Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

March 5 – St. John Joseph of the Cross

March 5, 2026

St. John Joseph of the Cross

Born on the Island of Ischia, Southern Italy, 1654; died 5 March, 1739.

From his earliest years he was given to prayer and virtue. So great was his love of poverty that he would always wear the dress of the poor, though he was of noble birth.

At the age of sixteen years he entered the Order of St. Francis at Naples, amongst the Friars of the Alcantarine Reform, being the first Italian to join this reform which had been instituted in Spain by St. Peter of Alcantara. Throughout his life he was given to the greatest austerity: he fasted constantly, never drank wine, and slept but three hours each night.

In 1674 he was sent to found a friary at Afila, in Piedmont; and he assisted with his own hands in the building. Much against his will, he was raised to the priesthood. As superior, he always insisted upon performing the lowliest offices in the community. In 1702 he was appointed Vicar Provincial of the Alcantarine Reform in Italy.

He was favoured in a high degree with the gift of miracles, people of every condition being brought to him in sickness. His zeal for souls was such that even in sickness he would not spare any labour for them.

His great devotion was to our Blessed Lady, and he was urgent with his penitents that they also should cultivate this.

He was beatified in 1789, and canonized in 1839.

Compendium Vitae. B. Joannis Josephi a Cruce (Rome, 1839); Vita di S. Gian Giuseppe della Croce, dal P. Diodata dell’ Assunta (Rome, 1839); MANNING, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis (London, 1886).

FATHER CUTHBERT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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A Japanese Noble Family Is Martyred for the Faith

March 5, 2026

A generous servant of God, named Damian, had sacrificed his life for the faith in 1622. All his property having been confiscated, the house where his mother Isabella, his wife Beatrice, and his children dwelt was assigned to them as their prison. Guards were constantly watching over them, and did not cease to importune them to leave the Christian religion; they, however, always answered that they desired to die for Jesus Christ. Finally, after two years of captivity, the governor condemned all of them to be put to death, with the exception of Isabella; yet this venerable woman, aged seventy-four, having bitterly complained that she could not share the fate of her family, to satisfy her he ordered that she also should be executed. The grandmother, the mother, and the four children were then led from the house to the place of execution. A pagan wished to save the eldest of the two sons, named Paul, aged twelve years, and he kept him secreted; but the boy managed things so well that he was able to escape and follow the others. They were placed in a vessel, to be transported to the island of Nancaia, the place of execution. While on their journey they were joined by Mary, widow of Sucamota, who had been martyred with Damian; she was also led to death with her four sons. The two families embraced each other in a most cordial manner, and began to chant together the praises of God.

Church of the Twenty-Six-Martyrs in Nagazaki circa 1885.

Beatrice was the first that was immolated. Paul followed her; he was already on his knees awaiting the fatal blow, when the executioner, seeing on his neck a kind of collar that was the ornament worn by the children of rank in Japan, ordered him to take it off. The boy arose at once and removed it; he then knelt down again, bent his neck while pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary. John, his brother, nine years of age, seeing him stretched dead at his side, courageously fell on his knees, and was at once decapitated. There still remained two girls—Magdalen, aged thirteen, and Isabella, who was seven. The executioners seized little Isabella, and having thrown her on the body of her mother, killed her with three blows of the saber. Magdalen afterwards perished in the same way. Finally, Isabella, who had obtained permission to die last, in order, she said, to have the consolation to see her whole family pass happily from the earth to heaven, after she had contemplated, not without the greatest grief, the massacre of all those who were dear to her, was also beheaded, March 5, 1624. We may here see how far the noble Christian soul can go.

Rev. Eugene Grimm, ed. Victories of the Martyrs, vol. 9, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1888), 387–9.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 752

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At Judgment, the joking knight’s rendering of accounts will be more severe than a prostitute’s

March 5, 2026

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Painting by Gustav Reinhold

See for example the story of the Orders of Chivalry. From one standpoint it was a synthesis of the history of the Middle Ages. Imagine a heroic knight eventually wounded in the Crusades, who returns to the monastery in a handicapped condition and is thus prevented from repeating his deeds. Suppose he returns and gives himself over to the regular life in the monastery, as for him there will be no more war or anything at all, he is now disabled. So he becomes comical and playful, says funny things and spreads a mentality of softness and relativism. In the monastery, he becomes famous for his jokes, and in the intermission after meals everyone rushes to listen to the latest joke of knight Galleon, who conquered Antioch and is now the monastery’s jester. This man can do more harm to the monastery than all the good he ever did in the Crusade; because he destroys a whole institution.

When for some reason the knights of his monastery stay overnight in some other monastery of that or some other Military Order, the question always is, “What’s Friar Galleon’s latest joke?” So they will tell them one, two, five… And everyone cracks up! Given the overall ambience, the Commander orders wine to serve around as everyone listens to Friar Galleons’ jokes. Friar Galleon is thus ready to inaugurate the Renaissance….

Knight, Death, and the Devil by Albrecht Durer.

He has spent his whole life in a monastery as he might have spent it having a good time. At the hour of rendering accounts, his will be more severe than a prostitute’s. That’s the way it is, there’s no point dismissing it.

(Excerpt from a Jantar, Monday, March 5, 1990 – Nobility.org translation)

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March 6 – Bishop Prime Minister

March 5, 2026

St. Chrodegang

Stained glass window of St. Chrodegang of Metz, in the Sainte-Glossinde de Metz chapel.

Bishop of Metz, born at the beginning of the eighth century at Hasbania, in what is now Belgian Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; died at Metz, 6 March, 766.

He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, 742, he was appointed Bishop of Metz, retaining his civil office at the request of Pepin.

In his influential position St. Chrodegang labored earnestly for the welfare of Church and State, and was ever solicitous to strengthen the bonds of union between the temporal and spiritual rulers.

In his diocese he introduced the Roman Liturgy and chant, community life for the clergy of his cathedral, and wrote a special rule for them. He founded (748) the Abbey of Gorze (near Metz), and remained its friend and protector. He also established St. Peter’s Abbey, on the Moselle, and did much for Gengenbach and Lorsch. For the latter he is said to have obtained the relics of St. Nazarius, and for Gorze those of St. Gorgonius.

In 753 he was sent by Pepin to Pope Stephen III to assure him of the sympathy of the Frankish rulers against the inroads of Aistulf, King of the Lombards. He accompanied the pope to Ponthieu. After the death of St. Boniface, Pope Stephen conferred the pallium on St. Chrodegang (754-755), thus making him an archbishop, but not elevating the See of Metz.

St. Chrodegang was buried in the Abbey of Gorze.

Former Abbey Church of Gorze

He was a man of imposing appearance, of a mild, though firm, character, of great liberality to the poor, and of more than ordinary ability, well versed in Latin and German. The rule containing thirty-four chapters which he gave his clergy (c. 755) was modeled according to the rules of St. Benedict and of the Canons of the Lateran (Mansi, XIV, 313; Hardouin, IV 1181; Migne, P.L., LXXXIX, 1097). Through it he gave a mighty impulse to the spread of community life among the secular clergy. It was later increased to eighty-six chapters (D’Archey, Spicilegium, I, 656).
In 762, during a dangerous illness, he introduced among his priests a confraternity of prayer known as the League of Attigny.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 6 – Of Kings and Princesses

March 5, 2026

Saints Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba

The two first were daughters of Penda, the cruel pagan king of Mercia, and sisters to three successive Christian Kings, Peada, Wulfere, and Ethelred, and to the pious prince Merowald.

Statue of Peada, center, above western entrance to Lichfield cathedral. St. Chad on the left and Wulfhere on the right.

Kyneburge, as Bede informs us, (1) was married to Alcfrid, eldest son of Oswi, and in his father’s life-time king of Bernicia. They are said to have lived in perpetual continency. By his death she was left a widow in the bloom of life, and, renouncing the world, governed a nunnery which she built; or, according to others, found built by her brother Wulfere, in a moist fenny place, on the confines of the counties of Huntingdon and Northampton, then called Dormundcaster, afterwards from her, Kyneburgecaster, now Caster. The author of her life in Capgrave says, that she lived here a mirror of all sanctity, and that no words can express the bowels of charity with which she cherished the souls which served God under her care; how watchful she was over their comportment, and how zealous in instructing and exhorting them; and with what floods of tears she implored for them the divine grace and mercy. She had a wonderful compassion for the poor, and strongly exhorted her royal brothers to alms-giving and works of mercy.

