Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

April 3 – English Catholic exile

April 3, 2025

John Martiall

(or MARSHALL)

Cardinal William Allen. The Douai-Rheims Bible, a complete translation into English from the Latin, was printed under his orders.

Born in Worcestershire 1534, died at Lille, 3 April, 1597. He was one of the six companions associated with Dr. Allen in the foundation of the English College at Douai in 1568. He received his education at Winchester (1545-49) and New College, Oxford (1549-56), at which latter place, after a residence of seven years, he graduated as bachelor of civil law in 1556. He next accepted a post as assistant master at his old school at Winchester under Thomas Hyde; but soon after the accession of Elizabeth, both of them found it necessary to quit the country. Marshall retired to Louvain, where a number of English Catholic exiles were residing. Thence he removed to Douai, when he joined the new university recently founded there, and graduated B.D. in 1567. Thus it came about that when Allen arrived to found his new college, Marshall was already in residence, and willingly attached himself to the new foundation, which was destined to play so important a part in English Catholic affairs in the future.

Illustration of the 3 colleges in the city of Douai

He did not, however, remain long, chiefly because of the smallness of the allowance which it was possible to give; later on, he obtained a canonry in the church of St. Peter at the neighbouring city of Lille. Owing to the disturbed state of the country, he was not installed until 1579. He lived to enjoy his dignity for eighteen years. It was during his residence at Louvain that he brought out the two chief literary works for which he is known. The first of these, “Treatise of the Cross” (Antwerp, 1564), was a defence of the honour paid by Catholics to the Cross, and he dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth, being “emboldened upon her keeping the image of a crucifix in her chapel”. He was attacked by James Calfhill, the Calvinist, which brought forth his “Reply” (Louvain, 1566). He also wrote a treatise on the “Tonsure of Clerks”, which is still in Manuscript.

COOPER in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v.; KNOX, Historical Introduction to Douay Diaries; WOOD, Athenæ Oxon., ed. BLISS, I, 658; DODD, Church Hist., II, 113; PITTS, De illust. Ang. script.; HANDECŒUR, Histoire du Collège Anglais à Douai (Reims, 1898); CAMM, Life of Allen (London, 1908).

BERNARD WARD (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 3 – Last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England

April 3, 2025

Thomas Goldwell

Bishop of St. Asaph, the last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England; b. probably at the family manor of Goldwell, in the parish of Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent, between 1501 and 1515; d. in Rome, 3 April, 1585. He was a member of a Kentish family of ancient lineage, long seated at Goldwell; and was educated at All Souls College, Oxford, where he graduated M. A. in 1531, and B. D. in 1534. While at Oxford he attained more eminence in mathematics, astronomy, and kindred sciences, than in divinity or the humanities, a point worth remembering in view of his future career. He stood out firmly against the innovations in religion brought about by Henry VIII. At an early date he became intimate with Reginald, afterwards Cardinal, Pole, a friendship which proved to be a long lasting one, and which had considerable influence on Goldwell’s subsequent career. Soon after 1535, when the king had begun his drastic measures of ecclesiastical spoliation, Goldwell became Pole’s chaplain and joined him in exile, being included in the same Act of Attainder “for casting off his duty to the King, and submitting to the Bishop of Rome”. He reached Rome in 1538, and shortly afterwards he was appointed camerarius of the English Hospital of the Holy Trinity. In 1547 he became a novice in the Theatine House of St. Paul, at Naples. On the death of Paul III, Pole, now a cardinal, asked and obtained permission for Goldwell to accompany him to Rome, and thus he was present at the long conclave of 1549-50 in the capacity of Pole’s personal attendant. After the election of Julius III, Goldwell returned to Naples, and made his profession as a Theatine. In 1553, while Edward VI was still reigning an Act of General Pardon was passed, from which Goldwel had the signal honour of being specially excepted by name, along with Pole and some others. On the accession of Mary I there came an all too brief spell of prosperity for English Catholics. Pole, now papal legate, returned to England with Goldwell in his train, and the latter was soon nominated to the See of St. Asaph in North Wales (1555). While still only bishop-designate, he was sent to Rome (2 July, 1555) to make a report on the state of religion in England to Paul IV.

Cardinal Reginald Pole, son of Bl. Margaret Pole. Painted by Willem van de Passe

While at Rome, on this occasion, he was probably consecrated bishop; and he returned to England at the end of the year. In 1556 he assisted at the consecration of Pole to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. He was then for some time actively engaged in the affairs of his Diocese of St. Asaph. He issued numerous injunctions to his clergy, prohibiting married priests from saying Mass, and forbade the use of churches as poor-schools. He revived the pilgrimages to the miraculous well of St. Winefride, at Holywell, and obtained from the pope a renewal of the indulgences for pilgrims to that shrine. He also examined the heretic John Philpot, which fact is chronicled ion no friendly way by Foxe (“Acts and Monuments”, ed. Townsend, VII, 620). It was about this time proposed, though without his knowledge or consent, to make him ambassador to the court of Rome, and to translate him to the See of Oxford; letters of credence to Paul IV had been actually made out; and on 5 Nov., 1558, he received the custody of the temporalities of the See of Oxford, Thomas Wood having received that of St. Asaph four days previously. But the death of Queen Mary on 17 November terminated all these arrangements. Just at this juncture Goldwell was at the deathbed of Cardinal Pole, to whom he gave the last sacraments.

A genuine and realistic c.1595 portrait of queen Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.

The accession of Elizabeth was, of course, the signal for the final attack of Protestantism upon the ancient Faith. Goldwell strenuously resisted as far as in him lay. It is interesting to note by what dishonourable and underhand methods the queen’s party put it out of his power to make his protest in a constitutional manner. It was alleged that, by his nomination to Oxford, he was no longer Bishop of St. Asaph; but that, as he had not done homage to the queen for Oxford, he was not yet bishop of that see. Accordingly, he did not receive the summons to Parliament which was undoubtedly his legal due. In May, 1559, however, he was summoned before the queen with the other bishops, and all of them were expelled from their sees for their refusal to take the oath of supremacy. He then resolved to leave the country, for, as he afterwards stated, he was not allowed to perform a bishop’s office, say Mass, or administer the sacraments, as long as he remained in England.

Thomas Goldwell became superior of the Theatines at San Silvestro al Quirinale

Although the ports were being watched for him, he succeeded in making his escape. It was obviously impossible for him to have carried off the register and records of his see under such circumstances. This charge, however, has been maliciously made against him. He then became an active Catholic exile. He started at once for Rome, but was detained at Louvain by sickness. He refused the offer of an Italian bishopric, preferring to devote himself to his order (the Theatines) and to the conversion of England. In 1561 he was made superior of his old convent at Naples, and also warden of the English Hospital at Rome. He was the only English bishop at the Council of Trent, where he was treated with marked respect. He was there engaged in the revision of the Breviary and the Missal; and also urged the council to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth. His mere presence at Trent was a cause of such excessive annoyance to Elizabeth that she wrote the following extraordinary farrago of falsehood to her German envoy Mundt: “We think it may be that one Goldwell, a very simple and fond man, having in our late sister’s time been named to a small bishopric in Wales called St. Asaph, though never thereto admitted, flying out of the realm upon our sister’s death, is gone to Rome as a renegade, and there using the name of a bishop, without order or title, is perhaps gone in the train of some Cardinal to Trent, and so it is likely the speech hath arisen of a bishop of England being there.” In 1563 Goldwell was vicar-general to the Archbishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo. In 1567 he was made vicar of the cardinal archpriest in the Lateran, and in 1574 the Cardinal Vicar Savelli made him his vicegerent; he thus became, so to speak, the “working” bishop of Rome. Hall, an English traveller in 1568, said that Goldwell was the only English Catholic in Rome who was courteous to him. In 1580, in spite of his advanced age, he set out for England at the head of the mission which included Campion and Persons, but he was taken ill at Reims and obliged to return to Rome. One of the last acts of his long and strenuous career was to serve on the Congregation for the Revision of the Roman Martyrology, in 1582. On the death of the Bishop of Lincoln, in 1584, Goldwell became the sole survivor of the ancient English hierarchy. He died the next year, and was buried at St. Sylvester’s. A portrait of him exists at the English College, Rome.

