On Sunday 7 October 1571 the combined Christian fleets under Don John of Austria achieved a significant naval victory over the Turks in the Straits of Lepanto. Thousands of Christians were liberated, the Turkish fleet was destroyed, and they suffered their first great defeat at sea. In gratitude to God and Our Lady, Pope Saint Pius V ordered an annual commemoration to be made of Our Lady of Victory. In 1573 Pope Gregory XIII transferred the feast to the first... Read more

Back in the 1840’s, when the Bronx was considered “country,” Edgar Allan Poe brought his young wife Virginia to live in a cottage in the Fordham section of the Bronx. She had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, and doctors suggested that the Bronx country air might aid her health. After Virginia’s death in 1847, Poe stayed at the cottage. Not far away was the recently founded St. John’s College. Since 1846 the college had been staffed by Jesuits, most of whom... Read more

Christianity is eminently an objective religion. For the most part it tells us of persons and facts in simple words, and leaves that announcement to produce its effect on such hearts as are prepared to receive it.John Henry Newman Read more

Here is the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, the Paulist motherhouse in Manhattan, as seen in 1878. The current building was erected in 1885. Read more

The son of Irish immigrants, Terence Cooke was born in Manhattan. He studied at Cathedral College, Manhattan, and St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie. He was ordained by Archbishop Francis Spellman on December 1, 1945. Shortly after his ordination he was sent to Catholic University for a degree in social work. Cooke moved up the ladder quickly: became secretary to Cardinal Spellman, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Vicar General. In 1965, at age 45, he was named an Auxiliary Bishop. In a move... Read more

Born in Tuscany, he received the nickname of Baccio della Porta for his house was near the Porta (“Gate”) San Pier Gattolini. Starting from 1483, by recommendation of Benedetto da Maiano, he apprenticed in the workshop of Cosimo Rosselli. He was one of the greatest painters of his time. In 1490 or 1491 he began a collaboration with Mariotto Albertinelli. The following year he was commissioned a fresco of the Universal Judgement for the Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, completed... Read more

Born Isidore de Loor in Flanders, his educatuion ended when he was twelve, so he could help his family with the farm. At a mission given by the Redemptorist Fathers he discussed the matter of his vocation with a priest who advised him to join the Passionists. On April 15 1907 he set off for the Passionist monastery at Ere. French was spoken there and the Dutch-speaking Isidore found it very difficult to navigate his way to the monastery. Initially... Read more

Personal experience proves the lesson of history, that what religion needs is not so much holy states of life as holy men and women.Isaac T. Hecker Read more

The baseball team of St. John’s College (now Fordham University) as seen sometime in the 1860’s. Read more

Every July New York City has three separate festivals in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: in Brooklyn, Harlem, and the Bronx. The first was held in the 1880’s, in an area then known as Italian Harlem (now Spanish Harlem). Written by religious historian Robert Orsi of Harvard, The Madonna of 115th Street tells the story of the festival’s Italian roots, its being transplanted in the new world, and the reason it played such a central role in the... Read more