You probably don't think men taking a vow of poverty would have much to contribute to an economy. And yet, the Franciscans provided one of the most important developments in medieval history, something that has an effect on us even today.
10 March 2026
How Franciscans Invented Pawnshops
With Fr Casey Cole, OFM, MDiv (Warning! He's a Modernist.)
You probably don't think men taking a vow of poverty would have much to contribute to an economy. And yet, the Franciscans provided one of the most important developments in medieval history, something that has an effect on us even today.
You probably don't think men taking a vow of poverty would have much to contribute to an economy. And yet, the Franciscans provided one of the most important developments in medieval history, something that has an effect on us even today.
The Monarchs of Prussia/Germany ~ (1525-1918)
From The Romanian Monarchist
The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman Catholic crusader state and theocracy located along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Teutonic Knights were under the leadership of a Grand Master, the last of whom, Albert, converted to Protestantism and secularized the lands, which then became the Duchy of Prussia.
The Duchy was initially a vassal of the Kingdom of Poland, as a result of the terms of the Prussian Homage whereby Albert was granted the Duchy as part of the terms of peace following the Prussian War. When the main line of Prussian Hohenzollerns died out in 1618, the Duchy passed to a different branch of the family, who also reigned as Electors of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire. While still nominally two different territories, Prussia under the suzerainty of Poland and Brandenburg under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, the two states are known together historiographically as Brandenburg-Prussia.
Following the Second Northern War, a series of treaties freed the Duchy of Prussia from vassalage to any other state, making it a fully sovereign Duchy in its own right. This complex situation (where the Hohenzollern ruler of the independent Duchy of Prussia was also a subject of the Holy Roman Emperor as Elector of Brandenburg) laid the eventual groundwork for the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. For diplomatic reasons, the rulers of Prussia called themselves King in Prussia from 1701 to 1772. They still nominally owed fealty to the Emperor as Electors of Brandenburg, so the "King in Prussia" title (as opposed to "King of Prussia") avoided offending the Emperor. Additionally, calling themselves "King of Prussia" implied sovereignty over the entire Prussian region, parts of which were still part of Poland.
As the Prussian state grew through several wars and diplomatic moves throughout the 18th century, it became apparent that Prussia had become a Great Power in its own right. By 1772, the pretense was dropped, and the style "King of Prussia" was adopted. The Prussian kings continued to use the title "Elector of Brandenburg" until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, reflecting the legal fiction that their domains within the empire were still under the ultimate overlordship of the Emperor. Legally, the Hohenzollerns ruled Brandenburg in personal union with their Prussian kingdom, but in practice they treated their domains as a single unit. The Hohenzollerns gained de jure sovereignty over Brandenburg when the empire dissolved in 1806, and Brandenburg was formally merged into Prussia.
In 1871, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was formed, and the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I was crowned German Emperor. From that point forward, though the Kingdom of Prussia retained its status as a constituent state of the empire (by far the largest and most powerful), all subsequent Kings of Prussia also served as German Emperor, and that title took precedence.
Catholic Social Ethics: 2. The Dignity of the Human Person
With J. Brian Benested, STL, PhD, Professor of Theology, Scranton University.
Think You Have Nothing To Confess? Think Again
Since far more of us suffer from laxity, rather than from scrupulosity, a good idea is to use a good examination of conscience like the one here, from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in Ontario, Canada.
From Aleteia
By Fr Michael Rennier
For some, scrupulosity is a huge problem, but I’d guess that, for the majority of us, laxity is more tempting. I know people who haven’t gone to confession in well over a year and still cannot think of a single sin they need to confess.Pope John Paul II, back in 1984, was already concerned about a cultural shift that was causing a loss of our sense of sin. Modern man, he posited, suffers from a “deformation of conscience” caused by widespread secularism.