Knox, The last survivor of the ancient English Hierarchy, Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph (London, 1876); Tout in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v.; Thomas, sHistory of the Diocese of St. Asaph (1874), 84, 201; Bliss, Wood’s Athen. Oxon., II; Brady, Episcopal Succession, I, II, III; Boccatelli, Life of Pole.

C. F. Wemyss Brown (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 3 – Pope Honorius IV

April 3, 2025

Pope Honorius IV

(Giacomo Savelli)

Pope Honorius IV. Photo by PHGCOM.

Born at Rome about 1210; died at Rome, 3 April, 1287. He belonged to the rich and influential family of the Savelli and was a grandnephew of Honorius III. Very little is known of his life before he ascended the papal throne. He studied at the University of Paris, during which time he held a prebend and a canonry at the cathedral of Châlons-sur-Marne. Later he obtained the benefice of rector at the church of Berton, in the Diocese of Norwich. In 1261 he was created Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin by Martin IV, who also appointed him papal prefect in Tuscany and captain of the papal army. By order of Clement IV he and three other cardinals invested Charles of Anjou as King of Sicily at Rome on 28 July, 1265. He was one of the six cardinals who elected Gregory X by compromise at Viterbo on 1 Sept., 1271. In 1274 he accompanied Gregory X to the Fourteenth General Council at Lyons, and in July, 1276, he was one of the three cardinals whom Adrian V sent to Viterbo with instructions to treat with King Rudolf I of Hapsburg concerning his imperial coronation at Rome and his future relations towards Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily. The death of Adrian V in the following month rendered fruitless the negotiations with Rudolf. Nothing further is known of the cardinal’s doings until, nine years later, he was elected pope.

Pope Martin IV

Martin IV died 28 March, 1285, at Perugia, and three days after his death fifteen out of the eighteen cardinals who then composed the Sacred College had a preliminary consultation at the episcopal residence at Perugia, and appointed the following day, 2 April, 1285, for the election of the new pope. The election took place without the conclave, which had been prescribed by Gregory X, but suspended by John XXI. At the first vote taken, Giacomo Savelli was unanimously elected and took the name of Honorius IV. His election was one of the speediest in the history of the papacy. The reason for this great haste may be found in the Sicilian complications, which did not allow any interregnum, and especially in the fact that the cardinals wished to avoid the unjustifiable interference which occurred at the election of the preceding pope, when Charles of Anjou induced the inhabitants of Viterbo to imprison two cousins of the deceased Nicholas III, in order to effect the election of a pope of French nationality. On 19 May, 1285, the new pontiff was ordained priest by Cardinal Malabranca Orsini of Ostia, and the following day he was consecrated bishop and crowned pope in the basilica of St. Peter at Rome. Honorius IV was already advanced in age and so severely affected with the gout that he could neither stand nor walk. When saying Mass he was obliged to sit on a stool and at the Elevation his hands had to be raised by a mechanical contrivance.
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April 4 – Patron Saint of Transitions

April 3, 2025

St. Isidore of Seville

Born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560; died 4 April, 636.

Isidore was the son of Severianus and Theodora. His elder brother Leander was his immediate predecessor in the Metropolitan See of Seville; whilst a younger brother St. Fulgentius presided over the Bishopric of Astigi. His sister Florentina was a nun, and is said to have ruled over forty convents and one thousand religious.

Statue of St. Isidore of Seville at the entrance staircase of the National Library of Spain, in Madrid. Photo by Luis García.

Isidore received his elementary education in the Cathedral school of Seville. In this institution, which was the first of its kind in Spain, the trivium and quadrivium were taught by a body of learned men, among whom was the archbishop, Leander. With such diligence did he apply himself to study that in a remarkably short time mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Whether Isidore ever embraced monastic life or not is still an open question, but though he himself may never have been affiliated with any of the religious orders, he esteemed them highly. On his elevation to the episcopate he immediately constituted himself protector of the monks. In 619 he pronounced anathema against any ecclesiastic who should in any way molest the monasteries.

On the death of Leander, Isidore succeeded to the See of Seville. His long incumbency to this office was spent in a period of disintegration and transition. The ancient institutions and classic learning of the Roman Empire were fast disappearing. In Spain a new civilization was beginning to evolve itself from the blending racial elements that made up its population. For almost two centuries the Goths had been in full control of Spain, and their barbarous manners and contempt of learning threatened greatly to put back her progress in civilization. Realizing that the spiritual as well as the material well-being of the nation depended on the full assimilation of the foreign elements, St. Isidore set himself to the task of welding into a homogeneous nation the various peoples who made up the Hispano-Gothic kingdom. To this end he availed himself of all the resources of religion and education. His efforts were attended with complete success. Arianism, which had taken deep root among the Visigoths, was eradicated, and the new heresy of Acephales was completely stifled at the very outset; religious discipline was everywhere strengthened. Like Leander, he took a most prominent part in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. In all justice it may be said that it was in a great measure due to the enlightened statecraft of these two illustrious brothers the Visigothic legislation, which emanated from these councils, is regarded by modern historians as exercising a most important influence on the beginnings of representative government. Isidore presided over the Second Council of Seville, begun 13 November, 619, in the reign of Sisebut. But it was the Fourth National Council of Toledo that afforded him the opportunity of being of the greatest service to his county. At this council, begun 5 December, 633, all the bishops of Spain were in attendance. St. Isidore, though far advanced in years, presided over its deliberations, and was the originator of most of its enactments. It was at this council and through his influence that a decree was promulgated commanding all bishops to establish seminaries in their Cathedral Cities, along the lines of the school already existing at Seville. Within his own jurisdiction he had availed himself of the resources of education to counteract the growing influence of Gothic barbarism. His was the quickening spirit that animated the educational movement of which Seville was the centre. The study of Greek and Hebrew as well as the liberal arts, was prescribed. Interest in law and medicine was also encouraged. Through the authority of the fourth council this policy of education was made obligatory upon all the bishops of the kingdom. Long before the Arabs had awakened to an appreciation of Greek Philosophy, he had introduced Aristotle to his countrymen. He was the first Christian writer to essay the task of compiling for his co-religionists a summa of universal knowledge. This encyclopedia epitomized all learning, ancient as well as modern. In it many fragments of classical learning are preserved which otherwise had been hopelessly lost. The fame of this work imparted a new impetus to encyclopedic writing, which bore abundant fruit in the subsequent centuries of the Middle Ages. His style, though simple and lucid, cannot be said to be classical. It discloses most of the imperfections peculiar to all ages of transition. It particularly reveals a growing Visigothic influence. Arevalo counts in all Isidore’s writing 1640 Spanish words.

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April 5 – Soul on Fire

April 3, 2025

St. Vincent Ferrer

Famous Dominican missionary, born at Valencia, 23 January, 1350; died at Vannes, Brittany, 5 April, 1419.

