but the French Government rejected him. After the death of Clement X, King Louis XIV of France again intended to use his royal influence against the election of Odescalchi, but, seeing that the cardinals as well as the Roman people were of one mind in their desire to have Odescalchi as their pope, he reluctantly instructed the cardinals of the French party to acquiesce in his candidacy. After an interregnum of two months, Odescalchi was unanimously elected pope on 21 September, 1676, and took the name of Innocent XI.

Pope Innocent XI

Immediately upon his accession he turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the Curia. He passed strict ordinances against nepotism among the cardinals. He lived very parsimoniously and exhorted the cardinals to do the same. In this manner he not only squared the annual deficit which at his accession had reached the sum of 170,000 scudi, but within a few years the papal income was even in excess of the expenditures.

The whole pontificate of Innocent XI is marked by a continuous struggle with the absolutism of King Louis XIV of France. As early as 1673 the king had by his own power extended the right of the régale over the provinces of Languedoc, Guyenne, Provence, and Dauphiné, where it had previously not been exercised, although the Council of Lyons in 1274 had forbidden under pain of excommunication to extend the régale beyond those districts where it was then in force. Bishops Pavillon of Alet and Caulet of Pamiers protested against this royal encroachment and in consequence they were persecuted by the king. All the efforts of Innocent XI to induce King Louis to respect the rights of the Church were useless. In 1682, Louis XIV convoked an Assembly of the French Clergy which, on 19 March, adopted the four famous articles, known as “Déclaration du clergé français”. Innocent annulled the four articles in his rescript of 11 April, 1682, and refused his approbation to all future episcopal candidates who had taken part in the assembly. To appease the pope, Louis XIV began to pose as a zealot of Catholicism. In 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes and inaugurated a cruel persecution of the Protestants. Innocent XI expressed his displeasure at these drastic measures and continued to withhold his approbation from the episcopal candidates as he had done heretofore. He irritated the king still more by abolishing the much abused “right of asylum” in a decree dated 7 May, 1685. By force of this right the foreign ambassadors at Rome had been able to harbour in their palaces and the immediate neighbourhood any criminal that was wanted by the papal court of justice. Innocent XI notified the new French ambassador, Marquis de Lavardin, that he would not be recognized as ambassador in Rome unless he renounced this right. But Louis XIV would not give it up. At the head of an armed force of about 800 men Lavardin entered Rome in November, 1687, and took forcible possession of his palace. Innocent XI treated him as excommunicated and placed under interdict the church of St. Louis at Rome where he attended services on 24 December, 1687.

Louis XIV, painted by Charles Le Brun

The tension between the pope and the king was still increased by the pope’s procedure in filling the vacant archiepiscopal See of Cologne. The two candidates for the see were Cardinal Wilhelm Fürstenberg, then Bishop of Strasburg, and Joseph Clement, a brother of Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. The former was a willing tool in the hands of Louis XIV, and his appointment as Archbishop and Elector of Cologne would have implied French preponderance in north-western Germany. Joseph Clement was not only the candidate of Emperor Leopold I of Austria but of all European rulers, with the exception of the King of France and his servile supporter, King James II of England. At the election, which took place on 19 July, 1688, neither of the candidates received the required number of votes. The decision, therefore, fell to the pope, who designated Joseph Clement as Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. Louis XIV retaliated by taking possession of the papal territory of Avignon, imprisoning the papal nuncio and appealing to a general council. Nor did he conceal his intention to separate the French Church entirely from Rome. But the pope remained firm. The subsequent fall of James II of England destroyed French preponderance in Europe and soon after Innocent’s death the struggle between Louis XIV and the papacy was settled in favour of the Church. Innocent XI did not approve the imprudent manner in which James II attempted to restore Catholicism in England. He also repeatedly expressed his displeasure at the support which James II gave to the autocratic King Louis XIV in his measures hostile to the Church. It is, therefore, not surprising that Innocent XI had little sympathy for the Catholic King of England, and that he did not assist him in his hour of trial. There is, however, no ground for the accusation that Innocent XI was informed of the designs which William of Orange had upon England, much less that he supported him in the overthrow of James II. It was due to Innocent’s earnest and incessant exhortations that the German Estates and King John Sobieski of Poland in 1683 hastened to the relief of Vienna which was being besieged by the Turks. After the siege was raised, Innocent again spared no efforts to induce the Christian princes to lend a helping hand for the expulsion of the Turks from Hungary. He contributed millions of scudi to the Turkish war fund in Austria and Hungary and had the satisfaction of surviving the capture of Belgrade, 6 Sept., 1688.

