The Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844 were sparked by tensions between Catholics and Protestants over religious indoctrination in public schools.
Episodes about "religious liberty"
President Arthur Saves the North American College
The new Italian government was about to confiscate the North American College in Rome, until President Chester Arthur intervened to save it.
Pope Night
The anti-Catholic Pope Night was the pre-Revolutionary War import of the British Guy Fawkes revelries on November 5, until George Washington stopped it.
Lt. Col. John Fitzgerald
John Fitzgerald was an aide-de-camp to George Washington who helped him avoid a coup and helped build Virginia’s first Catholic church.
Fr. John Bapst, SJ, and the “Know Nothings”
Before he was the first president of Boston College, Fr. John Bapst, SJ served as a pastor in Maine, where anti-Catholic Know Nothings beat him.
Eusebio Kino
Fr. Eusebio Kino, S.J., was a 17th century Jesuit who ministered tirelessly to the native people of Arizona and Sonoran Mexico, fought for their dignity, and introduced cattle ranching.
Kentucky Catholics and Bourbon
Catholic families from Maryland moved to the Kentucky frontier where they established the Church and helped make Bourbon a thing.
Fr. Pierre Gibault and Francis Vigo
Fr. Pierre Gibault and Francis Vigo were instrumental in helping George Rogers Clark defeat the British in the western theatre of the Revolutionary War.
The Martyrs of La Florida
Over the span of about 200 years, up to 1,000 Catholic missionaries and natives, were martyred in what is now the US Southeast.