Category Archives: American Catholic History

Tom and Noelle Crowe finds the hidden gems and compelling stories of Catholic Americans who have contributed to their nation by virtue of their faith over the past three centuries.

Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli

A young Italian Dominican friar named Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli came to the American Midwest in the early 19th century. Tom and Noëlle Crowe ... Read more

The Martyrs of La Florida

Over the span of about 200 years, up to 1,000 Catholic missionaries and natives, including men, women, and children, were martyred in what is ... Read more

Rose Hawthorne

Rose Hawthorne was born into 19th century American literary royalty, but as Tom and Noelle Crowe reveal, she suffered the deaths of family, ... Read more

Archbishop Charles John Seghers, Apostle to Alaska

In the late 19th century, Charles Seghers was bishop of Vancouver, then archbishop of Oregon City, but his heart was in the missions of Alaska. ... Read more

Loretto Staircase

An amazing spiral staircase stands in a chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the result of prayers of the nuns who needed it. Tom and Noelle Crowe ... Read more

Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player of all time, but he was no saint in his personal life. Yet, as Tom and Noelle Crowe reveal, his ... Read more

John Barry

Commodore John Barry is known as the Father of the US Navy, its first commissioned officer, and first flag officer. Tom and Noelle Crowe trace ... Read more

James Longstreet

James Longstreet was a Civil War Confederate general rejected by his former compatriots after the war who eventually became Catholic. Tom and ... Read more

Henriette DeLille

Henriette DeLille was a woman of mixed race in antebellum New Orleans who rejected the social pressure to become a concubine. Tom and Noelle ... Read more

Stagecoach Mary

Mary Fields was a gun-toting, hard-drinking, street-brawling black woman on the old frontier. Tom and Noelle Crowe also reveal that she was a ... Read more

Mount Saint Macrina

Every year, thousands of Eastern-rite Catholics gather in a small Western Pennsylvania town on pilgrimage to Mount Saint Macrina. Tom and ... Read more

Prince Gallitzin

Demetrius Gallitzin was born a Russian Orthodox prince and died an American Catholic priest, the second to be ordained in the United States. ... Read more

A Special Message from StarQuest’s Dom Bettinelli

Dom Bettinelli has an urgent message to all listeners of StarQuest shows. We need your help right now. Please listen to this brief recording ... Read more

Margaret Brent, Savior of Maryland

Margaret Brent may have singlehandedly saved the Catholic colony of Maryland in the 17th century. Noelle and Tom Crowe look at this remarkable ... Read more

Fr. Patrick Peyton

You may know Fr. Patrick Peyton as the priest who coined the phrase, "The family that prays together, stays together." Noelle and Tom Crowe ... Read more

Knute Rockne

Knute Rockne is one of the greatest college football coaches in history, who revolutionized the modern game and made a name for Notre Dame ... Read more

Patrick Manogue

From Irish immigrant to gold miner to seminarian in Paris to first bishop of Sacramento, Patrick Manogue was a giant of a man and a priest of ... Read more

Danny Thomas and St. Jude

Danny Thomas was a Maronite Catholic entertainer. Tom and Noelle discuss how he turned an answered prayer through the intercession of St. Jude ... Read more

The Cathedral of the Plains

In the middle of the Kansas prairie soars St. Fidelis church, known as "The Cathedral of the Plains." Tom and Noelle Crowe tell us of this ... Read more

Benjamin Franklin and Bishop John Carroll

Despite being a Deist and decidedly not Catholic, Ben Franklin played a pivotal role in the selection of Bishop John Carroll as the first ... Read more