Palais des Papes in Avignon, France

Innocent XI was no less intent on preserving the purity of faith and morals among the clergy and the faithful. He insisted on a thorough education and an exemplary life of the clergy, reformed the monasteries of Rome, passed strict ordinances concerning the modesty of dress among Roman ladies, put an end to the ever increasing passion for gambling by suppressing the gambling houses at Rome and by a decree of 12 February, 1679, encouraged frequent and even daily Communion. In his Bull “Sanctissimnus Dominus”, issued on 2 March, 1679, he condemned sixty-five propositions which favoured laxism in moral theology, and in a decree, dated 26 June, 1680, he defended the Probabiliorism of Thyrsus González, S.J. This decree (see authentic text in “Etudes religieuses”, XCI, Paris, 1902, 847 sq.) gave rise to the controversy, whether Innocent XI intended it as a condemnation of Probabilism. The Redemptorist Francis Ter Haar, in his work: “Ben. Innocentii PP. XI de probabilismo decreti historia” (Tournai, 1904), holds that the decree is opposed to Probabilism, while August Lehmkuhl, S.J., in his treatise: “Probabilismus vindicatus” (Freiburg, 1906), 78-111, defends the opposite opinion. In a decree of 28 August, 1687, and in the Constitution “Cœlestis Pastor” of 19 November, 1687, Innocent XI condemned sixty-eight Quietistic propositions of Miguel de Molinos. Towards the Jansenists Innocent XI was lenient, though he by no means espoused their doctrines. The process of his beatification was introduced by Benedict XIV and continued by Clement XI and Clement XII, but French influence and the accusation of Jansenism caused it to be dropped. His “Epistolæ ad Principes” were published by Berthier (2 vols., Rome, 1891-5), and his “Epistolæ ad Pontifices”, by Bonamico (Rome, 1891).

The body of Innocent XI in St Sebastian Chapel at St Peter’s Basilica.

IMMICH, Papst Innocenz XI. (Berlin, 1900); MICHAUD, Louis XIV et Innocent XI (4 vols., Paris, 1882 – ) written from Gallican standpoint; GÉRIN, Le Pape Innocent XI et la révolution anglaise de 1688 in Revue des questions historiques, XX (Paris, 1876); IDEM, Le Pape Innocent XI et la Révocation de l’Edit de Nantes, ibidem, XXIV (1878); IDEM, Le pape Innocent XI et l’Election de Cologne en 1688, ibidem, XXXIII (1883); IDEM, Le Pape Innocent XI et le siège de Vienne en 1683, ibidem, XXXIX (1886); FRAKNOI, Papst Innocenz XI. und Ungarns Befreiung von der Türkenherrschaft, translated into German from the Hungarian by JEKEL (Freiburg im Br., 1902); GIUSSANI, Il conclave di Innocenzo XI (Como, 1901). A contemporary biography by LIPPI was newly edited by BERTHIER (Rome, 1889). Sea also HORVARTH in Catholic University Bulletin, XV (Washington, 1909), 42-64; cf. ibid., IX 1903, 281.

MICHAEL OTT

Ed. note: Innocent XI was beatified by Pope Pius XII on October 7, 1956

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Battle of Petrovaradin

August 6, 2026

The Battle of Petrovaradin 1716 by Georg Philipp Rugendas the Elder.

The Battle of Petrovaradin also known as the Battle of Peterwardein, took place on 5 August 1716 during the Austro-Turkish War when the Ottoman army besieged the Habsburg-controlled fortress of Petrovaradin on the Military Frontier of the Habsburg monarchy (today Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia). The Ottomans attempted to capture Petrovaradin, the so-called Gibraltar on the Danube, but experienced a great defeat by an army half the size of their own, similar to the defeat they had experienced in 1697 at the Battle of Zenta. Ottoman Grand Vizier Damad Ali Pasha was fatally wounded, while the Ottoman army lost 20,000 men and 250 guns to the Habsburg army led by Field Marshal Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Austrians consolidated this victory by marching into the Banat and conquering Temesvár, the last remaining Turkish fortress in Hungary, followed by Belgrade.[11]

Petrovaradin Fortress. Photo by Pudelek (Marcin Szala)

Background

In the summer of 1715, the Ottoman Empire started to reclaim the Peloponnese, which had been ceded to the Republic of Venice by the Karlowitz Treaty in 1699. The Turks, led by Grand Vizier Damat Ali Pasha, easily reconquered the Venetian Kingdom of the Morea (the Greek Peloponnese). Having made an alliance with Venice in April 1716, Austria demanded full withdrawal from the Ottoman Empire as well as compensation to Venice for the continued violation of the stipulations of the Karlowitz treaty; the Ottoman grand-vizier, confident that he could defeat the Habsburgs and even regain Hungary, responded by declaring war on 15 May 1716. [12]

