A forum of Catholic Thought

The anti-Catholic 'Hannah Corcoran Affair' of 1853Thomas Lester

On the evening of Wednesday, March 2, 1853, a mob numbering in the thousands, mostly young men, from Charlestown, Cambridge, Malden, Medford, and Somerville congregated in the area of Richmond Street, ...

Boston's 'Irish Volunteers' of the Mexican-American War Thomas Lester

On Sunday, Feb. 21, 1847, Bishop John Fitzpatrick of Boston recorded in his journal that Father Nicholas O'Brien, pastor of East Boston and the forts and islands in Boston Harbor, was called out "at ...

Bishop Fitzpatrick founds a 'free' church for Boston's CatholicsThomas Lester

By the end of 1842, it became apparent to Bishop John Fitzpatrick of Boston that, although four of the diocese's 25 Catholic churches existed in the city proper, they were still not enough to serve ...

The Sisters of St. Joseph come to Boston in 1873 Thomas Lester

Over the course of the coming year, the Sisters of St. Joseph will be observing the 150th anniversary of their arrival in the Archdiocese of Boston, culminating in a celebration next October. Boston ...

The jubilee of 1852Thomas Lester

Dec. 1, 1852, marked the beginning of a month-long jubilee in Boston, the second in two years, granted by Pope Pius IX. As readers may recall, Pius IX's tenure was a turbulent one, coinciding with ...

St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini's 1901 visit to Boston Thomas Lester

Earlier this month, on Oct. 9, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, founder of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (commonly known as the Scalabrini Fathers) and Missionary Sisters of St. Charles, was canonized. ...

The 1842 dedication of St. Mary Church, QuincyThomas Lester

On Sept. 18, 1842, the parish church and cemetery of St. Mary, Quincy, were dedicated by Bishop Benedict Fenwick. The bishop commenced his day at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Franklin Street, celebrating ...

Online archive highlights Boston-area Portuguese community Thomas Lester

We are happy to announce that select parish records from St. Anthony, Lowell, are now free to view online via a collaboration between the parish and the Portuguese American Digital Archive (PADA) hosted ...