Today marks the birth of Father Walter Elliott (1842-1928), a Paulist priest who was one of the leading preachers and writers of his day. Born in Detroit to Irish immigrant parents, he attended Notre Dame and studied law before the Civil War. During the war he was a sergeant in the Fifth Ohio Infantry. After the war he returned to law, but he soon decided to pursue the priesthood. The impetus was a sermon by Father Isaac Hecker, who founded... Read more

Today is the Feast of St. John Neumann (1811-1860), Philadelphia’s fourth bishop (1852-1860). Born in Bohemia, he studied for the priesthood in Prague, where he got interested in the American missions (the U.S. was officially classified as mission territory until 1908). When he finished studies, his diocese had too many priests (there was such a day, and not that long ago), so in 1836 he went to New York, where he was ordained shortly after his arrival. For four years... Read more

People who didn’t grow up seeing nuns in habits have been asking about Meryl Streep’s garb in the movie “Doubt.” She’s dressed as a Sister of Charity, a religious community founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) in 1809. And since today is her feast day, this offers an opportunity to talk about the great work the Sisters have done over the years. Founded in Emmittsburg, theycame to New York in 1817, where they started an orphanage. A few years... Read more

Today marks the death of Archbishop John Hughes (1797-1864), one of the most colorful figures that ever wore a mitre. Born in Northern Ireland, he came to America as a young man. His first job was working in quarries, but he got into the seminary with the help of St. Elizabeth Seton. Ordained in 1826, he soon developed a knack for controversy, whether it was debating with Protestant ministers or asserting his authority over unruly congregations. In 1838 he was... Read more

The Syro-Malabar Rite is one of the most ancient in the Church, tracing its roots back to apostolic times. In 1831, three Syro-Malabar priests in Kerala founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, India’s oldest indigenous religious community still in operation. They were Fathers Thomas Palackal, Thomas Porukara and Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), whose feast is celebrated today. At first they intended a strictly contemplative life, but the local bishop asked them “to do some good to the people in the... Read more

The first national gathering of laypeople in America was the Black Catholic Congress, held January 1-4, 1889, at St. Augustine Church in Washington, D.C. Attended by over 200 African-American delegates, the congress sought “to try and devise ways and means of bettering our condition both religiously and socially.” Subsequent congresses were held in Cincinnati (1890), Philadelphia (1892), Chicago (1893), and Baltimore (1894). The driving force behind these gatherings was Daniel Rudd (1854-1933), a journalist and former slave. In 1886 Rudd... Read more

Founded in 1822, St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Brooklyn was the first Catholic Church on Long Island. In the church cemetery stands a monument to Peter Turner (1787-1862), an Irish immigrant Turner who is regarded as its founder. Born in Wexford, he came to America as a teenager and settled in the village of Brooklyn, where he found work at the Navy Yard. For Brooklyn Catholics, the closest church was St. Peter’s in Manhattan, which meant taking a ferry. On January... Read more

The release this week of Valkyrie, a movie about the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, makes this a good time to mention Father Alfred Delp (1907-1945), a German Jesuit executed for his opposition to the Nazi regime. Ordained in 1937, Delp’s preaching and writing focused in large part on was the incompatibility between Christianity and Nazism. In 1943, he joined a resistance movement planning for the future of a post-Nazi Germany. In July 1944, a few days after the execution... Read more

At the local, national and international level, this was a year for celebrations. I’m listing a few that come to mind, but I’m sure there’s quite a few more I’ve missed. Worldwide, Catholics celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Lourdes. In the United States, four archdioceses celebrated their bicentennials: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Louisville. The Archdiocese of Detroit celebrated its 175th anniversary. The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated its fiftieth. The Diocese of Rockford celebrated its centennial.... Read more

The Church, wrote the French theologian Yves Congar, “must breathe fully with both its lungs: the Eastern Churches and the Western.” Until the 1880’s, there were no Eastern Rite Churches in America. Most of the first Eastern Catholic immigrants were Ruthenian (also called Byzantine). Today marks the death of Father Nicephor Chanath (1855-1898), a pioneer Ruthenian priest who worked in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When many Eastern Catholics arrived, they got a cold reception from Latin bishops who didn’t understand... Read more