Deus Vult!
Dear Catholic men, remember that by your Baptism you have been clothed in Christ and now share with Him the duty and vocation to come to the rescue of this world, whether in the common role of a father, the supernatural roles of a priest, religious, hermit or a monk, or the extraordinary vocation of a Catholic Soldier.
Remember, that all our rights as Catholics, to practice our Faith in peace, come from God on the supernatural level, but exist and are recognized on the civil level only by means of the heroic feats and power of the Catholic Soldier. For Catholic Society cannot exist without the Catholic Soldier and indeed is threatened in its very existence without him. He thus takes on a role which in its own proper manner, temporal and civil and military, is analogous to the role of Christ Jesus Our Redeemer, in his temporal and eternal, hierarchical and civil, peaceful and military vocation to conquer the Evil One and liberate us from the punishment of the eternal slavery of death into which he cast us.
The vocation of the Catholic Soldier is thus a holy one, a noble one, and a most necessary one. All Catholics need to honor them, support them, and help them come into existence, get the training and support they need, open the way for them and let them do their work, so that we might all live in peace and so that in those parts of the world where the order of justice has been so perverted that only military solutions can restore that order, do their work!
For this reason there have been countless Saints and Blesseds who were soldiers, among whom are these:
The Saints of the Holy Crusades
These are the Patron Saints of our Order. You can find brief information about them here, and you can find the places where their mortal remains are kept, as places of pilgrimage in our Order, marked with a read Cross (
) on our Global map!
Blessed Charles the Good, Count & Martyr (1082 – March 2, 1187 A. D.)
Blessed Charles the Good
A Dane. Born a prince, the son of King Saint Canute of Denmark and Adela of Flanders. After his father‘s murder, he was raised in the court of his maternal grandfather, Robert de Frison, Count of Flanders (part of modern Belgium). Fought in the Second Crusade. Succeeded Robert II as count of Flanders in 1119. Married into the family of the Duke of Clermont (in modern France).
His rule was a continuous defense of the poor against profiteers of his time, both clerical and lay. Called the Good by popular acclamation. Reformed laws to make them more fair, supported the poor, fed the hungry, walked barefoot to Mass each day.
Martyred in the church of Saint Donatian of Rheims at Bruges by Borchard, part of a conspiracy of the rich whom he had offended.
His relics are kept at the Cathedral of St. Savior, at Bruges, Beglium. Feast Day: March 2nd.
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Saint Matthew of Beauvais, Knight & Martyr (died March 25, 1098 A.D.)
Saint Matthew of Beauvais, Martyr
A Frenchman, who participated in the First Crusade as a Knight.
Saint Matthew was captured by Saracens, during the siege of Antioch, he was ordered to renounce Christianity; he refused and so was beheaded, as a Martyr, after making a glorious confession of Faith on Good Friday of that year, according to Abbot Guibert of Nogent in his Dei gesta per Francos:
“Among them I shall select one, a knight and an aristocrat, but more illustrious for his character than all others of his family or social class I have ever known. From the time he was a child I knew him, and I watched his fine disposition develop. Moreover, he and I came from the same region, and his parents held benefices from my parents, and owed them homage, and we grew up together, and his whole life and development were an open book to me. Although he was already an outstanding knight, he was a singularly expert warrior, but entirely free from sexual vice. He was well-known at the court of Alexis, the Emperor of Constantinople, for he often traveled in his service. To consider his manner of living: although he had been blessed with wealth by fortune, he was considered to be unusually generous in giving alms; he attended divine services so regularly that he seemed to lead a life more like that of a bishop than a knight. When I recall his steadfast prayer, his pious words, and his generosity in giving gifts, I am extremely pleased with his holy purpose, but also with my own good fortune in having known him. I witnessed him perform acts that entitled him to nothing less than a martyr’s death. I certainly take pride, as all those who were able to know him may take pride, in having known him, since I do not presume to say that I was his friend. Whoever saw him knew without a doubt that he had seen martyr. Captured by the pagans, who demanded that he renounce the Christian faith, he asked these unbelievers to delay until the sixth day of the week. They readily agreed, thinking that his stubbornness would be altered, and when the day arrived, and the Gentiles in their madness pressed him to agree to their demand, he is reported to have said, “If you think that I have put off the sword hanging above my head because I wanted to enjoy a few more days alive, and not because I wanted to die on the day on which my Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, then it is fitting that I give evidence of how a Christian mind thinks. Get up, then, and kill me for the example that you want, so that I may restore my soul to him for whom I die, who on this day gave his own life for mankind.” Having said this, he stretched his neck out to the sword that hung over him, and when his head was cut off, he was carried to God, whose death he had longed to imitate. His name was Matthew, as his name indicates, “given to God.” — Source: Here
See a video about Saint Matthew, here, which recounts his role in the First Crusade.
