American Catholic History

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.

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 19 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 18 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2025

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...

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 24 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 21 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 December 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 10 December 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 6 December 2024

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!

Transcribed - Published: 4 December 2024

Maria von Trapp wrote the family autobiography that became the <i>The Sound of Music</i> 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.

Transcribed - Published: 29 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 26 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 22 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 19 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 15 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 4 November 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 31 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 28 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 21 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 17 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 14 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 30 September 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 23 September 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 19 September 2024

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 <i>Gone With The Wind</i>, because the author of the book, Margaret Mitchell, was a second cousin, once removed of Mattie Holliday.

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2024

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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2024