O LORD, as You lay so soft and white, A Babe in a manger stall, With the big star flashing across the night, Did You know and pity us all? Did the wee hands, close as a rosebud curled, With the call of their mission ache, To be out and saving a weary world For your merciful Father’s sake? Did You hear the cries of the groping blind, The woe of the leper’s prayer, The surging sorrow of all mankind, As... Read more
“The joyous man is the strong man—ready to sympathize: to appreciate: to help: a comfort and a light to others. Into a world where there is a surplus of sadness, of despondency and of despair, he brings something of the power and presence of God that in turn warm and cheer the hearts of men. Joy is the power and presence of God—the interior sense that we live in Him.” Monsignor John J. Burke, C.S.P. (1875-1936) NOTE: Born in New York... Read more
“Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine?”— From this Sunday’s Gospel. These are reproachful words, my brethren. Our good Saviour is indignant, because, of the ten men whom He healed of leprosy, nine forgot to return and thank Him. What a big majority—nine to one in favor of forgetting to acknowledge benefits. In any competition we naturally like to be with the majority. But in this comparison of the thankful with the thankless, we ought to... Read more
“Authentic Sketches of Living Catholic Authors: Mrs. Henry Wimple Skinner,” The Catholic World 65 (May 1897): 283-284. MRS. HENRY WIMPLE SKINNER (Henrietta Channing Dana) is the youngest daughter of the late Richard H. Dana, Jr., of Boston, Mass., author of Two Years Before the Mast. Her grandfather was Richard Henry Dana, the poet, author of The Buccaneer, And Other Poems, and founder of the North American Review. His father, Judge Francis Dana, was for many years chief-justice of Massachusetts, and... Read more
TO SPREAD THE CATHOLIC FAITH. A Mission to Explain Dogma to Protestants is to be Established by the Paulist Fathers. (The New York Times, January 13, 1896) Within a short time a band of Catholic missionaries will be at work in this city, whose endeavors will be confined solely to preaching Catholic doctrine to Protestants and others who are not members of the Catholic Church. The Paulist Fathers, whose church is at Sixtieth Street and Columbus Avenue, will be in... Read more
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home– Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see The distant scene– one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that Thou Shouldst lead me on. I loved to choose and see my path, but now Lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride... Read more
VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: VERY REV. A. GRANGER Very Rev. Alexis Granger, the first who occupied the position of Vice-President in the University of Notre Dame, was born at Daon, France, on the 19th of June, 1817. He received his primary education at home, and even had made some progress in the study of Latin before his fifteenth year, the age at which eh entered the College of Chateau Gontier. Here he remained for five years, during... Read more
Hubert Savile, “Convent-Bred Thespians,” Theatre Magazine, Volume 30 (July 1919): 34. SHAKESPEARE, the patron saint of actors and actresses, caused Hamlet to say to Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery.” It is a curious fact that many of the successful stage players were educated in religious institutions. A careful investigation reveals some interesting details. Sarah Bernhardt, undoubtedly the greatest actress of this generation, was educated at the Convent de Grandchamps, at Versailles, and is said to have astonished the good... Read more
The College of the Holy Cross was founded in 1843 by Father Benedict Joseph Fenwick, a Jesuit who later became second Bishop of Boston. New England’s first Catholic college, its early students Irish immigrants like General Patrick Guiney, who fought for the North in the Civil War, as well as the Healy brothers Patrick, James and Alexander, the country’s first African-American priests. Southerners and Northerners attended the college side by side, and later fought against each other in the Civil... Read more
“Bishop Brondel in Rome,” The Tablet, June 7, 1890 SIR,— I wish to communicate to you as well as I can the account of an audience received yesterday at 12:30 from His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. When I was ushered into the presence of the Vicar of Christ, a feeling of religious awe took hold of me as I saw, seated on a throne, dressed in a white cassock the successor of St. Peter, whose face struck me by its... Read more
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