This week’s Patheos column is about John Hughes (1797-1864), who was New York’s first Archbishop. He’s also one of the most interesting people in all of American Catholic history. Check the article out here! Read more

MISS DREXEL ENTERS THE CONVENT OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY.The New York Times, November 8, 1889 Pittsburg, Nov. 7. Kate Drexel, the second daughter of the late F.A. Drexel, the well-known Philadelphia banker, and heiress to about $6,000,0000, took the white veil of the novitiate at the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy in this city this morning. The ceremony, which was conducted by Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia and Bishop Phelan of this city, was very impressive and particularly exclusive,... Read more

Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, Brooklyn   On the morning of September 7, 1914, eighty-five young men gathered for Mass at St. John’s Chapel on Clermont Avenue in Brooklyn. Ranging in age from eleven to seventeen, they were there for the opening of Cathedral College. The celebrant was the college rector, Bishop George Mundelein, who told them: You are here because the priests have seen in you the signs that tell them of the fact that you are called to... Read more

An Oxford graduate and Catholic convert whose writings influenced Tolkien and T.S. Eliot, Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) has been called “the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century.” In his 1950 book Religion and the Rise of Western Culure, Dawson writes that after the fall of the Roman Empire, Christianity held Western Europe together in a “spiritual community” known as Christendom, which transcended borders and politics. For over a millennium, Roman Catholicism dominated the West’s social, political, and intellectual life,... Read more

ST. JOHN’S COLLEGEBrooklyn, New York City, N. Y. In the year 1865, Right Rev. John Loughlin, first Bishop of Brooklyn, invited the Priests of the Congregation of the Mission to establish a college for boys in that city. The invitation was formally accepted in 1867, when Very Rev. S. V. Ryan, C. M., Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission, afterward Bishop of Buffalo, decided to take steps to procure a suitable site for a college and church. Under the... Read more

Dear Friends, As you may know, in addition to the blog, I also write a weekly column every Tuesday at Patheos.com, a religion website I think you might like. I direct your attention to this week’s entry, which discusses Blessed Marie of the Incarnation (1599-1672), a French missionary nun who founded the first Catholic school in North America. Take a look at the article by clicking here. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for your continued interest and support! Sincerely, Pat... Read more

THOUSANDS MOURN FOR FATHER PARDOWWomen and Children Weep During Funeral Services for the Noted Jesuit PriestALL SEVERELY SIMPLEPoverty and Humility, to Which the Order is Pledged, the Keynote—- Four Bishops PresentThe New York Times, January 27, 1909 When Archbishop Farley began the low mass for the repose of the soul of Father William O’Brien Pardow in the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, in East Eighty-fourth Street, yesterday, every seat in the edifice was filled, the aisles were crowded, and thousands... Read more

I think I am right in saying that the tradition of the Apostles, committed to the whole Church in its various constituents and functions per modum unius, manifests itself variously at various times, sometimes by the mouth of the episcopacy, sometimes by the doctors, sometimes by the doctors, sometimes by the people, sometimes by liturgies, rites, ceremonies and customs, by events, disputes, movements, and all those other phenomena which are comprised under the name of history. It follows that none... Read more

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY Gospel. Luke ii. 42-52 THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE This day’s Gospel is especially adapted for children, who can draw from it, even in their humble way of thinking, many useful lessons. When Jesus was twelve years old, having come to the use of reason according to human judgment, He went to Jerusalem with His parents. Mary thought that Jesus was with Joseph, and Joseph thought He was with Mary, so, not at all uneasy, they... Read more

FOR THE MAGI BY J. Patrick Walsh, S.J. In the end, not valor, ecstasy of motion or music, high banners or the tricks with which we spring the mine of passion in the breast will take us home; but in the mind, the cold and wet-walled prison of the mind, with fetters clanking and the high, small single window to the light, the prisoner the soul will on the involuting, cold and fading trail persist in searching, till home he... Read more