This century was marred by the bloodshed of the Thirty Years War. This battle for Religious freedom ended in a draw. Protestantism was saved by the efforts of Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, the King of Sweden who became wealthy off the spoils of the Church. He was hired by Richelieu to fight in the Thirty Years War against the Hapsburgs, in his vain effort for French hegemony. This century bore witness to the confusion of the Galileo affair, another case of barefaced bribery and forgery. The world witnessed the glorious deaths of countless Martyrs and two distinct conspiracies against the Catholic Church in England, one of which was the deathblow. In this century we see The New World becoming established and the exploration of the Catholic priest, Jacques Marquette and the beginning of the longest Monarchy in the history of France. The Catholic Church was once again under attack from the relatively new Protestantism, and the printing of their own version of the Bible; as well as other heretics and heresies; and the brilliance of Saints Francis De Sales and Cardinal Robert Bellarmine.

1601
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in California.

Martyrdom of Blessed Mark Barkworth.

Martyrdom of Blessed Ann Line.

Baron De Chantal was accidentally killed by a harquebus while out shooting. He was the husband of St. Frances De Chantal.

The Earl of Essex, Robert Devereaux, revolts in February against the Queen. He paid for this revolt with his life, he was beheaded on February 25.

1602
Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda was born.

Martyrdom of Blessed James Duckett. He met his death as a direct result for keeping alive the Catholic faith by distributing Catholic books.

Martyrdom of Blessed Robert Watkinson and Blessed Francis Page. They were killed for being Catholic priests who were exercising their ministry in England. St. Francis De Sales became Bishop of Geneva; succeeding to see upon the death of Bishop Claud De Granier in the autumn of this year.

1603
Martyrdom of Blessed William Richardson. This priest was the last one to suffer Martyrdom under Queen Elizabeth I. In February of this year, he was betrayed by one whom he trusted. His trial and condemnation for being a seminary priest were hurried through, and he was executed on the 17th of the same month.

Pope Clement VIII had the only surviving member of the Papal Commission, Clavius, compose his Explanation of the New Calendar.

Death of Queen Elizabeth. She crouched on the ground for hours, maybe even days, refusing to speak, with her finger in her mouth, suffering horrible illusions, one of which she was a little finger surrounded by a ring of fire. She died un-absolved. Her death is one of the most horrible stories in history.

James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Stuart, becomes King of England as James I. This united England and Scotland under one Crown. It was in the first year of James’ Kingship that the Catholic Church became the minority in England. The fines given to the Recusants were at their lowest point in the early years of James I.

1603-1609
Cardinal Federigo Borromeo built and founded the famous Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy.

1604
Catholic Chapel built in Maine. Holy Mass was offered by Father Aubry.

St. Francis De Sales preached at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon, France.

St. Jane Frances De Chantal visited her father, who lived in the town at this time. She saw in St. Francis De Sales the mysterious director who had been shown her, and placed herself under his guidance. This began an admirable correspondence between the two Saints. St. Jane Frances De Chantal lost her husband in a shooting accident in 1601, she had to provide for her children before going to Annecy, where God was calling her to found the order of the Visitation. She left her fourteen year old son with her father. Her two remaining daughters accompanied her. The elder girl married the Baron of Thorens, a brother of St. Francis De Sales.

Pope Cement VIII issued the revised version of the Missal.

The future Pope Innocent X, Giambattista Pamfili, became a Judge of the Rota.

Justus Lipsous, Philologian and humanist of the Netherlands, composed his last two works, a general outline of the Stoic system and of its place in ancient philosophy, “Manuductionis Ad Stoicam Philosophiam Libri III;” and analysis of the theology, physics, and the cosmology of the Stoics, “Physiologiae Stoicorum Libri III.” He had not the time to write the ethics, he died in March the next year.

1605
Martyrdom of Blessed Thomas Welbourne, a schoolmaster, and Blessed William Brown, a layman. These zealous men, on fire for the Faith, tried to embrace their neighbors with the Truth. They were hanged, then drawn and quartered.

Armand De Chillou was given the Bishopric of Lucon.

Leo XI becomes Pope. He was born at Florence. He was Cardinal Alessandro Ottaviano De Medici. He belonged to a collateral branch of the Medici family and through his mother he was the nephew of Pope Leo X. His mother deflected him from ordination for fifteen years and served as Grand Duke Cosimo I’s ambassador in Rome. He was the favorite disciple of St. Philip Neri. Pope St. Gregory XIII created him Bishop of Pistoia in 1573; Archbishop of Florence in 1574; and Cardinal in 1583. He was a deeply religious man who had close relations with the Dominicans of St. Marco. He was active in introducing the Tridentine reforms into his Diocese. His Papacy, sadly lasted only twenty-seven days.

