Father Theobald Mathew, OFM Cap., traveled to the United States in the hopes of spreading his Total Abstinence Society and raising funds for continuing his work in Ireland. He attracted enormous crowds and even met the president. However, he also found himself caught up in the maelstrom that was slavery. Links: Wikipedia page of Father […]
Father Theobald Mathew, OFM Cap., the Apostle of Temperance, greatly struggled against the evils of alcoholism as part of his Total Abstinence Society. Millions, inspired by his message, took the Pledge to give up drinking. However, conflicts with bishops, problems with Irish nationalism, and the Great Famine threatened to undo it all. Links: Wikipedia page […]
Children in Catholic schools in the 1940s, 50s and 60s spent much time raising money to “ransom pagan babies”. But the work of the HCA, the Holy Child Association, was about more than baptism – it was about children helping children. Links: Holy Childhood Association – Official website of the HCA in the US HCA […]
On 7 September 1921, Frank Duff established the Legion of Mary in Dublin, Ireland as an association of catholic laity united in common devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the largest apostolic organization of Catholic laity in the world with more than three million active members worldwide. Duff hoped that the Legion of […]
In his life of St. Columba of Iona, St. Adomnan recounts how on the 22 August 565, “a certain water beast was driven away by the power of the blessed man’s [St. Columba] prayer”. According to St. Adomnan, St. Columba encountered the burial of a man who had been attacked and killed by a savage […]
On 1 August 1800, the Parliament of Ireland approved the Act of Union which, in conjunction with the earlier approval of union by the Parliament of Great Britain on 2 July 1800, united Ireland with Great Britain and established the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. While Ireland and Great Britain […]
The most recent episode of Stuff You Missed In History Class discusses the history of The Book of Kells – a 9th century illuminated manuscript of the Gospels considered one of the treasures of Ireland.
