Every Catholic of a certain age remembers the week in January when the Church Unity Octave or the Chair of Unity Octave was celebrated liturgically. The Octave began on January 18, Feast of St. Peter’s Chair in Rome, and ended on January 25, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. But, do we know how this important celebration came about? Most, even old timers, would have to say “No!” The story of the holy man who began this octave — as an Anglican, no less — and single handedly encouraged priests, bishops, and finally, the reigning pope to approve, adopt, and spread it throughout the universal church is a fascinating one. Read More »

(Book Review:  Islam at the Gates:  How Christendom Defeated the Ottoman Turks by Dr. Diane Moczar; Sophia Press.)

It is my habit when I sit down to read a book, with the intention of reviewing it, to take pen in hand in order to mark off the most important, most interesting, and most striking passages. Half a dozen pages into Islam at the Gates this practice became counterproductive. Every page was filled with stars, brackets, exclamation marks and marginal comments, so much so, that my enjoyment of this gem was being hampered by constantly interrupting the reading of it to write some kind of notation. So, I decided that I would give it a reading once through, then return for a reread, making my usual marks at that time. Read More »

“It had great thinkers, great rulers, great teachers, great poets, great artists, great moralists and great workmen. It could not be called the material age in any special degree. It was equally poetic, political, industrial, artistic, practical, intellectual, and devotional. There was one common creed, one ritual, one worship, one sacred language, one Church, a single code of manners, a uniform scheme of society, a common system of education, an ac­cepted type of beauty, a universal art, one common order of ideas — including intellect, moral duty, action and the soul. It may be doubted if that has happened in Europe ever since.” Read More »

Over at Chronicles, Dr. Thomas Fleming has a concise piece of writing that covers lots of ground on how pagans, old and new, consider the virtue of humility. He contends that the best of the Greeks and Romans had an elevated notion of the virtue, though one not supernaturally elevated as it is in Christianity.

The neo-pagans — moral slobs and effeminates unworthy of their ancient (supposed) forebears — ridicule the virtue. Read More »

The traditional Transalpine Redemptorists have built a case that could rewrite the history of Pope Liberius as it has come to us  (they allege) only since the sixteenth century.  I haven’t the time to examine into their cause, but it certainly is intriguing — let’s hope they are correct.  You can read the full account here.

From the pen of the intrepid Dom Guéranger, that monkish powerhouse of Catholic piety and erudition, comes this brief rundown of the two battles in whose memory the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary was gratefully instituted:

Manicheism, revived under a variety of names, had established itself in the south of France, whence it hoped to spread its reign of shameless excess. But Dominic appeared with Mary’s rosary for the defence of the people. On September 12, 1213, Simon de Montfort and the crusaders of the faith, one against forty, crushed the Albigensian army at Muret. This was in the pontificate of Innocent III. Read More »

Book Review by Eleonore Villarrubia:  Discovering a Lost Heritage: The Catholic Origins of America by Adam Miller

So, you think you know your American history? Well, this little gem of a book, a Catholic history of our country, will probably leave you quivering, both with shock at your lack of knowledge of some of the “true facts” of our past and with indignation that this information is not taught in American schools and is absent from standard textbooks. Read More »

Martha Dandridge was a widow when she married our first president in 1759.  Of her four children from her previous marriage to Daniel Parke Custis there were only two surviving when she remarried: John, age five, and Martha, age three.  The Washingtons had no children of their own. They were married at Martha’s estate, which was known as the “White House,” on the Pamunkey River northwest of Williamsburg.  Martha’s son John died during the siege of Yorktown in 1781.  His infant son, George Washington Parke Custis, and two year-old daughter, Eleanor Parke Custis, were raised by their grandparents Martha and George. Read More »

On a recent trip to Nova Scotia, my husband and I visited the museum and memorial to the Acadians at Grand Pre, near the shores of the Bay of Fundy.

It was from this beautiful and fertile land that the Catholic Acadians were expelled from their homes and lands in 1755 by the Protestant British.  Hailing from Louisiana as we do, we were particularly interested in the details of the events because the greater numbers of the expelled Acadians found their way to the Bayou Country in the southwestern part of our home state.  Read More »

The comical reaction I got from a television anchor may never leave my memory. When I told her that the people who lived under King Saint Louis IX of France were freer than we are now in America, she looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. If you are a Monarchist, or a “monsymp,” you have probably gotten similar reactions when a banal conversation about current events terminates in a statement challenging the fundamental and flawed presuppositions of modernity. Read More »