Once while in Rome, a friend and I passed in front of a shop window with several jars of cherry compote and other fruits. I told my friend: “I generally like fruit jams much more than natural fruit, and so I think cherry compote is much better than fresh, raw cherries.” Eternal … Read more
July 17 is the feast of the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne who were guillotined on this day in 1794 during the French Revolution. The Church often, but not always, celebrates the feast of martyrs on the day they died because it is the most glorious day of their lives. They were born … Read more
In the context of the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, we can ask: If there had been a counter-revolutionary tsar, what would his policies have been? First of all, he obviously would have converted to the Catholic Faith and had it established throughout Russia. Then, from the temporal perspective, he should have found … Read more
A simple definition of culture is all that enhances the human mind. However, there remains the question of what a Catholic culture is. Indeed, Catholic culture is the highest expression of culture. Culture becomes grounded on solid foundations when it contains precise notions about man’s perfection, especially the powers of the soul … Read more
What Is Culture? People answer this question in many different ways. Some are inspired by philology, others by all kinds of philosophical and social systems. So many contradictions have arisen around defining culture, and the related word “civilization” gives rise to so many contradictions that international congresses of scholars and professors have … Read more
“We do not want Him to reign over us!” “We have no king but Caesar!” Behold, these are the terms by which the Jews repudiated the Kingship of Our Divine Saviour. Today, the struggle still unfolds in these terms: “The enemy is the paganism of modern life. Our weapons are media publicity … Read more
The biographical notes about Saint Aloysius Gonzaga are as follows: “Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) was the eldest son of Ferdinand, Marquis of Castiglione. Coupled with his precocious piety, he also displayed the bellicose bubbling of his ancestral blood. The Marquis gave him a small armor, a helmet, a little sword and a … Read more
Saint Bernard was a Cistercian monk. He founded a religious Order that was a branch of the Order of Saint Benedict, destined to practice greater austerity and have a tougher life than required by the toughest rules of the monks of his time. He believed—how rightly!—that through suffering, man atones for his … Read more
At least from a certain point of view, the whole struggle of the Church against liberals over the past few centuries can be summed up in the following way: Wary of the excesses of public power, liberals so diminished the power of authority that it became incapable of not only stopping crimes … Read more
Death has two aspects. The first one is its biological component. We witness the decomposition of an unstable chemical mass that can no longer maintain itself. An outpouring of body fluids and a deplorable and irrepressible organic breakdown destroy all composure and propriety. After having spent a lifetime expelling repugnant by-products, the … Read more