Category Archives: Biography
Biography
Biographies provide one of the more enjoyable ways to learn history, especially when they are well written. Focusing on the events surrounding the life of someone of great accomplishment gives the reader a window through which to see a slice of a time, its persons and places, as they relate to the subject of the biography.
Most, but not all of the biographies on our website are of extraordinary Catholic men and women whose sanctity, zeal, intelligence, and courage made the Church more holy and the world less evil. One can see in the lives recounted how they impacted a certain part of the world, or, with some other individuals, even the whole world. In some cases, they affected future generations as well. Their lives are posted so that our readers may learn history, especially that of the Church and Christendom, and draw inspiration from the Church’s heroes and heroines. Occasional villains show up here, that we might learn how they, too, impacted history.
Methodist Minister Asks Forgiveness for 1921 Murder of Father Coyle in Birmingham
I wrote the story of the martyr Father Coyle a couple of years ago. You can read it here. Catholic Culture: In 1921, the rector of the cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama, was murdered by a Methodist minister who was outraged by the marriage of his daughter to a Puerto Rican. The minister, Edwin Stephenson, was defended by future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black and acquitted. … More →
Posted in Biography, Catholic America, News Leave a comment
Thoughts Triggered by the Firing of Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan was recently fired from MSNBC after a ten-year association. Pat and I worship at the same extraordinary-rite Sunday Mass in the nation’s capital, but I haven’t had a chance to speak to him since his firing. I have read a column he wrote about it. His contract was terminated when MSNBC buckled under pressure from groups outraged by his most recent book, Suicide … More →
Posted in Articles, Biography, Politics and Society 2 Comments
‘The Slave of the Slaves Forever,’ Signed, Pedro Claver
On this day, September 9, the Church honors a Jesuit missioner who was one of the greatest saints of the New World. Saint Peter Claver never left the port city of Cartagena after his ordination there in 1615. His superior in Spain had sent him directives five years before to “make haste” for New Granada (Colombia) to assist another missionary who was overwhelmed by work.
Posted in Biography, Columns, Lives of the Saints Leave a comment
RIP Archduke Otto Von Habsburg
As has already been noted on the SBC website, Archduke Otto von Habsburg, who in 1916 became heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has died. I’d like to offer a couple of additional thoughts. The Archduke passed away in his sleep at his home in Bavaria during the night of July 3-4. He was 98. He lived long enough to see his father, … More →
Posted in Articles, Biography, History, News 2 Comments
David Goldstein and Martha Moore Avery: from Socialists to ‘Campaigners for Christ’
It is probably safe to say that everyone reading this knows of the famous preacher on Boston Common of the 1950’s, Father Leonard Feeney, and of the religious brothers who accompanied him there each Sunday. Father preached the unvarnished truth of the Catholic Faith and was eventually silenced and banished by the powers that be of the Archdiocese of Boston for that courageous act. A … More →
Casey Jones: Legendary Railroad Engineer and Catholic
Practically every American has heard of the storied railroad engineer of the late 1800’s, Casey Jones, made famous throughout the years in song, story, and film. But it is generally not known that he was baptized a Catholic at the age of twenty-two in Saint Bridget’s Church in Whistler, Alabama, near the coastal city of Mobile.
The Conversion Stories of Knute Rockne and Ralph H. Metcalfe
[The Conversion Stories of Knute Rockne and Ralph Metcalfe. "Crossing The Goal Line" by Knute Rockne, and "A Race Well Run" by Ralph H. Metcalfe, taken from Through Hundred Gates Imprimatur: Archbishop John McNicholas 1938.] I used to be impressed by the sight of my players receiving Holy Communion every morning, and finally I made it a point to go to Mass with them on … More →
Remembering Father Feeney
During the long years (1942-1978) in which I was privileged to associate with Father Feeney on a daily basis, I kept a record of statements he would make from time to time, in his sermons or lectures, or in ordinary conversation that struck me at that moment as proceeding from a deep mystical realization or apprehension. I felt an irresistible impulse to record these sayings … More →
Sister Stanislaus – Winged Angel of New Orleans
Born in a mining camp in the high Sierras of California, Catherine Malone was the daughter of poor Irish immigrants who came to America in the early 1860’s. The child was born on Christmas Eve, 1863, and had no memory of her parents. What happened to them is unknown; their deaths were apparently not recorded – just two of many expendable poor Irish in America. … More →
John Cuthbert Ford, S.J. Catholic Moral Theologian 1903-1989
I remember while attending Brother Francis’ philosophy courses in the 1980s how excited he got over an article written by Father John C. Ford on the philosophy of Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The article was quite long, forty or more pages, but he read from it each class until he finished it. It was titled “Totalitarian Justice Holmes.” Sometime earlier Father Ford had exposed … More →
Roger Ebert and the ‘Good Old Days’
Film critic and columnist Roger Ebert penned a column for his blog at the Chicago Sun-Times, My Vocation as a Priest. It’s a benevolent, slightly sentimental look at his Catholic upbringing. At one time, he considered the priestly vocation. But it turns out he was one of those, “whose mother had the vocation” — to use the words of an old priest I knew. Not … More →
Mother Lurana, Foundress of the Sisters of the Atonement
In a recent lengthy article, we wrote of the saintly Father Paul of Graymoor, Founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Mother Lurana (pronounced Lu ray na) White is such an important part of the story of Graymoor that she deserves at least a short piece of her own. Much is said of her and her part in Graymoor’s founding in that earlier article, … More →
