The first mass movement of Catholics within the new United States from the eastern seaboard across the Appalachian Mountains happened in the 1780s and 1790s. Sixty families, led by Basil Hayden, Sr., moved together from St. Mary City, Maryland, to what was then Kentucky County, Virginia. They settled near the growing city of Bardstown. Their hope was that since they moved in such a concentration, the Church would be compelled to establish a parish there and assign a permanent priest to...

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 United States. Archbishop John Carroll conceived of the idea of building a grand cathedral in Baltimore in 1792, but his plans didn’t come to fruition until the early 1800s. And in spite of being a poor diocese, Carroll believed this cathedral was important to build because of “Amplitude.” To make sure it was a building that...

Joseph Warren Revere was the grandson of Paul Revere. He led a military life of adventure, discipline, and gallantry. He traveled the globe, raised the American flag over California, helped found the U.S. Naval Academy, and led soldiers as a colonel and general during the American Civil War. During that war, in 1862, while convalescing in Washington, DC, he made a stunning decision to become Catholic. He was baptized in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Baltimore — the Baltimore Basilica —...

Joseph Barbera was co-founder of the powerhouse animation studio Hanna-Barbera. He got his start drawing at his Catholic grade school, Holy Innocents, in Brooklyn, where the sisters noted his artistic talents. Eventually he made cartoons and animation his career, landing at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. At MGM he teamed up with William Hanna on the Tom and Jerry series, which was an overnight sensation. Tom and Jerry won a record seven Oscars from a record 14 nominations. When MGM shut down its...

Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget was the first bishop of Bardstown, Kentucky (when it became a diocese in 1808), and later the first bishop of Louisville. He was probably the most important bishop of the early church in America not named John Carroll. He spent the majority of his four decades as bishop traveling by horseback and on foot through his vast diocese. He was an incredibly holy and wise man. When he tried to retire due to illness and the overall breakdown of his body, his flock made...

Father Henry Duranquet, SJ, earned the moniker “Apostle of the Tombs” because of his 25-plus years ministering to the convicts of New York’s prisons, including the prison known as “The Tombs.” His patient Christlike work won over thousands of souls for Christ, including notorious murderers like Albert Hicks, whose hanging in 1860 was a major public event. Father Duranquet also won over the guards, doctors, and leadership of the prison system, many of whom were anti-Catholic Know Nothings....

Mother Mary Lange, OSP founded the Oblates of the Sisters of Providence, the first religious community for black Americans. She was born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange in the Caribbean, either on Hispaniola or Cuba, in the 1780s or 1790s. Her mother was the daughter of a wealthy planter and her father was a slave. She received an excellent education in Cuba. Eventually she immigrated to the United States, settling in Baltimore. She inherited a large sum of money and was able to support herself. But...

Buffalo Bill Cody was, more or less, evangelized by the Indians who were part of his Wild West show, plus through a meeting with Pope Leo XIII in 1890. He was one of the most famous people on earth in his day. He was a legitimate Western scout, a natural showman, and a man of principle and action. He and his wife, Louisa, had four children. Two died in childhood. One of his sisters, Julia, was a strong Christian — though not Catholic — and she encouraged him to become Christian for many...

Before 2024 there had been ten national eucharistic congresses and two international eucharistic congresses held in the United States. The first was in 1895. But what is a eucharistic congress? In this episode we talk about that and give some highlights from many of the eucharistic congresses of the past.

Andy Warhol was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. He was born and raised in a devout Byzantine Catholic family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but most of his life was far from a model of Catholic sanctity. He became a leader and innovator of pop art, and drew his subject matter from the celebrity idols and crass commercialism of his day. He was a fixture of the high end social scene of 60s and 70s New York, and his style influenced countless other artists. But very few...

Father Joseph T. O’Callahan, SJ, was head of the mathematics department at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a professor of mathematics, physics, and philosophy. But when war broke out in 1939, he signed up to be a Navy Chaplain — the first Jesuit to do so. In March of 1945 he was assigned to the USS Franklin, which steamed out of Pearl Harbor on March 3. Just 16 days later, while preparing to launch bombing runs on the Japanese mainland, the Franklin was struck by two...