Paul V becomes Pope. He was Cardinal Camillo Borghese.

The Gunpowder Plot in England. Because of all the persecutions the Church suffered at the hands of the English government, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Winter, and Lord Monteagle acted on their own and plotted to blow up the Whigs in the House of Commons and kill King James I. The hunch-back son of William Cecil, Robert, the Earl of Salisbury, knew of the plot and allowed it to continue until the last possible moment, when the grounds were searched twice. He allowed this in order to incriminate the Catholic Church. This plot has been used as a weapon against the Church ever since. His scheme was to destroy the Catholic Church in England. When the explosives were found, the conspirators fled to their rendezvous, and thus betrayed themselves. Guy Fawkes, who was on watch, was captured and burned at the stake the next day, November 5. On November 8, Catesby, Percy, and the two Wright brothers defended themselves bravely against heavy odds, but were killed. The other nine conspirators were wounded and captured. The Jesuit priests who heard the confessions of the conspirators were also put on trial. This was certainly part of Cecil’s plan to incriminate the Church. This fiasco is still used as a weapon among the anti-Catholics today. On the anniversary, November 5, the English hold an annual festival and continue to burn Guy Fawkes in effigy. He was from the Spanish Netherlands, (Belgium), and brought to England with co-conspirator Thomas Winter.

The persecutions of the Catholic Church inflicted by the hands ofthe Whigs in the English Parliament drove these men to extremes. All the men who conspired in the Plot were killed.

These men acted on their own and the Catholic Church knew nothing of the Plot until after it was exposed. The Jesuit priests, who heard the confessions of these men were also put to death by the English.

1606
In January, a Proclamation was issued declaring that Fathers Henry Garnet, John Gerard, and Oswald Greenway were proved to be co-conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot “by miscellaneous confessions of many conspirators.” In an unguarded moment, Lord Salisbury, Robert Cecil; confessed that it was by the hole-in-the-wall trick that the Plot was discovered.

Martyrdom of Blessed Edward Oldcorne, a Jesuit priest, and Blessed Ralph Ashley. They were Martyred as a direct result of the Gunpowder Plot. On January 31, the other in conspirators were executed. Forty-seven priests were exiled in England by order of the King.

Martyrdom of Blessed Nicholas Owen. Perhaps no other person contributed more to the preservation of the Catholic Religion in England during the penal times than this humble artisan. He saved the lives of many priests by his extraordinary skill in devising hiding-places for them.

Armand De Chillou abandoned his life long dream of being a soldier and strategist, and plunged into theology. Meanwhile, King Henry IV of France was pressing for the necessary confirmation to the Bishopric of Lucon.

St Rose of Lima receives the Habit of St. Dominic. Thereafter she redoubled the severity and variety of her penances (fasting, acts of charity, visits to the Blessed Sacrament), to an heroic degree, wearing constantly a metal spiked crown, concealed by roses, and an iron chain about her waist. She took the name Rose at her Confirmation in 1597.

1607
St. Mary Magdalen De Pazzi has a vision of Purgatory before her death.

Cardinal De Givry consecrates Richelieu, Bishop of Lucon. There is evidence that he altered and submitted his brother’s birth certificate, showing him to be 23 years old when in fact he was three months past his twenty-first birthday! There is no doubt trickery was used.

1608
Martyrdom of Blessed George Gervase. He was with Sir Francis Drake on his last disastrous voyage. He was hung for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance.

Martyrdom of Blessed Thomas Garnet, a Jesuit priest.

On the Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury, December 27, Bishop Richelieu entered Lucon to reside.

1609
Galileo becomes the first man in history to use the telescope to study the skies.

The Catholic Holy League was founded in Bohemia.

The City of Santa Fe, Mew Mexico was founded. It is the second oldest city in the United States. 1610
Galileo publishes startling astronomical discoveries.

Martyrdom of Blessed George Napper. He was a Recusant and priest.

Martyrdom of Blessed John Roberts and Thomas Somers.

Visitation Nuns are founded in France by St. Jane Frances De Chantal.

