By Mitch Finley | OSV News
(CNS photo/ courtesy Ave Maria Press)
The Catholic Church in the United States is nothing if not loaded with history. New books provide marvelous and weighty resources for any who would travel in pursuit of historical insights into Catholic history.
These books provide a wealth of information for even the most amateur of armchair travelers.
Historian Kevin Schmiesing’s “A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History” is designed to give the reader many insights into Catholic individuals and events that have had a profound impact on American history.
Schmiesing, who lectures on Church history at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology in Cincinnati, writes with a lively, informative and entertaining style. Time after time, Schmiesing grabs the reader’s attention with stories and anecdotes.
One example: how Ursuline nuns held a prayer vigil for an American victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 and how, later, former Gen. Andrew Jackson became president and returned to New Orleans to thank the nuns for their prayers.
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| (CNS photo/ courtesy Ignatius Press) |
Shannon, a professor of history at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., presents the story of the Church in the United States from the colonial period through the 20th century.
Readers may be surprised to read that “the Catholic life that eventually developed in the New World has its roots in the events of 1531, with the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the indigenous Catholic convert Juan Diego.”
Shannon divides his book into three major parts titled “Seeds,” “Fruits” and “Seasons,” with a conclusion titled “Easter.”
The first section covers American Catholicism’s origins in Spain, France and England. The second part discusses the growth of institutional Catholicism in the U.S. Finally, the third section reports on significant Catholic events and persons during the modern era.
Using St. Augustine’s “City of God” as a model, “American Pilgrimage” explains: “Augustine, a Roman through and through, wrote to remind (Romans fearful for the future of the Church) that while empires rise and fall, the Church endures. Catholics fearing for the future of the Church in our own troubled time should find in Augustine’s vision a reason for hope.”
Shannon’s book provides both information and inspiration; any Catholic wanting to become informed about the history of the Church in the United States would do well to read this volume.
— “A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History: People and Places that Shaped the Church in the United States” by Kevin Schmiesing. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Indiana, 2022). 288 pp., $19.95.
— “American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World” by Christopher Shannon. Augustine Institute/Ignatius Press (Greenwood Village, Colorado/San Francisco, 2022). 580 pp., $34.95.
