Review of Jon M. Sweeney, “When Saint Francis Saved the Church”
Jon M. Sweeney, When Saint Francis Saved the Church: How a Converted Medieval Troubador Created a Spiritual Vision for the Ages (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2014). Author Jon Sweeney has a gift...
View ArticleA Poem by St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Song of Gratitude to Our Lady of Mount Carmel From the first moments of my life, You took me in your arms. Ever since that day, dear Mother, You’ve protected me here below. To preserve my innocence,...
View ArticleFranciscans Found New York City’s First Italian Parish, 1866
St. Anthony of Padua, New York, New York (1866) THERE can be little doubt but that the Catholic navigator Gomez, at the close of the first quarter of the sixteenth century, entered our harbor on the...
View ArticleA Review of Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., “The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton”
Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2014). The Seven Storey...
View ArticleA Poem by Blessed John Henry Newman, 1857
Saint Philip in His School. This is the Saint of gentleness and kindness, Cheerful in penance, and in precept winning: Patiently healing of their pride and blindness, Souls that are sinning. This is...
View ArticleNew York Socialite Becomes Nun, 1914
MISS DAHLGREN TO BE A NUN. Society Girl to Join Sisterhood that Aids Negroes and Indians. Special to the New York Times. The New York Times, December 24, 1914 PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 23—Miss Lucy Dahlgren,...
View ArticleAnti-Catholic Cartoon of the Week: “Erin Go Unum”
This cartoon was circulated from the early 1900’s through the 1920’s, when anti-Catholicism reached a fever pitch in American life. Here an octopus with Pope Leo XIII’s head strangles Lady Liberty with...
View ArticleBlog Bishop of the Week: Ignatius A. Reynolds, Charleston, South Carolina...
Ignatius Aloysius Reynolds was born near Bardstown, Kentucky, August 22, 1798, of one of the Catholic families that emigrated from Maryland to that State. Trained under Bishop Flaget and Dr. David he...
View ArticleWho’s Buried in Catholic Cemeteries: Mona Darkfeather, Actress (1883-1977)
Between 1910 and 1917, this actress appeared in some 109 movies, featured mainly as a Native American woman. Born Josephine Workman in California, she was of English, Scottish, Native American and...
View ArticleThe First Review of “New York Catholics”!
The following review of my new book, New York Catholics, appears this week in The Tablet, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn. It’s in the editorial column by Editor Ed Wilkinson: I’m a...
View ArticleAll Hallows College, Ireland (1840)
On the eve of All Hallows (All Saints), it seems appropriate to focus on a seminary named for that day. From 1840 through the 1980′s, All Hallows College sent some 5,000 Irish priests out to the...
View ArticleAll Saints Day Homily, St. Paul the Apostle, Manhattan, 1913
FEAST OF ALL SAINTS: The Intercession of the Saints. “You have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the...
View ArticleCatholic Poetry: “Believe and Take Heart,” by John Lancaster Spalding
BELIEVE AND TAKE HEART By John Lancaster Spalding What can console for a dead world? We tread on dust which once was life; To nothingness all things are hurled: What meaning in a hopeless strife?...
View ArticleCatholics in Public Service: Senator Francis Kernan, New York (1816-1892)
As Americans go to the polls today, we profile the first Catholic to represent New York in the United States Senate. The following is taken from the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia: Lawyer, statesman; born...
View ArticleAnti-Catholic Cartoon of the Week
The Rail Splitter was one of several anti-Catholic publications that gained a wide circulation in the 1910′s and 1920′s. This cartoon from its pages shows a cassocked priest replete with horns and tail...
View ArticleCatholics in the Movies: Pedro de Cordoba (1881-1950)
Born in New York City to a French mother and a Cuban father, Pedro de Cordoba was a solidly reliable character actor in American films from the silent through the sound era. Between 1915 and 1951, he...
View ArticleA Great Book for Memorial Day– Catholics and the Civil War
The Best Father’s Day Present Last Father’s Day, I got a book I’d wanted for a while– Soldiers of the Cross: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War, by David Power...
View ArticleJohn Wayne and the Catholic Church
John Wayne and the Catholics For me today is a big “OTD” moment. That’s because, in 1907, my favorite actor, Marion Robert Morrison, was born in Winterset, Iowa. Known to the world as John Wayne, he’s...
View ArticleThis Week in America: What Would St. Francis Do?
A Drawing in the Middle of the Night Last night, I had trouble sleeping, which I normally don’t. For some reason, I felt compelled, perhaps inspired, to do a drawing from a movie I had recently...
View ArticleWhite American Catholics and Race: A Church Historian’s Reflection (Part One)
Race in American Life When you look at English history, most scholars would agree that class is the defining issue. (Maybe that’s why TV series like Downton Abbey have been so popular.) But in America,...
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