The deformation has only accelerated in the decades since he wrote those words. We’re so afraid these days of making moral judgments that the very idea of wrong-doing as transgressing against an objective standard has disappeared. We’re assured over and over again that if we just follow our consciences, we can do no wrong.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly need this sort of “encouragement” to justify my actions. I pretty much always think I’m right. I’m never the “bad guy.” If you think about it, none of us in our own minds is ever “the bad guy.” We always have a justification. We’re always the hero. I can easily convince myself I’m following my conscience no matter how anyone else perceives my actions. This means that I am more than capable of dismissing guilt over having sinned. I’m what you might call a person with a lax conscience.
John Paul II identifies this deadening of the conscience as a huge problem. “When the conscience is weakened,” he writes, “the sense of God is also obscured.” He then points out that his predecessor Pope Pius XI once said, “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”
Drifting into apathy
For some, scrupulosity is a huge problem, but I’d guess that, for the majority of us, laxity is more tempting. I know people who haven’t gone to confession in well over a year and still cannot think of a single sin they need to confess. They cannot think of anything they’ve done wrong. Now, I have a lax conscience but, even I, as hard-hearted and arrogant as I am, recognize that I fall short of the ideal on a daily basis. I have plenty of things to confess. We all do.
Of course, everything in our pop-culture preaches the opposite, insisting that sin isn’t real and the only moral boundary is the vague intention to not harm other people, even insisting it’s okay if you do harm someone else just as long as that wasn’t your intention.
Everyone is a saint these days, which to my mind, means no one is a saint.
It sounds nice to practice non-judgmental, follow-your-heart type ethics but really it’s nothing more than surrender to mediocrity. Lack of self-knowledge and responsibility isn’t good for anyone, particularly us sinners who need a moral standard to which we can aspire. With no goals, we drift into apathy. Without acknowledgment of wrong-doing, we lack hope.
Getting nowhere
We cannot maintain a thriving spiritual life while avoiding the confessional. Some think that, because they pray a Rosary every day, volunteer at the fish fry, and have a Mary statue in the yard, they’re all set. St. Maximus the Confessor begs to to differ, teaching, “as long as we're in sin, that is, transgressing against Christ's divine commandments, we can be as pious as we like, read all the prayers of the saints ... it will get us nowhere.” We can pretend all we like, but in the end, if we cannot admit our flaws and allow Our Lord to judge and forgive us, we will never have a real relationship with him and we’ll never authentically know our selves.
This is why laxity indicates a serious spiritual sickness. It’s a symptom of living in denial. The original Latin word for lax is related to being slack or overly-wide, a definition which brings to mind Our Lord’s teaching that the way is wide that leads to destruction. If we want to know ourselves, we must focus and push through the narrow gate, take responsibility, set aside pride and fear, practice accountability. It’s a challenging path to travel but is the way of hope and happiness. This is how we heal old wounds and open ourselves up for growth.
That said, it can be difficult to fully understand our actions and motivations. Where can we improve? What are the ways we sin in small ways every single day? In short, how can we think of a complete list of sins to confess?
Here are a few practical tips.
Use an examen
Examinations of conscience are abundant. They can be found online, in hand-missals, and prayer books. Based on the 10 Commandments, a good examen offers memory aids and specific practical ways in which we might be sinning in our daily lives. I find that using an examen prompts my memory and unveils sins of which I had previously been unaware.
Ask God to teach you more about yourself
A prayer to the Holy Spirit to ask him for insight is a simple but necessary step to preparing for confession. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and his light illumines our darkened consciences.
Read the catechism and the saints
We cannot root out sin if we don’t know what it is. We have a duty to form our consciences with good information.
Dig down into hidden motives
Over time, the goal is to leave behind the big obvious sins. What to confess after these disappear, though? Reflect on less obvious sins, hidden motives, unbecoming thoughts, and disordered attachments. The goal isn’t scrupulosity but, rather, sensitivity. The more we love God, the more we will desire to give our entire selves to him and even small sins bother us.
