American Catholic History

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez came from a humble but devout family in Puerto Rico. He suffered from a terrible illness for most of his life. He barely graduated high school and couldn't complete college. But he had a deep love of Christ and of the Liturgy, particularly the Easter Vigil. He would say of that liturgy, "¡Vivimos para esa noche!", "We live for that night!" He engaged in great catechetical works and organized groups at the University of Puerto Rico and in many parishes to discuss the liturgy. He believed that the faithful needed to be helped to learn about the liturgy, so they might know their faith better. He also advocated for small changes to the liturgy, including including the vernacular in places, and making it easier for the faithful to engage in full active participation. His health deteriorated in early 1963, when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in July 1963. Students who had learned from him carried on his legacy and eventually organized to promote his cause of canonization. A miracle was approved in 1999 which led to Pope John Paul II declaring him Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodriguez in 2001. He is the first Caribbean layman to be beatified, and only the second layman in the western hemisphere

Benjamin Franklin and Father John Carroll, SJ became friends on an ill-fated mission to Canada in 1776 during the opening stages of the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress sent Franklin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Samuel Chase, and Father John Carroll on a mission to try to persuade the Canadians to join in the rebellion. Franklin was already ill when the trip began, and his condition worsened. He chose to leave Canada early when it was obvious that the mission would not succeed, so Father John Carroll decided to accompany him to help nurse him on the voyage. Franklin credited Carroll's ministrations with saving his life, and he never forgot Carroll's kindness and care. Because of this friendship, when Ben Franklin was the American ambassador to France, and the Church was looking to establish a hierarchy in the new American nation, he was in a position to put in a good word for Carroll. In 1784 Carroll was named "Superior of the Missions," and then in 1789 he was named the first bishop of Baltimore. He became archbishop of Baltimore in 1808, and died in 1815

The first St. Patrick's Day Festivities were held, oddly enough, in St. Augustine, Florida in 1600. More than 130 years later the first permanent St. Patrick's Day celebrations as we know them began in Boston, and then 25 years later in New York City, both in the 18th century. The first St. Patrick's Day Parade was held by Irish soldiers in the British army stationed in New York City, who got up on March 17, 1762 and paraded through the streets of Manhattan to a tavern for breakfast. The tradition has stuck. The celebration remained and grew because it was a way for Irish, particularly Irish Catholics, to assert their presence in the New World, and to celebrate their own native culture in this land where they were a minority, not always trusted, but who were intent on staying and being part of this new nation. Since the mid-20th century the American phenomenon of St. Patrick's Day celebrations has both returned to Ireland, where it is a major four-day event, and it has spread throughout the world wherever Irish can be found in large numbers.

The Josephites, formally the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, were founded in 1892 when priests of the “Mill Hill” priests from England separated from the mother order. The Mill Hill priests had been founded in England in 1866 by Father Herbert Vaughn — later the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster — who desired to establish a missionary society. In 1871 Pope Pius IX gave the Mill Hill priests the mission of evangelizing the millions of blacks in America who were recently freed slaves in the wake of the American Civil War. They did amazing work, but, in spite of fact that the American bishops, led by Archbishop Martin Spalding of Baltimore, had specifically requested aid from Rome to help with the difficult challenge of these newly freed slaves, the Church in America, at all levels, still included many people with frankly un-Catholic understandings of their obligation of charity and justice toward their fellow man. Many black Catholics, and those who helped them, like the Josephites, faced terrible racism and segregation, for decades. However, the persistence of the Josephites, and the good will of a few very important figures, put the Church at the forefront of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. The Josephites are the first, and still one of the few, religious orders that work exclusively to aid black Catholics and preserve and promote a uniquely black voice in Catholicism in America.

Episode 36 Mother Mathilda Beasley was born Mathilda Taylor in New Orleans, Louisiana in either 1832 or 1834. Her mother was enslaved, and her father was not known, though he may have been James Taylor, her mother's slave owner. She may have been baptized in the Cathedral of St. Louis in New Orleans, and she was educated as she grew. By 20 years old she was a free woman of color and had moved to Savannah, Georgia. There she worked as a seamstress and took the very risky step of educating the children of slaves.  This was forbidden by George law, and it carried harsh penalties. After the Civil War she married Abraham Beasley, but when he died she donate all of her money to the Catholic Church — perhaps because her husband, though he was black, had made money in the slave trade. She went back to working as a seamstress, but she wanted to educate children and to become a religious sister. She eventually founded one of the first Catholic religious orders for Black women in the US, and it was the first in Georgia. She died in 1903 while praying before a statue of the Blessed Mother. Her funeral was packed with Catholics and Protestants alike. 

Daniel Rudd was born a slave in Bardstown. His family was Catholic, as was the family who enslaved them. They all worshiped God together at St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, the first cathedral of the Diocese of Bardstown which had become the Diocese of Louisville by the time he was born. St. Joseph was right across the street from the house where he grew up. He reflected later in life about how at St. Joseph he learned that in the sacraments of the Church, all were equal before God, regardless of race or class. He was freed after the Civil War and went to live with his brother in Ohio. He worked for civil rights for blacks beginning in the late 1860s. He founded the first newspaper published by a black man for black people. His paper eventually went national. He had the approbation of many bishops and cardinals in the USA and from abroad. Eventually he worked with Father Augustus Tolton to establish the Colored Catholic Congress, the precursor to the modern National Black Catholic Congress. Daniel Rudd died in 1933 in his childhood home in Bardstown, and he is buried in the graveyard at the Proto-Cathedral.

Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, and the first immigrant to be welcomed was Annie Moore, who was either a 15 or 17 year-old Catholic girl from Ireland. She and her younger brothers traveled over from Cobh, County Cork to join their parents who were already in American. Moore went on to marry a German and have a bunch of kids in New York City, contrary to some popular myths. Twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island during its 62 years of service, most of them from historically Catholic countries. Ellis Island was the first central immigration point set up by the federal government after nearly 100 years of immigration being controlled by the states.

Mother Benedict Duss hid from the Nazis in her French Benedictine monastery during World War II. After General Patton's Third Army liberated her abbey she pledged to return to the United States to establish a Benedictine monastery to pray for and bless her homeland. Through the assistance of two future popes — both of whom would eventually be canonized — and a number of other providential happenstances, the Abbey of Regina Laudis was finally established in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The story of the founding eventually became the basis for the acclaimed movie Come To The Stable, which was nominated for eight Oscars, including for the screenplay written by Clare Booth Luce. Regina Laudis has been the home of Mother Dolores Hart since she left a budding Hollywood acting career in the 1960s, and it was the place where the actress Patricia Neal found solace and healing after her tumultuous life. 

Father Aloysius Schmitt was a Navy Chaplain assigned to the USS Oklahoma at the outset of World War II. He had just finished the 7 a.m. Mass on the Second Sunday of Advent when the  first torpedoes from the surprise Japanese attack struck the ship. He aided men to escape, at the cost of his own life during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first chaplain to die in World War II.

Venerable Henriette Delille overcame great opposition to establish the second religious community for black women in the United States. She was an octroon born in New Orleans in 1813. Her mother was a kept woman within the plaçage system. After Henriette learned the truth about marriage she became implacably opposed to the plaçage system, and she rejected the trajectory of her life. In her 20s she started the second religious community for black women, but it took years for the authorities to approve her religious order. Since its founding in the 1840s the community has opened the first Catholic nursing home for the elderly in the United States, as well as one of the oldest Black Catholic high schools in the USA. Henriette Delille died in 1862. Her cause for canonization opened in 1988, and she was declared venerable in 2010.

"Pope Night" was the American version of the British "Guy Fawkes Night," the annual commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot. The night of mischief and mayhem and anti-Catholic demonstrations came over with sailors and grew to include demonstrations up and down the New England coast. It was ended by George Washington, who had an affinity for Catholics — and who needed Catholic support in the war against Great Britain

In the late 1700s, Adam Livingston, who was Lutheran, moved with his family to a farm near Smithfield, Virginia. After a stranger, who turned out to be Catholic, died in his home, manifestations of a demonic infestation of their home began to disturb his family. The sound of invisible horses galloping loudly, crockery flying off shelves, a clipping sound accompanied by articles of clothing being damaged, and other disturbing occurrences. The clipping is what gave the area the name "Wizard Clip." The manifestations continued until two Catholic priests, including Father Demetrius "Prince" Gallitzin, intervened to exorcise the demons. Livingston's family became Catholic as a result. Following their conversion, a consoling heavenly voice instructed the Livingston family in the faith, led them in prayer, and inspired Livingston to do good things for others in need. When the Livingstons moved back to Pennsylvania in 1802, Adam Livingston donated 34 acres to the Catholic Church, and that land is, since 1978, the Priestfield retreat center for priests in modern day Middleway, West Virginia.

John Barry was born in Ireland in the late 1740s to Catholic peasant farmers. Being Catholic they had no rights, and by the time John was ten they had been evicted from their land and moved to a coastal town. John became a sailor on his uncle's fishing vessel and by 15 had risen well. That year he moved to Philadelphia, the most important port city in the British colonies in America. By 21 he was a ships captain making runs to the Caribbean regularly. He rose in prominence as a captain and a man of great character and generosity in Philadelphia society. When the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775 he sold his ship, the Black Prince, to the Continental Congress, and offered his services as a sea captain. On board his new command, the Lexington, he won the first naval engagement of the War. He spent time on shore during the War, taking part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, among other actions. When he returned to sea, after refusing to take a bribe from the British to switch allegiance, he commanded two other ships and won other significant battles, including the final engagement of the War. After Independence was won he went back to merchant shipping until President George Washington tapped him to lead the organization of the new permanent US Navy. He oversaw construction of the first naval vessels and took command of the first ship, the United States. Washington nominated him as the first officer, and first flag officer, of the new U.S. Navy, effective in 1794. He died in 1803 of asthma. There are at least three statues commemorating Barry — one in Washington, DC, one in Philadelphia, and one in his native Wexford, Ireland. For his efforts as a sea captain and establishing the US Navy, John Barry is considered the Father of the US Navy.

