Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Florida in April 1513, and the first Mass was offered. Because it was Holy Week he named the land “La Florida.”
Episodes about "south"
The Josephites
The Josephites separated from the Mill Hill priests to serve freed slaves and all other black Catholics in the US. They faced faced terrible racism, segregation
Racial Integration of Catholic North Carolina
Bishop Vincent Waters led the integration of Catholic North Carolina as bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh before the Civil Rights Act passed the U.S. Congress.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini overcame odds her entire life to make a huge difference for Italian immigrants in America, through trust in God’s providence, and her own tenacity
Father James Coyle
Father James Coyle was a beloved pastor and a firm defender of the faith in Birmingham, Alabama. The anti-Catholicism of the KKK led to him dying a martyr.
Charlene Richard
Charlene Richard was an ordinary girl in Louisiana. But the way she died of leukemia, and the miracles that followed, make her the “Little Cajun Saint.”
Father Stephen Badin
Fr. Stephen Badin was the first priest ordained in the United States, he ministered to the Catholics in Kentucky, and is connected to Notre Dame.
St. Rose Priory and the Coming of the Dominicans
St. Rose Priory in Kentucky is the original home of the Dominicans in America. Dominic Edward Fenwick brought the Order of Preachers to the US and established them on the Kentucky frontier.
Carnival and Mardi Gras in the United States
Mardi Gras and Carnival have been celebrated around the world before they came to the New World. Mobile celebrated it before New Orleans took over.