“The Church Would Look Foolish Without Them”: Ann McCormick Toole, Cleveland,...
As far back as 1832 the Toole family settled in Cleveland, Ohio. They were natives of County Wicklow, Ireland, where they had a farm near the town of Baltinglass, with Dublin as their market place. The...
View ArticleThe Precious Blood Fathers (1814)
The Congregation of the Fathers of the Precious Blood was founded at Rome by the Venerable Gaspare del Bufalo, in 1814, and is divided into four provinces, three European and one American. The latter...
View ArticleArchbishop John Hughes’ Sermon at the Dedication of St. Paul the Apostle...
SERMON ON THE OCCASION OF LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE MISSIONARY HOUSE AND CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE, NEW YORK, JUNE 19th, 1859. ” Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build...
View ArticleCardinal James Gibbons, Baltimore (1834-1921)
HIS EMINENCE JAMES CARDINAL GIBBONS, First Vicar-Apostolic of North Carolina, Fourth Bishop of Richmond, Ninth Archbishop of Baltimore. James Gibbons was born in the cathedral parish, Baltimore, and...
View ArticleColonel Patrick H. O’Rorke (1837-1863), Hero of Gettysburg
Soldier, b. in County Cavan, Ireland, 25 March, 1837; killed at the battle of Gettysburg, Penn., U.S.A July 1863. He was a year old when his parents emigrated to the United States. They settled in...
View ArticleCatholics and the American Revolution: An Excerpt from a Catholic School...
320. Patriotism Among Catholics. We have seen that the discovery and exploration of America and the subsequent Christianizing and civilizing of the Indians were preeminently Catholic enterprises; also...
View ArticleA Look at the Trappists, 1908
The Trappists, or Reformed Cistercians are a branch of the Order of Citeaux. They possess several monasteries in America, three of which are situated in the United States. The Order took its name from...
View ArticleSchool Days, 1848: A Reminiscence
To travel back in memory sixty years, and to recall vividly with any degree of accuracy the incidents, the customs, the happenings of those early days at old Saint Catharine, involves a feat which...
View ArticleA Sermon on Human Dignity by Cardinal Gibbons, 1908
EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. OUR DIGNITY AS CHRISTIANS. ROM. viii., 12-17. IN this epistle St. Paul briefly points out to us our exalted dignity as Christians. He tells us that in being...
View ArticleBishop Ignatius Persico, O.F.M. Cap. (1823-1896), Savannah, Georgia
Fourth Bishop of Savannah Ignatius Persico was born in Naples on the 30th of January 1823 of a noble Sorrentine family and received in baptism the name of Camillus William Mary Peter. After completing...
View ArticleA Sermon on the Apostolate of Conversation, by Father Walter Elliott, C.S.P.,...
Apostolate of Conversation. “And the string of his tongue was loosed; and he spoke right.” To enable us to speak right the Son of God must loosen our tongues by a special grace, sometimes by a miracle...
View ArticleFordham’s First Jesuit President
Jesuit educator and publicist, b. at Nantes, France, 20 Nov., 1807; d. at St. John’s College, Fordham, New York, 17 Dec., 1885. Father Thébaud was the son of a worthy but not wealthy merchant who was...
View ArticleConnecticut’s First Bishop: William Tyler (1806-1849)
William Tyler was born on the 5th of June, 1806, at Derby, Vermont, his father being a substantial farmer, his mother a sister of the famous convert Rev. Daniel Barber. She followed the example of her...
View ArticleCatholics in American History: A View from 1908
Catholics in American History. The earliest history of America is the history of Catholicity. The saintly names in the four corners of the American Continent tell that Catholics were its founders,...
View ArticleProtestant Minister Pays Tribute to Catholic Nun Nurses in the Civil War
Catholic Sisters. A Minister’s Tribute to Their Work in the Civil War. As chaplain of the United States flagship Lancaster, stationed in the Harbor of Key West, I visited the hospitals to which the...
View ArticleFather Francis Asbury Baker, C.S.P. (1820-1865)
Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, born Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. 30 March, 1820; died 4 April, 1865. Father Baker was a son of Dr. Samuel Baker, a physician of note in Baltimore. He...
View ArticleA Brother Pioneer: Brother Pastoris, F.S.C. (1819-1874)
Brother Pastoris, F.S.C. (1819-1874) Brother Pastoris (Jules J. Deville, 1819-1874), the austere and apostolic member of this pioneer band, was born in France on March 4, 1819. He entered the novitiate...
View ArticleSISTERS OF CHARITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD (1866), TEXAS
The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, in its proper sense, dates from the year 1866, but in the prophetic views of the venerated Jeanne Chezard de Matel, who founded the...
View ArticleNew York Pastors: Rev. Patrick McSweeny, St. Bridget’s, Avenue B, 1878
REV. PATRICK FRANCIS McSWEENY, Pastor of St. Bridget’s Church. The Rev. Dr. Patrick Francis McSweeny, the present pastor of St. Bridget’s, was born in Ireland, July 9th, 1838. He came to America with...
View Article“The Church Would Look Foolish Without Them”: Andrew McTigue, Far Rockaway,...
The commercial development of America excites the admiration and wonder of the world, but when we take into consideration the character of our citizens, it is not a matter of marvel. The very fact that...
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