Practice honesty
We cannot be honest in the confessional if we aren’t willing to be honest with ourselves. It hurts to recall our sins. They’re embarrassing. They rip open old wounds. But we cannot grow and develop until we’re willing to face them.
Imagine you’re on your deathbed
The sins we think aren’t such a big deal might take on a different importance if we think about them from a different perspective. We might be willing to live with a sin, but are we willing to die with it? Knowing we’re about to face our Creator, is it an impurity we feel comfortable bringing into his presence?
I offer this advice not because I sit in judgment of anyone else or think I’m perfect. The advice is for me as much as anyone else, and I want to re-emphasize that the whole point of going to confession is not because God is judgmental and angry. The point is that God loves us and wants to forgive us. He desires that we face our flaws honestly so that we can be set free from them. This is our path not only to happiness in the next life, but also authentic self-fulfillment in this life.
Priests Suspended for Practicing Witchcraft
They say the Church in Africa will save the Church. I hope this adds to the growing body of evidence that helps dispel that myth.
7 Forgotten Medieval Pastries That Modern Baking Erased
From Medieval Way
Modern baking hides an uncomfortable truth.
In medieval Europe, pastries weren’t standardised. They were regional, seasonal, deeply skilled, and varied. Pastries from 15th-century manuscripts, such as Doucettes and Diriola, are so complex that they no longer survive in modern baking culture.
Why? — Because industrial baking has no patience for dishes that can’t be rushed, frozen, or simplified. Tonight, we uncover 7 pastries that prove modernity didn’t refine baking — it erased it.
Unearth seven forgotten medieval pastries, lost to modern baking's efficiency. Explore recipes from 15th-century manuscripts, revealing surprising ingredient combinations and techniques. Discover how industrial baking simplified these complex, regional treats.
Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | March
Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph. We've also included a powerful Lenten prayer -- the Prayer Before a Crucifix. This video is a compilation of many traditional morning prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office morning prayers.
Harvard's 2024 Study Confirmed What Catholics Knew for 2,000 Years
From Totus Catholica
In 2024, an umbrella review synthesising multiple randomised controlled trials confirmed with high certainty that intermittent fasting reduces LDL cholesterol, fat mass, fasting insulin, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure. Harvard School of Public Health separately found that fasting lowers oxidative stress linked to cancer and ageing.
The protocols they studied? Structurally identical to what the Catholic Church mandated for 2,000 years. Harvard didn't discover fasting. They rediscovered what the Church prescribed in her liturgical calendar.
THE SCIENCE (2024):
- Umbrella review (PMC) confirmed benefits across three protocols: alternate day fasting, 5:2 schedule, time-restricted eating
- Harvard: fasting reduces oxidative stress linked to cancer and ageing
- Triggers: reduced LDL, fat mass, fasting insulin, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure
- Lent: one meal per day for 40 days = daily fasting for 6 consecutive weeks
- Ember Days: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday fasts — four times per year = seasonal 5:2 variant
- Friday abstinence year-round = weekly food restriction
- Didache (1st–2nd century): Wednesday and Friday fasts = literal 5:2 schedule
- Leviticus 16:29 — God commands 'innui nefesh' (affliction of the soul) — a 25-hour total fast for all Israel. God himself mandated a calendared communal fast
- Matthew 4 — Christ fasts 40 days before his ministry (cf. Moses in Exodus 34:28, Elijah in 1 Kings 19:8)
- Matthew 6:16 — Jesus says "When you fast" — not 'if'. Fasting is assumed to be normative
- CCC 1434: Interior penance, of which fasting is primary, must be practised through concrete daily acts
- Observe every Friday as a day of penance — abstinence from meat or genuine sacrifice
- Consider fasting on Wednesdays as the Didache prescribed
- Explore the Ember Days — seasonal fasting four times per year
- Do it not as a diet plan but as what it is: a spiritual discipline Christ practised, the apostles preserved, the Church mandated, and science confirmed
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