Dubbed "The Cathedral of the Plains" by William Jennings Bryan, the Basilica of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen was completed in 1911. It was the largest and tallest church west of the Mississippi River at the time. It was built by the community of Volga Germans who had moved en masse to Victoria, Kansas in the last few decades of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th. The community grew quickly through immigration after the Tsar of Russia had rolled back many of the privileges and protections that they had enjoyed in Russia for nearly a century. The Basilica was built in just three years through the hard work and sacrifice of the families of the community. The effort was led by the Capuchin friar who was their pastor, Fr. Jerome Mueller, OFM Cap. He levied a duty of $45, six cartloads of stone, and four cartloads of sand on every male 12 years old and older. Many families took out loans to afford this duty, but they took on this debt willingly to have their church, and they contributed their own time and industry to build it. The title "Cathedral of the Plains" was given by Bryan in 1912 as he arrived in Victoria by train, while stumping for Woodrow Wilson's presidential election campaign. The church is easily visible from Interstate 70, and is visited frequently by people who are drawn to it due to its size, beauty, and splendor. It was named a Basilica in 2014.

Sister Blandina Segale had a second chapter to her life. After spending 20 years bringing civility and the light of Christ to the Wild West, Sister Blandina and her biological sister, Sister Justina, worked hard for immigrants and those in need in Cincinnati, Ohio. They began their work in 1896 and organized the Santa Maria Institute in 1897 to provide catechesis, social services, and homes for those in need. They worked initially among the immigrant Italian population, but their scope expanded as more and more people in need flooded into Cincinnati in the first quarter of the 20th century. They fought against bigotry, religious persecution and opposition, and sometimes an adverse legal system. But their efforts became one of the largest and most important social services organizations in Ohio, Santa Maria Services. 

Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the NFL's Green Bay Packers, was arguably the greatest football coach of all time. What made him a great coach was his ability to motivate his players, and get their best out of them. His coaching philosophy came largely from his Catholic education, and sounded a lot like how Catholics talk about virtue. As a coach he never had a losing season, and took the Green Bay Packers from a decade of futility to a decade of success, including winning the first two Super Bowls. But the sudden onset of cancer took his life after just one season of success with the Washington Redskins. 

Sister Blandina Segale was a spitfire of a pint-sized Italian nun who faced down lynch mobs, tamed outlaws, outwitted juvenile troublemakers, and built or rebuilt schools, orphanages, hospitals and convents, often with her own hands and the those of anyone she could cajole or convince to help. Whew! She was originally from Italy, but after her family immigrated when she was 5, she became a Sister of Charity at 16. At 22, in 1872, she was sent to the frontier mining town of Trinidad, Colorado. She spent 20 years out west, and her impact was tremendous. But this episode is only part of her amazing story. After she was recalled to Cincinnati in 1892 she spent another nearly five decades working equally hard for women and children in that town. But that will be a story for another day. 

Charlene Richard was an ordinary girl in south central Louisiana. She was a typical cajun Catholic girl, good at sports, good at her studies, a devout Catholic, and known to get into a little trouble here and there, just like every other kid her age. But when she was twelve everything changed when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and died just 13 days later. How she suffered for others, and how she accepted her coming death, inspired by St. Therese of Lisieux, made all the difference for “the Little Cajun Saint.”

"Stagecoach" Mary Fields was a hard-drinking, gun-toting, street-brawling black woman in the Montana frontier. She also was a kind-hearted guardian to the children of the Montana frontier, including native children, and she was a dear friend to the Ursuline nuns who had set up a mission near Cascade, Montana. In spite of her hard work, dedication to those in need, and generosity, she was treated poorly by those in positions of power. She spent eight years as a mail carrier running a Star Route in Montana. She was good at it, but some were upset by how good she was at it and gave her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary" as a way to denigrate her service. After leaving the Star Route she took on other jobs to make ends meet. While some resented her abilities, most loved her and appreciated her generosity and hard work. When she died in 1814 her funeral was one of the largest that Cascade, Montana had ever seen.

Shrines dedicated in honor of St. Anne are among the oldest Catholic establishments in the U.S. St Anne de Detroit, for instance, is the second-oldest parish in the United States, while the shrine on Isle la Motte, Vermont, was part of a French fort protecting the southern approaches to Montreal. Some shrines have dramatic stories, like the National Shrine of St. Anne in Scranton, Pennsylvania which nearly collapsed due to mining activity in the hill beneath it. Most have a relic of St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. The Shrine of St. Anne in Fall River, Massachusetts was built to rival the great shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec, but demographic changes brought that awe-inspiring structure nearly to the point of demolition. These shrines often arose where French and French Canadians settled, as the French have historically had a deep devotion to the  mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus.    Image credits: St. Anne de Detroit, creative commons license, Polonia90; St. Anne's Church and Parish Complex, Fall River, Massachusetts, creative commons license, Kenneth C. Zirkel 

Stanley Rother was born in Okarchee, Oklahoma the oldest of four children to a family of Catholic German farmers. He grew up learning the ways of farming, playing sports, and serving Mass. He entered seminary but struggled with some theology classes and Latin. The seminary eventually sent him home saying he wasn't priest material. Fortunately his bishop and Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland wanted to give him another chance. He graduated and was ordained a priest for Oklahoma City-Tulsa in 1963. In 1968 he requested to be a missionary in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala where the Diocese had a mission. He went and learned both Spanish and the difficult Tzutujil language of the small community of native peasants among whom he served as a missionary. He poured himself into the work, eventually translating the Mass and even the New Testament into Tzutujil. He also worked to bring modern farming techniques to the community and taught math along with language and catechetical lessons. His efforts, however, made him a target of both the government and left-wing militant groups who were fighting a bloody civil war that lasted decades. A number of his parishioners were victims of the Civil War as they refused to cooperate with either side of the fight. Father Rother wrote that "the shepherd doesn't flee at the first sign of danger." Eventually he was found to be number 8 on a death list, so his bishop ordered him to return to Oklahoma. He spent a few months at his family farm, but eventually requested permission to return to Santiago Atitlan to be with his people for Easter. He returned in April 1981, but on July 28, 1981 he was gunned down in the rectory in the middle of the night. He was regarded as a martyr and a great man from immediately after his death. His body was returned to Oklahoma, but his heart was returned to Santiago Atitlan where it remains. His cause for canonization opened in 2010, and he was beatified in a large outdoor Mass in Oklahoma City in 2017. A large shrine dedicated to Blessed Stanley Rother opened in 2023 in Oklahoma City.

Cora Evans grew up a good Mormon, but had a crisis of faith during her wedding at the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. She and her husband left the Mormon faith, and eventually became Catholic. This led to hardships as they were shunned for their apostasy. They had to flee Utah for California where they lived the rest of their lives. Cora's conversion came about in part because she had been having visions of the Blessed Mother since she was very young, but it wasn't until she spoke with a Catholic priest when she was 30 that she realized who this "beautiful lady" who visited her was. Her mystical experience grew in intensity, and eventually included many visits by Jesus himself, whom she alwasy called "The Master." Jesus gave her the mission of spreading devotion to the "Mystical Humanity of Christ," and he charged her to write and document her experiences. She had never written much, and wasn't highly educated, but she was obedient and she wrote about what Christ revealed to her. Her experiences came to the attention of the Church in Los Angeles, and the archbishop had Jesuits and other priests visit her to test the authenticity of her visions. Her responses and understanding convinced the experts and the archbishop that her visions were genuine, but that they were private revelations, not to be publicized at least during her lifetime. Eventually her writings filled boxes and boxes worth of manuscripts about her experiences. Some have been published, including one published under the title Refugee from Heaven. Those who carry on her work still offer conferences and retreats to help people live a life according to the Mystical Humanity of Christ.  In 2010 her cause for canonization was officially opened, giving her the title of Servant of God.

Franciscan Fr. Juan de Padilla accompanied Coronado on his 1541 mission into New Mexico to search for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Father Padilla was looking for souls to evangelize and save. After Coronado’s search was frustrated, Fr. de Padilla remained behind to evangelize natives among the Ouichita — or Wichita — in modern day Kansas. Details aren't clear as to how or precisely where, but for his efforts he was the first to shed his blood for Christ in the New World. Three different markers in modern day Kansas mark places where his martyrdom could have happened. All three are within 100 miles of the geographic centerpoint of the contiguous 48 states. His martyrdom happened about 100 years prior to the first of the North American Martyrs in New York. 

Orestes Brownson was the first major American Catholic intellectual to gain an international reputation. His thinking on the significance of America, and the place of Catholics within American political life was new and unexpected. He believed, contra what many anti-Catholics in his day believed, that not only could Catholics be good Americans, but that Catholics could be the best Americans. He also had strong opinions on slavery. Brownson opposed slavery as a great evil, but he was not an abolitionist. He believed that those who held slaves had a moral obligation to treat them well, and to prepare them to be free men and women, but that simply freeing all slaves would bring about great harm to the slaves as well as society. But once the Civil War began, he became an abolitionist, believing that, since the South made the war about the right to own slaves, slavery must be ended as part of the North’s victory in the Civil War.

