Today marks the death of John Bernard Fitzpatrick (1812-1866), Boston’s third Bishop. While his father emigrated from Ireland, his mother’s family had deep roots in Boston history; a grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War. As a young man he studied at the prestigious Boston Latin School, America’s oldest public school (founded in 1635). Fitzpatrick studied for the priesthood in Montreal and Paris, and was ordained a priest in 1840. Three years later he was named coadjutor bishop in Boston to... Read more

Today also marks the death of Father Christopher Clavius (1538-1612), the Jesuit mathematician and astronomer who created the Gregorian Calendar, which is still the internationally accepted civil calendar. During his lifetime, he was in close contact with the likes of Galileo and Kepler, who esteemed him highly. Born In Germany, he joined the Jesuits at age seventeen and studied in Portugal and Rome before his ordination. He was then assigned to the Gregorian University in Rome, where he taught mathematics... Read more

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Today in 1952 marks the debut of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s Emmy award winning television program “Life is Worth Living.” During its five year run, the program had nearly thirty million viewers. The show was placed in the same time slot with Milton Berle, Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., and it wasn’t expected to survive. Berle joked that Sheen “uses old material.” When the bishop wom an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Television Personality,” he thanked “my four writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and... Read more

Today marks the release in 1919 of a document known as the “Bishops’ Program of Social Reconstruction.” The primary author was Father John A. Ryan, a Catholic University professor whose writings were among the first to endorse a federally mandated minimum wage. The Bishops’ Program was the first statement released by the newly formed National Catholic Welfare Council, the forerunner of the present day Bishops’ conference. In many ways the program anticipated President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The program... Read more

The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes offers a good opportunity to pay tribute to a local parish named (or rather renamed) in her honor. In 1872 the Fathers of Mercy, a French-based religious community, started a parish in Brooklyn’s Bushwick section for a growing Catholic population. Named for St. Francis De Sales, the parish started with a two-room schoolhouse and an old frame building for a church. During the 1890’s, the French-born pastor, Father Eugene Porcile, organized the first... Read more

When the Brooklyn Diocese was founded in 1853, the bulk of its people were German and Irish. For much of the next 75 years, the diocese had two Vicars General, one Irish and one German. (A Vicar General is in charge of a diocese during the bishop’s absence.) Today marks the death of Monsignor Michael May (1826-1895), the second German priest to serve as Vicar General and the first Brooklyn priest to be named a Monsignor. Born in Bavaria, he... Read more

Today marks the signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between the Holy See (the Vatican’s official name) and the Italian government. Because Italy’s unification in 1870 meant the loss of the Papal States, Pope Pius IX refused to recognize the new nation and his successors followed suit. For a long time Catholics were forbidden to participate in local politics, nor were they allowed to visit the Quirinale, the King of Italy’s palace. But when Pius IX was elected, he... Read more

Today marks the death of Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan (1831-1911), the sixth ordinary of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. Born in Tipperary, he studied for the priesthood at St. Patrick’s College in Carlow. Like many seminarians, he was invited to work in the United States. While still a deacon, he went to the Diocese of St. Louis. Ordained a priest there in 1853, he worked in St. Louis parishes and rose to Vicar General under Archbishop Peter Kenrick (1806-1896). In 1872 he... Read more

Today marks the death of Ellen Gates Starr (1859-1940), who along with Jane Addams founded Hull House in 1889 to help Chicago’s immigrant population. Born in Illinois, she was raised a Unitarian and studied at Rockford Female Seminary, where she first met Addams. For ten years she taught art and English in Chicago schools. Starr and Addams got the idea for Hull House from the settlement houses they saw while traveling in Europe. For thirty years, Starr directed cultural activities... Read more