King Henry IV of France is assassinated. Louis XIII becomes King of France. Marie De Medicis is named Queen Regent. Bishop Richelieu sent the new Regent a long epistle, full of exaggerations with every flattering phrase he could think of, veiled as an official condolence.

St. Charles Borromeo is Canonized a Saint by Pope Paul V.

1611
The Protestant, King James version of the Bible is published. The Dueterocanonical Books were placed in-between the Old and New Testaments. This is what Luther did in his German translation.

Galileo demonstrates his telescope in Rome for Cardinal Bandidi.

Gustavus Adolphus becomes King of Sweden.

1612
Baptist Protestant church formed by John Smith. He was a pastor with a church that broke away from the Anglicans. He taught only Baptism by immersion to be valid; predestination; and denied the Sacraments.

Martyrdom of William Scott, a Benedictine priest, and Blessed Richard Newport, a secular priest.

Martyrdom of Blessed John Almond. Father Almond ordained fourteen years before, refused to take the oath of Allegiance to King James I. He died with the name of Jesus on his lips.

Death of the hunch-back, Robert Cecil. This ended the long reign of the Cecils, William and Robert, father and son. The two of them were successful in reducing, by government action, the slow relentless official pressure, horrible but unremitting persecution, torture, mutilation, financial ruin, and death to those who sympathized in any degree with the traditional national Religion. From the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, they fell to something like half the nation at the accession of James I.

Bishop Richelieu brought the Oratorians and Capuchin Franciscans to Lucon.

Pope Paul V fully approves the Congregation of the Oratory founded by St. Philip Neri.

1613
Martyrdom of Blessed John of Prado. He was a Franciscan priest who was Martyred in Morocco.

The Imperial Diet in Germany was broken up by the Calvinists. Galileo learns that Old Testament terms are being cited against the Copernican System.

Gustavus Adolphus makes peace with Denmark. He then waged war with Russia.

Pope Paul V approve the French Oratory of Pierre De Berulle.

1614
Father William Rudesind Barlow, the third son of Sir Alexander Barlow and older brother of Blessed Edward Barlow, becomes Prior at St. Gregory’s in Douay. He was a Benedictine priest. He once refused the dignity of Abbot and Bishop.

1615
Bishop Richelieu made his first public appearance as Representative of the Clergy for Poitou. He was picked to make the famous speech which was his true entry into public life.

Galileo defends his astronomical views in Rome.

1616
St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine admonishes Galileo not to teach or hold or defend Copernican astronomy.

The Holy Office of the Inquisition at Rome condemns Copernicus’ “The Revolutions of Celestial Bodies.” They did not however; condemn the teaching of there Copernican System as hypothetical.

Galileo and cardinal Foscarini rightly urged that Holy Writ is intended to teach man to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go.

Martyrdom of Blessed Thomas Maxfield, a priest.

Martyrdom of Blessed Thomas Tunstal, a priest.

1617
Blessed Edward Barlow was ordained a priest. He was the fourth son of Sir Alexander Barlow and the younger brother of Father William Barlow.

Death of St. Rose of Lima.

Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda entered the Convent of Franciscan Nuns.

Death of Blessed Victoria Fornar-Strata, widow and Foundress of the Blue Nuns of Genoa.

Ferdinand II of Austria was chosen by his family to be the associate and successor of Emperor Matthias. He became King of Bohemia earlier in this year.

1617-1632
The Martyrs of Japan. Former Shogun, Ieyasu began a terrible persecution, banishing all Christian teachers from the country. 205 souls met their deaths in the first round of this bloody persecution.

1618-1620
The Bohemian Period of the Thirty Years War.

1618
The Protestants in Bohemia revolted against the Hapsburgs. Bohemian rebels threw two of King Ferdinand’s ministers out of a window as a protest for the King’s efforts to restore the Catholic Faith in Bohemia. This act has been called the Defenstration of Prague. This started the Thirty Years War. The war was the climax of the quarrel between the Emperor with his seat at Vienna, in theory overlord of all the Germanies, and those who were technically his subordinates, the Princes and Free Cities, had come. The Bohemians deposed Ferdinand and replaced him with Frederick V, elector of the Rhenish Palatinate.

1619
Ferdinand II of Bohemia become Holy Roman Emperor.

Death of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church.

Queen Regent Marie De Medicis escapes from Blois. The Queen Regent had been there since the assassination of Concini in 1616. Bishop Richelieu accompanied her to Blois.