In 1913 the Florida legislature passed a law forbidding white teachers from teaching in black schools. This wasn’t the first time the Florida legislature had passed laws trying to keep their schools segregated. This law, however, was aimed squarely at Catholic schools like St. Benedict the Moor School in St. Augustine, Florida. The Sisters of St. Joseph, who had been teaching black children in Florida since 1867, were not willing to comply with the unjust law. Their bishops, first William...

Samuel Sutherland Cooper is perhaps the most important person in the early Church in America whom you’ve never heard of. He was a convert, born Anglican, and was a successful sea captain and merchant based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He traveled the world, tried many of the world’s delights, and became wealthy. But in in the early 1800s, illness and a strange voice from heaven compelled him to reconsider his vaguely Christian beliefs. He eventually became Catholic, and then entered...

Perry Como was one of the most successful entertainers of the 20th century. A man of deep Catholic faith, his stardom never caused him to lose his humility or gentleness.

Bob Newhart is one of the most influential and beloved comedians of the last 60 years, who set records with his comedy albums and TV shows. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell us how Newhart attributes both his 60-year marriage and successful career, in part, to his Catholic faith.

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 moved to the Bardstown, Kentucky area when she was very young. She became an orphan at an early age, and lived with relatives until joining the fledgling order in 1813. She was elected the first Mother Superior that year, when she was 19 years old. She died in 1858, after her order had grown significantly, and was responsible...

The earliest Catholic settlement in what is now the state of Arkansas was Arkansas Post, established in 1686 by Henri de Tonti, a lieutenant of the great French explorer Robert Sieur de la Salle. Never a bustling settlement, the Catholics who lived there struggled to maintain their faith, while mission priests came and went. But they built a church. Originally built on a barge in the Arkansas River in 1782, it was moved to land in 1832, when the first resident pastor came to minister to this...

Maronite Catholics maintain one of the most ancient traditions within the Catholic Church. They are originally from the southern edge of Asia Minor, and lived in relative peace for many centuries in the mountains of Lebanon. But civil wars forced many to flee. During this time of upheaval, the devotion to Our Lady of Lebanon resulted in a massive and important shrine being built in Harissa, Lebanon, just northeast of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Maronites first came to America beginning in...

Catholics have had a tremendous impact on American food from the beginning. The Franciscan friars in the California missions brought wine making. Those same friars also invented a delicious cheese that we now know as Monterey Jack. In Louisiana the French, African, and Acadian peoples who settled the land developed cajun and creole food. In Cincinnati, Ohio a Catholic businessman convinced Ray Kroc to make the Filet-o-Fish a staple of the McDonald’s menu. In West Virginia the pepperoni roll...

In 1620, the year the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, a Spanish nun began to appear to the Jumano people of west central Texas. The Spanish nun, Sister Maria de Jesus de Agreda, was a mystic who never left her monastery in Spain, but through the spiritual gift of bi-location visited the Jumano people more than 500 times between 1620 and 1631. After she’d evangelized the Jumano for eleven years she sent them to the Franciscan missionaries who had come to New Mexico. When the Franciscans came...

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 birthday she lost her husband and daughter to disease. Through the help of her parish priest she turned this tragedy and pain into energy to work hard and help others. For the next 40-plus years she became one of the most prominent philanthropists in New Orleans, turning a dairy business, and then a bread empire, into orphanages,...

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ACH177: In the 1620s, a native American community in what would become Texas were evangelized by a mysterious lady in blue. Tom and Noëlle Crowe tell the story of how a Spanish nun, Mary of Agreda, miraculously visited the Jumanos without leaving her Spanish monastery 5,000 miles away. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email | Listen to this episode and follow on YouTube. Help us continue to offer American Catholic History. Won’t you make a pledge at...

ACH176: Catholics have had a tremendous impact on American food from the beginning. Tom and Noëlle Crowe explore a handful of these contributions, from wine and cheese at the California missions to Cajun and creole food in Louisiana to the Filet-o-Fish in McDonalds to muskrat dinners in the midwest and more Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email | Listen to this episode and follow on YouTube. Help us continue to offer American Catholic History. Won’t you make...