He was descended from the younger of two brothers who were knighted for their valor in the conquest of Valencia, 1238. In 1340 Vincent’s father, William Ferrer, married Constantia Miguel, whose family had likewise been ennobled during the conquest of Valencia. Vincent was their fourth child. A brother, not unknown to history, was Boniface Ferrer, General of the Carthusians, who was employed by the antipope Benedict XIII in important diplomatic missions. Vincent was educated at Valencia, and completed his philosophy at the age of fourteen.

In 1367 he entered the Dominican Order, and was sent to the house of studies at Barcelona the following year. In 1370 he taught philosophy at Lerida; one of his pupils there was Pierre Fouloup, later Grand Inquisitor of Aragon. In 1373 Vincent returned to the Dominican “Studium arabicum et hebraicum” at Barcelona. During his stay there famine was prevalent; filled with compassion for the sufferers; Vincent foretold, while preaching one day, the near approach of ships bearing wheat. His prediction was fulfilled. In 1377 he was sent to continue his studies at Toulouse, where, in his own words, “study followed prayer, and prayer succeeded study”. In 1379 Vincent was retained by Cardinal Pedro de Luna, legate of the Court of Aragon, who was endeavoring to win King Peter IV to the obedience of Avignon. The saint, thoroughly convinced of the legitimacy of the claims of the Avignon pontiffs, was one of their strongest champions. From 1385 to 1390 he taught theology in the cathedral at Valencia.

After this Vincent carried on his apostolic work while in Pedro de Luna’s suite. At Valladolid he converted a rabbi, later well known as Bishop Paul of Burgos. At Salamanca Queen Yolanda of Aragon chose him for her confessor, 1391-5. About this time he was cited before the Inquisition for preaching publicly “the Judas had done penance”, but Pedro de Luna, recently raised to the papal chair as Benedict XIII, cited the case before his tribunal and burned the papers. Benedict then called him to Avignon and appointed him confessor and Apostolic penitentiary. Notwithstanding the indifference of so many prelates in the papal Court, he labored zealously among the people. He steadfastly refused the honors, including the cardinalate, which were offered to him. France withdrew from the obedience of Avignon in September, 1398, and the troops of Charles VI laid siege to the city. An attack of fever at this time brought Vincent to death’s door, but during an apparition of Christ accompanied by St. Dominic and St. Francis he was miraculously cured and sent to preach penance and prepare men for the coming judgment. Not until November, 1399, did Benedict allow Vincent Ferrer to begin his apostolate, furnished with full powers of a legate a latere Christi. For twenty years he traversed western Europe, preaching penance for sin and preparation for judgment. Provence was the first field of his apostolate; he was obliged to preach in squares and open places, such were the numbers that flocked to hear him. In 1401 he evangelized Dauphiny, Savoy, and the Alpine region, converting many Catharins and Waldensians. Thence he penetrated into Lombardy. While preaching at Alexandria he singled out from among the hearers a youth who was destined to evangelize Italy, Bernadine of Sienna. Another chosen soul with whom Vincent came in contact while in Italy was Margaret of Savoy. During the years 1403-4 Switzerland, Savoy, and Lyons received the missionary. He was followed by an army of penitents drawn from every rank of society, who desired to remain under his guidance. Vincent was ever watchful of his disciples, and never did the breath of scandal touch this strange assemblage, which numbered at times 10,000. Genoa, Flanders, Northern France, all heard Vincent in turn. It would be difficult to understand how he could make himself understood by the many nationalities he evangelized, as he could speak only Limousin, the language of Valencia. Many of his biographers hold that he was endowed with the gift of tongues, an opinion supported by Nicholas Clemangis, a doctor of the University of Paris, who had heard him preach.

In 1408 Vincent was at Genoa consoling the plague-stricken. A meeting had been arranged there between Gregory XII and Benedict XIII in the hope of putting an end to the schism. Vincent again urged Benedict to have pity on the afflicted Church, but in vain. Disappointed, he returned to Spain. It would be difficult to overestimate the influence which he exercised in the Iberian peninsula. Castile, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Granada, Andalusia, and Asturias were visited in turn, and everywhere miracles marked his progress; Christians, Jews, and Moslems were all lost in admiration of the thaumaturgus. From 1408 until 1416 he worked almost continuously south of the Pyrenees. At different times in Spanish history strenuous attempts had been made to convert the Jewish people, baptism or spoliation being the alternatives offered to them. This state of affairs existed when Vincent began to work among them; multitudes were won over by his preaching. Ranzano, his first biographer, estimates the number of Jews converted at 25,000. In the Kingdom of Granada he converted thousands of Moors. Vincent was often called upon to aid his country in temporal affairs, as the counselor of kings and at one time the arbiter of the destiny of Spain. In 1409 he was commissioned by Benedict XIII to announce to Martin of Aragon the death of his only son and heir.

After Martin’s death, the representatives of the Kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia appointed Vincent one of the judges to determine the succession to the Crown. At the judgment, known as the Compromise of Caspe, he took the leading part and helped to elect Ferdinand of Castile. Vincent was one of the most resolute and faithful adherents of Benedict XIII, and by his word, sanctity, and miracles he did much to strengthen Benedict’s position. It was not until 1416, when pressed by Ferdinand, King of Aragon, that he abandoned him. On 6 January, preaching at Perpignan, he declared anew to the vast throng gathered around his pulpit that Benedict XIII was the legitimate pope, but that, since he would not resign to bring peace to the Church, Ferdinand had withdrawn his states from the obedience of Avignon. This act must have caused Vincent much sorrow, for he was deeply attached to Benedict. Nevertheless, it was thought that Vincent was the only person sufficiently esteemed to announce such a step to the Spanish races. John Dominici was more fortunate in his attempts to pave the way for reunion, when he announced to the Council of Constance the resignation of Gregory XII. Vincent did not go to the Council of Constance; he continued his apostolic journeys through France, and spent the last two years of his life in Brittany, where consciences without number were reformed and instructed in a Christian way of life.

Vincent felt that he was the messenger of penance sent to prepare men for the judgment. For twenty years he traversed Western Europe preaching penance and awakening the dormant consciences of sinners by his wondrous eloquence. His austere life was but the living expression of his doctrine. The floor was his usual bed; perpetually fasting, he arose at two in the morning to chant the Office, celebrating Mass daily, afterwards preaching, sometimes three hours, and frequently working miracles. After his midday meal he would tend the sick children; at eight o’clock he prepared his sermon for the following day. He usually traveled on foot, poorly clad. Among St. Vincent’s writings are: De suppositionibus dialecticis”; “De natura universalis”; “De monderno ecclesiae schismate”, a defense of the Avignon pontiffs; and “De vita spirituali”. His “Sermons” were published at Antwerp (1570), Augsburg (1729), and Lyons (1816); and his complete works at Valence (1591). He was canonized by Calixtus III at the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome, 3 June, 1455.

The earliest biographer of St. Vincent Ferrer is RANZANO, see Acta SS., I April, 482-512; ANTIST, Vida y historia del apostolico predictor. Vte Ferrer (Valentia, 1575); MIGUEL, Portentosa vida y milagros de s. Vincente Ferrer (Madrid, 1856); DAVILA, Hist. de Henrique III de Castilla (1638); QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. ord. praed., I (Paris, 1719), 763-8; FAGES, Hist. de s. Vincent Ferrier (Louvain, 1901); IDEM, Proces de canonisation de St. Vincent Ferrier (Louvain, 1904): IDEM, Notes et doc. De l’hist. de s. Vincent Ferrier (Louvain, 1905); DE ALPARTILS, Chron. actitatorum temporibus Benedicti XIII, ed. EHRLE (Paderborn, 1906); CHABAS, Estudio sobre los sermones valencianos de san Vincente Ferrer que se conservan manuscriptos en la basilica de Valencia in Rev. de archivos bibliotecas y museos (Madrid, 1902-3); HELLER, V. Ferrer und sein Leben und Wirken (Berlin, 1830); MORTIER, Hist des maitres generaux de l’ordre des freres precheurs (Paris, 1909); ALLIES, Three Cath. Reformers of the Fifteenth Century (London, 1879). See also Revue de Bretagne for the apostolate of St. Vincent in that country; Annales du Midi, for his postolate in Central France; and Hist. Jahrbuch (1896-8).