Peterborough Cathedral

Kyneswide and Kynedride (though many confound the latter with St. Kyneburge) were also daughters of Penda, left very young at his death. By an early consecration of their virginity to God, they devoted themselves to his service, and both embraced a religious state. Kyneswide took the holy veil in the monastery of Dormundcaster.

The bodies of these saints were translated to Peterborough, where their festival was kept on the 6th of March, together with that of Saint Tibba, a holy virgin, their kinswoman, who, having spent many years in solitude and devotion, passed to glory on the 13th of December. Camden informs us (2) that she was honored with particular devotion at Rihal, a town near the river Wash, in Rutlandshire.

See Ingulphus, Hist. p. 850. Will. of Malmesbury, l. 4. de Pontif. p. 29. Capgrave and Harpsfield, sæc. 7. c. 23.

Note 1. Bed. Hist. l. 3. c. 21.
Note 2. Camden in Rutlandshire.

The Lives of the Saints, Vol. III: March, by Rev. Alban Butler, New York, D.&J. Sadlier Publishers, 1866, pp. 522-523.

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March 7 – Pope Innocent XIII

March 5, 2026

Pope Innocent XIII

(Michelangelo Dei Conti)

Born at Rome, 13 May, 1655; died at the same place, 7 March, 1724. He was the son of Carlo II, Duke of Poli. After studying at the Roman College he was introduced into the Curia by Alexander VIII, who in 1690 commissioned him to bear the blessed hat (berettone) and sword (stocco) to Doge Morosini of Venice. In 1695 he was made Titular Archbishop of Tarsus and nuncio at Lucerne, and in 1697, nuncio at Lisbon. Clement XI created him Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quirico e Giulitta on 17 May, 1706, conferred on him the Diocese of Osimo in 1709, and that of Viterbo in 1712. Sickness compelled him to resign his see in 1719. After the death of Clement XI he was elected pope in a stormy conclave on 8 May, 1721. In memory of Innocent III, to whose lineage he belonged, he chose the name of Innocent XIII. Soon after his succession he invested Emperor Charles VI with the Kingdom of Sicily and received his oath of allegiance in 1722. When, a year later, the emperor invested the Spanish prince Don Carlos, with Parma and Piacenza, the pope protested on the ground that these two duchies were under papal suzerainty. His protests, however, remained unheeded. Like his predecessor, he gave an annual pension to the English Pretender, James III, the son of the dethroned Catholic King, James II, and even promised to aid him with 100,000 ducats, in case an opportunity should offer itself to regain the English Crown by force of arms. He also assisted the Venetians and especially the Island of Malta in their struggle against the Turks. In the dispute of the Jesuits with the Dominicans and others, concerning the retention of various Chinese Rites among the Catholic converts of China, Innocent XIII sided with the opponents of the Jesuits. When in 1721 seven French bishops sent a document to Rome containing a petition to suppress the Constitution “Unigenitus” in which Clement XI had condemned the errors of Quesnel, Innocent XIII not only condemned the writing of the bishops, but also demanded unconditional submission to the Constitution. He was, however, weak enough to yield to French pressure and raise the unworthy Prime Minister Dubois to the cardinalate. He, indeed, exhorted the minister to change his wicked life, but his exhortations remained useless. (For a milder view of Dubois see Bliard, “Dubois, cardinal et premier ministre”, Paris, 1901.) In a Bull of March, 1723, he regulated numerous abuses in Spain and was assisted in the execution of this Bull by King Philip V of Spain. The fears which were raised in the beginning of his pontificate that he would yield to nepotism were entirely groundless. He elevated his brother to the cardinalate, but did not allow his revenues to exceed 12,000 scudi as had been stipulated by Pope Innocent XII.

MAYER, Papstwahl Innocenz’ XIII (Vienna. 1874); Leben Papst Innocentii XIII (Cologne. 1724); MICHAUD, La fin de Clément XI et le commencement du pontificat d’Innocent XIII in Internationale theologische Zeitschrift, V, 42-60, 304-331.

MICHAEL OTT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 7 – Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

March 5, 2026

Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

Born July 15, 1747. Died March 7, 1770 in Florence.

Portrait of St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart O.C.D. painted after her death by Anna Piattoli.

She was born Anna Maria Redi to a large noble family in Arezzo, Italy. She was the daughter of Count Ignatius Redi and Camilla Billeti. After attending the boarding school of the Benedictine nuns of St. Apollonia’s in Florence, she entered the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Florence, taking the name Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus.

Teresa Margaret was a very private and spiritual person. She was given a special contemplative experience concerning the words of I John 4:8, “God is love.” She seemed to have a premonition of her death, which was at the young age of 23.

After death the fast decomposition of her body made the nuns fear it would decay before proper funeral rites were conducted. The next day decomposition reversed and three days after her death her body was lifelike. The nuns, the Provincial, several priests and doctors all saw and testified to the fact that the body was as lifelike as if she were sleeping, and there was not the least visible evidence of corruption or decay. Her incorrupt body lies in the monastery in Florence.

The incorrupt body of St. Teresa Margaret.

She is one of the five Discalced Carmelite Nuns to become a Saint together with Saints Teresa of Avila, of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, of Teresa of the Andes, and Thérèse de Lisieux.

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March 8 – They buried him with all the honors of a prince

March 5, 2026

St. John of God

Born at Montemor o Novo, Portugal, 8 March, 1495, of devout Christian parents; died at Granada, 8 March, 1550.

The wonders attending the saints birth heralded a life many-sided in its interests, but dominated throughout by implicit fidelity to the grace of God. A Spanish priest whom he followed to Oropeza, Spain, in his ninth year left him in charge of the chief shepherd of the place, to whom he gradually endeared himself through his punctuality and fidelity to duty, as well as his earnest piety. When he had reached manhood, to escape his master’s well-meant, but persistent, offer of his daughter’s hand in marriage, John took service for a time in the army of Charles V, and on the renewal of the proposal he enlisted in a regiment on its way to Austria to do battle with the Turks.

Saint John of God, Cuzco School, 18th century, at the Brooklyn Museum

Succeeding years found him first at his birthplace, saddened by the news of his mother’s premature death, which had followed close upon his mysterious disappearance; then a shepherd at Seville and still later at Gibraltar, on the way to Africa, to ransom with his liberty Christians held captive by the Moors. He accompanied to Africa a Portuguese family just expelled from the country, to whom charity impelled him to offer his services.

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March 8 – Classmate of Innocent III

March 5, 2026

Bl. Vincent Kadlubek

(KADLUBO, KADLUBKO).

Bishop of Cracow, chronicler, born at Karnow, Duchy of Sandomir, Poland, 1160; died at Jedrzejow, 8 March, 1223.

The son of a rich family in Poland, he made such progress in his studies that in 1189 he could sign his name as Magister Vincentius (Zeissberg, in “Archiv fur osterreichische Geschichte”, XLII, Vienna, 1870, 25), from which some conclude that he was then a canon of Cracow and principal of the cathedral school. Another document of 1212 (Zeissberg, 29) bears his signature as quondam Sandomirensis praepositus. At the death of Bishop Fulk of Cracow 11 Sept., 1207, the chapter voted for Vincent. Innocent III approved the election 28 March, 1208, and Vincent was consecrated by Henry Kielicz, Archbishop of Gnesen. Poland was then in a state of political and ecclesiastical demoralization, and Innocent had asked the archbishop, his schoolmate, to bring about a reform in clergy and people. Vincent worked in harmony with his metropolitan, and in visitations and sermons sought to obey the papal instructions. He assisted the religious in his diocese, and made notable donations to the monasteries of Sulejow, Koprzywnica, and Jedrzejow. It was also through his influence that in 1214 peace was restored between Andrew of Hungary and Leszek of Poland who were contending for the possession of Galicia.

In 1218 Vincent sent in his resignation, and, after its acceptance by Honorius III entered the Monastery of Jedrzejow. He was the first Pole to receive the habit of the Cistercians (Starovolscius, 56). In due time he made his profession and lived in retirement until his death. He was buried before the high altar of the abbey church. In 1682 John Sobieski petitioned the Holy See for his beatification. A similar request was made in 1699 by the General Chapter of the Order of Cîteaux. On 18 Feb., 1764, Clement XIII ratified his cult on supplication of Wojciech Ziemicki, Abbot of Jedrzejow.

