Tag: Avignon

Saint of the Day for July 11th is St. Catherine of Siena

Saint of the Day

St. Catherine of Siena
Doctor of the Church

The 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after her death. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine’s letters, and a treatise called “a dialogue” are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430.

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On this day…

On this day…

May 26: Independence Day in Georgia (1918); Mother’s Day in Poland

Dred Scott

  • 1328 – William of Ockham, an English friar who originated the methodological principle Occam’s razor, secretly left Avignon under threat from Pope John XXII.
  • 1857 – American slave Dred Scott (pictured), who had previously unsuccessfully sued for his freedom, was emancipated by Henry Taylor Blow, his original owner.
  • 1897 – Irish author Bram Stoker’s most famous novel Dracula was first published.
  • 1938 – The House Un-American Activities Committee was established to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by people or organizations suspected of having communist or fascist ties.
  • 1940 – World War II: A flotilla of “little ships” began a mass evacuation of British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk.