Born September 20, 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds,Switzerland, Adrienne von Speyr was a laywoman, wife, medical doctor, spiritual writer, and Catholic mystic. Originally a Reformed Protestant, she converted to Catholicism on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, 1940 under the spiritual direction of the famous Jesuit theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar. After her conversion, Speyr began to have many mystical experiences of the Trinity and the saints. While in a state of contemplative, mystical prayer, she dictated to von Balthasar... Read more

Born at Belbrook House, Mountrath, Queen’s County, Ireland, 1810; died at Manchester, N.H., 17 September, 1884. Left motherless in infancy, she was confined to the care of a maternal grant-aunt who undertook the formation of her religious character according to the method of Fénelon. Naturally of a gay disposition, she was carried away by the frivolities of fashionable life until her scruples led her to confide in her director. She followed his advice in offering her services to the foundress... Read more

John Murphy Farley (April 20, 1842—September 17, 1918) was an Irish American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1902 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911. John Farley was born in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, Ireland, to Philip and Catherine (née Murphy) Farley. Farley, whose father was an innkeeper, was orphaned at age 7 upon the death of both of his parents. He attended St. Macartan’s College in Monaghan... Read more

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Reform must come from within, not from without. You cannot legislate for virtue. James Cardinal Gibbons(Drawing by Pat McNamara, 1994) Read more

Edward Henry Howard (1829-1892) was an English Catholic priest and archbishop, who was made a cardinal in 1877. He was a relative of the Dukes of Norfolk. He was the son of Edward Charles Howard of Glossop, and received his primary education at Oscott. After a short stint of service as an officer with the Life Guards (British Army), he resigned his commission to study for the priesthood at the Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles in Rome, and was ordained a... Read more

Author and publisher, b. in Dublin, Ireland, 28 January, 1760; d. in Philadelphia, U.S.A. 15 September, 1839. He was the first Catholic of prominence in the publishing trade in the United States and brought out in 1790 the first edition of the Douay Bible printed in America. His father was a baker who acquired a small fortune. In early youth Mathew was a dull pupil, but later exhibited remarkable ability in languages and mathematics. When fifteen years of age he... Read more

John A. Ryan was raised in a large Irish Catholic family. He was the first of eleven children born to William and Maria (Luby) Ryan in Vermillion, Minnesota, about 20 miles south of St. Paul, on May 25, 1869. Both his father and mother had immigrated from Ireland. He worked on the family farm and participated fully in the devout religious life established by his parents. After graduating from Christian Brothers School in 1887, John entered St. Thomas College in... Read more

This page from the 1890’s book The Catholic Pages of America shows a map of the original Catholic settlement of the United States. Read more

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton Read more