Orestes Brownson was a major intellectual of the 19th century, and a Catholic convert in his 41st year. Born in 1803 in Vermont, he was raised Christian, but in no particular Christian denomination or sect. He was largely self-taught, and had a strong sense that one must follow reason to arrive at truth, no matter where it was found. In his teens he began a struggle for religious truth that would start in Presbyterianism, then through Universalism, and Unitarian Transcendentalism, before he finally became Catholic, and remained so for the remaining three decades of his life. This is part one of a rare two-part treatment of a topic. 

Noel Dubé, Noëlle’s grandfather, was a hero of World War II, landing on D-Day and playing a key role in the breakout from the beaches and the race through the hedgerows of Normandy. He also raised ten children with his wife Toni and started a local shrine to Our Lady which drew thousands of visitors annually from across the country. His devotion to Mary began at a young age when his mother died and he took Mary to be his mother. 

John Wayne, the icon of American manliness and one of the most important film stars of all time, once called himself a "cardiac Catholic." He meant that he intended to become Catholic on his deathbed. Born Marion Morrison he was raised a Presbyterian, but all three of his wives were Catholic. We're not sure how that worked out, since none of them predeceased him, but we leave that to God's grace and the wisdom of the Church. However, the example of many Catholics in his life, particularly his first wife, had a deep impression on him. Despite serious problems with infidelity, John Wayne did manage to become Catholic and make his amends with God before his death.

Since shortly after he died in 1799, questions have circulated about whether George Washington converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. The evidence isn't conclusive in either direction, but a number of factors point to this possibility. Chief among them is that Washington requested that a Catholic priest come to his bedside as he lay dying. One of the Neale brothers who was a Jesuit priest in Piscataway, Maryland, right across the Potomac from Mount Vernon, attended Washington and was with him for nearly four hours. If Washington became a Catholic convert many would not be surprised, as he had displayed an affinity for Catholics and for the Catholic Church for most of his adult life. In this episode we consider all of the evidence for the potential deathbed conversion of the Father of America.

Julia Greeley was born a slave in Missouri. After Missouri abolished slavery she moved to Denver, Colorado where she worked for the family of the first governor of Colorado. She became Catholic in 1880 and developed a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She devoted her life to helping anyone who needed assistance. She would give to others from her own meager earnings, any anything she couldn't afford she would beg for. She was a daily communicant and a prayer warrior. At least one couple overcame infertility through her prayers. She loved children and would organize days in the park for children who didn't have the opportunity. One special ministry was to firefighters. She would go around every First Friday — the day of devotion to the Sacred Heart — and bring pamphlets about the Sacred Heart devotion to all of the firehouses in Denver. She died on the feast of the Sacred Heart in 1918. She did so much good for so many that her funeral was massive. Her cause for canonization opened in 2016, when her body was exhumed and reinterred in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. She is the only person buried in that church, which opened in 1912.

Mother Mary Magdalene Bentivoglio was born Anna Bentivoglio into Italian and French nobility in the mid 1800s. But both of her parents died before her 27th birthday. Since she and two of her sisters were still single, Pope Pius IX took responsibility for them and they were placed in a Benedictine abbey. This experienced compelled all three to desire religious life, but a more austere experience of it. So they became Poor Clares of the Primitive Observance. Ten years after taking their final vows two of them, Mary Magdalene and one of her sisters who had been given the religious name Constanza, were selected by Pius IX to go to the United States to help a third order Franciscan community establish a school. This fell apart shortly after they arrived in the US, and they found themselves stuck in New York City with no money, no plan, and no English. They appealed to the archbishop of New York to establish a Poor Clare monastery in his archdiocese, but he refused. They appealed to other dioceses, but got many rejections until the archbishop of New Orleans welcomed them. But then they were forced to move to Cleveland. Another setback prompted them to go searching for a home again, until John Creighton, the Omaha industrialist and philanthropist, learned of their plight and pledged to build them a monastery in Omaha. Things began looking up, but there were still other trials awaiting them. But through it all, Mother Mary Magdalene brought her stubbornness, and her absolute trust in God's providence, to bear on all hardships and opportunities. She died in the early 1900s. More than 20 Poor Clare monasteries in the United States and Canada trace their roots to the trailblazing faith, zeal, and dedication of Mother Mary Magdalene Bentivoglio. Her cause for canonization was opened in 1929, and when her body was exhumed she was found to be incorrupt. In 1969 she was declared Venerable. 

St. Kateri Tekakwitha lived a life marked by tragedy and upheaval, but also a lot of grace and love. She was born to Mohawk Indian parents (though her mother was originally Algonquin), who both died from smallpox when she was four. She survived smallpox, but the disease left her face scarred and her eyesight damaged. Because of this handicap she was called, "She who bumps into things," or in Mohawk, "Tekakwitha." At a young age she pledged to remain a virgin and not get married, which was a very strange and unheard of thing among Mohawk women. After exposure to Catholic missionaries she became Catholic and was baptized with the Mohawk form of the name "Catherine," which is "Kateri." Due to the intense ridicule she suffered for her conversion she left her village and moved to Kahnawake, a village for Native Americans who had become Catholic. Surrounded by fellow Catholics and with a few particular friends who helped her to go deeper into her faith she became even more devout. She died at just 24 years old due in part to lingering health issues from her childhood bout with smallpox.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the wealthiest man in the American colonies at the time of the Revolution. He was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, and after a long and distinguished career in public service, he was the last of the signers to die. Despite laws outlawing Catholics from holding public office in the Maryland colony he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He later served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, and helped to write the Constitution for the new State of Maryland. He served on the board of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and laid the cornerstone for its construction. 

Father Leo Heinrichs was a Franciscan who fled persecution in Germany only to be shot dead by an Italian anarchist in Denver in 1908. He first came to New York and New Jersey where he ministered for 16 years. He was much loved by the homeless and those in need, as he did great work providing for their needs, and giving them spiritual comfort. But in 1907 he was transferred to St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Denver, the parish established for the large German-speaking population in that city. Just five months later he swapped Sunday Mass times with another priest so that he could make it to a morning meeting. In the congregation that day was Giuseppe Alia, a recent immigrant from Italy who hated the Catholic Church and especially priests. He shot Father Leo at point blank range during Communion, but was tackled before he could leave the church. He was tried, convicted, and hanged without repentance, despite the efforts of the Franciscans to minister to him and to plead for clemency. Father Leo's cause for canonization opened, but it stalled in 1940. 

In 1810 a wooden cross was miraculously discovered in the hillside of the village of Chimayo in northern New Mexico. The area had been known by Pueblo Indians as a place where miraculous healings took place, and after the cross was found a chapel was built because pilgrims started coming to pray before the miraculous cross and seek healing from the "holy dirt." So many miraculous healings have been attributed to this location, and so many pilgrims come every year — it is the largest pilgrimage site in the U.S. — that Chimayo is known by some as the Lourdes of America.

Roger Maris was a lifelong Catholic. He was born in Minnesota and grew up in North Dakota. He was an excellent athlete, and after breaking into the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1957, he eventually made it to the New York Yankees, where he broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961. Ruth’s record was one of the most hallowed in baseball, so anyone breaking it was a big deal. But Yankee fans wanted it to be the face of the franchise through the 1950s, the great Mickey Mantle, who broke it. Maris had only been a Yankee for one full season, so he was considered an interloper, usurping what was rightly Mantle’s record. Add to that, the commissioner of baseball, Ford Frick, suggested that if the record were not broken within 154 games (the season was now 162 games), then a mark, like an asterisk, should be added to it in record books. The stress of all of this weighed heavily on Maris. After breaking the record in 1961, he played seven more seasons, most with the Yankees and two with the St. Louis Cardinals, before retiring after the 1968 season. He had his number retired by the Yankees in 1984, but he has not yet been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Roger Maris died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1985. Maris was never a flashy player, and he was a very private person. His faith, always with him, was similarly private, though the testimony of his teammates and his family indicate that he lived a virtuous life, and cared for those around him.

King Charles I of England established the colony of Maryland in 1634 as a haven for Catholics. The colony was created at the request of, George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore. But he died before his dream could be realized. So his son Cecil Calvert, the second Baron Baltimore, took on the task of settling the colony. He sent his brother, Leonard, over as governor. Four years after the colony was established, three member of the Catholic Brent family sailed over to aid in settling and growing the new Catholic colony. But the English Civil War of the 1640s brought conflict to the shores of Maryland. Margaret Brent, who was one of the largest landowners in the colonies at the time, stepped up in a big way to save the colony from destruction. For her efforts she was denounced by Lord Baltimore to the colonial legislature (who defended her actions), but the opposition from Lord Baltimore was enough for Margaret and her siblings. They all pulled up roots and moved to land they had acquired in Virginia, right across the Potomac River, where they established the first Catholic settlement in that colony. At the time of her death, Margaret Brent controlled a large portion of northern Virginia along the Potomac, including modern-day Old Town Alexandria, Mount Vernon, and Fredericksburg. A 15-foot-high bronze crucifix stands as a marker near the site of the Brent homestead and cemetery in Stafford County, Virginia.

In the 1870s the Sisters of Loretto built a chapel for the school they ran in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But the architect failed to include a staircase to the choir loft 20 feet above the floor. And then he died before he could rectify the situation. The sisters prayed a novena to St. Joseph to find a solution, and on the ninth day of the novena a mysterious carpenter showed up and offered to build them the perfect staircase for free. The accepted his offer. Months later he had completed a spiral staircase, and then he vanished, without leaving a trace of who he was or where he came from. The staircase he built defies explanation: it lacks a central newel post, standing only due to the strength of the two stringers. Those stringers are bent and twisted into helixes, which is a very difficult thing to do to wood. He also built it using no nails or glue, just wooden pegs hold it together. Also, the wood is some variety of spruce, but analysis reveals that it is a species of spruce unknown on earth. Some suggest that the carpenter was St. Joseph himself or an angel whom he sent to help the sisters in their need. Others say it was a highly skilled French carpenter who had moved into the area about that time. Either way, there is little doubt that there was some divine intervention in the construction of this wonderful staircase. The staircase still stands. it was in daily use until the school closed in 1968, and since then the chapel has been a privately held museum. It is among the most-visited tourist attractions in New Mexico, still inspiring awe and wonder in believers and non-believers alike.

Joseph Dutton, born Ira Dutton in 1843, was a good kid, born to protestant parents. He fought in the Civil War as a quartermaster, advancing from sergeant to captain because of his efficiency and ability. The decade after the Civil War he later called his "wild years" due to a bad marriage and a life of dissipation, under the influence of "John Barleycorn." In the late 1870s he changed his ways and became Catholic as he sought a way to do penance for his bad decade. He tried the contemplative life at the Trappist Abbey at Gethsemane in Kentucky, but that didn't work. He stumbled upon an article about Father Damien de Veuster, the priest who lived among the lepers on the Kalaupapa peninsula of the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The plight of those people and the work done by Father Damien inspired him. He joined Father Damien in 1886 and didn't leave Kalaupapa until 1930, when he was 87 years old. During those 44 years he became everything to the lepers. He was administrator, nurse, pharmacist, carpenter, stone mason, and even baseball coach. His work became known around the world, in part because he wrote thousands of letters to anyone. He died in 1931 at 87 years old. In 2022 his cause for canonization was opened, and he is now known as Servant of God.

More than a decade before the Civil Rights Act became national law Bishop Vincent Waters was actively desegregating the parishes, schools, hospitals, and other institutions of the Diocese of Raleigh in North Carolina. Bishop Waters had studied at the North American College in Rome where his friendship with the black cook — who was American, and who wanted to be a priest but was barred due to the color of his skin — helped him realize the deep injustice of racist policies and segregation. As bishop he wrote multiple pastoral letters on racism, calling it a "heresy" in one. 

Father Francis Duffy was a priest of New York who started as an educator at St. Joseph seminary at Dunwoodie, in Yonkers, New York, before he was made founding pastor of Our Savior Parish in the Bronx. He also volunteered to be an Army chaplain, and was assigned to the New York 69th regiment, known as the Fighting 69th and the "Fighting Irish." With the 69th he was deployed to fight in World War I, where he acquitted himself well, and was beloved of his men and revered by his peers and superiors. After the War he returned to being a parish priest in New York City, as pastor of Holy Cross parish on West 42nd Street, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. There he was a true pastor to the workers of all sorts, even getting permission from the Vatican to offer a Mass at 2:15 a.m. on Sundays for those workers who could not make the regularly scheduled Sunday Mass times. He died in 1932, and just five years later a monument to him was erected in Times Square, just blocks from Holy Cross Parish.

Betty Hutton was "The Incendiary Blonde" of Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s. She was known for her high energy and her big singing voice. But her biggest roles, in "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Greatest Show On Earth," also proved to be her undoing professionally. Her personal life, filled with trauma and rejection from her earliest days, deteriorated to drugs and poverty, until a Catholic priest came along and saved her life.

Lawrence Welk was raised in a sod house on the plains of North Dakota, but after his appendix burst when he was 11 he was smitten by music. He made a deal with his dad for a brand new, very nice accordion that kept him on the family farm until his 21st birthday. After that date he was on the road, making his way in life with his accordion and his ability to craft arrangements of popular tunes that were easy to dance to, easy to listen to, and helped people feel good. One thing led to another and his "champagne music" became a hit in Santa Monica, where a local television station broadcast his set live. The Lawrence Welk Show was born, and it woudl run for an amazing 31 years, even through the cultural craziness of the 1960s and '70s. Welk died ten years later, with his wife of 62 years, Fern, by his side.

Daniel Barber came from good Puritan stock and was a fine upstanding Congregationalist minister. Until some Episcopalians convinced him that Apostolic Succession matters when it comes to ministerial Orders. So he became an Episcopalian priest. He was a fine, upstanding Episcopalian priest for many years. He and his wife, Chloe, raised three children as good Episcopalians. But eventually the question of Apostolic Succession came back to him, and he realized that Episcopalianism didn't satisfy the question of Apostolic Succession — the Catholics actually had it, and the Episcopalians didn't. Meantime, his son Virgil had also become a fine, upstanding Episcopalian priest. He and his wife, Jerusha, were in charge of a good school and had a comfortable life with their children. But a chance encounter with a pamphlet on the life of St. Francis Xavier fired his heart to seek the faith that motivated a man like St. Francis to do what he'd done. Eventually, Virgil and Jerusha became Catholic. Then Chloe converted, along with a number of other members of the family. And finally, Daniel also became Catholic. The entire affair was very upsetting to fine, upstanding New England Protestant sensibilities, and caused a sensation. But the sensations didn't end there. The rest, however, is a tale for another time.

Before Lilies of the Field was a beloved movie it was a charming short book. The author, William Barrett, was Catholic, and based the book in part on the story of the Sisters of St. Walburga in Colorado. When director Ralph Nelson and his screenwriter, James Poe, got the story they made some additional adjustments to it, but kept the essential message and thrust of the story. The result was movie magic. Neither the studio nor the critics thought much of the script, but up-and-coming Hollywood star Sidney Poitier saw something powerful. He took a measly salary to make it happen, and filming took only 14 days. The popular reception, and the film's enduring popularity, showed Nelson and Poitier to be right. Poitier won an Oscar — the first Oscar won by a black man — and the film has been an enduring cultural phenomenon.

Born in 1910, Mary Lou Williams was a child prodigy. She played piano concerts in the homes of her neighbors in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh as early as five years old, and was touring by her teens. After a meteoric rise as an arranger for the biggest names in jazz she became a mentor and mother-figure to many of the great jazz musicians of the 20th century. She was a remarkable pianist and composer in her own right — one of the most important of the 20th century. But she also saw the suffering and grief of those around her as drugs and lives of loose morals wreaked havoc on friends and loved ones. Eventually, in her 40s, she had a crisis and walke off the stage in Paris, vowing to never play music again. She instead did everything she could to help everyone she could, but she didn't know how to. She found refuge in a Catholic church in Harlem that she found was not kept locked, so she was able to go in to pray — though she was not Catholic. But her friend Lorraine Gillespie, wife of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, was considering becoming Catholic. Together they met with the priest and eventually were received into the Church in 1957. After her conversion to Catholicism she returned to the jazz scene, seeing her music as a way to praise God and to evangelize. Her music found new depths of meaning in the prayers, devotions, and themes from Scripture that saved her. She believed that jazz was one of the most pure art forms, and wrote heart-wrenchingly beautiful music over the last few decades of her life, including three different Mass settings. She died in 1981 of cancer and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh.

A leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, poet and author Claude McKay had an idyllic childhood in Jamaica until his first experience of racism when he was 21. After emigrating to the United States in 1912 he became convinced that socialism held the answer to what ailed society, especially what kept black people down. His poetry and novels explored the themes of racial tension, the plight of poor black people in Harlem, and social struggle. He traveled extensively in Europe and Russia to find support for his efforts, but only became disillusioned with socialism. Eventually back in the U.S. his health failed and he was forced to seek help at a Friendship House, a Catholic endeavor. He became enamored of the Catholic approach to social justice and became active in both the Friendship House and the Catholic Worker movements. He came to believe in the Catholic faith, seeing in it the answers to the questions of justice and charity that he’d been seeking his entire life. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1944, four years before he died of heart failure.

Father Augustus Tolton was the first black priest in America who identified as black. He was born a slave in Missouri in 1854, but his mother escaped with him and his two siblings to freedom in Illinois after the Civil War began. He endured racism among the children and parents at two schools, but also experienced great acceptance and love from the priests of his parishes and the nuns at the school. One of the priests, the Irishman Father Peter McGirr, took a special interest in "Gus," as he was known, and made sure he received a good education. Eventually, Father McGirr recognized the possibility that Gus had a vocation to the priesthood. After a few false starts, Father McGirr and the local Franciscan superior got Gus into the seminary of the Propaganda Fidei in Rome. Gus excelled as a seminarian in the Eternal City, and expected to be sent to Africa as a missionary. But the day before his ordination he found out he'd be returning to the U.S. He came back in 1887 and served as a beloved pastor in his home town of Quincy, Illinois, until a change in the local Church leadership made life very difficult for him, and he was transferred to the Archdiocese of Chicago. There he was once again a beloved pastor until his untimely death in 1896. In 2019 Father Augustus Tolton was declared Venerable by Pope Francis.

Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday is the final day of the season known as Carnival in many French-based cities and lands all around the world. Carnival comes from the French from "goodbye, meat!" Carnival season begins on Epiphany, January 6, and goes to Lent. The celebration of Carnival, while not a formal and official liturgical season, is a time when Catholics remember the joy of Christmas, while also preparing for Lent. In this episode we talk about the history of Carnival and Mardi Gras in the US, going back to 1699. New Orleans and it famous French Quarter are best known for Mardi Gras, but Mobile, Alabama has the longer continuous celebration. And in New Orleans the celebration now is conducted by krewes, which run the parades and balls which usher in Lent. Enjoy this stroll through the history of a festive season and celebration, plus a great outtake at the end... 

St. John Neumann was born in 1811 in Prachatice, Bohemia (in present-day Czech Republic). He was a good student, and while in seminary determined to become a missionary in the United States. But after completing his seminary studies he found difficulty in getting ordained or gaining passage to the U.S. But once in the U.S. he proved to be a tireless pastor. He was ordained in 1836 by Bishop John Dubois of New York. After time in diocesan parish work in the Buffalo area he joined the Redemptorists and was stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Norwalk, Ohio, New York City, and Baltimore, Maryland. In 1851 he was consecrated the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. He oversaw a period of incredible growth and construction in the Diocese, establishing so many schools that Phildelphia had the first diocesan school system in the country. His sudden death at 48 years old stunned and saddened everyone. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977.

John von Neumann invented Game Theory, redefined ordinal numbers, contributed mightily to quantum mechanics, and developed the architecture which enables modern computing. He also designed the trigger mechanism which detonated the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and he was key in developing "Mutually Assured Destruction" as a means of balancing the world order as the nuclear age dawned. He possessed an intellect rivaled by only a handful of other persons, and he was, without doubt, one of the most important individuals of 20th century. He also was agnostic for the majority of his life, though he was baptized Catholic at 30 years old in order to marry his Catholic fiancee. But when suddenly facing his own death at just 53 years old, he had to face the questions of the afterlife and the existence of God. Ever the gamer, Pascal's Wager gave him the argument that convinced him to return to the Catholicism of his first wife, and then significant conversations with a learned Benedictine priest helped him to understand the faith and desire the sacraments. He died with the Last Rites in January 1957.

The Land of the Cross Tipped Churches is a region in west-central Ohio. German Catholics fled the wars and upheaval of their homeland in the early- and mid-19th century, and many settled in the United States. A number of these groups settled in a region of western Ohio, and in the 1840s Archbishop Purcell invited the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood to come and minister to these German-speaking Catholics. Father Francis de Sales Brunner led 14 confreres over, and over the ensuing decades the Precious Blood Fathers built more than 60 churches, schools, a seminary, convents, and rectories in a relatively small area. Over the years the construction became more elaborate until many of these churches had tall, slender steeples tipped with crosses. And since they were built so near to each other across a very flat landscape, the area became known as "The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches." Nowadays road signs mark out a scenic byway that would take the pilgrim on a journey through the region, seeing 50 of the churches and other structures. The most prominent of them, the former convent of Mariastein, is now the home of the second-largest collection of relics outside the Vatican. 

In 1854 a slab of marble donated by Pope Pius IX arrived in Washington, D.C. He had it engraved “A Roma Americae,” or “From Rome to America,” as a sign of goodwill. He had sent it over to be included in the Washington Monument, which was then under construction. Many foreign governments had sent similar contributions to honor America’s first president. The Know Nothings, however, had no intention of allowing a gift from the Pope to be included in the Washington Monument. They were certain the stone was a sign of darker intentions by the Pope. So on March 9, 1854, under cover of darkness, a group of these anti-Catholics broke into the yard, stole the stone, and after damaging it with hammers they dropped it in the Potomac River. No one was ever credibly accused of the crime, despite reward offers and a public outcry. Many years later, however, after a tip, the stone was discovered… only to disappear again. But today, there is a stone from the Pope in the Washington Monument, this one was provided by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Frederic Baraga was the first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, in Michigan’s upper peninsula. He had come to northern Michigan as a missionary in 1831, after immigrating from the Austrian Empire — an area of it that is in modern day Slovenia. Baraga proved a tireless missionary, traveling hundreds of miles by foot, including in snowshoes during the long, harsh winters, as well as by boat. He converted thousands of Chippewa and Ottawa and other natives, and he ministered to the settlers, including those who came north for the copper boom. He faced resistance from Protestant missionaries, French fur traders, and the U.S. federal government, all of whom had their own agendas for the natives. Devotion to him began shortly after his death in 1868. He was declared Venerable in 2012.

Dom Virgil Michel, OSB was a visionary leader who recognized some problems affecting the Church of his day and believed that the way to fix those problems was through the liturgy. He recognized that by improving knowledge of and participation in the liturgy, and making the liturgy central to both catechesis and social justice, more people would come to know Christ more deeply, and would thereby be motivated to do great good. He spearheaded the liturgical movement, wrote texts to reform catechetics and religious education, and was active in the emerging social justice movement. He firmly believed “lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi,” which means “how you pray is how you believe is how you live.” Through founding the journal Orate Fratres and the Liturgical Press in Collegeville, Minnesota he had a profound influence on many who came later, but he died unfortunately young in 1938.

Mary Virginia Merrick was a child of wealth, and of deep prayer and a special love for Christ. From an early age she understood that the way to do things was to do every thing — every small thing — with great love. Eventually one is doing great things, even if unintentionally. The day she received her First Holy Communion whe vowed to become a religious sister and to help Christ by helping the poor. But an accident when she was 14 left her paralyzed from the neck down. She didn't let her painful and debilitating ailment stop her. From her bed and lounging wheelchair she organized others to help the poor. Eventually she and her helpers founded the Christ Child Society to help expectant mothers, orphans, and those whose parents could not afford to give them a good Christmas. The Society grew to a regional, then a national, and eventually an international organization under her leadership. She led the Society until she was 82 years old, while also authoring several books for children and publishing a regular column for children. The Christ Child Society still helps many thousands of families every year.

Frank Capra has a strong case for being the GOAT among directors, and it’s not just because of his name. He won three Oscars for best director out of seven nominations, while making films that were deeply Catholic in their message. His film making message was clear: good wins out, no matter what the cruel, cynical world might prefer. His incredible success petered out in the 1950s, when critics and audiences turned away from "capra-corn," but his masterpiece, the 1946 classic "It's A Wonderfu Life," has enjoyed a renaissance since the 1970s, becoming a Christmas classic.

In 1846, eight years before the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was solemnly defined by Pope Pius IX, the bishops of the United States declared Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception to be the Patroness of the United States of America. Since the earliest days of the Church, Catholics have believed that Mary was preserved by God from Original Sin from the moment of her conception. This devotion has an early history in the Americas as well — when Christopher Columbus came over, his flagship was named in honor of the Immaculate Conception - Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción. By the middle of the 19th century, the Church was really emerging as a major force in the life of America, and her bishops were gaining greater notice and respect around the world. Two prominent American prelates, Archbishop Francis Kenrick of Baltimore and Bishop John Hughes of New York, both had great devotions to Our Lady. Though they were diametrically opposed in temperament and episcopal style, both pushed for the American bishops to name the Immaculate Conception the Patroness of the United States at the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore in 1846. They were successful. Then both were present in Rome eight years later when Pope Pius IX declared the dogma. In fact, the American decision to name the Immaculate Conception as Patroness is believed to have been a factor in Pius IX's decision to declare the dogma. Further, Archbishop Kenrick, who was an internationally respected theologian at the time, aided Pius IX in formulating the rationale and the declaration. Since that time, many U.S. cathedrals and parish churches, plus the massive shrine in Washington, DC, have been dedicated in honor of the Immaculate Conception. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us!

Maria von Trapp wrote the family autobiography that became the The Sound of Music on Broadway in 1959 and in Hollywood in 1965. She was the stepmother to Captian Georg von Trapp's seven original children, while she and the Captain also had three of their own. But before she was ready to be a wife and a mother, she had to overcome a difficult childhood. Born in 1905, she was an orphan by nine years old. She was raised by an abusive relative who instilled his atheism and antipathy toward Catholicism in her. After accidentally going to Mass — she thought it was just a Bach concert — she was drawn to Catholicism. She graduated from teacher college and entered the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, one of the most rigorous in Austria. After two years she was assigned to be a tutor to the third child of the widowed Captain von Trapp, and the rest is history. The couple and their family did face persecution from the Nazis, they did flee Austria for the United States, and they did win the Salzburg Music Festival, but that's about where the similarities with the movie end. They settled in Stowe, Vermont, continued touring, and opened a lodge to visitors. Today, the Trapp Family Lodge remains in operation, welcoming visitors for European-style amenities and four-season relaxation and activity.

In 1621, the Calvinist Puritan Pilgrims shared a harvest meal with the largely pagan Native Americans whom they befriended on the coast of New England. This first Thanksgiving meal was only possible because of the actions of Franciscan friars in Spain, and the Patuxet brave Squanto whom they had saved from slavery, educated in the Catholic faith, baptized, and set on his way to return to the New World. Squanto returned to his native village only to find his entire tribe wiped out by an epidemic. The very next year, the Pilgrims landed nearby, found the empty village, and selected that site to establish the Plymouth Colony. Squanto, at the prompting of another native who had some mastery of English, named Samoset, made contact with the Pilgrims. Squanto's knowledge of English and of European ways made him indispensable to the Pilgrims that first year. The Pilgrims had lost nearly half their numbers due to illness when they were forced to remain on the Mayflower for the entire winter of 1620-21. When they came ashore they faced stiff odds, especially since the seeds they brought with them from northern Europe didn't grow well in the soil and climate of New England. Also, not all Native tribes were eager to welcome these settlers. Without Squanto's intervention in negotiating peace, plus some lessons in local farming and how to tread eels, the Pilgrims may not have survived that first year. And Squanto would not have been in a position to help in this way without the intervention of the anti-slavery Catholic Franciscans of Spain. 