Feast Day: March 27th.
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Saint Arnold of Hiltensweiler, Knight & Founder (died after 1127 A.D.)
A member of the German nobility in Swabia, Arnold was a married man, who as a Knight, he participated and fought in the First Crusade.
After returning from the Holy Land, he and his wife Gunzila, supported several Monastic foundations, and left their entire estate to the Benedictine Monastery of Langnau, Germany c.1122 A.D., which was dissolved in 1793. Today, the primary school in Hiltensweiler is named after him.
Feast Day: May 1st.
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Blessed Gerard of Villamagna, Squire & Hermit (1174 – 1242 A. D.)+ + +
Blessed Gerard
Born in the territory of the Republic of Florence in 1174 A. D., Gerard was orphaned and adopted by a family whose son had joined the Knights of Saint John Hospitalier as a knight. He volunteered to serve him as his squire and joined him on the Crusade of 1197, which liberated Beirut. Later he was captured with him, and ransomed, and then after fighting pirates, returned to Italy, where he became Franciscan tertiary (SFO) after meeting Saint Francis of Assisi. He lived the rest of his life as a hermit noted for his piety, wearing both the habits of the Knights and Franciscan Tertiaries.
On his Feast Day each year, his body exuded the fragrance of perfume, for such was his holiness of chastity. He is buried at Villamagna, in Tuscany.
Feast Day: May 13th.
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Saints George, Demetrius & Mercurius, Martyrs
On June 28, 1098, these three Saintly warrior Martyrs appeared on horseback, carrying White Flags and leading a host of white cavalry, to support the First Cruaders defend the city of Antioch from Kerbogha. This apparition was seen by many of the Crusaders, and on this account, these three Saints were named the Patron Saints of the Crusades. St. George (April 23) was born at Lydda in Palestine, St Demetrius (April 9) at Thessalonika, in Greece, and St. Mercurius (Dec. 4) in Scythia (modern Ukraine).
Joint Feast Day: June 28th
Saint Nicasio Camuto of Jerusalem, Knight & Martyr (c. 1135 – 1187 A. D.), + ++ + +
Saint Nicasius Camuto
A Sicilian nobleman of Arab origin, he joined the Order of Saint John Hopitaliers with his brother, who after decades in the Order volunteered in 1185 A. D., to go to Jerusalem to care for the sick and poor in the Hospital of the Order there.
At the outbreak of the Third Crusade, in 1187 A. D. he joined with his brother Knights in the defense of the Catholic Kingdom of Jerusalem and was captured at the Battle of Hattin, by Saladin, who had him slain with all the Hospitaliers who refused to renounce Jesus Christ. He died a Martyr, by beheading, and is invoked for illnesses of the throat and lymph glands, at Caccamo, Sicily, and throughout the Order of Malta today.
He is patron of Caccamo, Italy. Feast Day: July 1st.
