History Commons^™

"Brothers In Christ?" The Dynamics Of Slavery And Catholicism In Brazil, Jaime Toiaivao Alley

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In 1946, Frank Tannenbaum provoked the ire of American historians by claiming that slavery in Brazil was more humane than in the United States. Observing the laws, religious pronouncements, and social trends related to Brazilian slavery, he concluded in his book Slave and Citizen that the presence of the Catholic Church in Brazil mitigated the normally brutal nature of slavery. This religious climate, he asserted, accounted in large part for the difference in slaves' experiences in Brazil and in the United States. In reality, however, the position of the Catholic Church towards slavery was neither simple nor one-dimensional and does …

Introduction:Towards An Economic Anthropology Of Catholicism, In The Age Of Pope Francis, Samuel Weeks, George Bayuga

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to Towards an Economic Anthropology of Catholicism, in the Age of Pope Francis.

Roan, Alex, Paige Ravenscraft

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Alex Roan is a 42 year old trans masc individual who uses he/him pronouns. He was originally from Stoughton, Massachusetts where he grew up with his family before moving to Central Maine for college and living in the Portland area through adulthood. Alex shares his experience with growing up in a Catholic family and finding himself as a trans person in college. He details what it was like to come out to his family, who was in denial at first but later in life became his biggest supporters.

Alex Roan is the founder of MaineTransNet. This interview captures the story …

Cadwallader, Megan, Gretchen Thiele

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Meghan Cadwallader was born in 1976 in a small, rural town in Upstate New York. She grew up with a stable family and surrounded by the Catholic religion. Cadwallader realized she was lesbian around her junior year of high school. However, her sexuality was never a huge deal, more just another part of her. She went to college at Holland’s University, and all-girls school, in which she initially came out to people resulting in mixed responses. Meghan then went to Bucknell University In Pennsylvania. She received a degree in French and English with a concentration in creative writing. She talks …

Review Of Black Saints In Early Modern Catholicism, Thomas M. Landy

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Cajun Traiteurs, Shelby Kathleen Robert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Traiteurs are traditional folk medicine healers who are a part of the culture of the Cajuns of Louisiana. These people are believed to possess special healing powers given to them by God. They are a significant part of the lifestyle and traditional culture of the Cajuns. The Cajuns are the descendants of the Acadians, a group of French colonists who were forcibly removed from Nova Scotia and dispersed all over North America by the British in 1755. Though the Acadians were able to partially reassemble themselves in Louisiana, they still faced great adversity within the state. This project examines the …

The Borgia Reexamined: A New Look At The Borgia Family And The Influence Of Adoptions Within The Family, Nicholas Ryan Mason

Masters Theses

The Borgia’s were a powerful family that garnered a great deal of their influence through the Catholic Church during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The height of the Borgia was between 1492 and 1503, when Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope Alexander VI. Throughout history they have been known for the rumors of murder, incest, greed, and corruption that have surrounded the family ever since they first came to power. An examination of the family may not only lead to a different perspective of the family but may also lead to a deeper understanding of how one's enemies may …

Idiosyncrasy Of The State And God: An Analysis On Religiosity And Ideology In Latin America, James D. Fiorenza

Culture, Society, and Praxis

In this research paper, I will be analyzing the relationship between the religiosity of Latin America in terms of popular religion and religiosity of its followers, and how it has impacted and continues to impact the political systems of Latin America in terms of ideology. I will be conducting this research by conducting three case studies following the development of my hypothesis, my research of my case nations and the collecting of all needed data. After this, I will compare all my data and establish a well-developed conclusion which accurately conveys and demonstrates this data. My research will focus on …

A Friend Who Does Me No Good: Aphorism In Matteo Ricci’S On Friendship, Maximilian Chan Weiher

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

This paper argues that Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) designed his aphoristic compilation, Jiaoyou Lun 交友論–On Friendship (1595)–to serve the Jesuit mission of converting the Chinese to Catholicism and express the conflict he may have felt exploiting friends to forward the Jesuit mission. Utilizing friendships to allow for greater social influence was central to the Jesuit proselytization strategy in China. However, Ricci’s moral education from youth taught him to judge utilitarian friendships as immoral. The extant scholarship regarding Ricci’s On Friendship fails to acknowledge the significance of the aphoristic form to this work. To illuminate the value of aphorism …

“An Impediment To Those Who Would Walk The Difficult Way”: How St. Francis Of Assisi’S Revolution In Catholic Thought Was Built On The Perceived Inferiority Of Femininity, Julian F. Balsley

Young Historians Conference

St. Francis of Assisi is undoubtedly one of the most famous saints in the Catholic Church. Known for his complete poverty and deep love for the poor and animals, the Little Poor Man of Assisi has become renowned for his way of life and the fraternity he started that has continued for over eight hundred years. In an organization rife with cardinal sin, Francis was in stark contrast with his asceticism and rankless order. However, St. Francis’ entire ideology is built on the Catholic belief that women are inherently inferior to men and dangerous to those following God. Francis used …

