The Kensington Runestone is a slab of greywacke stone — 36 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 6 inches thick — with a fourteenth-century runic inscription on it. Unearthed in 1898, in a rural area of Northern Minnesota, it was … Continue reading
Category: Catholic America
On Dragon Slaying and Stable Cleaning: A Look at the Lay Apostolate
(This was originally given as a talk at the annual Saint Benedict Center Conference. Originally entitled “Living as a Third Order Member in the World,” its name was changed because, while it has particular relevance to members of our Third … Continue reading
Father Augustus Tolton, First Black Priest in the U.S.
“They’re watching me,” he wrote to Saint Katharine Drexel, his confidant and benefactor. One of the Catholic websites I frequent offers a video about a Black American priest by the name of Augustus Tolton. I could see by the black … Continue reading
Eustace Ahatsistari, Huron Warrior
This past February 9, I posted an article about the Huron Indian, Joseph Chihwatenha, entitled Red Man Without a Cause. He was a noble man, naturally virtuous, who after his conversion and brief life as a Catholic exhibited the kind … Continue reading
Paul Comtois of Québec
Andrew Cusak recently posted a brief, uplifting tribute to a great Catholic statesman: Paul Comtois of Québec. Lieutenant-gouverneur Comtois was a scandalously un-celebrated martyr for his love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. No doubt, his lack of celebrity is … Continue reading
Capitol’s Statuary Hall and Father Eusebio “the Chinaman”
This author wrote an article back in February, 2006, about four Catholic missionaries whose statues stand in Washington D.C.’s Statuary Hall. Two are beatified, two should be: Hawaii’s Blessed Damien the Leper (to be canonized this fall), Blessed Junipero Serra … Continue reading
In the Wake of Pere Marquette
The Catholic America Tour is just beginning. We’re 1300 miles away from home, in Quincy, Illinois (parked in front of a Staples, to be precise). Nearby is the Mississippi River, the “great waters” in the Ojibwa language. It was named … Continue reading
Joseph Chihwatenha: Red Man Without a Cause
From 1542-1834, there were 117 martyrs who shed their blood for the Faith in the land that became the United States. During those years all of them had been referred to Rome as candidates for canonization. Only the three of … Continue reading
America’s Jesuit Apostle: Father Arnold Damen
Having an aversion to serialized articles on the Internet, I have opted not to call this “Father Arnold Damen, Chicago’s Jesuit Apostle: Part II.” A clunky name, that. This is, nonetheless, a second article on Father Damen, but a “free-standing” … Continue reading