Works

“Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae”, in four books. The first three are in the form of a dialogue between Archbishop John of Gnesen (1148-65) and Matthew, Bishop of Cracow (1145-65). The first is legendary the second is based on the chronicle of Gallus, the third and fourth contain matters in Vincent’s own experience. Some claim that the work was written at the request of King Casimir, others say at the request of King Leszek, while Vincent was bishop; and others, that it was written in the seclusion of the monastery. The latest edition of the work is by Bielowski in “Mon. Pol. hist.”, II (Lemberg, 1870).

Cistercienser Chronik, XXI, 65; JOECKER, Gelehrten Lexicon, II, 2043; MANRIQUE, Annales Cist., IV, 136; Hurter, Nomenclator; Vita et Miracula Servi Dei Vincentii Kadlubkonis; SINOME STAROVOLSCIO, Scriptore (Cracow, 1642)

Francis Mershman (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 2 – Duc de Saint-Simon

March 2, 2026

Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon

Born 16 January, 1675; died in Paris, 2 March, 1755. Having quitted the military service in 1702, he lived thereafter at the Court, becoming the friend of the Ducs de Chevreuse and de Beauvilliers, who, with Fenelon, were interested in the education of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV. At the death of Louis XIV, he was named a member of the council of regency of the young king, Louis XV, and in 1721 was sent as ambassador to Madrid. When the Duke of Bourbon became minister, December, 1723, Saint-Simon went into retirement. It was principally between 1740 and 1746 that he wrote his celebrated “Memoirs”. As a history of the reign of Louis XIV they are an extremely precious document. The edition with commentary by Boislisle, and of which twenty-two volumes have already appeared (1911), is an incomparable monument of learning. Saint-Simon aired his hatreds, which were bitter and numerous; he was an adversary of equality, which he described as “leprosy”; he dreamt of a kind of chamber of dukes and peers which would control and paralyze royal despotism, and allow the States-General to assemble every five years to present the humble remonstrances of the people.

Château de la Ferté-Vidame where Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon lived. Painting is at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Whatever the historical value of the “Memoirs” may be, they are, by their sparkling wit, one of the most original monuments of French literature; and the “Parallele des trots premiers rois Bourbons”, written by Saint-Simon in 1746, the year in which he finished the record of the reign of Louis XIV, is an admirable piece of history. On all religious questions he should be read with great precaution. Very hostile to the Jesuits, and favorable to the Jansenists, he contributed greatly to the creation of legends concerning personages such as Mme de Maintenon and Michel Le Tellier. These legends had a long existence. The reproach, historically false, of having instigated the violent measures of persecutions against the Jansenists, which he hurled against Le Tellier, was all the more strange coming from his pen, since Saint-Simon himself, on the day following the death of Louis XIV, was one of the most rabid in demanding of the regent severe measures against Le Tellier and other Jesuits. Father Bliard has shown how much care is necessary in judging Saint-Simon’s assertions regarding the religious questions of his day. The historian Emile Bourgeois, who can not be charged with prejudice in favor of religion, wrote in his turn, in 1905: “History has given up the habit, too hastily acquired, of pinning her faith to the word of Saint-Simon.” And Bourgeois proved how inaccurate were the statements of Saint-Simon by showing what use the latter made in his “Memoirs” of documents of the diplomatist Torcy.

SAINT-SIMON, Memoires, ed. BOISLISLE (22 vols., Paris 1876-1911); SAINT-SIMON, Ecrits inedits, ed. FAUGERE (6 vols. Paris, 1880-3); SAINT-SIMON, Lettres et depeches sur l’ambassade d’Espagne, 1721 1722, ed. DRUMONT (Paris, 1880); BASCHET, Le duc de Saint-Simon, son cabinet et ses manuscrits (Paris, 1874); CHERUEL, Saint-Simon considere comme historien de Louis XIV (Paris, 1865); BOISSIER, Saint-Simon (Paris, 1892); BLIARD, Les memoires de Saint-Simon et le Pere Le Tellier (Paris, 1891); BOURGEOIS, La collaboration de Saint-Simon et de Torcy, etude critique sur les Memoires de Saint-Simon in Revue historique, LXXXVII (1905; PILASTRE, Lexique de la langue de Saint-Simon (Paris, 1905).

GEORGES GOYAU

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March 2 – Ercole Gonzaga

March 2, 2026

(Hercules.)

Cardinal; b. at Mantua, 23 November, 1505; d. 2 March, 1563. He was the Son of the Marquess Francesco, and nephew of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469-1525). He studied philosophy at Bologna under Pomponazzi, and later took up theology. In 1520, or as some say, 1525, his uncle Sigismondo renounced in his favour the See of Mantua; in 1527 his mother Isabella brought him back from Rome the insignia of the cardinalate. Notwithstanding his youth, he showed great zeal for church reform, especially in his own diocese; and in this he received help and encouragement from his friend Cardinal Giberti, Bishop of Verona. His mode of life was stainless and a manuscript work of his, “Vitae Christianae institutio”, bears witness to his piety. He published a Latin catechism for the use of the priests of his diocese and built the diocesan seminary, thus carrying out reforms urged by the Council of Trent, as his friends Contarini, Gilberti, Caraffa, and other bishops had done or were doing, even before the council had assembled. His charity was unbounded, and many young men of talent and genius had their university expenses paid by him.

Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga presides over the session of the Council of Trent in Santa Maria Maggiore. Photo by Sailko. Painting by Elia Naurizio.

The popes employed him on many embassies, e.g. to Charles V in 1530. Because of his prudence and his business-like methods, he was a favourite with the popes, with Charles V, and Ferdinand I, and with the Kings of France, Francis I and Henry II. From 1540 to 1556 he was guardian to the young sons of his brother Federico II who had died, and in their name he governed the Duchy of Mantua. The elder of the boys, Francesco died in 1550 and was succeeded by his brother Guglielmo. In the conclave of 1559 it was thought he would certainly be made pope; but the cardinals would not choose as pope a scion of a ruling house. In 1561 Pius VI named him legate to the Council of Trent, for which he had from the beginning laboured by every means at his command, moral and material. In its early stages, owing to the fact that not a few considered he was in favour of Communion under both kinds, he met with many difficulties, and interested motives were attributed to him. Nothing but the express wish of the pope could have persuaded him to remain at his post, and the energy he displayed was unwearied. He contracted fever at Trent, where he died, attended by Father Lainez. His benefactions to the Jesuit college at Mantua and to the Monte di Pieta were very great, and his letters are invaluable to the historian of that period.

U. BENIGNI (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 3 – The work of Mother Drexel

March 2, 2026

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament

St. Katharine Drexel

One of the…congregations of religious women in the Catholic Church and one of entirely American origin, founded by Miss Katharine Drexel at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1889, for missionary work among the Indians and coloured people of the United States. The formal approbation of the Holy See was given to the congregation in July, 1907.

Francis Anthony Drexel, the father of St. Katharine Drexel

The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore gave a new impetus to missionary work among the coloured and Indian races and as one of the results of its recommendations, Right Reverend James O’Connor, Bishop of Omaha, acting in conjunction with Miss Katherine Drexel, daughter of the late Francis A. Drexel of Philadelphia, decided with the approval of the Most Reverend P. J. Ryan, Archbishop of Philadelphia, to form a new congregation of two races. For some years previous to this step, Miss Drexel had been very active in re-establishing and supporting schools in many of the Indian reservations. The survey of the field of work revealed about 250,000 Indians neglected, if not practically abandoned, and over nine million of negroes still struggling through the aftermath of slavery.

St. Francis de Sales High School. It was the girls high school. Operated from 1899 to 1970. It was built and operated by St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for its whole time of operation. The both schools together educated 15,000 Indian and Black students.

