American Catholic History

Noel Dubé, Noëlle’s grandfather, was a hero of World War II, landing on D-Day and playing a key role in the breakout from the beaches and the race through the hedgerows of Normandy. He also raised ten children with his wife Toni and started a local shrine to Our Lady which drew thousands of visitors annually from across the country. His devotion to Mary began at a young age when his mother died and he took Mary to be his mother. 

Explore the intriguing life of John Wayne, an American icon who grappled with faith and masculinity. Born Marion Morrison, Wayne’s journey from Presbyterian roots to self-proclaimed 'cardiac Catholic' is captivating. His personal struggles, marked by infidelity yet seeking redemption, reveal a complex man beneath the Hollywood persona. Discover how his relationships, especially with his Catholic wives, influenced his spiritual path. Reflect on his insights about the evolving cinema landscape of the 1960s, blending toughness with tenderness in his legacy.

Since shortly after he died in 1799, questions have circulated about whether George Washington converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. The evidence isn't conclusive in either direction, but a number of factors point to this possibility. Chief among them is that Washington requested that a Catholic priest come to his bedside as he lay dying. One of the Neale brothers who was a Jesuit priest in Piscataway, Maryland, right across the Potomac from Mount Vernon, attended Washington and was with him for nearly four hours. If Washington became a Catholic convert many would not be surprised, as he had displayed an affinity for Catholics and for the Catholic Church for most of his adult life. In this episode we consider all of the evidence for the potential deathbed conversion of the Father of America.

Julia Greeley was born a slave in Missouri. After Missouri abolished slavery she moved to Denver, Colorado where she worked for the family of the first governor of Colorado. She became Catholic in 1880 and developed a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She devoted her life to helping anyone who needed assistance. She would give to others from her own meager earnings, any anything she couldn't afford she would beg for. She was a daily communicant and a prayer warrior. At least one couple overcame infertility through her prayers. She loved children and would organize days in the park for children who didn't have the opportunity. One special ministry was to firefighters. She would go around every First Friday — the day of devotion to the Sacred Heart — and bring pamphlets about the Sacred Heart devotion to all of the firehouses in Denver. She died on the feast of the Sacred Heart in 1918. She did so much good for so many that her funeral was massive. Her cause for canonization opened in 2016, when her body was exhumed and reinterred in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. She is the only person buried in that church, which opened in 1912.

Mother Mary Magdalene Bentivoglio was born Anna Bentivoglio into Italian and French nobility in the mid 1800s. But both of her parents died before her 27th birthday. Since she and two of her sisters were still single, Pope Pius IX took responsibility for them and they were placed in a Benedictine abbey. This experienced compelled all three to desire religious life, but a more austere experience of it. So they became Poor Clares of the Primitive Observance. Ten years after taking their final vows two of them, Mary Magdalene and one of her sisters who had been given the religious name Constanza, were selected by Pius IX to go to the United States to help a third order Franciscan community establish a school. This fell apart shortly after they arrived in the US, and they found themselves stuck in New York City with no money, no plan, and no English. They appealed to the archbishop of New York to establish a Poor Clare monastery in his archdiocese, but he refused. They appealed to other dioceses, but got many rejections until the archbishop of New Orleans welcomed them. But then they were forced to move to Cleveland. Another setback prompted them to go searching for a home again, until John Creighton, the Omaha industrialist and philanthropist, learned of their plight and pledged to build them a monastery in Omaha. Things began looking up, but there were still other trials awaiting them. But through it all, Mother Mary Magdalene brought her stubbornness, and her absolute trust in God's providence, to bear on all hardships and opportunities. She died in the early 1900s. More than 20 Poor Clare monasteries in the United States and Canada trace their roots to the trailblazing faith, zeal, and dedication of Mother Mary Magdalene Bentivoglio. Her cause for canonization was opened in 1929, and when her body was exhumed she was found to be incorrupt. In 1969 she was declared Venerable. 

St. Kateri Tekakwitha lived a life marked by tragedy and upheaval, but also a lot of grace and love. She was born to Mohawk Indian parents (though her mother was originally Algonquin), who both died from smallpox when she was four. She survived smallpox, but the disease left her face scarred and her eyesight damaged. Because of this handicap she was called, "She who bumps into things," or in Mohawk, "Tekakwitha." At a young age she pledged to remain a virgin and not get married, which was a very strange and unheard of thing among Mohawk women. After exposure to Catholic missionaries she became Catholic and was baptized with the Mohawk form of the name "Catherine," which is "Kateri." Due to the intense ridicule she suffered for her conversion she left her village and moved to Kahnawake, a village for Native Americans who had become Catholic. Surrounded by fellow Catholics and with a few particular friends who helped her to go deeper into her faith she became even more devout. She died at just 24 years old due in part to lingering health issues from her childhood bout with smallpox.

Discover the fascinating life of Charles Carroll, the wealthiest man in the colonies and the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. Unravel his early challenges in a predominantly Protestant society and his journey to political prominence. Learn about his resistance to British taxation and significant role at the Continental Congress. Explore his influence on Maryland's Constitution and his lasting legacy as a revolutionary leader. This intriguing narrative sheds light on his contributions and the importance of Christian values in America.

Father Leo Heinrichs was a Franciscan who fled persecution in Germany only to be shot dead by an Italian anarchist in Denver in 1908. He first came to New York and New Jersey where he ministered for 16 years. He was much loved by the homeless and those in need, as he did great work providing for their needs, and giving them spiritual comfort. But in 1907 he was transferred to St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Denver, the parish established for the large German-speaking population in that city. Just five months later he swapped Sunday Mass times with another priest so that he could make it to a morning meeting. In the congregation that day was Giuseppe Alia, a recent immigrant from Italy who hated the Catholic Church and especially priests. He shot Father Leo at point blank range during Communion, but was tackled before he could leave the church. He was tried, convicted, and hanged without repentance, despite the efforts of the Franciscans to minister to him and to plead for clemency. Father Leo's cause for canonization opened, but it stalled in 1940. 

In 1810 a wooden cross was miraculously discovered in the hillside of the village of Chimayo in northern New Mexico. The area had been known by Pueblo Indians as a place where miraculous healings took place, and after the cross was found a chapel was built because pilgrims started coming to pray before the miraculous cross and seek healing from the "holy dirt." So many miraculous healings have been attributed to this location, and so many pilgrims come every year — it is the largest pilgrimage site in the U.S. — that Chimayo is known by some as the Lourdes of America.

Roger Maris was a lifelong Catholic. He was born in Minnesota and grew up in North Dakota. He was an excellent athlete, and after breaking into the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1957, he eventually made it to the New York Yankees, where he broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961. Ruth’s record was one of the most hallowed in baseball, so anyone breaking it was a big deal. But Yankee fans wanted it to be the face of the franchise through the 1950s, the great Mickey Mantle, who broke it. Maris had only been a Yankee for one full season, so he was considered an interloper, usurping what was rightly Mantle’s record. Add to that, the commissioner of baseball, Ford Frick, suggested that if the record were not broken within 154 games (the season was now 162 games), then a mark, like an asterisk, should be added to it in record books. The stress of all of this weighed heavily on Maris. After breaking the record in 1961, he played seven more seasons, most with the Yankees and two with the St. Louis Cardinals, before retiring after the 1968 season. He had his number retired by the Yankees in 1984, but he has not yet been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Roger Maris died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1985. Maris was never a flashy player, and he was a very private person. His faith, always with him, was similarly private, though the testimony of his teammates and his family indicate that he lived a virtuous life, and cared for those around him.