Adele Brise, an immigrant from Belgium, had a deep devotion to prayer. As a child she and friends made a vow to enter religious life and devote their lives to the service of the Lord. But when she was in her 20s her family emigrated from Belgium to Wisconsin, near present-day Green Bay. In 1859 she received a series of apparitions of the Blessed Mother who charged her to teach the faith to the children. She saw this as Our Lady encouraging her to make good on that vow she made as a child. She began to teach children everywhere, often just the children of one family in exchange for food. A group of women joined her in this work, and they eventually opened a school. But this little community of lay sisters faced much opposition within the Church. Multiple bishops challenged their devotion and doubted the apparitions. But the faith and devotion of Adele and her companions eventually won them all over. Over time a shrine and pilgrimage site developed where the apparitions took place. In 1871, the Peshtigo Fire burned nearly 1.5 million acred and killed up to 2,500 people. Many, many people fled to the chapel of Our Lady of Good Help for refuge. Everything around the shrine grounds for many miles was reduced to ash, but the shrine grounds was unharmed. In 2010, the Church officially recognized Our Lady of Good Help as an authentic apparition of the Blessed Mother, worthy of belief by all the faithful. In 2023 the title of the apparition was officially changed to Our Lady of Champion. The chapel and shrine remains an important and popular place of pilgrimage and prayer. 

In January 1634 two ships, The Ark and The Dove landed on St. Clement Island in the Potomac River, within the new colony of Maryland. The two ships were built by George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore, to help him establish a colony of his own in the Americas. And with his conversion to Catholicism, his new colony would be a haven for Catholics in the New World. But by the time King Charles I granted the charter for the new colony, George Calvert had died, and his son, Cecil, inherited his title, Lord Baltimore, plus The Ark and The Dove, and his father's desire to establish the colony. King Charles named the new colony for his Catholic wife, Henrietta Marie. Cecil Calvert finally sent his two ships across the sea, but he could not go himself to establish his colonies. Instead, he sent his brother Leonard as the first governor of Maryland, with 140 settlers, including two priests. Shortly after landing they became friendly with neighboring tribes of Piscataway and Yoacamato natives, with the latter giving the new settlers their village to be their first city: St. Mary City, the first capital of the Colony of Maryland.

During World War I, the Knights of Columbus did more than anyone else — including the U.S. government — to help soldiers serving overseas, or even in remote parts of the U.S. Through their huts the “Caseys” distributed stationery, gum, playing cards, cigarettes, and so much more. Catholic soldiers could find the sacraments. "Everybody Welcome, Everything Free" was the motto, and they meant it. Everybody could come in to find a place to relax, read a book, play a game of cards, find counsel and solace, and have a bit of "home away from home." The huts also provided entertainment, sports tournaments and exhibitions. The Knights' efforts were the precursor to today's USO and the GI Bill. More than 100,000 of the soldiers who served during World War I were Knights, and both the first American soldier overall, an the final American officer to die in Europe during the Great War, were Knights of Columbus. The K of C was recognized by many for their contribution.

Fr. Francis Sampson was the “paratrooper padre.” He parachuted into Normandy, behind enemy lines, on D-Day, June 6, 1944, along with more than 13,000 other Allied paratroopers. He also was directly involved in the episode that inspired Steven Spielberg’s epic war drama Saving Private Ryan. He hadn’t planned on being a paratrooper when he joined the Army chaplain corps and the Archdiocese for Military Services, but his naiveté about what he had signed up for was a good thing for his men. He was dedicated to their well-being, spiritually and physically. On D-Day, he stayed behind at an aid station in a French village when the rest of the paratroopers he was with moved along to rendezvous with the larger unit. The aid station had 14 men who couldn’t be moved. When the Germans came he was put up against a wall and nearly shot, but a German sergeant recognized he was a priest and his life was spared. Once the Americans retook the village, he and the survivors were evacuated. Eventually he was captured and spent the last few months as a prisoner of war in Germany. After World War II ended, he served in Korea, and then stateside as a chaplain, and eventually the chief of all Army chaplains, before retiring in 1971.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, born two months premature and the youngest of 13 in northern Italy, overcame the odds time and again. She and her sisters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus made a huge difference for Italian immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere. She personally founded 67 schools, hospitals, and orphanages in New York, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, Seattle, and other cities in the U.S. and other countries. She had to overcome her own fragile health, plus the (initial) opposition of the Archbishop of New York, Michael Corrigan, plus a regular lack of funds and other resources. But through a deep faith in God’s providence, combined with her own tenacity and business savvy, she did amazing work.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most important early American wrters. He is known for horror, the macabre, suspense, and other dark themes. Poe was important in the development of science fiction and he invented the detective novel. But what is less well-known is his interesting knowledge of and interest in Catholicism. In an age where typical Protestants either wouldn’t have an idea of what Catholics actually believe, or wouldn’t be interested in presenting Catholicism in an honest light, Poe did both. And in one short story he even wrote a rather lovely poem that amounts to a prayer to the Blessed Mother. The poem, known as “Hymn,” invokes the aid of the Blessed Mother and has strong intercessory language. Later in his life, Poe lived in a cottage near the campus of St. John College at Fordham (known today as Fordham University) where he came to know and spend much time with the Jesuits who ran that school. He died in unfortunate and mysterious circumstances in 1849 at just 40 years old.

Election Day, August 6, 1855, is known as Bloody Monday in Louisville, Kentucky. The Know Nothings used violence to try to keep Catholics from voting, and the violence turned into riots. By the end of the day 22 were confirmed dead, though the number of dead was likely over 100. Learn more about this awful day in Louisville, which played a role in Louisville falling behind other cities along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, like Cincinnati and St. Louis, in terms of population and economic importance.

Jack Kerouac was born in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts to Catholic parents. When he was four his saintly elder brother, Gerard, died tragically. His mother became more devout, but his father abandoned the faith and drank heavily. This childhood trauma affected the rest of his life, and he stopped going to Mass in his teens. After dropping out of college he began to write while in the military. In the late 1940s he and his friends, through their artistic and literary output, began the Beat Generation, signifying how their generation felt “beaten down” by the world. In 1951, Kerouac wrote his most important work, On the Road, but it wasn’t published until 1957. But through it all, what he was looking for was God. In the 1960s he returned, in stages, to the Catholicism of his youth, fully returning to the faith by the end of the decade. He died in 1969 as a result of a lifetime of heavy drinking.

Born just before the potato famine ravaged Ireland, John Boyle O’Reilly grew up in an Ireland still dominated by England. His father was a schoolmaster, so John and his siblings received an excellent education. He was very outgoing, made friends easily, and was a natural leader. He became a journalist, and then a soldier. He also joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood — the Fenians — who were bent on revolution and the end of British rule of Ireland. Eventually arrested for treason, O’Reilly was sentenced to "transportation" and was sent to a penal colony in Australia. He escaped from that colony in epic fashion, arriving in Boston in 1870. He got a job as a reporter with the Boston Pilot, eventually becoming part owner and publisher. He used the pages of the Pilot to advocate for civil rights for all. He became a very respected journalist, poet, speaker, author, and activist. His sudden death at 46 years old shocked Boston and beyond.

Sts. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and John de Lalande were three of the eighte North American Martyrs. In Canada this group is known as the Canadian Martyrs. Rene Goupil was the first to be martyred, earning that crown in 1642 after teaching some Mohawk children how to make the Sign of the Cross in the village of Ossernenon, west of present day Albany, New York. Isaac Jogues, who had been tortured around the time of Goupil's death, was martyred in 1646, with John de Lalande following him in death soon after. These Jesuits shed their blood for Christ on this continent. 

Bernard Nathanson helped co-found NARAL an was responsible for 75,000 abortions, including 5,000 he did with his own hands. But with the advent of advanced imaging technology that allowed a more clear view of the fetus in the womb, he began to realize the humanity of the unborn child, and by the end of the 1970s he had fully accepted that abortion is wrong. He became an ardent pro-life, anti-abortion advocate, but was an atheist through the 1980s. In the 1990s, however, his quest for forgiveness and absolution of his many evil deeds led him to become Catholic in 1996. He died in 2011.

Patricia Neal’s Hollywood career began the same year she met Gary Cooper and started an affair with him. That affair had a profound impact on the rest of her life. She had an abortion, and lived with the pain of the relationship gone bad for decades. She married British author Roald Dahl and they had five children. But tragedy struck two of her children and herself, and then Dahl asked for a divorce after she found out he’d been having an affair. She was living with a lot of pain. But in the meantime she had a reconciliation with Gary Cooper’s wife and daughter, Maria, after Maria reached out to her with forgiveness and a desire to mend fences. Eventually Neal found peace and solace at the Regina Laudis Abbey — home to Mother Dolores Hart — which she visited at the suggestion of Maria Cooper. Eventually, after experiencing much healing and peace, she became Catholic and after her death was buried at Regina Laudis.

Gary Cooper was one of the greatest actors in Hollywood history. His strong, understated, good-natured characters established a paradigm, especially for Western heroes. He won two Oscars for Best Actor, while acting in 84 films over 36 years. But his off-screen life wasn’t quite as virtuous and praiseworthy. He had a significant problem with philandering, which continued even after he got married. His wife, Veronica “Rocky” Balfe, was Catholic, and eventually her strong faith, and that of their daughter Maria, encouraged him to consider becoming Catholic and turning over a new leaf. By the time cancer came for him in 1961, he had become Catholic, left his womanizing ways behind, and embraced fully the life of the Sacraments.

Donald Brown wasn't Catholic when he became fascinated with the Rosary. A bad bout of pneumonia when he was young put him in a hospital run by Sisters of Mercy in the early 1900s. In 1917 he began to collect rosaries. In 1929 he became Catholic. Over the decades he collected about 4,000 rosaries before his death in 1975 at 80 years old. His rosaries include some connected to Sister Lucia, one of the visionaries of Fatima, Governor Al Smith, Padre Pio, President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Father Flanagan of Boys Town, Lou Holtz, and others. They range in size from the size of a thimble to 16 feet long. They are made from everything from precious gems to pieces of bone to foam balls. The collection occupies the top floor of the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson, Washington, 45 minutes east of Portland, Oregon.

