A saint who proves we should trust God even in hard times
He calls us to make a stand and to fight, even to death if need be, for our Holy Mother, the Church. Here are the weapons he recommends ...
Patrick McNamara, PhD
Dr. Patrick McNamara is a Catholic historian and the author of New York Catholics: Faith, Attitude, & the Works.
Latest articles by Patrick McNamara, PhD
Her father sneered, “What can a woman do?”
Mother Xavier Ross' whole life and legacy is a fine response to that question.
Nicholas Black Elk: This Sioux medicine man may be recognized as a saint
After his conversion, the Lakota medicine man told a friend, "I want to be a catechist the rest of my life."
The Jesuit son of General William Tecumseh Sherman
It's not clear that Sherman ever fully forgave his son for joining the Society.
From slave to saint: Venerable Pierre Toussaint
The only lay person interred in the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral, thanks to Cardinal John O'Connor
Orestes Brownson: “Catholic American’s first great lay intellectual”
Long before smartphones, he warned: "The greatest danger to American society is that we are rapidly becoming a nation of isolated individuals."
The Baroness and the Gospel: Catherine de Hueck Doherty
Once at a lecture in Savannah, she was nearly beaten to death by a group of white Catholic women.
Sister Ignatia: The Catholic nun behind Alcoholics Anonymous
One commentator said: "If the Catholic Church doesn't canonize her, the Protestants will make her a saint."
Who were the “Know-nothings”? What was “Know-Nothingism”?
The group's demise didn't mean the end of anti-Catholicism, which Schlesinger called the longest reigning prejudice in American history.
The nuns of the American Civil War
Approximately 640 sisters volunteered their nursing services, asking only for necessities in return.
The blueblood Catholic priest who cried heresy: “Racism is a God-damned thing!”
Fr. John Markoe's life reads like fiction, and his passion was all about seeking justice for Black Americans.
Edgar Allan Poe’s unknown friendship with the Jesuits
Poe may never have converted to Catholicism, but he did find a great deal of comfort in his associations at Fordham.
Sisters of Mercy: Their cloister was “the alley of the poor”
"Comfortable living did not exist for them," as they ransomed slaves, nursed the sick, housed orphans, built hospitals, nurseries and schools, and more.