Born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1845, Maurice Francis Burke grew up in Chicago. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame and the North American College in Rome, he was ordained for the Diocese of Chicago in 1875. Over the next twelve years he worked in Illinois parishes, proving himself a capable administrator. In 1887, when Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Cheyenne, Father Burke was named its first Bishop. The new diocese covered all of Wyoming, an area... Read more

The Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Couteau, Louisiana is one of America’s oldest Catholic schools. Founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart in 1821, the school has also been a local pilgrimage site since the end of the Civil War, when it witnessed a miraculous healing that led to a saint’s canonization. In the fall of 1866, Mary Wilson, a twenty-year-old convert who had just entered the convent, became seriously ill and was believed to be near... Read more

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. DIGNITY AND DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN. “Whose image and inscription is this?” Matt. xxii. 20. SYNOPSIS. The attempt of the Pharisees to ensnare Christ. His action. I. The dignity of the Christian shown (1) from the dignity of Christ, (2) His sufferings and death, (3) joint heir ship with Christ to the king dom of God, His Father. II. The duty of the Christian, (i) gratitude, (2) good life. The testimony of Scripture on this point.... Read more

WHY THE ROBIN’S BREAST WAS RED James Ryder Randall (1839-1908) The Saviour, bowed beneath His cross, climbed up the dreary hill, And from the agonizing wreath ran many a crimson rill; The cruel Roman thrust Him on with unrelenting hand, Till, staggering slowly ‘mid the crowd, He fell upon the sand. A little bird that warbled near, that memorable day, Flitted around and strove to wrench one single thorn away; The cruel spike impaled his breast– and thus ’tis sweetly... Read more

This 1924 programme is from the Army -Notre Dame game, a long-standing college football rivalry. It was in the November 1, 1913, Army-Notre Dame game that the Irish first used the forward pass. For more, see below: Read more

Born in Canada, Thomas Ouellet studied for the diocesan priesthood in Montreal before joining the Jesuits. After he completed his novitiate (sort of a basic training period) in Canada, he was sent to St. John’s College in New York City (now Fordham University). For several years after his ordination in 1848, he engaged in teaching and parish work in New York. In 1857, he was sent to Europe, where he ministered in France and Poland. Father Ouellet returned to America... Read more

Founded by St. Bruno of Cologne in 1084, the Carthusians are unique among the religious orders of the Catholic Church. Without a doubt, they are the strictest of the monastic communities. They live as hermits in a community where almost complete silence is observed. Anonymity is also a hallmark of their lives. For example, any book they write lists the author as “A Carthusian.” (Their gravestones bear the same title.) There are only twenty-five Carthusian monasteries (known as Charterhouses) in... Read more

THE POLISH CHURCH AND CONGREGATIONIt is claimed that there are about 2,000,000 Poles in the United States. This is probably an exaggeration, but there is no doubt that the number of those within the Catholic fold has largely increased in the last fifteen years. The fact is more evident in Chicago, where they are more numerous than in any other city. Until quite recently, the Polish Catholics of Boston and vicinity made no sign in our religious life. On May... Read more

Maria Longworth Storer (1849-1932) came from a wealthy family in Cincinnati. In 1871 she founded the city’s still-running May Festival. A skilled pottery painter, she founded the famous Rookwood Pottery in 1880. Her husband Bellamy Storer was a Congressman from Ohio and served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium and Austria. In 1896 the Storers became Catholics through the influence of Minnesota Archbishop John Ireland. They later lobbied in Rome to have Ireland a cardinal, albeit unsuccessfully. She wrote an account... Read more

During the American Civil War, two future bishops served as military chaplains, Fathers John Ireland and Lawrence McMahon. But only one bishop had actually served as a private soldier in the ranks during the war. Benjamin Joseph Keiley was born in Petersburg, Virginia, to Irish immigrants from County Cork. At age seventeen, he enlisted in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, serving with in an artillery unit during the last year of the Civil War. After the war, Keiley... Read more