The piteous condition of these two races decided Miss Drexel to devote both her fortune and her life to them. With the approval of high church authorities in the United States, she gathered around her young women imbued with the same ideas, and thus founded, towards the close of 1899, the nucleus of the new community. In order to be well grounded in the principles of the religious life, the first members made a two years’ novitiate with the Sisters of Mercy. After this, they continued their period of preparation in the old Drexel homestead, Torresdale, near Philadelphia. Early in 1892 a mother-house and novitiate were opened at Maud, Pennsylvania, adjoining which was erected a manual training and boarding school for coloured boys and girls.
The distinctive spirit of this institute is the consecration of its members, body and soul, to the service to Jesus Christ ever present in the Holy Eucharist. His Eucharistic life is to be the inspiration of the entire varied activity of the sisters. Besides the vows usual in all religious communities, the sisters pledge themselves to work exclusively for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Indian and coloured races. By their rule, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament may

undertake all kinds of educational works;

they may care for orphans or spiritually or corporally destitute children;

they may attend the sick by visiting them in their homes or by conducting hospitals;’

they may shelter destitute and deserving women;

they may visit and instruct inmates of prisons and reformatories;

they may establish and conduct homes for the aged;

they may establish schools and classes outside their own houses, visit the poor in order to look after their religious welfare and also to teach them habits of good living, neatness, and thrift-in short, to make them self-sustaining men and women.

St. Joseph Indian Normal School. Established by the Catholic Indian Missions with funding from St. Katharine Drexel, the school taught 60 Indian boys. When the Indian School was closed, the building was named Drexel Hall. It is one of the first structures of St. Joseph’s College. Photo by Chris Light.

The sisterhood now numbers one hundred and twelve members. In 1894, St. Catharine’s boarding and industrial school for Pueblo Indians was opened at Santa Fe, New Mexico; in 1899, the Institute of St. Francis de Sales, Rock Castle, Va., a boarding academy and industrial school, was opened for the training of Southern coloured girls; in 1902, St. Michael’s Mission, Arizona, for the education of Navajo Indians, a boarding and industrial school, was completed and opened. The Academy of the Immaculate Mother, Nashville, Tenn., was opened in 1905. In this school girls are also trained to become teachers, while others not desiring to teach may take a full course of domestic science and dressmaking. In 1906, the sisters commenced work at Carlisle, Pa., by instructing the Indian pupils of the Government School, and conducting a day school for coloured children.

SISTER MERCEDES (cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia)

More pictures and history on St. Katharine Drexel’s work: Noblesse Oblige – Part 2

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March 3 – James Spencer Northcote

March 2, 2026

James Spencer Northcote

Born at Feniton Court, Devonshire, 26 May, 1821; d. at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, 3 March, 1907. He was the second son of George Barons Northcote, a gentleman of an ancient Devonshire family of Norman descent. Educated first at Ilmington Grammar School, he won in 1837 a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he came under Newman’s influence. In 1841 he became B.A., and in the following year married his cousin, Susannah Spencer Ruscombe Poole. Taking Anglican Orders in 1844 he accepted a curacy at Ilfracombe; but when his wife was received into the Catholic Church in 1845, he resigned his office. In 1846 he himself was converted, being received at Prior Park College, where he continued as a master for some time. From June, 1852, until September, 1854, he acted as editor of the “Rambler”, and about the same time helped to edit the well-known “Clifton Tracts”. After his wife’s death in 1853 he devoted himself to preparation for the priesthood, first under Newman at Edgbaston, then at the Collegio Pio, Rome. On 29 July, 1855, he was ordained priest at Stone, where his daughter had entered the novitiate. He returned to Rome to complete his ecclesiastical studies, also acquiring the profound erudition in Christian antiquities which was later to be enshrined in his great work “Roma Sotterranea”. In 1857 he was appointed to the mission of Stoke-upon-Trent, which he served until 1860, when he was called to Oscott College as vice- president, and six months later became president. Under his rule, which lasted for seventeen years, the college entered on an unprecedented degree of prosperity, and his influence on education was felt far outside the walls of Oscott. Failing health caused him to resign in 1876, and he returned to the mission, first at Stone (1868), and then at Stoke-upon-Trent (1881), where he spent the rest of his life revered by all for his learning, his noble character, and his sanctity. During the last twenty years of his life he suffered form creeping paralysis, which slowly deprived him of all bodily motion, though leaving his mind intact. He had been made a canon of the Diocese of Birmingham in 1861, canon-theologian in 1862, and provost in 1885. In 1861 the pope conferred on him the doctorate in divinity. Dr. Northcote’s wide scholarship is witnessed to by many works, chief among which is “Roma Sotterranea”, the great work on the Catacombs, written in conjunction with William R. Brownlow, afterwards Bishop of Clifton. This work has been translated into French and German; and it won for its authors recognition as being among the greatest living authorities on the subject. Other works were: “The Fourfold Difficulty of Anglicanism” (Derby, 1846); “A Pilgrimage to La Salette” (London, 1852); “Roman Catacombs” (London, 1857); “Mary in the Gospels” (London, 1867); “Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna” (London, 1868); “A Visit to the Roman Catacombs” (London, 1877); “Epitaphs of the Catacombs” (London, 1878).

BARRY, The Lord, my Light (funeral sermon, privately printed, 1907; Memoir of the Very Rev. Canon Northcote in The Oscotian (July, 1907); Report of the case of Fitzgerald v. Northcote (London, 1866).

EDWIN BURTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 3 – St. Winwallus

March 2, 2026

St. Winwallus

Statue of St. Winwallus in the Cathedral Saint-Corentin de Quimper. Photo by Moreau.henri

Abbot of Landevennec; d. 3 March, probably at the beginning of the sixth century, though the exact year is not known. There are some fifty forms of his name, ranging from Wynwallow through such variants as Wingaloeus, Waloway, Wynolatus, Vinguavally, Vennole, Valois, Ouignoualey, Gweno, Gunnolo, to Bennoc. The original form is undistinguishable. In England the commonest are Winwalloc or Winwalloe; in France, Guenole or Guingalois.

Landévennec Abbey. Photo © Rolf Krahl

His father, Fracan, was a British chieftain who fled before Saxon invaders to Brittany, where the saint was born. After considerable difficulty in overcoming his father’s objections, Winwallus entered the religious life under the guidance of St. Budoc on the Island of Laurels near Isleverte. After residing here for some time he determined to go to Ireland to place himself under the great St. Patrick, but was deterred by a dream in which that saint appeared to him forbidding the journey, but telling him he must soon leave St. Budoc. Accordingly he set out with eleven companions, and, after a time spent in extraordinary austerities on the Island of Tibidi at the mouth of the River Aven, finally settled at Landevennec, where he founded a monastery on a rocky headland not far from Brest. After his death many miracles were ascribed to him. His body was carried to Flanders at the time of the Norman forays. Relics were preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer (where a church was dedicated to him under the name of St. Walow), at St. Peter’s in Ghent, and elsewhere. His tomb was to be seen in the church of Landevennec up to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Abbey of Landevennec became Benedictine in the ninth century, and was in the hands of the Congregation of St. Maur at the final suppression. St. Winwallus’s feast is kept on 3 March, and that of his translation on 28 April. His name has been preserved in the dedications of churches in the Anglican parishes of Wonastow in Monmouthshire (where he is known as St. Wonnow), and of Gunwalloc, St. Cleer, and Landewednack in Cornwall. It was been suggested that the last-named parish got its name from some monastic dependency of Landevennec.

Acta SS., I March, 245; GAMMACK in Dict. Christ. Biog., s.v.; GUERIN, Petits Bollandistes, III, 133; ARNOLD-FORESTER, Studies in Church Dedications, II (London, 1899), 284.

Raymund Webster (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 4 – This Prince had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin

March 2, 2026

St. Casimir

Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at Cracow, 3 October, 1458; died at the court of Grodno, 4 March, 1484. He was the grandson of Wladislaus II Jagiello, King of Poland, who introduced Christianity into Lithuania, and the second son of King Casimir IV and Queen Elizabeth, an Austrian princess, the daughter of Albert II, Emperor of Germany and King of Bohemia and Hungary. Casimir’s uncle, Wladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary, perished at Varna in 1444, defending Christianity against the Turks. Casimir’s elder brother, Wladislaus, became King of Bohemia in 1471, and King of Hungary in 1490. Of his four younger brothers, John I, Albert, Alexander, and Sigismund in turn occupied the Polish throne, while Frederick, the youngest, became Archbishop of Gnesen, Bishop of Cracow, and finally cardinal, in 1493.

