“A Victorian Mother Teresa”: Servant of God Elizabeth Prout (1820-1864)

January 11, 2019 By Pat McNamara

During the Industrial Revolution, Manchester became England’s leading manufacturing center. In 1844, Friedrich Engels, co-author of The Communist Manifesto, described it as “this hell upon earth.” One of its worst sections was Angel Meadow, which an 1848 observer called the lowest,most filthy, most unhealthy and most wicked locality in Manchester… the home of prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, codgers, vagrants, tramps, and in the very worst sties of filth and darkness… the low Irish. About this time, a young woman named... Read more

Catholics in the Movies: J. Carrol Naish (1896-1973)

January 8, 2019 By Pat McNamara

He was known as “Hollywood’s one-man U.N.” for the various characters he played: Italians, Native Americans, Frenchmen, and many more. Described as one of Golden Age Hollywood’s most versatile character actors, he once commented: “When the part of an Irishman comes along, nobody ever thinks of me.” (He played an Irish character only once, General Philip Sheridan, in John Ford’s 1950 film Rio Grande.) Born in Manhattan to parents from Limerick, Joseph Patrick Carroll Naish grew up in East Harlem,... Read more

Katherine Burton and the Future of Catholic Biography

January 7, 2019 By Pat McNamara

Let me make a confession: I have no head for philosophy or theology. It’s too abstract for my poor brain. Try as I may, I can’t read Augustine or Anselm, and I can barely scrape through Newman. But I do love Church history in that it makes the Gospel concrete and real for me. And that’s especially true for biography, which is essentially Christianity in practice. From the 1930’s through the sixties, biographies were very popular with Catholic readers. And... Read more

Who’s It Named For? General Judson Kilpatrick Columbiettes, Vernon, N.J.

January 6, 2019 By Pat McNamara

The Columbiettes are an organization of Catholic women connected to the Knights of Columbus. They were founded in March 1939 by Monsignor J. Francis A. McIntyre, future Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, and they now have international branches. I was particularly interested to learn that their branch in Vernon, New Jersey, is named for a Civil War general named Judson Kilpatrick (1836-1881). Born in New Jersey, Kilpatrick graduated West Point in 1861. Brave to the point of being reckless, he... Read more

New Biography of St. Aloysius Hits the Mark

January 5, 2019 By Pat McNamara

Silas S. Henderson, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J., With an Unidivided Heart (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2017) It’s been said that God is wonderful in His Saints. This was particularly true in sixteenth century Rome, which overflowed with women and men like Ignatius Loyola, Angela Merici, Philip Neri, and Robert Bellarmine, to name a few. Church reform was in the air. Blessed John Henry Newman called this phenomenon, which had followed a period of “monstrous corruption,” one of “the great... Read more

Newly Made Saints: St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877-1940)

January 4, 2019 By Pat McNamara

The Church is never short of saints, and I always enjoy learning about new ones. When I was younger, one book that made a big impression on me was Ann Ball’s Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces. A former Catholic school teacher, Ball created a compendium of saints who have been photographed, to help her students “see” holiness in a whole new way. For me personally, these images made the saints more real and accessible. As I was preparing my... Read more

Holy Name Rally at Ebbets Field Attracts 60,000 Catholic Men, May 1941

January 3, 2019 By Pat McNamara

Since the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated as an optional memorial in today’s liturgical calendar, it offers a good opportunity to look at the Holy Name Society and its place in pre-conciliar Catholic life. Founded by the Dominicans in the 1200’s to combat heresy, the society promoted devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and to combat blasphemy and profanity. For Catholics in the pre-television/pre-Vatican II era, social organizations like the Knights, the Ancient Order of... Read more

“A Shame and a Scandal”: Black Catholics Fight Racism

January 2, 2019 By Pat McNamara

This day in 1889 marks the birth of the National Black Catholic Congress. On January 2, 1889, over one hundred African American laymen, led by Daniel A. Rudd (1854-1933), assembled in Washington, D.C., as the First Colored Catholic Congress. Born a slave in Kentucky, Rudd edited The American Catholic Tribune, the first Black Catholic newspaper of any kind. The congress met five times between 1889 and 1894. What did the Congresses do? They advocated Catholic schools for African American children.... Read more

Looking Forward in 2019: Some American Catholic History Anniversary Dates

January 1, 2019 By Pat McNamara

Friends, as we begin a new year, here are some anniversary dates to keep in mind for this coming year: The 250th anniversary of the birth of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852), who brought the Religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (R.S.C.J.) to the United States. The 250th anniversary of St. Junipero Serra’s founding the first of the California Missions, in what is now San Diego. The 230th anniversary of the founding of the first American Diocese, Baltimore,... Read more

Looking Back at 2018: Some Anniversary Dates in American Catholic History

December 31, 2018 By Pat McNamara

Here are some of the anniversaries that we commemorated in McNamara’s Blog for 2018: What Happened 225 years ago in 1793? Father Stephen Badin became the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States, May 25, in Baltimore, at the hands of Bishop John Carroll. What Happened 200 years ago in 1818? St. Louis University founded on November 16, as the first institution of higher learning West of the Mississippi River. It is the second oldest Jesuit university in the United... Read more