Bishop Jean Claude Neraz, San Antonio, Texas (1828-1894)
RIGHT REV. J.C. NERAZ, Second Bishop of San Antonio J.C. Neraz was born on the 12th of January, 1828, at Ause, in the Department of the Rhone, France, and after acquiring the rudiments, entered the...
View Article“A Catholic Dog,” from “The New York Times,” 1877
A CATHOLIC DOG (The New York Times, May 7, 1877) The Middletown Press tells this story: “Mr. Herrick, the liveryman, has a dog which has the peculiarity of refusing to eat meat on Friday, although he...
View ArticleA Detroit Pastor: Father Ernest Van Dyke (1845-1918)
Rev. Ernest Van Dyke, St. Aloysius Church, Detroit Father Ernest Van Dyke, son of James A. and Elizabeth (Desnoyers), was born in Detroit, Mich., January 29, 1845. Father Van Dyke acquired a...
View ArticleBishop Arrested in Civil War Mississippi, 1864
MOST REV. WILLIAM HENRY ELDER Third Bishop of Natchez Second Archbishop of Cincinnati William Henry Elder was born in Baltimore in the year 1819, and, corresponding to the pious wish of his parents...
View ArticleCatholic Poetry: “Newman,” by George N. Shuster
NEWMAN BY GEORGE N. SHUSTER Men found you subtle, master, blending skeins Of taut silk thinking with the golden weave Prayer finds in God. A stormy epoch’s eve Stirred your vast silence, till in...
View ArticleA Sermon on Catholic Patriotism at St. Francis Xavier Church, Manhattan, May...
OBJECT LESSON FOR BIGOTS. CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT IN THE MEMORIAL PARADE. Both Fought Bravely for the Same Flag—One the A.P.A. Would Debar from the Country’s Affairs—Sermons of the Rev. Madison C....
View ArticleGeorge Hasenour (1841-1915): Soldier, Teacher, Entrepeneur
A Civil War Veteran: George Hasenour , Celestine, Indiana George Hasenour, a gallant ex-soldier and one of the best-known businessmen of Celestine, Dubois County, Indiana, was born in Louisville,...
View ArticlePassionists Celebrate Golden Jubilee in U.S., 1902
“Golden Jubilee of the Passionists in the United States, by a Passionist Father” The Catholic World Volume 76 (January 1903): 502-515. Just at this time the Passionist Fathers are celebrating the...
View ArticleKnow-Nothings Plot to Burn Fordham, 1853
Father John Larkin played a major role in the development of Catholic higher education in New York City. In 1847, he founded the College of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan, now known as Xavier High...
View ArticleCatholic Poetry: “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
In the early twentieth century, Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven” was very popular among Catholic readers in the English-speaking world. (The playwright Eugene O’Neill could recite it from...
View ArticleThe Poor Clares Come to the U.S., 1875
THE POOR CLARES (1875) Religious orders being an integral part of the Church, naturally share in her trials and triumphs. Whenever the Church has been assailed, religious orders usually have had to...
View Article“The Church Would Look Foolish Without Them”: Thomas F. O’Rorke, Bronx, New York
THOS. F. O’RORKE, of 692 Union Avenue, the Bronx, is one of the solid men of the borough—the owner of valuable property. He was one of the first to discern what lay in the future for that part of the...
View ArticleMontana’s First Bishop Recounts Audience with Pope Leo XIII, 1890
“Bishop Brondel in Rome,” The Tablet, June 7, 1890 SIR,— I wish to communicate to you as well as I can the account of an audience received yesterday at 12:30 from His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. When I was...
View ArticleHoly Cross College Alumnus Becomes Confederate General, 1863
The College of the Holy Cross was founded in 1843 by Father Benedict Joseph Fenwick, a Jesuit who later became second Bishop of Boston. New England’s first Catholic college, its early students Irish...
View ArticleCatholics on Stage, 1919
Hubert Savile, “Convent-Bred Thespians,” Theatre Magazine, Volume 30 (July 1919): 34. SHAKESPEARE, the patron saint of actors and actresses, caused Hamlet to say to Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery.”...
View ArticleFather Alexis Granger, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame (1817-1893)
VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: VERY REV. A. GRANGER Very Rev. Alexis Granger, the first who occupied the position of Vice-President in the University of Notre Dame, was born at Daon,...
View ArticleCatholic Poetry: “The Pillar of the Cloud,” by Blessed John Henry Henry...
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home– Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see The distant scene– one step enough for...
View ArticlePaulist Outreach to Non-Catholics Explained, 1896
TO SPREAD THE CATHOLIC FAITH. A Mission to Explain Dogma to Protestants is to be Established by the Paulist Fathers. (The New York Times, January 13, 1896) Within a short time a band of Catholic...
View ArticleForgotten 19th Century Catholic Authors: Henrietta Dana Skinner
“Authentic Sketches of Living Catholic Authors: Mrs. Henry Wimple Skinner,” The Catholic World 65 (May 1897): 283-284. MRS. HENRY WIMPLE SKINNER (Henrietta Channing Dana) is the youngest daughter of...
View ArticleA Sermon on Thanksgiving, 1913
“Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine?”— From this Sunday’s Gospel. These are reproachful words, my brethren. Our good Saviour is indignant, because, of the ten men whom He healed of...
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