Roads to Rome: Sarah Worthington King Peter (1800-1877)

Last updated on: June 7, 2014 at 7:24 am By Pat McNamara

Born in Ohio, Sarah Worthington was the daughter of a prominent Ohio politician. During her childhood Thomas Worthington would serve as a United States Senator and Governor of Ohio. The family was frequently full of distinguished visitors such ranging from Henry Clay to the Indian Chief Tecumseh. The Worthingtons were devout Methodists, and young attended boarding school before marrying lawyer Thomas King at age sixteen. She soon converted to Epsicopalianism, her husband’s religion. She became interested in the High Church... Read more

Catholic History in Less Than 5 Minutes– The Age of Constantine (313-337)

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 8:53 pm By Pat McNamara

The “Bogus Knights of Columbus Oath”

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 9:00 am By Pat McNamara

The Knights of Columbus is organized into four degrees of membership, the fourth being the highest. In the early 1900’s a document was circulated alleging to be the order’s fourth degree oath, in which members promised to wage endless war on Protestants. Known as the “Bogus Oath,” it was frequently cited by anti-Catholic lecturers and authors through the 1920’s, particularly when Alfred E. Smith ran as the nation’s first Catholic presidential candidate. Here is the entire document as reproduced from... Read more

Remembering the Fallen: Lt. Robert P. Mathias, D-Day, June 6, 1944

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 4:48 am By Pat McNamara

In his outstanding history of D-Day, Stephen Ambrose describes the conditions that Second Lieutenant Robert Mathias and the men of Company E, 508th Parachute Infantry, he faced as they parachuted over France: The Germans were below were firing furiously at the armada of 822 C-47’s carrying the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions into battle. Flakvierling-38s (20mm four-barreled antiaircraft guns) filled the sky with explosions; machine-gun tracers—green, yellow, red, blue, white—arched through the sky. The sight was at once awesome (nearly every... Read more

Catholic History in Less Than 5 Minutes– A New Feature– The Early Church (30-313 A.D.)

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 7:45 am By Pat McNamara

Youtube, like the internet in general, can be a force for great good, maybe even be a way to evangelize in the world of social media. Therefore I have decided to fill in a gap in the Youtube community. “Catholic History in Less Than Five Minutes” seeks to promote Catholic history in a way that’s never been done before. Many Protestant theologians and Church historians are active on Youtube, but no Catholic historian that I know of has ventured into this... Read more

Throwback Thursday Photograph!

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 4:29 am By Pat McNamara

Is it just me, or does Father William George McCloskey look suspiciously like Stephen Colbert? Born in Brooklyn, McCloskey was a cousin of John McCloskey, who in 1875 became the first American Cardinal. After studying at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland, he was ordained a priest in 1850. After teaching at his alma mater, he was named first Rector of the North American College in Rome, the prestigious seminary where American bishops send their best students. After nine years,... Read more

St. Boniface Church, Brooklyn (1854)

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 3:41 am By Pat McNamara

Rev. John Stephen Raffeiner of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, at that time vicar general for the Germans, saw the necessity for a new German parish, and with the approbation of Bishop Loughlin, encouraged the work of foundation. The congregation was at once formed, and Father Schneller of St Paul’s placed the basement of his church at their disposal until they could build their new church. In 1853, a board of trustees, of which Mr. F.J. Glatzmayer... Read more

Manhattan College– A Visual History

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 4:40 pm By Pat McNamara

A Tribute to Fordham, My Alma Mater

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 2:46 pm By Pat McNamara

Catholics in the Movies: Allan Dwan (1885-1981)

Last updated on: June 4, 2014 at 7:48 am By Pat McNamara

A surprising number of Hollywood’s greatest directors were Catholic, including John Ford, Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwan. Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Canada, he moved to the United States at age eleven. At the University of Notre Dame, he majored in engineering, but he was more interested in motion pictures. In New York, he started working as a screenwriter for the Essanay Film Company before he moved to Hollywood. There he directed Between 1911 and 1961 he directed over 400... Read more