Jean Louis Cheverus was a remarkable man and the first bishop of Boston. He was another of the many bishops, priests, and religious who fled France due to the French Revolution and made a tremendous impact on the Church in America. During his 27 years in New England he changed things dramatically. When he arrived, Catholics were a definite minority, and a reviled one at that. But through his tireless ministry, good humor, erudition, and holiness, he won over many previously hostile protestants, and became a friend to John Adams, Josiah Quincy, and many other prominent protestants. His counsel was sought by legislators. He aided in establishing the first chartered savings bank in the U.S. He worked tirelessly among all of his flock, no matter their social status or race. He established the first two parishes in New England, including St. Patrick for Penobscot and Irish in New Castle, Maine. His sudden departure in 1823 when he was named bishop of Montauban in his native France saddened everyone. But he left a lasting legacy on Boston and New England.

Sister Ignatia Gavin co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous. She worked in Admissions at St. Thomas hospital in Akron, Ohio. She had compassion for the alcoholics who came to the hospital. However, medical practice at the time did not regard alcoholism as a disease to be treated through admission and medical treatment. In 1939 Sister Ignatia and Dr. Bob Smith managed to get the hospital to admit alcoholics for the first time. From that first admission the practices of Alcoholics Anonymous grew into a national — and international — phenomenon. In 1952 she was transferred by her order to St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, where she established Rosary Hall Solarium. Since her death in 1966 Rosary Hall Solarium and Ignatia Hall at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron have both continued to treat those with substance abuse problems.

Ven. Nelson Baker was incredible. After a time as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War, he found success in business. He felt a call to the priesthood. He saved lives in and around Lackawanna, just south of Buffalo, New York. He invented direct mail fundraising. He did whatever was needed to build institutions to make others' lives better. And he did it all by relying utterly on the intercession of Our Lady of Victory. As a tribute to her beneficence, he built the massive and breathtaking Basilica of Our Lady of Victory.

Mark Twain considered Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc his best, and his favorite work. He spent twelve years researching for it, and then two years writing. The book was originally published under a pseudonym in serial in Harper's Weekly. His fans and the general public were shocked and confused when they found out that this beautiful, serious, and deeply Catholic book was written by Twain. Twain was not Catholic — he wasn't even Christian — and he had a great animosity toward the Catholic Church. But in Joan of Arc he found the greatest human person he'd ever encountered.

A legend of the Wild West, John Henry "Doc" Holliday was born in Georgia to Presbyterian and Methodist parents. But his sweetheart growing up was Catholic — and his first cousin — Martha Ann "Mattie" Holliday. After an excellent education and becoming a dentist, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. To survive he had to move to a more arid climate, like west Texas, and parts of the desert and great plains states. Eventually he had to stop being a dentist, and he became a professional gambler and gunslinger. He befriended the Earp brothers, especially Wyatt, and was involved in many adventures with the Earps, including the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Eventually the tuberculosis worsened and he died at 36 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. But he had maintained a correspondence with his beloved Mattie. She had become a nun, and her influence led to Doc summoning a priest and becoming Catholic shortly before he died. The romance between Doc and Mattie was later captured in the 1939 movie Gone With The Wind, because the author of the book, Margaret Mitchell, was a second cousin, once removed of Mattie Holliday.

Saints Bonosa and Magnus were martyred in Rome in either the third or fourth century. Their bones rested peacefully in the catacombs until 1700, when they were given to the Cistercian sisters in Anagni, a town near Rome, for veneration in their chapel. When the Kingdom of Italy conquered the Papal States in the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII needed a new place to keep these old relics safe. Fortunately, the pastor of St. Martin of Tours parish in Louisville, Kentucky had written to Rome requesting relics. Pope Leo XIII sent the skeletons of Bonosa and Magnus, and since 1901, these two Roman martyrs have been venerated safely and peacefully in Louisville. Learn more about the parish of St. Martin of Tours, and how anti-Catholicism almost destroyed that church when it was only two years old. 

Father Mulcahy, Army chaplain of the M*A*S*H 4077, was perhaps the most important priest on network television not named Fulton Sheen. He was a fictional character, and the actor who played him, William Christopher, was Methodist. But Father Mulcahy was an integral part of what made M*A*S*H one of the best television series of all time. He was a humble, real man, with his own struggles with pride, but who managed to be a steady and humanizing presence in that TV depiction of hell on earth.

(Note: this is a re-release of a previously released episode.) Saint Teresa of Calcutta, known in life as Mother Teresa, visited the United States a number of times, usually to open new houses of her order, the Missionaries of Charity. She gave a number of addresses in the U.S., speaking of the duty we all have toward our fellow man to aid one another, singling out abortion as the "greatest destroyer of love and peace." On one occasion, in 1985, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and addressed the National Right to Life Convention. In 1994 she addressed the National Prayer Breakfast, and spoke strongly against abortion and contraception with President Bill Clinton, his wife, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore and his wife, Tipper Gore, in attendance. In 1996 she was made an honorary citizen of the U.S., only the fifth person to receive this honor.

In 1862, Clara Barton got some of the experience which would lead to her founding the Red Cross. That year, St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax Station, Virginia, became a field hospital during the Second Battle of Bull Run — or Second Manassas, if you’re from the South. The church was only about a year old. The pews were pulled out to be used for beds around the grounds as thousands of wounded and dying were brought to the church grounds, which were only about one quarter mile from the new railroad depot for Fairfax. During the battle, Clara Barton came out to held nurse the wounded. She served admirably, and remained at the work until the last wounded soldier was loaded on a train bound for a hospital in Alexandria or Washington, DC. After the war, all but one of the many dead who were buried in the Church grounds were exhumed and relocated to Arlington National Cemetery. In the 1870s, President Ulysses S. Grant ordered that new pews be provided for St. Mary, as the one original ones had been destroyed during their usage as hospital beds and firewood.

St. Junipero Serra is considered the Father of California. He founded the missions that first brought the Catholic faith and modern agriculture and industrial techniques to California. He was a man of strict penitential practices. He expected much of those whom he evangelized, and had no patience for those who mistreated the natives for their own gain. Originally from Mallorca, off the coast of Spain, he was a brilliant scholar, but rather than an academic career he chose the mission field. He spent decades working in central Mexico, then Baja and Alta California. And due to an insect bite when he first arrived in Mexico, he did his missionary work — which he did mostly on foot — with a diseased and ulcerous leg. He was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015, and a statue of him holding a cross aloft is included in the U.S. Capitol as one of two from the state of California.

In 1587 Spanish settlers in St. Augustine, Florida established a shrine to Our Lady of La Leche. This was the first shrine to Our Lady, the Blessed Mother Mary, established in what is now the United States. This devotion to the Blessed Mother has roots that go back to the Roman catacombs. It was a favored image of King Philip II of Spain. “La Leche,” Spanish for “The Milk,” depicts the Blessed Mother nursing the infant Jesus. The first chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche was erected in 1609. The chapel currently standing in the Mission of the Name of God in St. Augustine was built in 1914. Many miracles have been attributed to this image and shrine over the centuries. In the 21st century the shrine was named a National Shrine, and the Pope granted the image a canonical coronation.

The first mass movement of Catholics within the new United States from the eastern seaboard across the Appalachian Mountains happened in the 1780s and 1790s. Sixty families, led by Basil Hayden, Sr., moved together from St. Mary City, Maryland, to what was then Kentucky County, Virginia. They settled near the growing city of Bardstown. Their hope was that since they moved in such a concentration, the Church would be compelled to establish a parish there and assign a permanent priest to minister to them. This scheme worked, as the first diocese west of the Appalachians was established in Bardstown in 1808. But something else was happening in Bardstown at the time these Catholic families moved to the region: the beginnings of bourbon whiskey. Local farmers had begun to make this corn-heavy spirit just a few years before Hayden and the Catholics arrived. The Catholic families, who also were mostly farmers, adopted this new type of whiskey and became good at making it. To this day many of the great bourbon makers still trace their roots to this influx of Catholic families: Jim Beam, Willett, Wathen, Medley, J.W. Dant, and others. The Hayden family hasn't made bourbon for a long time, but the legacy of Basil Hayden, Sr. lives on in bourbons made today by the Jim Beam Company: Old Grandad and the series of Basil Hayden whiskeys they make.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, more commonly known as “The Baltimore Basilica,” was the first cathedral built in the United States. Archbishop John Carroll conceived of the idea of building a grand cathedral in Baltimore in 1792, but his plans didn’t come to fruition until the early 1800s. And in spite of being a poor diocese, Carroll believed this cathedral was important to build because of “Amplitude.” To make sure it was a building that would be respected by all, Carroll secured the services of the most respected and important architect of the time, Henry Latrobe. Latrobe is considered the father of American architecture. At the time he worked on this new cathedral his other major project was the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Listen to learn more about this important house of worship.

Joseph Warren Revere was the grandson of Paul Revere. He led a military life of adventure, discipline, and gallantry. He traveled the globe, raised the American flag over California, helped found the U.S. Naval Academy, and led soldiers as a colonel and general during the American Civil War. During that war, in 1862, while convalescing in Washington, DC, he made a stunning decision to become Catholic. He was baptized in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore — the Baltimore Basilica — and was a devout Catholic the rest of his days. After his military career ended he lived most of his days at his home in New Jersey. He traveled more, and painted a painting for his parish. Joseph Warren Revere died in 1880 due to injuries and illness suffered during the Civil War.