1620
The Protestants of Bohemia were defeated by General Johan Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, in the Battle of White Mountain. The defeat cost the Bohemians their independence. The Protestant rebellion was stamped out and Catholicism again became the state religion.

Martyrdom of Blessed John Sarkander.

1621
Gregory XV becomes Pope. He was Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi. He graduated Doctor of Laws at Bologna in 1575. Shortly after taking Holy Orders, he worked at the Curias. As Archbishop of Bologna, he negotiated peace between Philip III of Spain and Charles Emanuel I of Savoy in 1612. He was made a Cardinal in 1616.

The Palatine Library, belong to the Elector Palatine, captured by Johan Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, was presented to Pope Gregory XV by Duke Maximilian of Baveria for accession to the Vatican Library. It contained 4,388 manuscripts.

Death of King Philip III of Spain. He was succeeded by his son, Philip IV. He continued his father’s policy.

Death of St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, Archbishop of Capua and Doctor of the Church.

Death of St. John Berchman, Patron Saint of Altar Boys. He was a Jesuit Brother, only 22 years old.

1622
Pope Gregory XV founds the Congregation of Evangelization of Peoples.

St. Teresa of Avila is Canonized a Saint.

In the Papal Bull, Decet Romanum Pontificem, Pope Gregory XV decreed that Papal elections would be by secret ballot and that no Cardinal could vote for himself.

Martyrdom of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen. He was only 45 years old when he Protestants in Austria mangled his body. His last words came when his attackers asked him to repudiate his faith: “I came to enlighten you, not to accept your errors.”

Martyrdom of Blessed Apollinaris Franco and Blessed Charles Spinola and their companions. They were the Martyrs in the Great Martyrdom in Japan.

The University of Salzburg is founded.

Richelieu is elevated to the College of Cardinal by Pope Gregory XV in a brief, issued on November 3.

Death of St. Francis De Sales, Bishop of Geneva, Co-Founder of the Order of the Visitation, and Doctor of the Church.

St. Francis De Sales was born to a family of Nobility on August 21, 1567 and was Baptized the next day at the parish Church of St. Thorens, in what was then the Kingdom of Savoy, under the name of Francis Bonaventure.

At the age of eight, he attended the college of Annecy, it was here that he made his First Holy Communion in the Church of St. Dominic. He received additional schooling under the Jesuits at the College of Clermont in Paris and at the University of Padua where he earned a Doctorate in both civil and Canon Law. He was another brilliant personage in the history of the Catholic Church.

He was Ordained on December 18, 1593. He was one of the privileged few to have seen Purgatory.

St. Francis was an excellent apologist and won back many who had consented to the errors of Calvinism.

St. Francis was consecrated Bishop of Geneva in 1602. Our beloved Saint died at the age of fifty-six in 1622.

1623
Death of Pope Gregory XV. He was the first Jesuit trained Pope.

Urban VIII becomes Pope. He was Cardinal Maffeo Berberini. He was elected by fifty out of a possible fifty-five votes. He was made a Cardinal in 1606.

Galileo publishes and dedicates his book Saggiatore, to his friend, Pope Urban VIII.

Martyrdom of St. Josephat, Archbishop of Polotsk. Amid cries of “Kill the Papist!” He was brained with a halberd and pierced by a bullet. His mangled body was thrown into the Dvina River.

1624
Cardinal Richelieu becomes Chief Minister (and real ruler) in France. He entered the French Council for the second time; the first was briefly in 1616.

1625
Pope Urban VIII celebrates the Holy Year Jubilee.

Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda was chosen Abbess of the Immaculate Conception Convent of Franciscan Nuns in Agreda, Spain.

Pope Urban VIII sent his nephew, Francesco Barberini as a Legate to France and Spain. He was accompanied by Bishop Giambattista Pamfili.

Death of King James I.

Charles I becomes King of England. He was married to the sister of King Louis XIII of France, Henrietta Marie.

At the end of this year, Cardinal Richelieu was preparing to give back Valteline to the Protestant Grisons, the partisans of Spain called him “Cardinal of the Huguenots,” and two pamphlets, attributed to the Jesuits, Eudemon Joannes and Jean Keller, appalled him. The Cardinal had these burned.

Birth of Blessed Gregory Barbarigo.

1625-1629
The Danish Period of the Thirty Years War. Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, with the aid of the General Tilly and the Catholic League, defeated the Protestants, who were led by Christian IV, King of Denmark, again and again.