Bishops In The Catholic Peace Tradition, Ronald G. Musto

The Journal of Social Encounters

This brief survey takes a historical perspective on the role of Catholic bishops in global peacemaking. Building on my previous work 1 and more recent research, it focuses on the roles of bishop as teacher, ruler, and minister of the sacraments and on the interplay between prophetic protest and institutional authority. It covers the origins of the bishop’s office, the development o f prophetic protest and rule in episcopal peacemaking in the early church and Middle Ages, including the Peace and Truce of God. It then turns to early modern peacemaking and the influence of humanist thinkers on Latin American …

The Nazis, The Vatican, And The Jews Of Rome, Patrick J. Gallo

Purdue University Press Books

On October 16, 1943, the Jews of Rome were targeted for arrest and deportation. The Nazis, the Vatican, and the Jews of Rome examines why—and more importantly how—it could have been avoided, featuring new evidence and insight into the Vatican’s involvement. At the time, Rome was within reach of the Allies, but the overwhelming force of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo, and SS in Rome precluded direct confrontation. Moral condemnations would not have worked, nor would direct confrontation by the Italians, Jewish leadership, or even the Vatican.

Gallo underscores the necessity of determining what courses of actions most likely would have spared …

Review: Mary Kenny, The Way We Were: Catholic Ireland Since 1922, Eamon Maher

Articles

Book review: Mary Kenny, The Way We Were: Catholic Ireland Since 1922 (Dublin: Columba Books, 2022), 450 pages.

Carlton J. H. Hayes: Historian, Professor, And America's Forgotten Ambassador, Adam Prescott Manuel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes was born in Afton, New York, in 1882. His father was the town physician, and his mother was a music teacher. From his parents, he gained a love and appreciation for learning. Upon entering Columbia University at eighteen, young Carlton J.H. Hayes quickly found a niche in history. He was mentored for success by such historical titans as William R. Shepherd, Charles A. Beard, and James Harvey Robinson. Hayes quickly became a strong supporter of the New History School, and his A Political and Social History of Modern Europe is a prime example of that ideology. …

Marine, Benn, Andrea Carpenter

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Benn is a 37-year-old trans man living in Maine. He identifies as being pansexual because he feels that he falls in love with personalities regardless of the person’s gender. He grew up with his family in rural southern Maine. He describes feeling that he was different than others from a young age and that, as he describes it, God made a mistake and he was supposed to be a boy. Yet he pushed those feeling under the rug for a long time. He first came out as gay, and much later he came out as trans in his mid-20s, and …

The Cross And The Coat Hanger: Catholics For A Free Choice And The Rise Of A Religious Movement, Claire Elizabeth Brady

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Despite the hardline anti-abortion position of the Catholic Church, the majority of American Catholics have shown support for abortion and other reproductive freedoms since the 1970s. The organization Catholics for a Free Choice, now known as Catholics for Choice, is a prime example of such support in the face of Church opposition. I posit that the prominence, position, and impact of Catholics for a Free Choice in the 1970s and 1980s displays the existence of a distinctly Catholic pro-choice movement. This movement is set apart by its direct confrontation of Church hierarchy and its primary existence within the Catholic sphere; …

Friends, Foes, Or Fellow-Travelers: Italian Fascism And The Catholic Church, Cale Gressman

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

What was the relationship between Italian Fascism and the Catholic Church? Drawing on both primary sources including speeches, encyclical letters, and newspaper articles and significant amounts of secondary sources, this paper argues that the relationship between the two factions was one of “cohabitation” with both sides cooperating in areas of mutual interest, such as solving the Roman Question, anti-Bolshevism, and the maintenance of traditional family and gender values. Overall, the Catholic Church can be described as “fellow-travelers” with Italian Fascism.

Birth Control And The Sixties: The Dialogue Surrounding The First Oral Contraceptive, Eden E. Baize

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Nelson, Linda, Morgan Lindenschmidt

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Linda explored many topics in this interview, primarily focusing on her political activism rooted in radical lesbian seperatist feminist ideology. She grew up playing sports in Connecticut. She has been involved in a myriad of political movements, ranging from founding a Gay-Straight Alliance at her college in the 70s to being involved in the Anti-War Movement. She has extensive experience also in anti-racist and climate-related activism. She describes herself as a working-class butch woman with an interest in intersectional community organizing.

She also discusses studying in Maine before living in New York City for 16 years, where she worked at …

As War Rages, Some Ukrainians Look To Mary For Protection – Continuing A Long Christian Tradition, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

Ukrainian clergy demonstrating against the war in their country have appeared in media coverage carefully holding an image of the Virgin Mary, her outstretched hands lifting up the edges of a cloak. These pictures depict a particular religious icon known as the “Pokrova” in which Mary’s veil – a “pokrova,” or “cover,” in Ukrainian – is a sign of protection.