Joseph Barbera was co-founder of the powerhouse animation studio Hanna-Barbera. He got his start drawing at his Catholic grade school, Holy Innocents, in Brooklyn, where the sisters noted his artistic talents. Eventually he made cartoons and animation his career, landing at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. At MGM he teamed up with William Hanna on the Tom and Jerry series, which was an overnight sensation. Tom and Jerry won a record seven Oscars from a record 14 nominations. When MGM shut down its animation studio, the two partnered to found Hanna-Barbera studios. Through Hanna-Barbera they created some of the most important cartoons of the 20th century, including Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Johnny Quest, The Jetsons, Snagglepuss, Superfriends, The Smurfs, Scooby Do, and many others. Through their groundbreaking work they won many Emmy Awards. But Joseph Barbera considered a series of cartoons on stories from the Bible to be his most important achievement. The series, “The Greatest Adventure,” was released straight to home video from 1985 through 1992. Barbera remained active in Hanna-Barbera until shortly before his death in 2006.

Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget was the first bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky (when it became a diocese in 1808), and later the first bishop of Louisville. He was probably the most important bishop of the early church in America not named John Carroll. He spent the majority of his four decades as bishop traveling by horseback and on foot through his vast diocese. He was an incredibly holy and wise man. When he tried to retire due to illness and the overall breakdown of his body, his flock made such an uproar that his successor was forced to resign and he resumed the see. His counsel was sought on all Church matters in America, and even in Rome when matters touching on America arose. 

Father Henry Duranquet, SJ, earned the moniker “Apostle of the Tombs” because of his 25-plus years ministering to the convicts of New York’s prisons, including the prison known as “The Tombs.” His patient Christlike work won over thousands of souls for Christ, including notorious murderers like Albert Hicks, whose hanging in 1860 was a major public event. Father Duranquet also won over the guards, doctors, and leadership of the prison system, many of whom were anti-Catholic Know Nothings. Father Duranquet spent his last few years as a spiritual guide to the Jesuits first at Worcester, Massachusetts, then at Woodstock, Maryland, where he died in 1891 at 82 years old.

Mother Mary Lange, OSP founded the Oblates of the Sisters of Providence, the first religious community for black Americans. She was born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange in the Caribbean, either on Hispaniola or Cuba, in the 1780s or 1790s. Her mother was the daughter of a wealthy planter and her father was a slave. She received an excellent education in Cuba. Eventually she immigrated to the United States, settling in Baltimore. She inherited a large sum of money and was able to support herself. But she also had a desire to teach. Maryland was a slave state, but Baltimore at the time had more free black persons than enslaved. Many of them were from the Caribbean like she was, and most were poorly educated. There were no public schools that admitted blacks, and not enough private schools to serve the need. Elizabeth and a friend opened a school for black girls in Elizabeth’s home, funded entirely by her inheritance. After about ten years the money was running out. Fortunately, Father James Joubert, a Sulpician who had been helping to catechize black youth, stepped in. With the support of Baltimore’s archbishop, James Whitfield, Father Joubert aided Elizabeth Lange and her friends to keep their school going, and he helped them fulfill another dream: to found a religious community for black women. In 1829 the Oblate Sisters of Providence was established with Elizabeth Lange taking the name Mary and being named the first superior. For the next 50 years, Mother Lange labored to do whatever needed to be done to support the school, to educate children, and to help the community in whatever way was needed.

Buffalo Bill Cody was, more or less, evangelized by the Indians who were part of his Wild West show, plus through a meeting with Pope Leo XIII in 1890. He was one of the most famous people on earth in his day. He was a legitimate Western scout, a natural showman, and a man of principle and action. He and his wife, Louisa, had four children. Two died in childhood. One of his sisters, Julia, was a strong Christian — though not Catholic — and she encouraged him to become Christian for many years. But he resisted until the day before he died. Through the intervention of friends, who were Catholic, he was baptized by a Catholic priest in Denver the day before he died in 1917.

Before 2024 there had been ten national eucharistic congresses and two international eucharistic congresses held in the United States. The first was in 1895. But what is a eucharistic congress? In this episode we talk about that and give some highlights from many of the eucharistic congresses of the past.

Andy Warhol was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. He was born and raised in a devout Byzantine Catholic family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but most of his life was far from a model of Catholic sanctity. He became a leader and innovator of pop art, and drew his subject matter from the celebrity idols and crass commercialism of his day. He was a fixture of the high end social scene of 60s and 70s New York, and his style influenced countless other artists. But very few knew how important Catholicism really remained in his life. He went to Church regularly, prayed often, and paid for a nephew to go to seminary. After his death at 58 in 1987, he received a Catholic funeral and was buried near his parents. His estate carries on and preserves his work in the Andy Warhol Foundation and Museum, based in Pittsburgh.

Father Joseph T. O’Callahan, SJ, was head of the mathematics department at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a professor of mathematics, physics, and philosophy. But when war broke out in 1939, he signed up to be a Navy Chaplain — the first Jesuit to do so. In March of 1945 he was assigned to the USS Franklin, which steamed out of Pearl Harbor on March 3. Just 16 days later, while preparing to launch bombing runs on the Japanese mainland, the Franklin was struck by two armor-piercing bombs. The bombs penetrated to the hangar bay. The chain reactions of explosions and fires which ensued killed hundreds almost immediately, and hundreds more over the next eleven hours. But Father O’Callahan kept his wits about him, and organized the men into firefighting squads. He personally led some men into gun turrets and ammunition magazines to remove hot rounds and toss them overboard, and to hose down some with fire hoses to keep them cool. If any of these had exploded the ship would have been torn to bits, and all the men would have died. Thanks to his actions — and those of a few others — the Franklin was saved, and made it back to Brooklyn, New York for major repairs. Father O’Callahan initially refused the Navy Cross approved for him, but eventually President Truman convinced him to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor — the award his actions truly merited. Father O’Callahan eventually went back to teaching at Holy Cross. He died in 1964.

In 1913 the Florida legislature passed a law forbidding white teachers from teaching in black schools. This wasn’t the first time the Florida legislature had passed laws trying to keep their schools segregated. This law, however, was aimed squarely at Catholic schools like St. Benedict the Moor School in St. Augustine, Florida. The Sisters of St. Joseph, who had been teaching black children in Florida since 1867, were not willing to comply with the unjust law. Their bishops, first William Kenny, then Michael Curley, backed them to the hilt and, when the governor of Florida ordered the sisters arrested, Bishop Curley took the matter to court. The law was thrown out after a short trial and the sisters returned to the classroom. Bishop Curley and the sisters had to resist more attempts to undermine their freedoms, until Florida abandoned its Jim Crow ways.

Samuel Sutherland Cooper is perhaps the most important person in the early Church in America whom you’ve never heard of. He was a convert, born Anglican, and was a successful sea captain and merchant based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He traveled the world, tried many of the world’s delights, and became wealthy. But in in the early 1800s, illness and a strange voice from heaven compelled him to reconsider his vaguely Christian beliefs. He eventually became Catholic, and then entered seminary. His friends thought his conversion and decision to enter seminary were a reaction to a bad experience with a woman — or that he’d just lost his mind. But he persevered, was ordained, and became one of the most important priests in the early Catholic Church in America. The names of the Catholic figures with whom he was associated is a “who’s who” of the early Church in America: John Carroll, William DuBourg, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Dubois, Gabriel Simon Brute, John England, the Hogan Schism, and John Cheverus. He likely also knew a young John Hughes, the future Archbishop of New York, while he was a professor at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He even reportedly experienced a eucharistic miracle, when the host turned to bleeding flesh in his hand during Mass, while he was stationed in Augusta, Georgia. He was a man of energy, resourcefulness, and a deep desire to save souls who worked tirelessly and zealously to that end. When illness sapped his energy he moved to Bordeaux, France, where his old friend, John — Jean — Cheverus had become the cardinal archbishop. Cardinal Cheverus died in his arms, and he died a few years later of pneumonia, being buried in the cathedral near the tomb of Cardinal Cheverus.

Perry Como sold over 100 million albums, had dozens of songs reach the charts, and won 5 Emmys over a 19-year television career. Como was one of the most successful and beloved entertainers of the 20th century. But unlike contemporaries like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, or Dean Martin, he didn’t seek the limelight. Born to poor Catholic immigrant parents in bleak circumstances in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Como first made his mark as a barber. He would sing while cutting hair, in part to bring joy into the bleakness, and in part because it brought in the customers. Eventually his fiancée, Roselle Belline, some friends, and his father, pushed him to try out a career as a singer. He was a hit almost overnight. But as he went from success to success, his gentleness, humility, and genuineness won him fans and admirers where it really mattered: among his colleagues, friends, family, and the countless people whom he helped in ways large and small along the way. In spite of his success, he always seemed to want to just go back to being the best barber between Canonsburg and Cleveland. That never happened. A man of deep faith and humility, Como died in 2001, three years after his beloved Roselle. They had been married for 65 years.

Bob Newhart is one of the most influential and beloved comedians of the last 60 years, who set records with his comedy albums and TV shows. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us how Newhart attributes both his 60-year marriage and successful career, in part, to his Catholic faith.

Mother Catherine Spalding spent 45 years leading and building the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Louisville and central Kentucky. Born in Maryland in 1793, her family moved to the Bardstown, Kentucky area when she was very young. She became an orphan at an early age, and lived with relatives until joining the fledgling order in 1813. She was elected the first Mother Superior that year, when she was 19 years old. She died in 1858, after her order had grown significantly, and was responsible for dozens of schools, orphanages, infirmaries, and homes for the homeless and destitute. In the 21st century she was named one of the 16 most influential persons in the history of Louisville and Jefferson County — the only woman on the list — and a statue of her was unveiled in 2015. It stands outside the Cathedral of the Assumption, and it is the only statue of a woman erected in a public place in Kentucky.