The first woman in the United States to become a Dominican Sister, Mariah Hamilton Sansbury was born to a Catholic family in Maryland. She became the foundress of the first Dominican sisterhood in this country. After her father’s death she moved to Kentucky, where she joined St. Rose parish, the first parish in the United States run by the Dominican Fathers. In 1822, she responded to the call of Father Samuel Wilson, O.P., to form a sister’s community in the... Read more

Today marks the death of Father John J, Wynne, the first Editor of America magazine. Born in New York City, John Joseph Wynne graduated from St. Francis Xavier College (now Xavier High School) before joining the Jesuits in 1876. After his ordination, he joined the staff of the Jesuit magazine Messenger of the Sacred Heart. He served as editor until 1909. It was largely a devotional magazine. Convinced of the need for a weekly to discuss national and world affairs,... Read more

Joseph Marchand was a French missionary in Vietnam, and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Marchand was born in Passavant, in the Doubs department of France. In 1833, he joined the Le Van Khoi revolt by Le Van Khoi, son of the late governor of southern Vietnam Le Van Duyet. Khoi and Marchand vowed to overthrow Emperor Minh Mang and replace him with My Duong, the son of Minh Mang’s late elder brother Nguyen Phuc Canh, who were... Read more

Maximum Illud is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XV issued on November 30, 1919 ,in the sixth year of his pontificate. It deals with the Catholic missions after World War I. Pope Benedict XV recalled the great Apostles of the Gospel who contributed much to the Expansion of Missions . He reviewed the recent history of the missions and stated the purpose of the Apostolic letter. The encyclical first turned to the bishops and superiors in charge of the... Read more

Orientalium Dignitas is a papal encyclical concerning the Eastern Catholic churches issued by Pope Leo XIII on November 30, 1894. The encyclical further established the rights of the Eastern Catholic churches. This includes a prohibition aganist latinizing influences among Eastern Catholics, encouragement of Eastern Catholics to remain true to their church traditions, and the expansion of the jursidiction of the Melkite patriarch to include the whole of the Ottoman Empire. In the encyclical Leo said “that the ancient Eastern rites... Read more

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Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people; that as they rejoice in the coming of Thine only-begotten Son according to the flesh, so when He cometh a second time, they may receive the reward of eternal life. Gelasian Sacramentary, Collect for Advent (5th to 7th century) Read more

A CHRISTMAS SONGBy Theresa BraytonO Lord, as you lay so soft and white,A Babe in a manger stall,With the big star flashing across the night,Did you know and pity us all?Did the wee hands, close as a rosebud curled,With the call of their mission ache,To be out and saving a weary world, For Your Merciful Father’s sake? Did You hear the cries of the groping blind,The woe of the leper’s prayer,The surging sorrow of all mankind,As You lay by Your... Read more

There’s never been anyone quite like Dorothy Day in the history of Catholicism in the United States. Born in Brooklyn, the daughter of a newspaper reporter, her family moved to San Francisco when she was young, and later to Chicago. During her college years at the University of Illinois she became a pacifist and was arrested for her opposition to World War I. Little by little she was drawn to the Catholic Church, which she saw as the “Church of... Read more