The early training of the young princes was entrusted to Father Dlugosz, the Polish historian, a canon at Cracow, and later Archbishop of Lwów (Lemberg), and to Filippo Buonaccorsi, called Callimachus. Father Dlugosz was a deeply religious man, a loyal patriot, and like Callimachus, well versed in statecraft. Casimir was placed in the care of this scholar at the age nine, and even then he was remarkable for his ardent piety. When Casimir was thirteen he was offered the throne of Hungary by a Hungarian faction who were discontented under King Matthias Corvinus. Eager to defend the Cross against the Turks, he accepted the call and went to Hungary to receive the crown. He was unsuccessful, however, and returned a fugitive to Poland. The young prince again became a pupil of Father Dlugosz, under whom he remained until 1475. He was later associated with his father who initiated him so well into public affairs that after his elder brother, Wladislaus, ascended to the Bohemian throne, Casimir became heir-apparent to the throne of Poland.

When in 1479 the king went to Lithuania to spend five years arranging affairs there, Casimir was placed in charge of Poland, and from 1481 to 1483 administered the State with great prudence and justice. About this time his father tried to arrange for him a marriage with the daughter of Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, but Casimir preferred to remain single. Shortly afterwards he fell victim to a severe attack of lung trouble, which, weak as he was from fastings and mortifications, he could not withstand. While on a journey to Lithuania, he died at the court of Grodno, 4 March 1484. His remains were interred in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in the cathedral of Vilna.

The three-handed painting of Saint Casimir is considered miraculous. The original is in Saint Casimir’s Chapel in Vilnius Cathedral.

St. Casimir was possessed of great charms of person and character, and was noted particularly for his justice and chastity. Often at night he would kneel for hours before the locked doors of churches, regardless of the hour or the inclemency of the weather. He had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and the hymn of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “Omni die dic Marix mea laudes anima”, was long attributed to him.

After his death he was venerated as a saint, because of the miracles wrought by him. Sigismund I, King of Poland, petitioned the pope for Casimir’s canonization, and Pope Leo X appointed the papal legate Zaccaria Ferreri, Bishop of Guardalfiera, the Archbishop of Gnesen, and the Bishop of Przemysl to investigate the life and miracles of Casimir. This inquiry was completed at Turn in 1520, and in 1522 Casimir was canonized by Adrian VI. Pope Clement VIII named 4 March as his feast.

St. Casimir’s Chapel in Vilnius Cathedral (main altar) Saint Casimir’s Chapel and silver sarcophagus at Vilnius Cathedral

St. Casimir is the patron of Poland and Lithuania, though he is honoured as far as Belgium and Naples. In Poland and Lithuania churches and chapels are dedicated to him, as at Rozana and on the River Dzwina near Potocka, where he is said to have contributed miraculously to a victory of the Polish army over the Russians. In the beginning of the seventeenth century King Sigismund III began at Vilna the erection of a chapel in honour of St. Casimir, which was finished under King Wladislaus IV. The building was designed by Peter Danckerts, of the Netherlands, who also adorned the walls with paintings illustrating the life of the saint. In this chapel is found an old painting renovated in 1594, representing the saint with a lily in his hand. Two other pictures of the saint are preserved, one in his life by Ferreri, and the other in the church at Krosno in Galicia.

POTTHAST, Biblotheca historica medii ævi, Wegweiser (2nd ed.), 1236; CHEVALIER, Bio-bibl., s. v.; ESTREICHER, Bibliografia poloka (Cracow, 1903), XIX, 210-12; PRILESZKY, Acta sanctorum Hungariæ (Tyrnau, 1743), I, 121-32; FERRERI, Vita beati Casimiri confessoris ex serenissimis Poloniæ regibus (Cracow, 1521) in Acta SS., March, I, 347-51; ST. GREGORY, Miracula S. Casimiri in Acta SS., March, I, 351-57; IDEM, S. Casimiri theatrum seu ipsius prosapia, vita, miracula (Vilna, 1604); CIATI, La santità prodigiosa di S. Casimiro (Luccoa, 16..); Officium S. Casimiri confessoris M. D. Lithuaniæ patrini (Vilna, 1638); COLLE, Compendio della vita di S. Casimiro (Palermo, 1650); TYSZKIEWICZ, Królewska droga do nisba albo zycie sw. Kazimierza (Warsaw, 1752); Sw. Kazimier, in Przyjaeiel ludu (Lissa, 1846), XIII; PEKALSKI, Zywoty sw. Patronów polskich (Cracow, 1866); PRZEZDZIECKI, Oraison de saint Casimir à la très sainte Vierge (Cracow, 1866); LESZEK, Zywot sw. Kazimierza Jagiellonczyka (Cracow, 1818); PALLAN, Sw. Kazimierz (Tarnów, 1893); PAPÉE, Swiety Kazimierz królewicz polski (Lemberg, 1902); PAPÉE, Studya i szkice z czasów Kazimierza Jagiellonczyka (Warsaw, 1907), 141-54.

L. ABRAHAM (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 4 – “Your Honor, was St. Augustine also a traitor?”

March 2, 2026

Blessed Christopher Bales

(Or Bayles, alias Evers)

The Rack. 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, b. at Coniscliffe near Darlington, County Durham, England, about 1564; executed 4 March, 1590. He entered the English College at Rome, 1 October, 1583, but owing to ill-health was sent to the College at Reims, where he was ordained 28 March, 1587.

Sent to England 2 November, 1588, he was soon arrested, racked, and tortured by Topcliffe, and hung up by the hands for twenty-four hours at a time; he bore all most patiently. At length he was tried and condemned for high treason, on the charge of having been ordained beyond seas and coming to England to exercise his office. He asked Judge Anderson whether St. Augustine, Apostle of the English, was also a traitor. The judge said no, but that the act had since been made treason by law.

He suffered 4 March, 1590, “about Easter”, in Fleet Street opposite Fetter Lane. On the gibbet was set a placard: “For treason and favouring foreign invasion”. He spoke to the people from the ladder, showing them that his only “treason” was his priesthood. On the same day Venerable Nicholas Horner suffered in Smithfield for having made Bales a jerkin, and Venerable Alexander Blake in Gray’s Inn Lane for lodging him in his house.

[ed. note: He was beatified 15 December, 1929, by Pope Pius XI]

Bridgewater, Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae in Anglia (Trier, 1589); Challoner, Memoires; Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London, 1891); Northern Catholic Calendar; Knox, Douay Diaries (London, 1878); Morris, Catholics of York under Elizabeth (London, 1891); Foley, Records S. J.; Roman Diary (London, 1880).

BEDE CAMM

Blessed Nicholas Horner

Layman and martyr, born at Grantley, Yorkshire, England, date of birth unknown; died at Smithfield, 4 March, 1590. He appears to have been following the calling of a tailor in London, when he was arrested on the charge of harbouring Catholic priests. He was confined for a long time in a damp and noisome cell, where he contracted bloodpoisoning in one leg, which it became necessary to amputate. It is said that during this operation Horner was favoured with a vision, which acted as an anodyne to his sufferings. He was afterwards liberated, but when he was again found to be harbouring priests he was convicted of felony, and as he refused to conform to the public worship of the Church by law established, was condemned. On the eve of his execution, he had a vision of a crown of glory hanging over his head, which filled him with courage to face the ordeal of the next day. The story of this vision was told by him to a friend, who in turn transmitted it by letter to Father Robert Southwell S.J., 18 March, 1590.

Horner was hanged, drawn and quartered because he had relieved and assisted Christopher Bales, seminary priest and martyr, b. at Cunsley, Durham, 1564, d. on the Scaffold at Fetter Lane, London 4 March, 1590. Father Bales was cruelly tortured in prison, although he was a consumptive; and was condemned merely for being a priest.

GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng.. Cath., s. v.; CHALLONER, Memoirs, (Edinburgh, 1878), I, 166, 169, 218; RIBADENEIRA, Appendix Schismatis Anglicani (1610), 25; MORRIS, Troubles, 3rd series.