A Diorama of the Battle of Petrovaradin, Photo by DjordjeMarkovic

Prelude

Damat Ali Pasha, the Sultan’s son-in-law, left Constantinople with a 120,000 strong Turkish Army taking nearly three months to cover the 710 kilometres (440 miles) to Belgrade. There he consolidated an Ottoman force of 150,000 soldiers, at the core of which were 41,000 elite Janissaries and 30,000 Sipahi Ottoman cavalry, along with Tatar and Wallachian auxiliaries.[2] They crossed the Sava at Zemun on 26 July, and moved on the right bank of the Danube towards Sremski Karlovci in Habsburg territory.[13] The commander of the Austrian forces, Prince Eugene of Savoy, decided to engage the Ottomans at Petrovaradin. Eugene arrived at the fortress on 9 July. He had arranged for the construction of a fortified encampment within the Petrovaradin fortress which was nicknamed Gibraltar on the Danube.[14] Eugene set the 60,000-strong Imperial army on the march from their quarters in Futog.[3] Inside the Petrovaradin garrison were 8,000 men consisting primarily of Serbs. Serving in the Austrian army were Croatian and Hungarian infantry and cavalry regiments (approx. 42,000 men); Serbian border soldiers from Vojvodina; and the auxiliaries from Württemberg.[1] On 2 August, the first skirmish between the Imperial vanguard and Ottoman horsemen occurred when Field Marshal Count János Pálffy, with a small body of men, lead a group on reconnaissance but ran into more than 10,000 Turkish cavalry in the area of Karlowitz. The Austrian forces managed to make it back to camp but lost 700 men in the engagement and Field Marshal Count Siegfried Breuner was captured.[13] By the next day, the Grand Vizier had reached Petrovaradin and immediately dispatched 30,000 Janissaries against the imperial positions. The Janissaries dug saps and began to bombard the fortress. The bulk of the Austrian army crossed the Danube on 4 August by two pontoon bridges of boats, after which on the night of 4–5 August they encamped south of Petrovaradin. Their arrival was made under the cover of an unusual summer snowstorm.[15]

The Battle

Given their numerical disadvantage, Prince Eugene decided to station his men with one flank on the Danube and the other on the fortifications, using an entrenchment left from a battle that occurred outside Petrovaradin’s southern walls. A storm had damaged the bridges on the Danube delaying the deployment of the Imperial forces. Eugene took a high position from where he could command his troops.[16] Ready for battle were 64 battalions, 187 cavalry squadrons and 80 guns.[10] The infantry behind the foremost entrenchment formed the centre in three lines under the command of Field Marshal Sigbert Heister and Guido Starhemberg; to the left most of the cavalry under János Pálffy; and on the right wing a separate group of four cavalry regiments under Sigbert Heister and General of Cavalry Ebergenyi. A completely independent group of six battalions outside the ramparts, under the command of Alexander von Württemberg, acted as a liaison between the centre army and the left wing cavalry, ready to advance in support. [10] The Ottoman commander, feeling confident after defeating the reconnaissance group, demanded the surrender of the fortress. [13] Eugene responded, “We will attack!” [17]

On 5 August at seven o’clock in the morning, Eugene launched the Austrian offensive with a massive attack supported by frigates in the Danube river. 1716 location of the battle with positions of both armies [3] The Imperial left wing infantry of Württemberg easily took the first Ottoman positions and a battery of ten guns while the cavalry of Pálffy drove the opposite riders from the field. At the same moment, the Imperial centre ran into over-powering numbers of Janissaries who managed to push Starhemberg’s troops back into their entrenchments. Another infantry charge from Heister this time was again repulsed despite help from the Imperial cuirassiers; when the Austrian lines started breaking up, the Janissaries decided to push forward at the Habsburg centre but in doing so exposed both their flanks. [18] At this decisive moment, Eugene sent Ebergenyi’s cavalry to attack the left wing while ordering Württemberg’s battalions to attack the right supporting by cuirassiers. At the same time Eugene sent the reserve of Lõffelholz to secure the centre that was now moving forward. Meanwhile, the cannons of the fortress started ripping into the Turkish lines. János Pálffy with the Habsburg cavalry pushed back the Ottoman cavalry blocking simultaneously the escape route of the Janissaries, the Habsburg infantry moved in after the remaining Turks. [7] Eugene launched a general attack leading the charge himself against the Ottoman’s encampment. Damat Ali Pasha who, at the head of his bodyguard, plunged into the battle in a desperate charge, was killed, [f] as well as the governors of Anatolia and Adana, Türk Ahmed Pasha and Hüseyn Pasha, along with 20,000 men. [20] The Imperial losses were 3,695 common soldiers and 469 officers. [6] The battle was over by 2 pm. Eugene of Savoy had taken only five hours to rout the Ottomans. Eugene wrote his report on the battle from Damad Ali’s tent, reporting the seizure of 172 cannons, 156 banners, and five horse-tail standards as well as the Turkish war chest. [7]

Turkish state tent captured in the battle, on display in the Museum of Military History, Vienna.

