THOS. F. O’RORKE, of 692 Union Avenue, the Bronx, is one of the solid men of the borough—the owner of valuable property. He was one of the first to discern what lay in the future for that part of the country, and as he deserves, has profited by his discernment. We can say of him, also, without offense that he is a fighting character. He has fought his way up from poverty to affluence. He has fought as a soldier... Read more
THE POOR CLARES (1875) Religious orders being an integral part of the Church, naturally share in her trials and triumphs. Whenever the Church has been assailed, religious orders usually have had to bear the brunt of the battle; and the greatest glories of the Church have, as a rule, been due to the influence of religious orders. But religious orders are also affected in a way peculiar to themselves. That extraordinary fervor which attended the beginning and the dissemination of... Read more
In the early twentieth century, Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven” was very popular among Catholic readers in the English-speaking world. (The playwright Eugene O’Neill could recite it from memory.) The poem arose from Thompson’s battle with drug addiction and his recovery. In Thompson’s poem, God is the “Hound of Heaven” who relentlessly but consistently and lovingly pursues the wayward soul. God, for Thompson, is “this tremendous lover.” An excellent recitation of the poem by Richard Burton in the 1970’s... Read more
Father John Larkin played a major role in the development of Catholic higher education in New York City. In 1847, he founded the College of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan, now known as Xavier High School. Later he served as President of St. John’s College in the Bronx, now known as Fordham University. Larkin Hall on the university’s Bronx campus is named in his honor. The following entry appeared in the second volume of The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography... Read more
“Golden Jubilee of the Passionists in the United States, by a Passionist Father” The Catholic World Volume 76 (January 1903): 502-515. Just at this time the Passionist Fathers are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Order in America. The festivities commemorate of the event are being held in the Church of St. Paul of the Cross, Pittsburg, S.S. Pa., on the spot where the work of this order in this country began fifty years ago. The Jubilee suggests the following... Read more
A Civil War Veteran: George Hasenour , Celestine, Indiana George Hasenour, a gallant ex-soldier and one of the best-known businessmen of Celestine, Dubois County, Indiana, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, August 15, 1841, the eldest of the seven children of Martin and Tharsila Hasenour, natives of Germany. Martin Hasenour and wife, soon after marriage, sailed from Bremer Haven for New York, and from the latter city came direct to Madison, Indiana, where for a short time Mr. Hasenour worked... Read more
OBJECT LESSON FOR BIGOTS. CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT IN THE MEMORIAL PARADE. Both Fought Bravely for the Same Flag—One the A.P.A. Would Debar from the Country’s Affairs—Sermons of the Rev. Madison C. Peters as They Sound Compared with the Rev. Father Brann Memorial Sermon in St. Francis Xavier’s. (The New York Times, May 31, 1894) There was a fine object lesson yesterday for the intolerant bigots of the American Protective Association in the memorial parade of the Grand Army of the... Read more
NEWMAN BY GEORGE N. SHUSTER Men found you subtle, master, blending skeins Of taut silk thinking with the golden weave Prayer finds in God. A stormy epoch’s eve Stirred your vast silence, till in flaming strains You spoke glory. Yet deeper radiance gains Who, listening close, can still the note perceive That fires your music’s heart– a note to grieve And gladden, bred of the desert and swift rains. Beacon of mystery! Soul’s eagle, whose eye Tirelessly saw through earth’s... Read more
MOST REV. WILLIAM HENRY ELDER Third Bishop of Natchez Second Archbishop of Cincinnati William Henry Elder was born in Baltimore in the year 1819, and, corresponding to the pious wish of his parents early in life, looked forward to the priesthood as the work of his life. He began his studies in Mount St Mary’s College, but pursued a theological course for three years in the College of the Propaganda at Rome. He was ordained in 1846, and, returning to... Read more
Rev. Ernest Van Dyke, St. Aloysius Church, Detroit Father Ernest Van Dyke, son of James A. and Elizabeth (Desnoyers), was born in Detroit, Mich., January 29, 1845. Father Van Dyke acquired a substantial education in the parochial schools of Detroit, and in 1859 entered St. John (Jesuit) College at Fordham, N.Y. In June, 1864, he was graduated with the highest honors of the college, and was awarded the medal of the year. In the fall of 1864 Father Van Dyke... Read more
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