Philadelphia’s First Catholic Cathedral

...cemetery for Old St. Joseph’s, Old St. Mary’s was referred to as “Mission Number 1” as St. Joseph’s was seen as the principal place of worship. The church was originally 50 feet by 80 feet and the entrance was through 5th street. Both George Washington and John Adams attended Vespers

Continue reading

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

Continue reading

A Brief History of the Growing Pains of the Church in Philadelphia

...ard and Times, (July 29, 1976); “The Catholic Church in Pennsylvania before 1800,” http://omeka.pahrc.net/admin/items/show/id/7133. [6] Christine Friend, “Philadelphia’s First Bishop,” CHRC (February 22, 2010), http://www.chrc-phila.org/philadelphias-first-bishop/. [7] Martin I. J. Griffin, “Life of Bishop Conwell,” Records of the American Catholic History Society of Philadelphia, vol. 25, no. 2 (June, 1914), 160.

Continue reading

Parish Histories and Calendars

...Pennsylvania. Inquiries on parishes outside of Pennsylvania can be made by phone or e-mail. Some material for parishes outside of Pennsylvania may be found in the Pamphlet Collection. Parish Calendar Collection This collection contains Monthly Parish Calendars for over three hundred parishes. The date range for most is from about

Continue reading