C.F. WEMYSS BROWN

cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia

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February 26 – St. Alexander (of Alexandria)

February 26, 2026

St. Alexander (of Alexandria)

Patriarch of Alexandria, date of birth uncertain; died 17 April, 326. He is, apart from his own greatness, prominent by the fact that his appointment to the patriarchial see excluded the heresiarch Arius from that post. Arius had begun to teach his heresies in 300 when Peter, by whom he was excommunicated, was Patriarch. He was reinstated by Achillas, the successor of Peter and then began to scheme to be made a bishop. When Achillas died Alexander was elected, and after that Arius threw off all disguise. Alexander was particularly obnoxious to him, although so tolerant at first of the errors of Arius that the clergy nearly revolted. Finally the heresy was condemned in a council held in Alexandria, and later on, as is well known, in the general Council of Nicaea, whose Acts Alexander is credited with having drawn up. An additional merit of this great man is that during his priesthood he passed through the bloody persecutions of Galerius, Maximinus, and others. It was while his predecessor Peter was in prison, waiting for martyrdom, that he and Achillas succeeded in reaching the pontiff, and interceded for the reinstatement of Arius, which Peter absolutely refused declaring that Arius was doomed to perdition. The refusal evidently had little effect, for when Achillas succeeded Peter, Arius was made a priest; and when in turn Alexander came to the see, the heretic was still tolerated. It is worth recording that the great Athanasius succeeded Alexander, the dying pontiff compelling the future doctor of the Church to accept the post. Alexander is described as “a man held in the highest honour by the people and clergy, magnificent, liberal, eloquent, just, a lover of God and man, devoted to the poor, good and sweet to all, so mortified that he never broke his fast while the sun was in the heavens.”

T.J. CAMPBELL (crf. Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 26 – St. Isabel of France

February 26, 2026

St. Isabel of France

Daughter of Louis VIII and of his wife, Blanche of Castille, born in March, 1225; died at Longchamp, 23 February, 1270. St. Louis IX, King of France (1226-70), was her brother. When still a child at court, Isabel, or Elizabeth, showed an extraordinary devotion to exercises of piety, modesty, and other virtues. By Bull of 26 May, 1254, Innocent IV allowed her to retain some Franciscan fathers as her special confessors. She was even more devoted to the Franciscan Order than her royal brother. She not only broke off her engagement with a count, but moreover refused the hand of Conrad, son of the German Emperor Frederick II, although pressed to accept him by everyone, even by Pope Innocent IV, who however did not hesitate subsequently (1254) to praise her fixed determination to remain a virgin. As Isabel wished to found a convent of the Order of St. Clare, Louis IX began in 1255 to acquire the necessary land in the Forest of Rouvray, not far from the Seine and in the neighbourhood of Paris. On 10 June, 1256, the first stone of the convent church was laid. The building appears to have been completed about the beginning of 1259, because Alexander IV gave his sanction on 2 February, 1259, to the new rule which Isabel had had compiled by the Franciscan Mansuetus on the basis of the Rule of the Order of St. Clare. These rules were drawn up solely for this convent, which was named the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin (Monasterium Humilitatis B. Mariæ Virginis). The sisters were called in the rule the “Sorores Ordinis humilium ancillarum Beatissimf Marif Virginis”. The fast was not so strict as in the Rule of St. Clare; the community was allowed to hold property, and the sisters were subject to the Minorites. The first sisters came from the convent of the Poor Clares at Reims. Isabel herself never entered the cloister, but from 1260 (or 1263) she followed the rules in her own home near by. Isabel was not altogether satisfied with the first rule drawn up, and therefore submitted through the agency of her brother Louis IX, who had also secured the confirmation of the first rule, a revised rule to Urban IV. Urban approved this new constitution on 27 July, 1263.

Painting of St. Isabel of France by Roger de Gaignières

The difference between the two rules consisted for the most part in outward observances and minor alterations. This new rule was also adopted by other French and Italian convents of the Order of St. Clare, but one can by no means say that a distinct congregation was formed on the basis Isabella’s rule. In the new rule Urban IV gives the nuns of Longchamp the official title of “Sorores Minores inclusæ, which was doubtlessly intended to emphasize closer union with the Order of Friars Minor. After a life of mortification and virtue, Isabella died in her house at Longchamp on 23 February, 1270, and was buried in the convent church. After nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were wrought at her grave. In 1521 Leo X allowed the Abbey of Longchamp to celebrate her feast with a special Office. On 4 June, 1637, a second exhumation took place. On 25 January, 1688, the nuns obtained permission to celebrate her feast with an octave, and in 1696 the celebration of the feast on 31 August was permitted to the whole Franciscan Order. They now keep it on 1 September. The history of the Abbey of Longchamp had many vicissitudes. The Revolution closed it, and in 1794 the empty and dilapidated building was offered for sale, but as no one wished to purchase it, it was destroyed. In 1857 the walls were pulled down except one tower, and the grounds were added to the Bois de Boulogne.

AGNES D’HARCOURT, third Prioress of Longchamp (1263-70), wrote the saint’s life, Vie de Madame Isabelle, which may be found in the Archives Nationales L. 1021 MSS. (Paris). A Latin translation of this book is given in Acta SS., VII, Aug., 798-808; cf. ibid., 787-98. See also ROULLIARD, La sainte mère, ou vie de Madame Saincte Isabel (Paris, 1619); ANDRÉ, Histoire de Ste Isabelle (Carpentras, 1885); DANIÉLO, Vie de Madame Ste Isabelle (Paris, 1840); BERGUIN, La Bienheureuse Isabelle de France (Grenoble, 1899); DUCHESNE, Histoire de l’abbaye royale de Longchamp, 1255-1789 (2nd ed., Paris, 1904); SBARA-LEA, Bull. Franc., III (Rome, 1765), 64-9; II (1761). 477-86.

MICHAEL BIHL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 27 – “Which of you Gospellers can show such a knee?”

February 26, 2026

Ven. Mark Barkworth

(Alias LAMBERT.)

This is an illustration, said to be from about 1680, of the permanent gallows at Tyburn, which once stood where Marble Arch now stands. There was a three-mile cart ride in public from Newgate prison to the gallows, with large spectator stands lined along the way, so many people could see the hangings (for a fee). Huge crowds collected on the way and followed the accused to Tyburn.

Priest and martyr, born about 1572 in Lincolnshire; executed at Tyburn 27 February, 1601. He was educated at Oxford, and converted to the Faith at Douai in 1594, by Father George, a Flemish Jesuit. In 1596 Barkworth went to Rome and thence to Valladolid. On his way to Spain he is said to have had a vision of St. Benedict, who told him he would die a martyr, in the Benedictine habit. Admitted to the English College, 16 December, 1596, he was ordained priest in 1599, and set out for the English Mission together with Ven. Thomas Garnet. On his way he stayed at the Benedictine Abbey of Hyrache in Navarre, where his ardent wish to join the order was granted by his being made an Oblate with the privilege of making profession at the hour of death. After having escaped great peril at the hands of the heretics of La Rochelle, he was arrested on reaching England and thrown into Newgate, where he lay six months, and was then transferred to Bridewell. Here he wrote an appeal to Cecil, signed “George Barkworth”. At his examinations he behaved with extraordinary fearlessness and frank gaiety. Having been condemned he was thrown into “Limbo”, the horrible underground dungeon at Newgate, where he remained “very cheerful” till his death.

newgate cell

Barkworth suffered at Tyburn with Ven. Roger Filcock, S.J., and Ven. Anne Lyne. It was the first Tuesday in Lent, a bitterly cold day. He sang, on the way to Tyburn, the Paschal Anthem: “Hæc dies quam, fecit Dominus exultemus et lætemur in ea”. On his arrival he kissed the robe of Mrs. Lyne, who was already dead, saying: “Ah, sister, thou hast got the start of us, but we will follow thee as quickly as we may”; and told the people: “I am come here to die, being a Catholic, a priest, and a religious man, belonging to the Order of St. Benedict; it was by this same order that England was converted”. He was tall and burly of figure, gay and cheerful in disposition. He suffered in the Benedictine habit, under which he wore a hair-shirt. It was noticed that his knees were, like St. James’, hardened by constant kneeling, and an apprentice in the crowd picking up his legs, after the quartering, called out to others: “Which of you Gospellers can show such a knee?” Barkworth’s devotion to the Benedictine Order led to his suffering much from the hands of the superiors of the Vallalodid College. These sufferings are probably much exaggerated, however, by the anti-Jesuit writers Watson, Barneby, and Bell.

CAMM, A Benedictine Martyr in England (London, 1897); CHALLONER, Memoirs (1750); W.C., A Reply to Father Persons’ Libel (1603); WATSON, Decacordon of ten Quodlibet Questions (1602); KNOX, Douay Diaries (London, 1878).