1626
Birth of Christina I, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus.

The Building of St. Peter’s Basilica was completed.

1627
One hundred and twenty-three Catholics were Martyred in Japan.

Bishop Giambattista Pamfili was elevated to the College of Cardinals.

Pope Urban VIII founds the College of Urbano for training missionaries.

1628
St. Joseph of Copertino is ordained a priest. He is known as the Flying Friar and levitated over seventy times during his lifetime. His favorite chapter in the Bible was Luke 15.

Martyrdom of Blessed Edmund Arrowsmith and Blessed Richard Herst of Lancaster.

The Martyrs of Paraguay. Blessed Roque and his companions met glorious deaths for the Catholic Faith.

George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, is Baptized into the Catholic Church in Virginia.

Fabio Chigi, a student of theology, law, and philosophy, enters into the Papal Service.

1629
Emperor Ferdinand II issues the Edict of Restitution. This gave the official interpretation of the Peace of Augsburg. It nullified privileges that Protestants had enjoyed for years and restored Catholic properties. The Holy See remained indifferent to this Edict.

Treaty of Lubeck signed. After signing the Treaty, Danish King Christian IV withdrew from Saxony.

1630-1635
The Swedish Period of the Thirty Years War.

1630
Cardinal Richelieu brings France into the Thirty Years War and hires the Swedish King, Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, for five tubs of gold, to fight the Hapsburgs. The Swedish King was deeply devoted to the Protestant cause because he had become rich off the spoils of the Catholic Church in Sweden. He set sail for Magdeburg with 13,000 men. His efforts in the war saved Protestantism in Germany. Cardinal Richelieu was aiming at French hegemony in Europe.

Pope Urban VIII restricted the title Your Eminence, that had been a title for the Byzantine Emperor, and passed on to the Holy Roman Emperor, to Cardinals at Richelieu’s suggestion.

1631
The Swedish army defeated General Tilly in the Battle of Breitenfeld.

Pope Urban VIII took a personal part in revising the Breviary.

1632
Galileo publishes his Dialogue of the Chief World Systems. The book was a conversation with the characters talking about the Copernican System. One of the characters fit the personality of Pope Urban VIII, a close friend of Galileo.

The Swedish army is successful in the Battle of Ingolstadt, Germany; General Tilly was killed in the fight.

The Battle of Lutzen. The Swedes won this battle but Gustavus Adolphus was killed.

Death of George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore.

The executions of Marillac and Montgomery in France. These men were enemies of Cardinal Richelieu, whom they intimidated. They opposed the Cardinal’s policy: domestic unification of France and opposition to the House of Austria.

1633
The Sisters of Charity are founded in France.

Galileo’s files are forged! Galileo was found guilty of vehement suspicion of heresy in violation of the injuction of 1616. Pope Urban VIII orders house arrest and sentences the Florentine astronomer to live out his years in the Pope’s summer home in Arcetri. He was never excommunicated!

1634
The Swedish army is destroyed in the Battle of Nordlingen. Wallenstine, was suspected of negotiations with the Protestants by the Emperor. Orders were issued for his arrest but he was assassinated.

Maryland was settled by a group of two hundred, including many Catholics, with Father Andrew White, S.J., as their spiritual Leader.

1635-1648
The Swedish-French Period of the Thirty Years War. The war lost its religious character and became purely political.

1635
Cardinal Richelieu sent a French army to join forces with the Protestant Swedish army to fight against Catholic Austria and Spain. This effort saved Protestantism.

Jansenist Philippe De Champaigne painted Cardinal Richelieu’s portrait.

1636
Cardinal Richelieu made the Jesuit, Father Caussin, the King’s confessor.

Cornelius Jansen becomes Bishop of Ypres.

1637
Galileo looses his sight.

Birth of Jacques Marquette.

ReneDescates publishes the Discourse Method.

1638
Martyrdom of Blessed Agathangelo and Blessed Cassian.

Martyrdom of Blessed Dionnysius and Blessed Redemtus.

Cornelius Jansen completes his work, Augustinus.

Death of Cornelius Jansen. He died shortly after completing his work.

1639
Death of St. Martin De Porres.

1640
The Jansenist heresy begins. The fundamental error of Jansenism consists of disregarding the supernatural order. Jansen’s followers taught that man, irresistibly, though voluntarily, does either good or evil according as he is dominated by grace or concupiscence; he never resists either the one or the other.

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