American Catholic History

Holy Hill: Site of Miracles

Pilgrims have come to Holy Hill for centuries, seeking peace, solace, and miraculous cures. They have found all three. Nowadays the Basilica of Our Lady, Help of Christia

Babe Ruth

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born in Baltimore in 1895. He was one of eight children, but only he and one sister survived childhood. His parents both had to work, and hi

LtCol John Fitzgerald, Loyal Friend of Washington

George Washington relied on multiple Catholics during the Revolutionary War. One of the most important was his dear friend Lt. Col. John Fitzgerald , who served as an aid

Fr. Stephen Badin, Proto-Priest of the USA

Father Stephen Badin was the first priest ordained in the United States. Born in France, he was a deacon completing his seminary studies when the French Revolution compel

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Mother, Widow, Educator, Foundress

Elizabeth Ann Seton was an Episcopalian and a wealthy socialite in New York. She married the scion of a wealthy shipping family, and they started a family. Life was wonde

Mother Spalding and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

Mother Catherine Spalding spent 45 years leading and building the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Louisville and central Kentucky. Born in Maryland in 1793, her family

The Carmelites of Port Tobacco: First Women's Religious in the USA

In 1790 four Carmelite nuns — three native Marylanders and a woman originally from England — came from Hoogstraeten in what is not Belgium to establish a Carmelite monast

Margaret Haughery: The Bread Woman of New Orleans

Margaret Haughery came to America as a child in 1818 and promptly lost her entire family to disease and desertion. She married and had a child, but before her 24th birthd

America's First Cathedral, The Baltimore Basilica of the Assumption of Mary

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, more commonly known as “The Baltimore Basilica,” was the first cathedral built in the Un

Blessed Carlos Rodriguez: ¡Vivimos Para Esa Noche!

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez came from a humble but devout family in Puerto Rico. He suffered from a terrible illness for most of his life. He barely graduated high school and

Ben Franklin Taps John Carroll as First Bishop of Baltimore

Benjamin Franklin and Father John Carroll, SJ became friends on an ill-fated mission to Canada in 1776 during the opening stages of the Revolutionary War. The Continental

History of St. Patrick's Day Festivities

The first St. Patrick's Day Festivities were held, oddly enough, in St. Augustine, Florida in 1600. More than 130 years later the first permanent St. Patrick's Day celebr

The Josephites: Dedicated to Serving Black Americans

The Josephites, formally the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, were founded in 1892 when priests of the “Mill Hill” priests from England separated from the mothe

Mother Mathilda Beasley: Fearless Black Educator and Foundress

Episode 36 Mother Mathilda Beasley was born Mathilda Taylor in New Orleans, Louisiana in either 1832 or 1834. Her mother was enslaved, and her father was not known, thoug

Daniel Rudd, Journalist, Publisher, Civil Rights Pioneer

Daniel Rudd was born a slave in Bardstown. His family was Catholic, as was the family who enslaved them. They all worshiped God together at St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, th

Annie Moore, the First Immigrant Through Ellis Island

Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, and the first immigrant to be welcomed was Annie Moore, who was either a 15 or 17 year-old Catholic girl from Ireland. She and her

The Founding of Regina Laudis Abbey: A Story Made for Hollywood

Mother Benedict Duss hid from the Nazis in her French Benedictine monastery during World War II. After General Patton's Third Army liberated her abbey she pledged to retu

Fr. Aloysius Schmitt, Hero of Pearl Harbor

Father Aloysius Schmitt was a Navy Chaplain assigned to the USS Oklahoma at the outset of World War II. He had just finished the 7 a.m. Mass on the Second Sunday of Adven

Ven. Henriette Delille

Venerable Henriette Delille overcame great opposition to establish the second religious community for black women in the United States. She was an octroon born in New Orl

Pope Night in the American Colonies

"Pope Night" was the American version of the British "Guy Fawkes Night," the annual commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot. The night of mischief and mayhem and anti-Catholi