It is 3,016 miles — literally as the crow flies — from the battlefield of Culloden where the Jacobite cause went down to defeat in 1746, to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Strange to say, the open field … Continue reading
Author Archives: Charles A. Coulombe
Two Gentlemen from Sussex
On the face of it, there could no more different people in terms of politics and religion than Hilaire Belloc and Rudyard Kipling. Belloc, as one half of the notorious “Chesterbelloc” was one of the most powerful apologists for Catholicism … Continue reading
Farewell Summer!
August is the last month of Summer, and I must admit that I have always had a love/hate relationship with the hottest season. When I was a boy, it meant liberation from school, and that was always welcome. Latterly, it … Continue reading
Triumph and the Quandary of American Conservatism
In the past few weeks, some very kind individual put all ten years’ worth of Triumph magazine online. For many reasons, this is an incredible breakthrough. In the decade of its existence (1966-1976), Triumph put out excellent work from some … Continue reading
July Pilgrimages
Once Independence Day comes and goes, July stretches forward into seeming infinity. If you have the time and the money, it is a perfect month to take a road trip and see something of the United States, Canada, or whatever … Continue reading
What If the Glorious Fourth Hadn’t Happened?
One of the most enjoyable if ultimately frustrating games an historian can play is “what if?” Enjoyable, because everyone has episodes of history — personal or general — he wishes had worked out differently. Frustrating, because while one can imagine … Continue reading
What So Proudly We Hail: Flag Day in 2023
When I was a boy in Los Angeles, school opened with our pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stood, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for … Continue reading
The Grail in Summer
Memorial Day begins the American civil Summer; the Fourth of July marks its apex, and it ends on Labour Day (of course, the first Halloween decorations shall have started to appear in the stores the last week in July). Enjoyable … Continue reading
The Ghosts of Easters Past
As Easter fast recedes, one cannot help but think — after one has attained a certain age — of Holy Weeks and Easters past. Of course, Christmas famously attracts such thoughts; but I suppose that every major holy day does … Continue reading
Penitential Joy, Joyful Penance!
This Lent finds me in rather a saddened frame of mind — perhaps appropriate to the season. Bishop David O’Connell, an auxiliary bishop of my home diocese, Los Angeles, has just been shot dead. Two online friends whom I have … Continue reading
The New Year: 1923 Versus 2023
Despite December 25th having passed, the season is still very much with us — and even secular folk usually keep up their trees and so forth until New Year’s Day. But what a difference for most of that week makes! … Continue reading
The Long Defeat: Christendom and Its Defenders, 1789 to the Present. Part 6: France
Since it was in France, “the Oldest Daughter of the Church,” that the Revolution began in 1789, it should be no surprise that it was in France that the Counter-Revolution began. In the Vendee, Brittany, Normandy, Auvergne, and throughout the … Continue reading
The Long Defeat: Christendom and Its Defenders, 1789 to the Present. Part 5: Italy
When the French Revolution broke out, the Italian Peninsula was divided among several rulers. Piedmont and Sardinia were the domain of the ancient House of Savoy, as a Kingdom named after the large island. But Sardinia was not the Savoys’ … Continue reading
The Long Defeat: Christendom and Its Defenders, 1789 to the Present. Part 4: The ‘Other’ Empire
Together with Austria, Slovenia, and Czechia, what is now Germany made up the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire, which — as we have seen — was for a long time ruled by the Habsburgs. Unlike their hereditary domains, most … Continue reading
The Long Defeat: Christendom and Its Defenders, 1789 to the Present. Part 3: The Eagle Has Two Heads
As we saw in our last instalment, the House of Habsburg carried on the traditions of the Holy Roman Empire into the 20th century, via the relatively new political construction called Austria-Hungary. Shepherded through the last half of the 19th … Continue reading