ALBERT REINHART (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 5 – St. Æthelburh and the Rose Named After Her

April 3, 2025

Saint Æthelburh (died 647), also known as Ethelburga, Ædilburh and Æthelburga (Old English: Æþelburh), was an early Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Northumbria, the second wife of King Edwin. As she was a Christian from Kent, their marriage triggered the initial phase of the conversion of the pagan north of England to Christianity.

Æthelburh date of birth is not known. She was the daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent and the Merovingian princess, Saint Bertha, as well as the sister of Eadbald and Edburga. In 625, she married Edwin of Northumbria. A condition of their marriage was Edwin’s conversion to Christianity and the acceptance of Paulinus’s mission to convert the Northumbrians.

St. Ethelburga Rose

After Edwin’s death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633, she fled to Kent, with Paulinus, the Bishop of York and her daughter, Eanfled. She then established one of the first Benedictine nunneries in England, at Lyminge, near Folkestone, Kent. There she served as abbess and taught medicine to women, healed and tended to the sick.

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April 6 – Robert Aston Coffin

April 3, 2025

Robert Aston Coffin

An ecclesiastical writer and bishop, b. at Brighton, England, 19 July, 1819; d. at Teignmouth, Devonshire, 6 April, 1885. He received his secondary education at Harrow and in 1837 went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree with honours in 1840. He then prepared himself for the ministry and, having received Anglican orders from the Bishop of Oxford, he was appointed in 1843 vicar of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford. While at Oxford he had become a follower of Dr. Newman, and like so many others who had joined the Oxford or Tractarian Movement he left the Anglican Church and was received into the Catholic Church at Prior Park on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, 3 December, 1845, two months after the reception of Dr. Newman. Having spent a year as tutor in the family of Mr. Ambrose de Lisle, he followed Newman to Rome to prepare himself for the priesthood, and was ordained 31 October, 1847, by the cardinal vicar. In the meantime Dr. Newman had been authorized by Pius IX to found the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. When, in June, 1848, the Oratory was established, Father Coffin with other convert priests joined it, and he was appointed superior of St. Wilfrid’s, Cotton Hall. The next year he followed a strong attraction he had felt since his conversion for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, left the Oratory, and entered the Redemptorist novitiate at Saint-Trond, in Belgium. Having made his profession on 2 February, 1852, he returned to England and began his long and fruitful career as a zealous Redemptorist missionary. From 1850 to 1865 he was rector of St. Mary’s, Clapham and from the latter year till 1882 he held the office of provincial of the English Redemptorists. These offices, however, did not prevent him from zealously labouring with pen and tongue, for, from 1852 to 1872, he was almost constantly engaged in giving missions and clergy retreats throughout England, Ireland, and Scotland, and in publishing many ascetical books.

Mons. Robert Aston Coffin, C.Ss.R. 1819-1885

After the death of Dr. Danell, the second Bishop of Southwark, Father Coffin was chosen as his successor, and was consecrated in Rome by Cardinal Howard, in the church of S. Alfonso, 11 June, 1882, taking possession of his see on 27 July. After an illness of several months, borne with great fortitude, Bishop Coffin died at Teignmouth, in the house of the Redemptorists which he himself had founded when provincial. “Although his name was at no time conspicuously before the world, his influence had been widely and deeply felt, and few ecclesiastics in England were held in greater esteem or affection. By the publication of many of the works of St. Alphonsus, by his labours as a preacher and missionary in his younger days, by his numerous retreats, especially to the clergy, and still more by his government of the Province of the Congregation of the Most Holy redeemer in England, Scotland, and Ireland during nearly twenty vears, he performed a quiet, solid and enduring work which will be felt for many generations” (“The Tablet”, London). Among his publications are the following English translations of the Italian works of St. Alphonsus: “The Glories of Mary” (London, 1862, 1868), “The Mysteries of the Faith: The Incarnation” (London, 1854); “The Christian Virtues” (London, 1854), “The Mysteries of the Faith: The Eucharist” (London, 1855), “Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament” (London, 1855); “The Eternal Truths” (London, 1857); “A Devotion in Honour of St. Joseph” (London, I860); “The Mysteries of the Faith: The Redemption” (London, 1861); “Hymns and Verses on Spiritual Subjects” (London, 1863). He also published a translation of “The Oratory of the Faithful Soul” by Blosius (London, 1848), and several pastoral letters.

GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. of Eng..Cath., s. v.; The Tablet (London, 11 April, 1885).

B. GULDNER (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 6 – Girolamo Francesco Tornielli

April 3, 2025

>Girolamo Francesco Tornielli

Click picture to read book.

Italian Jesuit, preacher and writer, b. at Cameri, 1 February, 1693, of a distinguished family from Novara; d. at Bologna, 6 April or 12 May, 1752. He entered the Society in 1710, and manifested oratorical powers; after teaching classics, he entered upon a career of preaching, which lasted for almost twenty years. He first spoke at Venice (1733), and then with increasing popularity at Rome, Milan, Florence, and Bologna. Many hailed him as Segneri’s successor. Tornielli, however, did not possess Segneri’s vehemence, impassioned logic, and directness. Brilliant, rather than solid, he lacked originality and depth; but he had imagination and dramatic feeling. For his pathos and easy, popular style he was surnamed the “Metastasio” of the Italian pulpit. To polished diction he added a refined and affecting delivery. Shocked by the licentious songs then common, Tornielli tried to remedy the evil by adapting sacred hymns to the popular airs. Many criticised him for having thus exposed the mysteries of religion to ridicule and contempt. A Jesuit, Sanchez de Luna, defended him in his “Riposta alla censura fatta alle canzonette marineresche per le festivita di Maria Santissima.” The Accademia della Crusca requested Tornielli to enter that body and offered to publish his works, but he modestly declined.

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Tornielli’s principal works are: “Sette canzonette in marineresca sopra le sette principale feste di Nostra Signora” (Milan, 1738); “Prediche quaresimali” (Milan, 1753, Bassano, 1820, with a preface by Noghera, Savona, 1889); “Panegirici e discorsi sacri” (Bassano, 1768). Sommervogel and Carrara doubt the authenticity of the “Businate,” a burlesque poem, written in Milanese dialect and sometimes attributed to Tornielli. There is a eulogy of the orator in the Piemontesi illustri,” III, p. 305.

CARRARA, Nuovo dizionario istorico (Bassano, 1796); BETTINELLI, Opere edite ed inedite, XXIII (Venice, 1801); Prediche scelte di Segneri, Tornielli ed alteri (Turin, 1824); DE ANGELIS in Biographie ancienne et moderne, XLVI (Paris, 1826); Scelta di prediche dei piu celebri oratori italiani (Rome, 1837); AUDIBIO, Lezioni di eloquenza sacra, II (Turin, 1859), 346-49; NAY, Brevi Cenni sulla vita, sull’ opere di Tornielli (Preface to Tornielli’s “La felicita del patrocinio del Governo de Gozzano” etc., (Turin, 1875); DE BACKER, Bibl. des ecrivains de la C. de J. ser., IV, 699; SOMMERVOGEL, Bibl. de la C. de J., VIII, 101-4.