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Saint Gobert of Aspremont, Lord, Crusader leader & Monk (1187 – 1263 A.D.) +
Saint Gobert of Aspremont
A French nobleman, who inherited the Lordship of Aspremont from his father, Geoffrey I. He participated in the Crusade against the Albigensian Heretics in southern France and then joined the Sixth Crusade, in the retinue of the Emperor Frederick II.
When the Emperor treacherously sought to take the fortified City-Port of Saint John of Acre, he abandoned the Emperor and raised his own banner on the walls of the city, in support of the Military Orders who held it for the King of Jerusalem. By this audacious act of honesty he turned the Emperor away from his sinful design. He fulfilled his Crusader vows by pilgrimaging to Jerusalem and then made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to venerate the tomb of the Apostle Saint James the Greater.
Returning to his domains in 1230 A. D., he assisted his brother defend the city of Metz against the avaricious Count of Bar. After which, he after some years he renounced arms and became a Cistercian Monk in the Abbey Villiers-en-Brabant.
For a time he lived as a hermit in Picardy with permission of his abbot. He had the greatest devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He died on August 20, 1263 A. D.. His relics are buried at Villers-la-Ville, Belgium.
Feast Day: August 20th.
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Saint Louis IX, King & Crusade Leader (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270 A.D.)
Saint Louis IX, the Crusading King of France
Having inherited the throne of France, Saint Louis IX, practiced his Catholic Faith to a heroic degree in every aspect of his personal life and government. However, after a sickness which nearly brought him to death’s door, he vowed to take up the Cross of Christ to assist His persecuted brothers, by organizing two crusades: the Seventh and Eighth, first in Egypt, then in Tunisia.
He paid for both Crusades from the revenues of his Kingdom and encouraged participation from all the members of his own royal family and all the nobility of France and Europe. He considered his duty to lead Christians in Crusade to be greater than that of ruling his Kingdom.
Having died of poisoning on the 8th Crusade in Tunisia, his mortal remains were brought first to the Cathedral of Monreale, in Sicily, and then solemnly processed through Italy and back to France, where they enshrined at Saint Denis, in Paris, France. He was solemnly canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297.
Feast Day: August 25th.
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Saint Bonifilius of Foligno, Bishop, Crusade Chaplain (1040 – Sept. 27, 1115 A. D.)
Saint Bonifilius of Foligno
An Italian, born at Osimo, he vowed himself entire to Christ as a Catholic Monk in the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria di Storaco, near Filottrano, near Ancona, Italy.
Elected Bishop of Foligno some time after 1072 A. D., he was a generous supporter of the clergy and religious life. He heard the call of Bl. Pope Urban II and joined the First Cruasde in 1096 as a chaplain, traveling all the way to Jerusalem, while suffering the sorrow of having to bury all his traveling companions who died along the way.
At Jerusalem, he sought neither riches nor power, but retired to live as a hermit from some years, returning to Italy in 1104 A. D., where, finding that another had usurped his episcopal see, showed extraordinary patience and humility, by retiring to the Abbey of Santa Maria della Far, at Cingoli, where he passed to the Lord on September 27, 1115.
Feast Day: September 28th.
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Saint Francis preaches to the Sultan of Egypt
Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 – 1226 A. D.), Italian, patron of Italy & Founder of the Friars Minor, popularly know as the Franciscans.
Participated in the Fifth Crusade at Damietta in Egypt, where he brought a priest to serve as chaplain to the troops-
Prophetically foretold the outcome of the Crusaders’ battle with the Sultan of Egypt, Al-Malik al-Kamil.
Courageously crossed enemy lies to preach the Gospel to the Sultan, for whom he obtained the grace of conversion on his deathbed. Famously remembered by the Muslims in Egypt as the Christian Sufi who debated with the Imams of the Sultan. Returned home safely.
Received the Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on Sept. 14, 1224 A.D. Feast Day: October 4th.
