American Catholic History

American Catholic History


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St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
November 04, 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

Edgar Allan Poe and the Blessed Virgin Mary
October 31, 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-kn

Bloody Monday Election Riots
October 28, 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 d

Jack Kerouac
October 24, 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 aff

John Boyle O'Reilly
October 21, 2024

Born just before the potato famine ravaged Ireland, John Boyle OReilly 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, a

The North American Martyrs
October 17, 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 chi

Bernard Nathanson: Abortion Doctor Convert
October 14, 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

Patricia Neal
October 10, 2024

Patricia Neals 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

Gary Cooper
October 07, 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-

World's Largest Rosary Collection
October 03, 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