John C. Reville (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 6 – Persecuted by her own general superior

April 3, 2025

St. Juliana of Liège

Sainte Julienne du Mont-Cornillon (Juliana of Liège) and the institution of the feast of the Holy Sacrament, 1690 (Church of St-Martin, Liège)

Nun, b. at Retinnes, near Liège, Belgium, 1193; d. at Fosses, 5 April, 1258. At the age of five she lost her parents and was placed in the convent of Mont-Cornillon, near Liège. She made rapid progress, and read with pleasure the writings of St. Augustine and St. Bernard. She also cultivated an ardent love of the Blessed Virgin, the Sacred Passion, and especially the Blessed Sacrament. In 1206 she received the veil, and devoted herself to the sick in the hospital in charge of the convent. She very early exerted every energy to introduce the feast of Corpus Christi. In 1230 she was chosen superioress by the unanimous vote of the community. But soon God sent heavy trials. Her convent was under the supervision of a general superior, Roger, a man of vicious and scandalous habits; he secured this position in 1233 by intrigues and bribery. Disliking the virtues and piety of Juliana, and much more her entreaties and reproaches, he incited the populace against her.

Photo by Andreas Praefcke

She fled to the cell of St. Eve of Liège, and then to a house given her by John, a canon of Lausanne. Vindicated in the courts through the influence of Robert de Thorate, Bishop of Liège, she was restored to her position in the community, and Roger was deposed. But in 1247 Roger was again in power, and succeeded once more in driving out the saint. Juliana found refuge at Namur and then at Fosses, where she passed the last years of her life in seclusion. She died in 1258, and at her own request she was buried at Villiers. After her death a number of miracles occurred at her intercession (Acta SS., April, I, 435 sq.). In 1869 Pius IX ratified her veneration and permitted the office and Mass in her honour. Her feast is on 6 April.

Messenger of the Sacred Heart (1898), 221; Irish Eccl. Record (1893), 1010; MONCHAMP, Les réliques de Ste-Julienne de Cornillon (Liège, 1898); SCHöRMANS in Ann. soc. archéol. Nivelles, VII (Nivelles, 1899), 1-68; CHEVALIER, Bio-Bibl.

FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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April 6 – The “Soul of St. Thomas”

April 3, 2025

John Capreolus

In libros sententiarum amplissimae quaestiones, 1589

A theologian, born towards the end of the fourteenth century, (about 1380), in the diocese of Rodez, France; died in that city 6 April, 1444. He has been called the “Prince of Thomists”, but only scanty details of his personal history are known. He was a Dominican affiliated to the province of Toulouse, and a general chapter of his order at Poitiers in 1407 assigned him to lecture on “The Sentences” in the University of Paris. He began in 1408 and achieved success. The following year he finished the first part of his celebrated defensive on commentary on the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. He passed examinations for degrees at the Sorbonne in 1411 and in 1415. After serving for some time as regent of studies at Toulouse, he repaired to Rodez where he laboured assiduously at his commentaries completing the three remaining parts in 1426, 1428 and 1433. In the preface of a compendium of Capreolus’s work by lsidore de Isolanis, it is stated that these manuscripts once narrowly escaped destruction by fire, a lay brother having saved thern, to the joy of the author, who was then advanced in years. The same authority describes the erudite commentator as having cherished through life a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Though following the order of “The Sentences”, the commentaries of Capreolus are a calm, learned, and penetrating exposition of the teaching of St. Thomas, as well as a comprehensive defence against sundry opponents and critics, including Scotus, Henry of Ghent, John of Ripa, Guido (the Carmelite), Aureolus, Durandus Gregory of Rimini, William of Ockham, and other Nominalists. Copious and apt citations show that the author mastered Aristotle and his Arabic commentator, Averros; but a scrupulous fidelity to the Angelical Doctor, that earned for him the extraordinary appellation of “Soul of St. Thomas”, is his chief characteristic.

St. Thomas Aquinas

There is nothing in the wide field of the doctrinal discussions of his time that Capreolus did not study and elucidate with precision of insight and reasoning, and express in a style so terse and vigorous that his work is rightly given a place among the most enduring achievements of the golden age of Scholasticism. The commentaries, bearing slightly variant titles, were published in four folio volumes at Venice, 1483, 1514, 1519, 1589. ln 1881, Bishop Borret of Rodez, who had made the life and works of Capreolus, the object of considerable research, suggested a critically revised edition of the commentaries, which was at length undertaken by the Dominicans. Its publication was begun at Tours in 1900 and is now (1907) nearly compteted in the seventh volume, under the title: “Johannis Capreoli Tholosani, Ordinis Praedicatorum, Thomistarum principis, Defensiones Theologiae Divi Thomae Aq.de novo editae cura et studio RR. PP. Ceslai Paban et Thomae Pegues”. Early compendiums of the work by Paul Soncinas and by Sylvester Prierias were much used in their day.
John R. Volz (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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The Era Of Technology and the “Douceur de Vivre”

March 31, 2025

People on the street in a city in our times. Photograph of group of everyday people who are waiting for permission to cross a street in Louisville, US. Groups like these ― people of both sexes of the most varied ages and social conditions, forming larger or smaller agglomerates, gather throughout the contemporary world to wait for traffic lights, for vehicles, or for an office to open. All in all, this is one of the most common aspects of daily life in our times.

Because of this, the photograph lends itself to a question: What is the moral atmosphere in this picture of which we ourselves are so frequently a part? Is there nonchalance, well-being, happiness? Is there, in a word, that which Talleyrand called the “douceur de vivre” (from the French, sweetness of living)?

The answer is strongly negative. One could say that each person carries inside himself a lead-colored horizon of heavy fog. No one pays attention to his neighbor or to anything else in front of him. Everyone ― even the children ― stares preoccupied at a point that hovers not so much in the air as in the minds of each one. The conditions of our contemporary world impose the problems of daily life ― uncertain, hard, difficult ― on each one. Because of this, the psychic attitude of almost everyone is that of one who is going to encounter problems. And, in effect, what is not a problem in our days?

Modern life is dismal and nerve-wracking. Its pleasures are disordered, frenetic, fatiguing, and fleeting. Those pleasures are, as a general rule, fleeting moments in an existence made up of a harsh struggle, constant preoccupation, and a tension we feel even while sleeping. Therefore, man seems to have never been so starved for pleasures. How is this explained?

What St. Bernard said about glory can also be said about happiness. He said that it is like a shadow. If we run after it, it flees from us; if we flee it, it runs after us. There is no true happiness apart from Our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in the shadow of the Cross. The more a man is mortified the happier he is. The more he tries to procure pleasures, the more unhappy he is.

Thus, in the centuries of the apogee of Christian Civilization, man was happy, as in the Middle Ages. And the more he becomes “decatholicized,” so also the more unhappy he becomes.

From generation to generation, this deviation was accentuated. Men in the 19^th century, for example, had less of the delicious “douceur de vivre” than men in the 18^th century. However, 19^th century men were still much richer in interior peace and well-being than the man of today!

Many of our readers will remember the abundance, the tranquility, the cordiality of relationships, and the amenity of life that characterized the Brazilian ambience only 20 years ago. But of the high prices, inflation, lines, and economic depression ― who wants to speak of this? And in the same way, the old-timers would say that around 1890 everything was better.

Banality, some reader will say. All old folks think that the times of their youth were better. And, because of this, the past always seems better that the present.

Without doubt this phenomenon exists. But what superficiality it is to reduce everything to this optical illusion.

In this sense, the photograph carries a decisive answer for the elucidation of the matter. There are innumerable photographs of everyday people taken fifty years ago. The difference between their state of spirit and ours is shocking.

