American Catholic History

St. Junipero Serra and the California Missions

St. Junipero Serra is considered the Father of California. He founded the missions that first brought the Catholic faith and modern agriculture and industrial techniques to California. He was a man of strict penitential practices. He expected much of those whom he evangelized, and had no patience for those who mistreated the natives for their own gain. Originally from Mallorca, off the coast of Spain, he was a brilliant scholar, but rather than an academic career he chose the mission field. He spent decades working in central Mexico, then Baja and Alta California. And due to an insect bite when he first arrived in Mexico, he did his missionary work — which he did mostly on foot — with a diseased and ulcerous leg. He was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015, and a statue of him holding a cross aloft is included in the U.S. Capitol as one of two from the state of California.

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche

In 1587 Spanish settlers in St. Augustine, Florida established a shrine to Our Lady of La Leche. This was the first shrine to Our Lady, the Blessed Mother Mary, established in what is now the United States. This devotion to the Blessed Mother has roots that go back to the Roman catacombs. It was a favored image of King Philip II of Spain. “La Leche,” Spanish for “The Milk,” depicts the Blessed Mother nursing the infant Jesus. The first chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche was erected in 1609. The chapel currently standing in the Mission of the Name of God in St. Augustine was built in 1914. Many miracles have been attributed to this image and shrine over the centuries. In the 21st century the shrine was named a National Shrine, and the Pope granted the image a canonical coronation.

Kentucky Catholics and Bourbon Whiskey

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 minister to them. This scheme worked, as the first diocese west of the Appalachians was established in Bardstown in 1808. But something else was happening in Bardstown at the time these Catholic families moved to the region: the beginnings of bourbon whiskey. Local farmers had begun to make this corn-heavy spirit just a few years before Hayden and the Catholics arrived. The Catholic families, who also were mostly farmers, adopted this new type of whiskey and became good at making it. To this day many of the great bourbon makers still trace their roots to this influx of Catholic families: Jim Beam, Willett, Wathen, Medley, J.W. Dant, and others. The Hayden family hasn't made bourbon for a long time, but the legacy of Basil Hayden, Sr. lives on in bourbons made today by the Jim Beam Company: Old Grandad and the series of Basil Hayden whiskeys they make.

The Baltimore Basilica of the Assumption of Mary

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 would be respected by all, Carroll secured the services of the most respected and important architect of the time, Henry Latrobe. Latrobe is considered the father of American architecture. At the time he worked on this new cathedral his other major project was the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Listen to learn more about this important house of worship.

Joseph Warren Revere

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 — and was a devout Catholic the rest of his days. After his military career ended he lived most of his days at his home in New Jersey. He traveled more, and painted a painting for his parish. Joseph Warren Revere died in 1880 due to injuries and illness suffered during the Civil War.

Joseph Barbera

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 animation studio, the two partnered to found Hanna-Barbera studios. Through Hanna-Barbera they created some of the most important cartoons of the 20th century, including Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Johnny Quest, The Jetsons, Snagglepuss, Superfriends, The Smurfs, Scooby Do, and many others. Through their groundbreaking work they won many Emmy Awards. But Joseph Barbera considered a series of cartoons on stories from the Bible to be his most important achievement. The series, “The Greatest Adventure,” was released straight to home video from 1985 through 1992. Barbera remained active in Hanna-Barbera until shortly before his death in 2006.

Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget

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 such an uproar that his successor was forced to resign and he resumed the see. His counsel was sought on all Church matters in America, and even in Rome when matters touching on America arose. 

Father Henry Duranquet, SJ: Apostle to the Tombs

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. Father Duranquet spent his last few years as a spiritual guide to the Jesuits first at Worcester, Massachusetts, then at Woodstock, Maryland, where he died in 1891 at 82 years old.

Mother Mary Lange, OSP

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 she also had a desire to teach. Maryland was a slave state, but Baltimore at the time had more free black persons than enslaved. Many of them were from the Caribbean like she was, and most were poorly educated. There were no public schools that admitted blacks, and not enough private schools to serve the need. Elizabeth and a friend opened a school for black girls in Elizabeth’s home, funded entirely by her inheritance. After about ten years the money was running out. Fortunately, Father James Joubert, a Sulpician who had been helping to catechize black youth, stepped in. With the support of Baltimore’s archbishop, James Whitfield, Father Joubert aided Elizabeth Lange and her friends to keep their school going, and he helped them fulfill another dream: to found a religious community for black women. In 1829 the Oblate Sisters of Providence was established with Elizabeth Lange taking the name Mary and being named the first superior. For the next 50 years, Mother Lange labored to do whatever needed to be done to support the school, to educate children, and to help the community in whatever way was needed.

Buffalo Bill Cody

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 years. But he resisted until the day before he died. Through the intervention of friends, who were Catholic, he was baptized by a Catholic priest in Denver the day before he died in 1917.