Bede Camm (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 27 – Patron of Youth

February 26, 2026

St. Gabriel Possenti

Passionist student; renowned for sanctity and miracles; born at Assisi, 1 March, 1838; died 27 February, 1862, at Isola di Gran Sasso, Province of Abruzzo, Italy; son of Sante Possenti and Agnes Frisciotti; received baptism on the day of his birth and was called Francesco, the name by which he was known before entering religion, educated at the Christian Brothers’ School, and at the Jesuit college at Spoleto. Immediately after the completion of his secular education, he embraced the religious state; on 21 September, 1856 he was clothed with the Passionist habit, and received the name of Gabriele dell’ Addolorata. He made his religious profession on 22 September, 1857, and then began his ecclesiastical studies as a Passionist student. He was gifted with talent of a higher order and with a wonderful memory; and in his exact observance of rule, his spirit of prayer, and his fervent devotion to the Passion of our Lord, to the Holy Eucharist, and to the Dolours of the Blessed Virgin. In the sixth year of his religious life he died of consumption; his death was that of the just, holy and edifying, and he was buried in the church attached to the retreat at Isola di Gran Sasso where his remains are still entombed, and where numerous prodigies have been wrought, and numerous conversions effected, through his intercession.

Little was known of Gabriel’s extraordinary spiritual gifts during his life. He was not singular, he conformed himself to the community life; he was only a fervent and exemplary Passionist novice and student hidden from the world in the cloister. After death, this young religious in a few years was declared venerable by the Church, thereby testifying that he had practised all the virtues in a heroic degree; and he was beatified and raised to the honours of the altar, by special privilege of the supreme pontiff before he was fifty years dead.

The shrine of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Isola del Gran Sasso d’Italia. Photo by freegiampi.

His solemn beatification took place on 31 May, 1908, in the Vatican basilica, in the presence of the cardinals then in Rome, of the Passionist fathers resident in Rome and of representatives from all the provinces of the congregation. Among those present were many who had known the beatified during his life, including one of his brothers, Father Norbert, C.P., his old spiritual director and confessor and Signor Dominico Tiberi, who had been miraculously cured through his intercession.

The relics of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows to the side of the High Altar in Isola del Gran Sasso d’Italia. Photo by Gaetano56.

The Mass and Office in honour of Blessed Gabriel are allowed to the whole Passionist congregation, and his feast day is celebrated on 31 May. It is the express wish of Leo XIII and Pius X that he should be regarded as the chief patron of the youth of today, and especially as the patron of young religious, both novices and professed, in all that concerns their interior lives.
Arthur Devine (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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February 28 – The Gentleman instructed in the conduct of a virtuous and happy life

February 26, 2026

William Darrell Theologian, b. 1651, in Buckinghamshire, England; d. 28 Feb., 1721, at St. Omer’s, France. He was a member of the ancient Catholic family of Darrell of Scotney Castle, Sussex, being the only son of Thomas Darrell and his wife, Thomassine Marcham. He joined the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept., 1671, was professed […]

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March 1 – St. David of Wales

February 26, 2026

St. David (DEGUI, DEWI). Bishop and Confessor, patron of Wales. He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David’s day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in […]

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March 1 – Apostle of the Frisians

February 26, 2026

St. Suitbert (Suidbert). Apostle of the Frisians, b. in England in the seventh century; d. at Suitberts-Insel, now Kaiserswerth, near Dusseldorf, 1 March, 713. He studied in Ireland, at Rathmelsigi, Connacht, along with St. Egbert (q. v.). The latter, filled with zeal for the conversion of the Germans, had sent St. Wihtberht, or Wigbert, to […]

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February 23 – The responsibilities of leadership are heavy

February 23, 2026

Pope Benedict XIII (PIETRO FRANCESCO ORSINI) Born 2 February, 1649; died 23 February, 1730. Being a son of Ferdinando Orsini and Giovanna Frangipani of Tolpha, he belonged to the archducal family of Orsini-Gravina. From early youth he exhibited a decided liking for the Order of St. Dominic, and at the age of sixteen during a […]

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February 23 – St. Polycarp’s martyrdom

February 23, 2026

St. Polycarp’s martyrdom Polycarp’s martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smyrna, to the Church of Philomelium “and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church”, etc. The letter begins with an account of the persecution and the heroism of the martyrs. Conspicuous among them was one Germanicus, who encouraged […]

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February 24 – Drink the Bitter Cup

February 23, 2026

Blessed Thomas Mary Fusco The seventh of eight children, he was born on 1 December 1831 in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy, to Dr. Antonio, a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their upright moral and religious conduct, and taught their son Christian piety and charity to […]

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February 24 – Second Duke of Guise

February 23, 2026

FRANÇOIS DE LORRAINE Second Duke of Guise, b. at the Château de Bar, 17 Feb., 1519, of Claude de Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon; d, 24 Feb, 1563. He was the warrior of the family, el gran capitan de Guysa, as the Spanish called him. A wound which he received at the siege of Boulogne […]

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February 24 – First Christian King Among the English

February 23, 2026

St. Ethelbert, King of Kent Born, 552; died, 24 February, 616; son of Eormenric, through whom he was descended from Hengest. He succeeded his father, in 560, as King of Kent and made an unsuccessful attempt to win from Ceawlin of Wessex the overlordship of Britain. His political importance was doubtless advanced by his marriage […]

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Excommunicating and Deposing Elizabeth I of England

February 23, 2026

Pope St. Pius V: Bull “Regnans in Excelsis,” Excommunicating and Deposing Elizabeth I of England, February 25, 1570 He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and on earth, commited one, holy, Catholike and Apostolike Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one alone upon earth, namely to […]

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February 25 – Princess, Abbess, Miracle Worker

February 23, 2026

St. Walburga Born in Devonshire, about 710; died at Heidenheim, 25 Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West […]

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King of Denmark visits Greenland

February 19, 2026

h/t kongehuset.dk The visit begins in Nuuk on Wednesday morning with arrival at Nuuk Airport, where The King will be received by The Prime Minister of The Government of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and The President of the Inatsisartut, the Parliament of Greenland, Kim Kielsen. The King will be staying in Nuuk throughout Wednesday. On Thursday, […]

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Romanée-Conti: symbol of tradition and nobility

February 19, 2026

We should not be surprised that a single bottle of Romanée-Conti sometimes sells for $10,000 and more, for the Domaine Romanée-Conti (aka DRC) is one of the oldest and finest vineyards of Burgundy, France, and its wines, a veritable symbol of tradition and nobility. In 1087—eight years before Blessed Urban II would call the nobility […]

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February 19 – St. Conrad of Piacenza

February 19, 2026

St. Conrad of Piacenza Hermit of the Third Order of St. Francis, date of birth uncertain; died at Noto in Sicily, 19 February, 1351. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged […]

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February 20 – Pope Martin V

February 19, 2026

Pope Martin V (Oddone Colonna) Born at Genazzano in the Campagna di Roma, 1368; died at Rome, 20 Feb., 1431. He studied at the University of Perugia, became prothonotary Apostolic under Urban VI, papal auditor and nuncio at various Italian courts under Boniface IX, and was administrator of the Diocese of Palestrina from 15 December […]

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February 20 – Repeatedly racked

February 19, 2026

Ven. Thomas Pormort English martyr, b. at Hull about 1559; d. at St. Paul’s Churchyard, 20 Feb., 1592. He was probably related to the family of Pormort of Great Grimsby and Saltfletby, Lincoln shire. George Pormort, Mayor of Grimsby in 1565, had a second son Thomas baptized, 7 February, 1566, but this can hardly be […]

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February 21 – He Fearlessly Denounced Homosexual Clergy

February 19, 2026

St. Peter Damian Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, born at Ravenna “five years after the death of the Emperor Otto III,” 1007; died at Faenza, 21 Feb., 1072. He was the youngest of a large family. His parents were noble, but poor. At his birth an elder brother protested against this new charge […]

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February 21 – Terror of the Wicked, Supporter of the Weak

February 19, 2026

Blessed Pepin of Landen Mayor of the Palace to the Kings Clotaire II, Dagobert, and Sigebert. He was son of Carloman, the most powerful nobleman of Austrasia, who had been mayor to Clotaire I, son of Clovis I. He was grandfather to Pepin of Herstal, the most powerful mayor, whose son was Charles Martel, and […]