We take, from a voluminous collection, only one example. In Paris, around 1900, proprietors and waiters of a small restaurant that sells oysters, await the arrival of the first customers. All are calm, healthy, normal. The faces are unclouded. There aren’t problems to resolve except for the ones that a routine day carries. It deals with people habitually integrated in an ambience of work and family life ― people who do not dream of hallucinating grandeur or ecstatic pleasures or terrifying catastrophes, who do not drive 150 miles an hour through the highways, who do not stand in lines, who have neither fear of bankruptcy on the following day nor of an automobile accident in the next 15 minutes.

Temperance, sobriety, normality, peace, equilibrium ― inestimable values of soul that Neopaganism is eliminating from the face of the earth!

Ambience Customs & Civilization, “Catolicismo”, No. 29, May 1953

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The Little Barrel

March 31, 2025

(from an old French medieval tale)

Between Normandy and Brittany, next to the sea, in times of old there used to be a castle so strong and so well defended that it feared no king, prince or duke of any sort.

The lord that possessed it was of great stature, beautiful bearing, rich and high lineage. Seeing him, one might think he had a good and gracious nature. However, he was vain, proud and cruel, disloyal and fearing neither God nor men. He had spread terror throughout the country, robbing travelers along the roads, promoting unjust wars, destroying markets, killing pilgrims. He observed no fasting or abstinence, attended no Mass and listened to no sermons. No worse man has ever existed. In his life he committed all the evil that can be done by thought, word and deed.

And so he lived for thirty years, without any repentance at all.

On a Good Friday, having awakened in a good mood, and shouted at his cooks: — “Prepare the game I hunted yesterday, for today I want to have lunch early.”

Upon hearing this, his vassals exclaimed: — “My Lord, today is Good Friday, everyone is fasting, and thou wishest to eat meat! Believe what we say: God will finally punish thee!”

—“By the time that happens I shall have assulted and hung many people!”

—“Art thou so certain that God will continue to tolerate this much longer? Thou shouldst hastily repent, beg for pardon, and weep for thy sins. A man of great sanctity, a priest-hermit, abides in a grove nearby. Let us go to confession.”

—“I? I go to confession?” Uttering an oath, he proclaimed, “I wouldst go there only if he should have something that I could steal.”

—His vassals, remaining patient, responded, “Come at least to keep us company, we bid you.”

—Smiling ironically, their lord answered: “For you, I acquiesce to go. But for God, I will do nothing.”

And so, they took to the road.

They were walking through the mountains as the morning mist was settling like white silk, speaking of goodness.

The knights move forward, crying and hitting their chests, asking God forgiveness for their sins. Cutting across the grove, where the morning penetrated, the cortege was followed by the sinner, his heart as hard as rock. He would sing and burst into laughter, mocking the tears of his fellow travelers.

The fields with golden vegetation announced that the holy man’s convent was drawing near.

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March 31 – Saint Eulogius of Alexandria

March 31, 2025

Saint Eulogius of Alexandria

St. Eulogius of Alexandria

Patriarch of that see from 580 to 607.
He was a successful combatant of the heretical errors then current in Egypt, notably the various phases of Monophysitism. He was a warm friend of St. Gregory the Great, corresponded with him, and received from that pope many flattering expressions of esteem and admiration. Among other merits the pope makes special mention of his defense of the primacy of the Roman See (Baronius, Ann. Eccl., ad an. 597, no. 9) Eulogius refuted the Novatians, some communities of which ancient sect still existed in his diocese, and vindicated the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, against both Nestorius and Eutyches. Baronius (ad ann. 600, no. 5) says that Gregory wished Eulogius to survive him, recognizing in him the voice of truth. It has been rightly said that he restored for a brief period to the church of Alexandria that life and youthful vigor characteristic of those churches only which remain closely united to Rome. Besides the above works and a commentary against the various sects of the Monophysites (Severians, Theodosians, Cainites, Acephali) he left eleven discourses in defense of Leo I and the council of Chalcedon, also a work against the Agnoeti, submitted by him before publication to Gregory I, who after some observations authorized it unchanged. With exception of one sermon and a few fragments all the writings of Eulogius have perished.
M. J. MCNEAL (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Dispelling the “Tyrannical” Myth

March 31, 2025

Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France, Madame Royale at the Temple Tower.

Madame Royale, older and graver than her brother, felt more deeply the anxiety of the situation. The queen, to bring a little gayety into her life, had organized in Madame de Tourzel’s apartments small informal gatherings, to which she went occasionally to drink tea, and where her daughter met young people of her own age. They played little games, ran through the rooms which were thrown open, even played hide-and-seek, which the dauphin later remembered with pleasure. More serious pursuits, however, occupied the time and engrossed the heart of the young princess. Since her arrival at Paris, the curé of St Eustache came every Sunday to teach her the Catechism, and to prepare her for her first communion. She performed the solemn act at St Germain l’Auxerrois on the Wednesday of Passion Week, March 31. In the early morning the queen led her daughter to the king’s chamber, saying to her, “My daughter, throw yourself at your father’s feet and ask his blessing.” Madame knelt; the king blessed her, raised her up and addressed to her these grave and pious words: ―

Église Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.

“It is from the bottom of my heart that I bless you, my child, while praying Heaven to grant you a full realization of the great act which you are about to accomplish. Your heart is innocent in the eyes of God; your vows should be acceptable to Him; offer them to Him for your mother and for me. Ask Him to accord me the grace necessary to bring about the happiness of those over whom he has given me empire, and whom I should consider as my children. Beg of Him that He deign to preserve religious purity in the kingdom; and remember, my daughter, that our holy religion is the source of all happiness, and our support in the adversities of life. Do not believe yourself secure from them. You are very young, but you have already more than once seen your father in affliction. You do not know, my daughter, to what Providence destines you: whether you are to remain in the kingdom, or whether you are to go to live in another. To whatever place the hand of God may lead you, remember that you must teach others by your example, and do good whenever you find the opportunity; but, above all, my child, relieve the unfortunate as much as is in your power. God has placed us in this rank of life only that we may work for their happiness, and console them in their sorrows.”

Louis XVI with the Dauphin. départemental de l’Isère

Such were the instructions which the “tyrant” gave to his children, and his actions followed closely upon his words. It was customary for the Children of France to receive a set of diamonds on the day of their First Communion. Madame Royale did not receive this splendid gift. The ceremony was performed with extreme simplicity. The young princess arrived at the church, accompanied by her governess and her under-governess, Madame de Mackau; she showed the greatest composure, and approached the Holy Table with marks of sincerest devotion.

Marie-Angélique de Mackau née de Fitte de Soucy, governess to the royal children.

The queen, who had received the Easter sacrament two days before, assisted at the ceremony incognito and without attendance, “as simply dressed as a bourgeoise,” relates an eyewitness, but with extreme piety, and with her eyes constantly fixed on the young communicant. On the same day generous alms were distributed to the poor of the various parishes of Paris; they were the price of the diamond necklace, which Madame Royale had not received.

The Life of Marie Antoinette, Volume 2, by Maxime de La Rocheterie; Translated from the French by Cora Hamilton Bell; New York, Dodd Mead and Company 1893. Pgs 69-71.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 735

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Monarchical Tendencies at the Time of Independence and the Constitution

March 31, 2025

At the beginning of the revolutionary process that effected the independence of the thirteen colonies, the majority of the colonists sought neither separation from England nor a change in the form of government. Almost until the end of the process that led to armed revolt, Americans merely claimed rights and liberties considered common to all Englishmen, intending to remain faithful to the British Crown.

