Quote of the Day– On Joy
“The joyous man is the strong man—ready to sympathize: to appreciate: to help: a comfort and a light to others. Into a world where there is a surplus of sadness, of despondency and of despair, he...
View ArticleCatholic Poetry: “A Christmas Song” by Teresa Brayton (1868-1943)
O LORD, as You lay so soft and white, A Babe in a manger stall, With the big star flashing across the night, Did You know and pity us all? Did the wee hands, close as a rosebud curled, With the call of...
View ArticleSermon for a Children’s Mass, First Sunday of Advent, 1900
SERMONS FOR CHILDREN’S MASSES, FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT Gospel. Luke xxi: 25-33. At that time Jesus said to his disciples: There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon...
View ArticleSermon by Fr. Francis X. Weninger, S.J., on the Feast of the Immaculate...
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. “Thou art all, fair, my love, and there is not a spot in thee!”—Cant. 4. As Christ, in a figurative manner, is compared to the sun, whose rise imparts strength,...
View ArticleBishop Thomas Galberry, O.S.A., Hartford, Connecticut (1833-1878)
RIGHT REV. THOMAS GALBERRY, O.S.A., Fourth Bishop of Hartford Thomas Galberry first saw the light at Naas, in the County Kildare, Ireland, in 1833, but three years after his birth, his parents came to...
View ArticleCatholics in Public Service: Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832)
With the Fourth of July, McNamara’s Blog launches a new feature, “Catholics in Public Service.” It seems best to begin with the first major American Catholic to engage in public service, Charles...
View ArticleBrooklyn Widow Enters Carmelite Monastery, 1916
Mrs. J. Delehanty is Carmelite Nun. Former Miss Monahan of Brooklyn, Now a Widow, Joins Severe Order. RULES EXTREMELY STRICT. Picturesque Ceremony at Monastery on Bedford Avenue—Vicar General...
View ArticleWho’s Buried in Catholic Cemeteries: Annie Moore (1874-1924)
Born in County Cork, Ireland, on April 24, 1874, Annie Moore was the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island when it opened on January 1, 1892. (Prior to that, immigrants entered through Castle...
View ArticleFather William Starrs, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York (1807-1873)
Very Rev. William Starrs, D.D. (The New York Times, February 7, 1873) Very Rev. William Starrs, D.D., Rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of New York, died...
View ArticleCatholics in the Movies: Mike Mazurki (1907-1990)
Mike Mazurki was what is known as a “Brothers’ Boy.” Born Mikhail Mazurkiewicz in Austria-Hungary, he emigrated to the United States on the eve of the First World War. Settling in upstate New York, he...
View ArticleWho’s Buried in Catholic Cemeteries: Supreme Court Justice joseph McKenna...
Joseph McKenna was one of the few politicians to have served in all three branches of the Federal Government: as a Congressman, as a U.S. Attorney General, and as a Supreme Court Justice. The son of...
View ArticleCatholics on Stage: Fritz Williams (1865-1930)
Williams, Fritz (Frederick Williams): Actor; b. in Boston, Mass., August 23, 1865; parents member at the stock company at the Boston Museum for 15 years; made his first appearance on stage at that...
View ArticlePoem for the Fiftieth Anniversary of Villanova, 1892
ODE FOR THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF VILLANOVA COLLEGE (1892) By Eleanor C. Donnelly OH ! blest be the day, when the sun’s golden ray First shone on these shades, Villanova revealing! Like the sunrise that...
View ArticleCatholics in Public Service: John Lee Carroll (1830-1911)
Born in Baltimore, John Lee Carroll was the great-great-grandson of Charles Carroll (1737-1832), the sole Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence. His great-grandfather Thomas Sim Lee...
View ArticleWho’s Buried in Catholic Cemeteries: Mayor Hugh J. Grant (1858-1910)
Born in New York City on September 10, 1858, Hugh J. Grant grew up in Manhattan, where he attended Manhattan College (then located in Manhattanville) before studying abroad. Upon his return he studied...
View Article“New York Catholics” Now Available on Amazon!
My new book New York Catholics: Faith, Attitude & the Works! is now available on Amazon. It’s a celebration of the difference that 76 different Catholic women and men have made, and are making, in...
View ArticleAn African-American Woman Writes to Pope Pius IX, 1853
New York, October 29th, 1863 Most Holy Father Visible Head of the Church of Jesus Christ. I humbly write these lines to beseech your Holiness in the name of the same Saviour if you will provide for the...
View ArticleA Dominican in Memphis: Father Joseph A. Kelly, O.P. (1827-1885)
Very Rev. Joseph Augustine Kelly, O.P.— Born in Dublin, Ireland, 1827. Came to America at the age of ten. Reared in Philadelphia, Pa., and Louisville, Ky. Graduate St. Mary’s… [in] Bardstown, Ky....
View ArticleAnti-Catholic Cartoon of the Week: “Three Things That Never Marry”
This widely circulated tract did duty in several anti-Catholic campaigns in the 1910’s and 1920’s. It reads as follows: THREE THINGS THAT NEVER MARRY Three things that never marry—a bull, a bulldog,...
View ArticleMy Speech at the Book Launching Party for “New York Catholics”
On Friday, September 19, Orbis Books held a book launching party for my new book New York Catholics: Faith, Attitude & the Works! I offer here the remarks I made at that event: I think the theme of...
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