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February 21 – Shakespeare’s Inspiration

February 19, 2026

Saint Robert Southwell Poet, Jesuit, martyr; born at Horsham St. Faith’s, Norfolk, England, in 1561; hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 21 February, 1595. His grandfather, Sir Richard Southwell, had been a wealthy man and a prominent courtier in the reign of Henry VIII. It was Richard Southwell who in 1547 had brought the poet Henry […]

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February 22 – From Cavalier’s Mistress to Saint

February 19, 2026

St. Margaret of Cortona A penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis, born at Laviano in Tuscany in 1247; died at Cortona, 22 February, 1297. At the age of seven years Margaret lost her mother and two years later her father married a second time. Between the daughter and her step-mother there seems to […]

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Francis Sintaro, a Young Japanese Lord, Is Martyred for the Faith

February 16, 2026

The princes who were the least hostile to the Christians, to please the emperor did not cease to go in search of them and to persecute them. At Firoxima, a young lord called Francis Sintaro having learned that during his absence the guardian of the house had declared to the officers of justice that it […]

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February 16 – Ven. Luis de Lapuente

February 16, 2026

Ven. Luis de Lapuente (Also, D’Aponte, de Ponte, Dupont). Born at Valladolid, 11 November, 1554; died there, 16 February 1624. Having entered the Society of Jesus, he studied under the celebrated Suarez, and professed philosophy at Salamanca. Endowed with exceptional talents for government and the formation of young religious, he was forced by impaired health […]

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February 16 – Founded and ruled a religious order as his family Manorhouse, but only joined that order in his old age

February 16, 2026

St. Gilbert of Sempringham Founder of the Order of Gilbertines, born at Sempringham, on the border of the Lincolnshire fens, between Bourn and Heckington. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it lies between 1083 and 1089; died at Sempringham, 1189. His father, Jocelin, was a wealthy Norman knight holding lands in Lincolnshire; […]

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February 17 – He established the first charitable loan-institution for the poor

February 16, 2026

Barnabas of Terni (Interamna) Friar Minor and missionary, d. 1474 (or 1477). He belonged to the noble family of the Manassei and was a man of great learning, being Doctor of Medicine and well versed in letters and philosophy. Despising the honours and vanities of the world, he entered the Order of Friars Minor in […]

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February 17 – Marvelous Apparition of Our Lady To Seven Young Nobles

February 16, 2026

St. Alexis Falconieri Born in Florence, 1200; died 17 February, 1310, at Mount Senario, near Florence. He was the son of Bernard Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles. […]

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February 18 – Fra Angelico brought part of heaven to earth

February 16, 2026

Blessed Fra Angelico A famous painter of the Florentine school, born near Castello di Vicchio in the province of Mugello, Tuscany, 1387; died at Rome, 1455. He was christened Guido, and his father’s name being Pietro he was known as Guido, or Guidolino, di Pietro, but his full appellation today is that of “Blessed Fra […]

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February 18 – Charlemagne’s envoy to the pope

February 16, 2026

St. Angilbert Abbot of Saint-Riquier, died 18 February, 814. Angilbert seems to have been brought up at the court of Charlemagne, where he was the pupil and friend of the great English scholar Alcuin. He was intended for the ecclesiastical state and must have received minor orders early in life, but he accompanied the young […]

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Picturesque and The Real In Daily Life

February 12, 2026

Carl Spitzweg is a relatively little known Bavarian painter of the last century (1808-1885). Or at least so it would appear, for his name, like that of Hector Roesler Franz, another German painter of the turn of the century, is not mentioned in the celebrated books on the history of art. Nevertheless, the paintings of […]

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St. Frideswide – February 12

February 12, 2026

St. Frideswide (FRIDESWIDA, FREDESWIDA, Fr. FRÉVISSE, Old Eng. FRIS). Virgin, patroness of Oxford, lived from about 650 to 735. According to her legend, in its latest form, she was the child of King Didan and Safrida, and was brought up to holiness by Algiva. She refused the proffered hand of King Algar, a Mercian, and […]

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Saint Eulalia of Barcelona – February 12

February 12, 2026

Saint Eulalia of Barcelona A Spanish martyr in the persecution of Diocletian (February 12, 304), patron of the cathedral and city of Barcelona, also of sailors. The Acts of her life and martyrdom were copied early in the twelfth century, and with elegant conciseness, by the learned ecclesiastic Renallus Grammaticus (Bol. acad. hist., Madrid, 1902, […]

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February 13 – Mystic and Counselor to Future Popes

February 12, 2026

St. Catherine de Ricci, Virgin (AD 1522 – 1589) The Ricci are an ancient family, which still subsists in a flourishing condition in Tuscany. Peter de Ricci, the father of our saint, was married to Catherine Bonza, a lady of suitable birth. The saint was born at Florence in 1522, and called at her baptism […]

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February 13 – John Fowler

February 12, 2026

John Fowler Scholar and printer, b. at Bristol, England, 1537; d. at Namur, Flanders, 13 Feb., 1578-9. He studied at Winchester School from 1551 to 1553, when he proceeded to New College, Oxford where he remained till 1559. He became B.A. 23 Feb., 1556-7 and M.A. in 1560, though Antony a Wood adds that he […]

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St. Fulcran – February 13

February 12, 2026

St. Fulcran Bishop of Lodève; died 13 February, 1006. According to the biography which Bernard Guidonis, Bishop of Lodève (died 1331), has left us his saintly predecessor, Fulcran came of a distinguished family, consecrated himself at an early age to the service of the Church, became a priest, and from his youth led a pure […]

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February 14 – Renounced Earthly Nobility To Obtain Heavenly Nobility

February 12, 2026

Sts. Cyril and Methodius These brothers, the Apostles of the Slavs, were born in Thessalonica, in 827 and 826 respectively. Though belonging to a senatorial family they renounced secular honors and became priests. They were living in a monastery on the Bosphorus, when the Khazars sent to Constantinople for a Christian teacher. Cyril was selected […]

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February 14 – From humble birth to the most exalted throne

February 12, 2026

Pope Honorius II (Lamberto Scannabecchi) Born of humble parents at Fagnano near Imola at an unknown date; died at Rome, 14 February, 1130. For a time he was Archdeacon of Bologna. On account of his great learning he was called to Rome by Paschal II, became canon at the Lateran, then Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede, […]

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February 15 – St. Claude de la Colombière

February 12, 2026

St. Claude de la Colombière Missionary and ascetical writer, born of noble parentage at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, between Lyons and Vienne, in 1641; died at Paray-le-Monial, 15 Feb., 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1659. After fifteen years of religious life he made a vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to […]

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February 15 – One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen

February 12, 2026

Ven. William Richardson (Alias Anderson.) Last martyr under Elizabeth I; b. according to Challoner at Vales in Yorkshire (i.e. presumably Wales, near Sheffield), but, according to the Valladolid diary, a Lancashire man; executed at Tyburn, 17 Feb., 1603. He arrived at Reims 16 July, 1592 and on 21 Aug. following was sent to Valladolid, where […]

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February 15 – Pope Lucius II

February 12, 2026

Pope Lucius II (Gherardo Caccianemici dal Orso) Born at Bologna, unknown date, died at Rome, 15 February, 1145. Before entering the Roman Curia he was a canon regular in Bologna. In 1124 Honorius II created him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. From 1125-1126 he was papal legate in Germany where he took part in […]

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February 9 – St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia

February 9, 2026

St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia Born at Premariacco, near Cividale, Italy, about 730-40; died 802. Born probably of a Roman family during Longobardic rule in Italy, he was brought up in the patriarchal schools at Cividale. After ordination he became master of the school. He acquired a thorough Latin culture, pagan and Christian. He […]

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February 9 – Banished From Court

February 9, 2026

St. Ansbert Archbishop of Rouen in 695, Confessor He had been chancelor to King Clotair III in which station he had united the mortification and recollection of a monk with the duties of wedlock, and of a statesman. Quitting the court, he put on the monastic habit at Fontenelle under St. Wandregisile, and when that […]

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February 9 – Patroness of those suffering from toothaches

February 9, 2026

t. Apollonia A holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians previous to the persecution of Decius (end of 248, or beginning of 249). During the festivities commemorative of the first millenary of the Roman Empire, the agitation of the heathen populace rose to a great height, and when […]

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