For this reason, the majority of the inhabitants did not perceive the issue as one involving a dramatic change from a monarchic colony to an independent republic. In their view, independence was not equivalent to establishing a republican government. “The Americans were not dedicated to overthrowing the King’s authority at the outset,” confirms Maier.(1)

The U.S. Constitution is signed on September 17, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Painting by Henry Hintermeister

Nevertheless, the radicalization of the confrontation in its final phases, as well as the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the constitutions of the various states, made it quite clear that the conflict had assumed larger objectives; the revolt had transcended guaranteeing liberties that all English subjects should enjoy and had acquired an ideological nature: It had become a republican revolution, “sustained by a powerful, even millennial, creed by which Americans saw themselves no longer merely contending for the protection of particular liberties but on the verge of ushering in a new era of freedom and bliss.”(2)
The concept of a republican form of government was unclear to the American people. Not even those who desired to implant it could formulate the concept in a viable way. “The very word [republic] inspired confusion,” notes Maier, “such that John Adams, perhaps the country’s most learned student of politics, complained that he ‘never understood’ what a republican government was and believed ‘no other man ever did or ever will.’”(3)

Indeed, even after the exodus of politically active Loyalists, monarchist manifestations in many sectors of the population revealed the existence of strong monarchist tendencies, latent or patent, which the republican revolutionaries were obliged to repress energetically, contradicting their own liberal principles.

Infantry of the Continental Army

Not only were these tendencies not extinguished with independence, they remained dynamic throughout the first and crucial period of national life. They showed themselves to be particularly strong in the armed forces of the new nation, the Continental Army. Washington himself commented, notes Myers, “that he had been pressed to assume a crown on more than one occasion.”(4)
During the administration of Washington and Adams, the presidency was permeated with an aura of pomp and ceremony reminiscent of the European royalty. Revolutionary sensibilities particularly bristled when the head of state was transported in an elegant carriage pulled by six white horses with uniformed postillions and footmen. Even more offensive to the ears of Democratic-Republicans was the proposal presented in the Senate to give the president the title of “His Highness, the President of the United States of America.”

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April 1 – Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria

March 31, 2025

Crown Prince Carl Franz Joseph of Austria

(Also known as Carlo d’Austria, Charles of Austria)

Born August 17, 1887, in the Castle of Persenbeug in the region of Lower Austria, his parents were the Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, daughter of the last King of Saxony. Emperor Francis Joseph I was Charles’ Great Uncle.

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

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

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

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April 1 – Precursor of Our Lady of Fatima

March 31, 2025

St. Nuno De Santa Maria Álvares Pereira

(1360-1431)

Count St. Nuno Álvares Pereira, Constable of Portugal

NUNO ÁLVARES PEREIRA was born in Portugal on 24^th June 1360, most probably at Cernache do Bomjardin, illegitimate son of Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Hospitalier Knight of St. John of Jerusalem and prior of Crato and Donna Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal. About a year after his birth, the child was legitimized by royal decree and so was able to receive a knightly education typical of the offspring of the noble families of the time. At thirteen years of age he became page to Queen Leonor, was received at court and was created a knight. At sixteen years of age, at the wish of his father, he married a rich young widow Donna Leonor de Alvim. Three children were born to the union, two boys who died early in life, and a girl, Beatrice, who would eventually marry Afonso, first Duke of Bragança, son of King João I.

When King Fernando died, without an heir on 22^nd October 1383, his brother João, became involved in the struggle to win the Lusitanian crown, which was being contested by the King of Castile, who had married the daughter of the dead king. Nuno took João’s side. He wanted him as his constable, that is commander-in-chief of the army. Nuno led the Portuguese army to victory on various occasions up until the battle of Aljubarrota (14^th August 1385), which brought the conflict to an end.

Lithograph by Charles Legrand of St. Nuno Álvares Pereira.

The military capabilities of Nuno were, nevertheless, tempered by a deep spirituality, a profound love of the Eucharist and of the Blessed Virgin, the main foundations of his interior life. Totally dedicated to Marian prayer, he fasted in Mary’s honour on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and on the vigil of her feasts. The banner he chose as his personal standard bore the image of the cross, of Mary and of the saintly knights James and George. At his own expense he built numerous churches and monasteries, among which was the Carmelite church in Lisbon and the church of Our Lady of Victories at Batalha.

Equestrian statue of St. Nuno Alvares Pereira at the Monastery of Batalha, Portugal

Following the death of his wife in 1387, Nuno did not wish to marry again and became a model of celibate life. When peace finally came, he gave the bulk of his wealth to the veterans, the rest he would dispose of in 1423 when he decided to enter the convent of the Carmelites which he himself had founded, taking the name of Brother Nuno of Saint Mary. Animated by love he abandoned power to serve the poor: it was a radical choice for a life, bringing as it did to a high point, the authentic path of faith which he had always followed. With this choice, he left behind the weapons of war and power in order to be vested in spiritual armor as the Rule of Carmel recommends. He would have wanted to withdraw to a community far away from Portugal, but the son of the king, Don Duarte, prevented it. No power could stop him from dedicating himself to the convent and above all to the poor, whom he continued to help and serve in every possible way. For them he organized a daily distribution of food and never hesitated in responding to their needs. The Commander of the King of Portugal, chief officer of the army and victorious leader, founder and benefactor of the Carmelite community, when entering the convent did not want any privileges but chose the humblest rank of a lay brother, putting himself at the service of the Lord, of Mary his ever venerated Patron, and of the poor in whom he recognized the face of Jesus himself.

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

March 31, 2025

The Bartlett pear is called “The Good Christian” in France, after St. Francis of Paola introduced it

‘poire bon chretien’ (good Christian pear)

“Said to have originated in Calabria in southern Italy, Bartletts probably were introduced to France by St. Francis of Paola. St. Francis brought a young tree as a gift for King Louis XI of France, who had summoned him in the hope that the saint would miraculously cure the king’s many illnesses. When the king died in 1483, St. Francis returned to Italy, but he left behind the legacy of his pear tree, called by the French the ‘poire bon chretien’ (good Christian pear).”

Nick Malgieri is the author of “Perfect Cakes” and “A Baker’s Tour” (HarperCollins) and “Perfect Light Desserts” (Morrow).

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/sep/19/heavenly-32bartletts/

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April 2, Feast day of the man feared by kings who sought his advice

The feast of St. Francis of Paula is kept by the universal Church on 2 April, the day on which he died. He had an extraordinary gift of prophecy: thus he foretold the capture of Otranto by the Turks in 1480, and its subsequent recovery by the King of Naples. Also he was gifted with discernment of consciences. He was no respecter of persons of whatever rank or position. He rebuked the King of Naples for his ill-doing and in consequence suffered much persecution.

When Louis XI was in his last illness he sent an embassy to Calabria to beg the saint to visit him. Francis refused to come nor could he be prevailed upon until the pope ordered him to go. He then went to the king at Plessis-les-Tours and was with him at his death. Charles VIII, Louis’s successor, much admired the saint and during his reign kept him near the court and frequently consulted him. This king built a monastery for Minims at Plessis and another at Rome on the Pincian Hill. The regard in which Charles VIII held the saint was shared by Louis XII, who succeeded to the throne in 1498. Francis was now anxious to return to Italy, but the king would not permit him, not wishing to lose his counsels and direction.

St. Francis of Paola blessing the son of Louisa of Savoy

The last three mouths of his life he spent in entire solitude, preparing for death. On Maundy Thursday he gathered his community around him and exhorted them especially to have mutual charity amongst themselves and to maintain the rigour of their life and in particular perpetual abstinence. The next day, Good Friday, he again called them together and gave them his last instructions and appointed a vicar-general. He then received the last sacraments and asked to have the Passion according to St. John read out to him, and whilst this was being read, his soul passed away. Leo X canonized him in 1019. In 1562 the Huguenots broke open his tomb and found his body incorrupt. They dragged it forth and burnt it, but some of the bones were preserved by the Catholics and enshrined in various churches of his order.

