Today marks the birth of Michael Domenec, the one and only Bishop of the Diocese of Allegheny. Born in Spain, he joined the Vincentians and was ordained in 1839. He spent most of the next twenty years in America teaching seminarians, until he was named Pittsburgh’s second bishop. The first, Michael O’Connor, gave up his mitre to become a Jesuit. Father Francis Xavier Seelos, the German Redemptorist recently beatified, turned it down. A bit on the authoritarian side, Domenec had... Read more

Today marks the birth of Richard Luke Concanen (1747-1810), an Irish Dominican who was appointed first Bishop of the Diocese of New York in April 1808. (Archdiocesan status was conferred in 1850.) Born in Roscommon, Concanen left Ireland at age seventeen to join the Dominicans. Ordained in 1770, for the next 38 years he worked at the order’s central headquarters in Rome. In 1792, he was named assistant to the Dominican master general, doubling as the Vatican’s unofficial liaison to... Read more

Today marks the birth of Father Johann Stefan Raffeiner (1785-1861), an apostle to the German immigrant in nineteenth century New York. Born in Austria, his studies for the priesthood were postponed by the Napoleonic Wars. He then studied medicine and served as a surgeon in the Austrian army. When peace came, he returned to the seminary and was ordained in 1825. By then German immigration to America was increasing rapidly, and there was a need for German-speaking priests. In 1833,... Read more

Today marks the death of Anna Hanson Dorsey (1815-1896), one of the first recipients of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, since 1883 awarded to lay people “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity.” (This year’s recipient was Martin Sheen.) Descended from a prominent Maryland family, Dorsey’s distant relatives included three presidents and two senators. In 1840, she converted to Catholicism and soon began a writing career that led... Read more

On Christmas Day in 1545 three women took Jesuit vows: Isabel Roser, a Spanish noblewoman; her lady-in-waiting Francisca Cruyllas; and Isabel’s friend Lucrezia di Bradine. The order founded by St. Ignatius Loyola was only five years old, and Isabel had been one of its biggest benefactors from the start. But Ignatius wasn’t willing to grant her request for membership, and she used her influence with Pope Paul III to force his hand. Still, the status of the women wasn’t clear:... Read more

Today marks the birth of Mother Delphine Fontbonne (1813-1856), foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. Born in France, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph at age nineteen. By the time she showed up, the community had become almost a family business. One of her sisters was a Sister, and so were two aunts and two great-aunts. Her brother, a priest, became a spiritual director for the Sisters. Her aunt, Mother Saint-Jean Fontbonne, who rebuilt the community... Read more

Louis Francis Sockalexis (1871-1913), known as “Chief,” wasn’t the first Native American to play in the major leagues (that honor goes to James Madison Toy in 1887), but he was the most famous in the game’s early years. Raised Catholic on the Penobscot Indian Reservation in Maine, a Jesuit working at the reservation put him in touch with the baseball coach at Holy Cross College in Worcester, where he played for two years. When his coach took a job coaching... Read more

Suppose you were born Catholic and never knew it? That seems to have been the case with Louis Armstrong. In his biography of the Jazz great, Lawrence Bergreen talks about Louis’ baptism (which Louis himself apparently never knew about): According to his own, cherished tradition, Louis Armstrong was an all-American jazz baby, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Fourth of July 1900. He believed this to the end of his days, and so did everyone else, until a baptismal... Read more

Since today is the Feast of St. John Cantius (1412-1473), Polish priest and theologian, this is as good a time as any to focus on a local parish named in his honor. St. John Cantius Church was founded in 1902 for Polish Catholics in Brooklyn’s East New York section. The Poles have long moved out of East New York, and the parish was recently merged with another. This article on its early years may be of interest to readers: St.... Read more

A comic book housed in The Catholic University of America Archives has attracted a lot of attention for a 1964 issue depicting an African-American presidential candidate who looks a lot like President-elect Barack Obama. It’s really amazing! The Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact was published by George A. Pflaum of Dayton, Ohio, and provided to Catholic parochial school students between 1946 and 1972. Read more