MARTIN MILMORE, The Famous Catholic American Sculptor.Martin Milmore was born in Sligo, Ireland, September 14, 1844. Coming to America he settled in Boston and studied his art with Thomas Ball, and there established his studio. In 1863 he came into prominence, for it was then that he executed the statuette called “Devotion.” For a time after this he studied in Rome, where he made the busts of Pius IX, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Emerson, and other men of note. His... Read more

REV. PATRICK FRANCIS DEALY, S.J.Born April 7, 1827, in Rathkeale, County Limerick, IrelandJoined the Jesuits October 31, 1846 Died December 23, 1891 Patrick Dealy was the first Fordham student who became a Jesuit, though he had no Jesuit teachers and had not received a Fordham degree. His education in the Jesuits required him to study not only at Fordham but also at Montreal, France, Austria, Belgium, and finally Rome. His usual teaching assignment was English literature. He taught in Fordham... Read more

MRS. FRANCES CONIGLAND FARINHOLT was born at Halifax, North Carolina, just before the great Civil War. Her father, Edward Conigland, immigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, in his youth, and, settling in North Carolina in early manhood, became identified with every interest of its people, and rose to eminence as a lawyer of profound ability and great eloquence, and of the most spotless integrity. Mr. Conigland married as his second wife Miss Mary Wyatt Ezell, of Northampton County, North Carolina, a... Read more

RIGHT REV. THOMAS F. HENDRICKEN (1827-1886), First Bishop of Providence. PROVIDENCE was for a time the residence of the Bishop of Hartford, but, a division being made in the diocese, the Rhode Island capital became an episcopal see. Right Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken, the first Bishop of Providence, was born in the cathedral parish of the city of Kilkenny, Ireland, on the 5th of May, 1827, his parents being John Hendricken and Anne Maher. After preliminary studies in McDonald’s Academy,... Read more

A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT Anonymous LITTLE Baby! gift from Heaven, Sent to fill our days with love, Hearken we, before thee bending, For thy message from above. Do thy blue eyes see the gloryOf thy soul’s home left behind?Do thy fingers clasped hold treasureEarthly seeking cannot find? Dost thou wonder at us mortals,At our strange and uncouth phrase?Heark’ning thou, perchance, thine angelWho beholds the Father’s face. When thou smilest doth our Lady Whisper how her blessed Son Once to earth came,... Read more

He was a Carmelite priest, remembered as “one of the most interesting characters in the life of our province.” Born in Sambeek, Holland, in 1840, he grew up at a time when Dutch Catholic life was in great disarray: no hierarchy, “few churches and fewer Catholic schools.” Smits attended public schools, and when he was twenty he entered the Carmelites, then a small community in Holland. He studied in Wales and was ordained a priest in 1865. Sent back to... Read more

YOUNG, Alfred, clergyman, was born in Bristol, England, January 21, 1831, the son of Thomas Young and Sarah Agnes Stubbs. His parents subsequently settled in America, where he was prepared for college and matriculated at Princeton, from which he was graduated in 1848, and afterwards entered the medical department of the University of New York. Here he was graduated in 1852, and began the practice of his profession, but abandoned it at the end of the year to enter the... Read more

CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. EAST FOURTEENTH STREET. IN view of the increasing number of Catholics on the east side of the city, the Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes, in 1853, secured lots for a new church, which were, however, subsequently exchanged for the site  now occupied by the Church of the Immaculate Conception. The late Sovereign Pontiff, the great Pius IX., on the 8th of December, 1854, declared it to be of faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary was never... Read more

MRS. HUGH McLAUGHLIN Democratic Leader’s Widow, Made a Marchioness, Dies at 85The New York Times, April 3, 1915 Mrs. Sarah Ellen McLaughlin, the widow of Hugh McLaughlin, for many years the Democratic leader of Kings County, died yesterday morning at her home 163 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, at the age of 85 years. She was a Marchioness of the Roman Catholic Church and was known for her philanthropic and charitable work, hospitals and orphan asylums, being her particular benefactions. Mrs. McLaughlin... Read more

This week’s column at Patheos focuses on an Irish-born women who founded the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, who worked mainly in New York City. To reach the article please click here. Read more