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Blessed Hugo of Canefro (1148 – d. October 8, 1233), Italian nobleman, who after a life as a soldier, attended the Third Crusade and then joined the Knights Hospitaliers.
After leaving the Holy Land he served the poor for 50 years at the Hospital of the Order at Genoa, Italy.
He is buried in the Church of St. John of Jerusalem, at Genoa. He is an outstanding miracle worker in life and after death. His feast day is October 8th.
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Blessed Guilbert
Blessed Gilbert of Neufontaines (died June 5, 1152), French Nobleman, from Aquitaine. Married to Petronilla, father of Pontia.
Fought in the Second Crusade with King Louis VII from 1146 to 1149.
When he returned home he convinced his wife and family to let him follow a call to religious life. Hermit and Premonstratensian monk. Founder and abbot of the their monastery at Neufontaines, France, which was noted for its hospital where Gilbert cared for the sick. Feast Day: October 24th.
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Saint Leonard of Reresby (13th century) Englishman from Yorkshire, was miraculously freed after being captured by the Saracens, safely returned home to England. Feast Day: November 6th.
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Saint Serapion Scott (1179 – Nov. 14, 1240) was born in Scotland and traveled with his father who was a participant in the Third Crusade. Though only 12 years old, he was present at the siege of Acre in 1191.
After returning from the Crusades, his zeal to free Catholics from Islamic oppression did not wane, but he traveled to Aragon to join the Reconquista of Iberia from the rule of Muslims.
There he joined the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, founded in 1218 by Saint Peter of Nolasco.
Having vowed to sacrifice himself for the redemption of Catholics, enslaved by Muslims, he was captured at Algiers in 1240 and was crucified. By this means he became one of the most outstanding men who served on the Crusades in giving witness to the truth of the Christian Religion out of love for Jesus Christ Crucified.His feast day is Nov. 14.
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Other Great Patrons of our Order
In addition to the above canonized and beatified Saints of God, who actually risked life and limb in the defense of Christians in the Holy Land, we cannot omit these great Saints who blessed and inspired their holy work.
Blessed Pope Urban II (1035 – July 29, 1099 A. D.), known in life as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, named as Cardinal Bishop of Ostia-Velletri in 1080 A. D. by Saint Gregory VII, and elected pope March 12, 1088 A. D.. He received Peter the Hermit who told him of Christ’s desire for Jerusalem to be liberated and responded to the imperial legates of the Emperor Alexius I Komnenos of the Eastern Roman Empire who called for military intervention at the Council of Piacenza in March of 1095.
He called the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in November of 1095 A. D..Though he lived past the taking of Jerusalem by the First Crusade on July 15, 1099 A. D., he did not come to know of the victory in his life time, as he died only a week and a half after.
Saints Bruno of Segni, the famous early Scholastic theologial and the famous canonist Ivo of Chartes also attended the Council.
His feast day is July 29, half way between the date of the Martyrdom of Father Jacques Hamel and the founding of our Order on August 1, 2016.
Saint Bruno of Segni (1045 – July 18, 1023), who was Bishop of Segni, Italy. He graduated from the University of Bologna c. 1070 A. D., and was ordained a priest shortly afterwards, serving in the Diocese of Asti, Italy. He became a canon of the Cathedral of Siena in 1073. He defended the dogma of Transubstantiation at the Sixth Roman Synod of 1079, after which at the insistence of Pope St. Gregory VII he was elected Bishop of Segni by the canons of that cathedral. He was consecrated a bishop by the Pope himself. He was named Librarian of the Roman Church from 1081-1099 A. D. by Blessed Pope Victor III. And from 1093 onwards he accompanied Bl. Pope Urban II during his tours of Italy. He went with the same pope to the Council of Clermont and participated in the call for the First Crusade. His feast day is July 18th.
It was through the intercession of Saint Bruno and Bl. Urban II that our Order opened its first house in Italy in the Diocese of Segni-Velletri in the Fall of 2022.
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