Aftermath

The Austrian Army spent 5 and 6 August on the battlefield, on 7 August it crossed the left bank of the Danube. A cavalry group made up of 1,400 riders, including 200 hussars, under General Carl Graf von Eckh set out in pursuit of the Turks. [1] Within 20 days, Eugene had marched his army into the Serbian irregulars [21] and besieged the on 16 October, after a siege of 43 days, Banat, subduing the countryside with the help of fortress of Temeşvar, which had been in Ottoman hands since 1552; Temeşvar surrendered. It was followed by Belgrade, which fell to the Habsburg armies on 18 August 1717, when once again Eugene led the Austrian army to victory against superior forces, advancing for the first time deep into Ottoman territory. [22]

Memorial at the site of the Battle of Petrovaradin, Vojvodina, Serbia. Photo by saskafoto.

Legacy

A pilgrimage church was built at Tekije (part of Petrovaradin), on the hill overlooking the battlefield. It houses the shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The site is a place of pilgrimage every 5 August. [14] At the place of the battlefield on Vezirac hill in Petrovaradin, a monument that honours the victory of the Austrian army was erected in 1902, designed by Zagreb architect Hermann Bollé. [23]

Notes

a. As part of auxiliary troops [2] b. Included Hungarian and Croat Hussars [2] c. Of which 40,000 were Janissaries, 30,000 Sipahis, and the rest being Tartars, Walachians and troops of Asia and Egypt [6] d. Habsburg battle casualties included the deaths of numerous Field Marshals, most notably; Siegfried Breuner, Bertram Gehlen, Hannibal Schilling, Friedrich Lanken, Johann Wallenstein,
and Ernst Lanckhen. [8] e. The Ottoman high number likely included camp followers indiscriminately killed in the chaotic
rout; the Janissaries alone suffered between 6,000 and 10,000 casualties [10] f. Damad Ali was buried in the Belgrade Fortress, Kalemegdan, his tomb is known as
Paša’s Turbeh [19]

Citations

1. A military history of the Hungarian nation.
2. McKay, Baker & von Savoyen 1977, p. 223.
3. Tucker 2010, p. 721.
4. Campbell 1737, p. 216
5. Campbell 1737, p. 214.
6. Harris 1841, p. 5.
7. Ágoston 2011, p. 104.
8. Andreas Thürheim: Gedenkblätter aus der Kriegsgeschichte der K. K. oesterreichischen
Armee. Vol. 2. Verlag der Buchhandlung für Militär-Literatur, Vienna, 1880, p. 480 (https://g.co/k
gs/gdcZ9vr).
9. Harbottle & Bruce 1979, p. 197.
10. Heinrich Dyck 2020.
11. Finkel 2012, p. 647.
12. Shaw & Shaw 1976, p. 232.
13. Setton 1991, p. 435.
14. Wheatcroft 2009, p. 233.
15. Urban & Showalter 2013, p. 39.
16. Henderson 2002, p. 224.
17. Henderson 2002, p. 223.
18. Upton 2017, p. 41.
19. Srđan Rudić et al. 2018, p. 480.
20. McKay, Baker & von Savoyen 1977, p. 160.
21. Aksan 2014, p. 101.
22. Setton 1991, p. 436.
23. I love Novi Sad 2016

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August 6 – He told his assassins “God does not die!”

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July 29 – When he finished preaching, the nobles and knights responded with a thunderous “Deus Vult”

July 27, 2026

Pope Blessed Urban II (Otho, Otto or Odo of Lagery), 1088-1099, born of a knightly family, at Châtillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne, about 1042; died 29 July, 1099. Under St. Bruno (afterwards founder of the Carthusians) Otho studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About 1070 he retired to Cluny and […]

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July 29 – He only regained the hearts of his people after his death

July 27, 2026

St. Olaf Haraldson Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), b. 995; d. 29 July, 1030. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking […]

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

July 23, 2026

h/t: www.telegraph.co.uk 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 […]

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July 23 – St. Bridget of Sweden

July 23, 2026

St. Bridget of Sweden 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 […]

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July 24 – St. John Boste

July 23, 2026

St.  John Boste (Or JOHN BOAST.) 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 […]

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July 24 – Chaste Queen

July 23, 2026

Saint Kinga of Poland (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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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July 26 – St. Anne

July 23, 2026

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 […]

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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 […]

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