“Baby Donato” In Abruzzo (Italy): From A Mother’S Veneration To Popular Devotion, Lia Giancristofaro

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

The article considers a cult that developed and still thrives in a small Abruzzo town in the years between the two world wars. During these decades, the mummified body of a baby became the object of worship and devotional practices. The epileptic Baby Donato died and after few months his body was given to the Sanctuary of St Donatus in Celenza sul Trigno. St Donatus is the saint who protects epileptics and in Italian Catholicism is therefore the master of disease. The name Donato means ‘given’ and the ailment (epilepsy) is given by the saint to his subjects in exchange …

Brigid Of Kildare: The Saint Who Got A Facelift, Aimee Hunt

Student Research

On the outskirts of Papal authority, early medieval Ireland created its own Christian identity separate from other European nations closer to Rome. Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland, played important yet problematic roles in that identity. After her death, the church began to alter her history. Being a female bishop, performing the first recorded abortion, and having both men and women within her monastery, Brigid had trodden on the male-dominated system in a way that few women had. Deemed unacceptable but having already been sainted, the Catholic church gave Brigid a holy facelift.

Manila’S Black Nazarene And The Reign Of Bathala, Antonio D. Sison

Journal of Global Catholicism

A consideration of how the dynamics surrounding Manila's Black Nazarene express crucial themes in the Filipino psyche. The article specifically addresses the importance of "felt-experience" (pagdama) in devotion to the Black Nazarene as well as its connections to indigenous Filipino religion.

Fraternity, Martyrdom And Peace In Burundi: The Forty Servants Of God Of Buta, Jodi Mikalachki

Journal of Global Catholicism

During Burundi's 1993-2005 civil war, students at Buta Minor Seminary were ordered at gunpoint to separate by ethnicity—Hutus over here, Tutsis over there! They chose instead to join hands and affirm their common identity as children of God. The forty students killed were quickly proclaimed martyrs of fraternity. Their costly solidarity defused the cry for reprisals and continues to inspire Burundians and others on the path of reconciliation. Drawing on fifty interviews with survivors, parents of martyrs, neighbors, religious leaders and other Burundian intellectuals, this essay examines how Burundian Catholics understand the significance of the Buta martyrdom to their …

Editor's Introduction, Mathew N. Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Gendered Language In The Catalogues Of Saint Mary’S Academy, 1860-1871, Kylie Hamm

Masters Theses

This research builds upon studies that explore Catholic women’s and girls’ educational institutions in the nineteenth century. This case study focuses on one girls’ academy, Saint Mary’s Academy, precursor to Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, founded by the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1844. The research provided here analyzes the gendered language utilized by school leaders in the academy’s public catalogues during the decade of the Civil War, from 1860 through 1871. The language in these catalogues subtly changed over the course of the decade, reflecting changing white, middle-class gender norms surrounding women’s work and education. Leaders of …

Strong Church, Weak Catholicism: Transformations In Brazilian Catholicism, Carlos Alberto Steil, Rodrigo Toniol

Journal of Global Catholicism

In this paper we explore data on Catholicism from the 2010 census in Brazil, as well as other data from the Center for Religious Statistics and Social Investigation. Using these statistics, we question those arguments that explain the reduction in the number of Catholics in Brazilian society as a problem in the institution’s adaptation in response to the challenges of evangelization, or as a lack of ministerial vocations to meet the religious demands of the people. Pursuing an alternative argument, we consider the weakening of the relationship between the Catholic institution and traditional popular Catholicism to be a fundamental aspect …

What It Was & What I Know: Attempts At Family History, Katherine Reardon

Honors College

Family stories and family histories are contingent on how they are remembered. As these stories are passed down, the ways that they are remembered can change, with the truthful aspects of these stories disappearing over time. As a result, many family stories are not necessarily truthful, but this does not discount their value. The aim of this project is to explore these ideas while also answering the following question: to what extent are family stories bound by the ‘truth’? In order to answer this question, I have explored my own family stories that I know may not be true and …

A Comparative Analysis Of Bohemian And Irish Immigration During The Antebellum Period, Emily Suchan

Honors Projects

Compare and Contrast the immigration experience of an Irish and Bohemian (Czech) immigrant. This essay describes the history of both regions and analyzes the political and economic stressors for immigration during the second half of the nineteenth century. This essay specifically follows the Irish Famine immigrants and the Czechs who settled in Cleveland, OH

Revising Mary Queen Of Scots: From Protestant Persecution To Patriarchal Struggle, Jennifer M. Desilva, Emily K. Mcguire

Journal of Religion & Film

Since Mary Queen of Scots’ execution in 1587, she has become a symbol of Scottish identity, failed female leadership, and Catholic martyrdom. Throughout the twentieth century, Mary was regularly depicted on screen (Ford, 1936; Froelich, 1940; Jarrott, 1971) as a thrice-wed Catholic queen, unable to rule her country due to her feminine nature and Catholic roots. However, with the rise of third wave feminism and postfeminism in media, coupled with the increased influence of female directors and writers, Mary’s characterization has shifted from portraying female/emotional weakness and religious sacrifice to female/collaborative strength in hardship and a struggle against patriarchal prejudice. …