Catholics in the Movies: George O’Brien (1899-1985)
The son of San Francisco’s police chief, George O’Brien was the grandson of Irish immigrants who settled in that city during the 1870’s. After graduating high school, he served in the Navy during World...
View ArticleCatholics in the Movies: Ruth Clifford (1900-1998)
Born in Naragansett, Rhode Island, Ruth Clifford attended St. Mary’s Seminary, a Catholic girls school there. After her mother’s death, she went to live with her aunt, an actress in California. She...
View ArticleCatholics in the Movies: Robert Harron (1893-1920)
Bobby Harron was one of the leading stars of the 1910’s, appearing in some of the greatest films of the era under director D.W. Griffith. Born Robert Emmet Harron, he grew up in Greenwich Village,...
View ArticleCatholics in the Movies: Francis Ford (1881-1953)
One of the lead figures of film during the 1910’s was Francis Ford. Born Francis Feeney in Portland, Maine, he served in the Spanish-American War before moving into stage and theater. It was said he...
View Article“The Apostle of Temperance”: Father Theobald Mathew, O.F.M. Cap. (1790-1856)
Apostle of Temperance, born at Thomastown Castle, near Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland, 10 October, 1790; died at Queenstown, Cork, 8 December, 1856. His father was James Mathew, a gentleman of good family;...
View ArticleMontana Missionary: Father Gregory Mengarini, S.J. (1811-1886)
Pioneer missionary of the Flathead tribe and philologist of their language, b. in Rome, 21 July, 1811; d. at Santa Clara, California, 23 September, 1886. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1828, when...
View ArticleDr. Dominic G. Bodkin (1833-1902), Brooklyn, New York
The name of Bodkin is today a familiar and respected one in the medical profession in Brooklyn. So was the name of Dr. Dominic G. Bodkin in the last half of the 19th century. That he was selected by...
View ArticleThe First Black Catholic Congress, 1889
COLORED CATHOLICS MEET A NOTABLE CONVENTION BEGUN—CARDINAL GIBBONS PRESENT New York Times, January 2, 1889 WASHINGTON, Jan. 1— A national convention of colored Catholics, composed of delegates from...
View ArticleNuns in the Spanish-American War
THE NUN IN THE WAR The Rev. A.J. Bader Tells of the Good Work Accomplished by the Catholic Sisters. The Brooklyn Eagle, May 20, 1899, 16. The Queens’ Daughters of St. Mary’s Maternity held their last...
View ArticleThe Brothers of the Sacred Heart (1820)
The Brothers of the Sacred Heart The Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart was established in Lyons, France, in 1820, by Father André Coindre, of the Society of Missionaries, who preached...
View ArticleStudent Reminiscences of 1820′s Georgetown
RECOLLECTIONS, GEORGETOWN COLLEGE IN 1820. Woodstock Letters (1885): 264-267. About the middle of the afternoon of September 15th or 16th, 1820, the stage from Baltimore rumbled into the yard of...
View Article“The Church Would Look Foolish Without Them”: José Navarro, Boise, Idaho
José Navarro, successfully engaged in wool growing at Boise, is a well-known member of the Spanish-Basque colony, who came to this in 1908 from the Jordan valley of Oregon, where he had resided from...
View ArticleVirginia’s First Bishop: Patrick Kelly (1820-1822)
VIRGINIA’S FIRST BISHOP Right Rev. Patrick Kelly. First Bishop of Richmond, A.D. 1820 Bishop Kelly was a native of Ireland. He was for many years Professor, and at the time of his appointment as...
View ArticleFather William Keegan (1824-1890), Brooklyn, New York
Very Rev. William Keegan. The New York Times, May 11, 1890 Vicar General William Keegan of the Catholic diocese of Brooklyn, rector of the Church of the Assumption, York and Jay Streets, in that city,...
View ArticleThe First Nuns in Arkansas, 1851
Early Days in Little Rock On the 6th of February, 1851, the Sisters, under the fatherly care of the bishop, reached their new home among the forest trees after an unusually prosperous journey. They...
View ArticleFordham University, 1912
Fordham University developed out of Saint John’s College, founded by Bishop Hughes upon the old Rose Hill Farm at Fordham, then in Westchester County, and formally opened on St. John the Baptist’s Day,...
View ArticleThe De La Salle Christian Brothers
The Brothers of the Christian Schools. The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is a teaching congregation, founded in the year 1680, St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest, and Doctor of...
View ArticleA Sermon on Gratitude, 1915
XLVII.—Gratitude. Luke, XVII., 11-19 (XIII. Sunday After Pentecost.) It is our strict duty to be thankful to God and men for favors received, and not only to feel our gratitude, but to express it in...
View ArticleBrooklyn’s Unfinished Cathedral, 1894
The Great Memorial Church to Bishop Loughlin. The Brooklyn Eagle, April 29, 1894 Bishop McDonnell’s recommendation at the meeting of the Catholic Historical Society, last Wednesday evening, that the...
View ArticleThe Good Shepherd Sisters, Buffalo, New York, 1914
Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of Refuge (Good Shepherd) (Introduced into America, 1855) This order dates its beginning nearly three centuries back and was founded by a zealous missionary priest, the...
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