Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
...mainly a story of the Church in Washington D.C., Philadelphia would have a number of important connections to the building of the shrine, including Reverend Bernard McKenna, who acted as Shahan’s secretary from 1915-1929 and then as the first director of the shrine from 1929-1933.[6] McKenna was born in Philadelphia
World War One Army Chaplains
...Catholic priests in the armed forces; however, by the end of the war that number grew to over 1,000.[2] Of those, 38 chaplains came from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.[3] One chaplain’s life of remarkable note was that of Father Joseph L. N. Wolfe. Born December 26, 1881, Wolfe attended Roman
Catholics in WWII
...which Philadelphia had the second most with 51. As the war continued that number would increase to 68, unfortunately eight of those Philadelphia priests would die in the war, the most of any U.S. diocese.[7] Meyer Photo: Margherita Camp Chapel From his priests, Dougherty would often receive monthly progress reports
Thomas Nast Anti-Irish Cartoons
Among the recently digitized images added to our online collection are a number of drawings by cartoonist Thomas Nast. In 1846 at the age of six, Nast immigrated with his mother to the United States and by age 15 he had begun drawing for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News.[1] He joined