The Order of Minims does not seem at any time to have been very extensive, but they had houses in many countries. The definitive rule was approved in 1506 by Julius II, who also approved a rule for the nuns of the order.

FATHER CUTHBERT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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Louis XI, king of France, had sent for Saint Francois de Paule from the lower part of Calabria, in the hopes of recovering his health through his intercession. The saint brought with him the seeds of this pear; and, as he was called at court Le Bon Chretien, this fruit obtained the name of him to whom France owed its introduction.

(Source)

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March 27 – The Last French Pope

March 27, 2025

Pope Gregory XI

(PIERRE ROGER DE BEAUFORT).

Born in 1331, at the castle of Maumont in the Dioceses of Limoges; died 27 March, 1378, at Rome. He was a nephew of Pope Clement VI, who heaped numerous benefices upon him and finally created him cardinal deacon in 1348, when he was only eighteen years of age. As cardinal he attended the University of Perugia, became a skilled canonist and theologian, and gained the esteem of all by his humility and purity of heart. After the death of Urban V, the cardinals unanimously elected him pope at Avignon, on December, 1370. He chose the name of Gregory XI, had himself ordained priest on 4 January, 1371, and was crowned pope on the following day. Immediately on his accession he attempted to reconcile the Kings of France and England, but failed. He succeeded, however, in pacifying Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Sicily, and Naples. He also made efforts towards the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches, the undertaking of a crusade, and the reform of the clergy. Soon, however, he had to give his entire attention to the turbulent affairs of Italy. Duke Bernabo Visconti of Milan, an inveterate enemy of the papacy, had in 1371 made himself master of Reggio and other places that were feudatory to the Holy See. When all other means to bring him to terms had failed, Gregory XI placed him under the ban. Bernabo compelled the legates that brought him the Bull of excommunication to eat the parchment on which his excommunication was written, and heaped many other insults upon them. Hereupon Gregory XI declared war upon him in 1372. Success was at first on the side of Bernabo, but when Gregory XI obtained the support of the emperor, the Queen of Naples, the King of Hungary, and bought into his service the English condottiere John Hawkwood, Bernabo sued for peace. By bribing some of the papal councillors he obtained a favourable truce on 6 June, 1374.

Return of Pope Gregory XI to Rome with St. Catherine of Siena.

Like the preceding popes of Avignon, Gregory XI made the fatal mistake of appointing Frenchmen, who did not understand the Italians and whom the Italians hated, as legates and governors of the ecclesiastical provinces in Italy. The Florentines, however, feared that a strengthening of the papal power in Italy would impair their own prestige in Central Italy and allied themselves with Bernabo in July, 1375. Both Bernabo and the Florentines did their utmost to stir up an insurrection in the pontifical territory among all those that were dissatisfied with the papal legates in Italy. They were so successful that within a short time the entire Patrimony of St. Peter was up in arms against the pope. Highly incensed at the seditious proceedings of the Florentines, Gregory XI imposed an extremely severe punishment upon them. He put Florence under interdict, excommunicated its inhabitants, and outlawed them and their possessions. The financial loss which the Florentines sustained thereby was inestimable. They sent St. Catherine of Siena to intercede for them with Gregory XI, but frustrated her efforts by continuing their hostilities against the pope. In the midst of these disturbances Gregory XI, yielding to the urgent prayers of St. Catherine, decided to remove the papal see to Rome, despite the protests of the French King and the majority of the cardinals. He left Avignon on 13 September, 1376, boarded the ship at Marsailles on 2 October, and came by way of Genoa to Corneto on 6 December. Here he remained until arrangements were made in Rome concerning its future government. On 13 January, 1377, he left Corneto, landed at Ostia on the following day, and sailed up the Tiber to the monastery of San Paolo, from where he solemnly made his entrance into Rome on 17 January. But his return to Rome did not put an end to the hostilities. The notorious massacre of Cesena, which was ordered by Cardinal Robert of Geneva (afterwards antipope Clement VII), embittered the Italians still more against the pope. The continuous riots in Rome induced Gregory XI to remove to Anagui towards the end of May, 1377. He gradually quelled the commotion and returned to Rome on 7 Nov., 1377, where he died while a congress of peace was in process at Sarzano. Gregory XI was the last pope of French nationality. He was learned and pious, though not free from nepotism. In 1374 he approved the Order of the Spanish Hermits of St. Jerome, and on 22 May, 1377, he issued five Bulls in which the errors of Wyclif were condemned. He was so disgusted with the conditions at Rome that only death prevented him from returning to Avignon. The Great Schism began after his death.

BALUZE, Vitoe Paparum Avenion. (Paris, 1693), 452-486, 1059-1234; GHERARDI, La guerra dei Fiorentini con Papa Gregoria XI, detta la guerra degli Otto Santi (Florence, 1868); SCHOLZ, Die Ruckkehr Gregors XI. von Avignon nach Rom. (Hirschberg, 1884); KIRSCH, Die Ruckkehr der Papste Urban V. und Gregor XI. (Paderborn, 1898); PASTOR, Gesch. der Papste seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, 4th ed. (Freiburg, 1901), 101-114, tr., ANTROBUS (London, 1891), I, 100-116; TOMABETH, Die Register und Secretare Urbans V. und Gregors XI. in Mittheilungen des Instituts oesterr. Geschichtsforsch, (1898), XIX, 417-470; DRANE, The History of St. Catherine of Siena, 3rd ed. (New York, 1899), passim.

MICHAEL OTT (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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March 27 – French Missionary in the Chinese Court

March 27, 2025

Jean-François Gerbillon

D’Anville’s maps of China were based on a survey of the Chinese empire that was ordered by the emperor in 1708 and carried out by the Chinese, but under the supervision of Jesuit priests resident in China. The detail about the interior of China was far superior to any previous Western map or atlas. D’Anville’s work remained a standard Western source for the geography of China and adjacent regions until well into the 19th century, when it finally was superseded by more accurate maps.

French missionary; born at Verdun, 4 June, 1654; died at Peking, China, 27 March, 1707. He entered the Society of Jesus, 5 Oct, 1670, and after completing the usual course of study taught grammar and humanities for seven years. His long-cherished desire to labour in the missions of the East was gratified in 1685, when he joined the band of Jesuits who had been chosen to found the French mission in China. Upon their arrival in Peking they were received by the emperor Kang-Hi who was favourable impressed by them and retained Gerbillion and Bouvet at the court. This famous monarch realized the value of the services which the fathers could render to him owing to their scientific attainments, and they on their part were glad in this way to win his favour and gain prestige in order to further the interests of the infant mission. As soon as they had learned the language of the country, Gerbillion with Pereyra, one of his companions, was sent as interpreter to Niptchou with the ambassadors commissioned to treat with the Russians regarding the boundaries of the two empires. This was but the beginning of his travels, during which he was often attached to the suite of the emperor. He made eight different journeys into Tatary. On one of these he was an eyewitness to the campaign in which Kang-Hi defeated the Eleuths.

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[From Leo XIII’s encyclical Quod Apostolici muneris, of December 28, 1878]: But Catholic wisdom, sustained by the precepts of natural and divine law, provides with especial care for public and private tranquility in its doctrines and teachings regarding the duty of government and the distribution of the goods which are necessary for life and […]

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Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. LIFE Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch’s life, as on many other […]

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