In 1824 in Washington, D.C., Ann Mattingly, widowed sister of the city's mayor, was miraculously cured of a ravaging cancer. Just days, or perhaps even hours, from her predicted demise, she arose from her sickbed free from agonizing pain and able to enjoy an additional thirty-one years of life. The Mattingly miracle purportedly came through the intervention of a charismatic German cleric, Prince Alexander Hohenlohe, who was credited already with hundreds of cures across Europe and Great Britain. Though nearly forgotten today, Mattingly's astonishing healing became a polarizing event. It heralded a rising tide of anti-Catholicism in the United States that would culminate in violence over the next two decades. Nancy L. Schultz deftly weaves analysis of this episode in American social and religious history together with the astonishing personal stories of both Ann Mattingly and the healer Prince Hohenlohe, around whom a cult was arising in Europe. Schultz's riveting book brings to light an early episode in the ongoing battle between faith and reason in the United States.

What do Buffalo Bill, John F. Kennedy, Ponce de Leon, Dorothy Day, Andy Warhol, and Al Capone have in common? They're all Catholics who have shaped America. In this page-a-day history, 365 entries offer inspiring stories celebrating the Catholic American experience. From famous figures to ordinary people, The American Catholic Almanac tells the facinating, funny, uplifting, and unlikely tales of Catholics' influence on American culture and politics. Spanning the scope of the Revolutionary War to Tom and Jerry cartoons to Notre Dame football, this unique devotional will appeal to anyone curious about how the Catholic faith has intersected with public life over the last three hundred years in America.

Our Fox ancestry was covered in my earlier book, Growing with America: The Fox Family of Philadelphia. Now we turn to Ruth Martins side of the family. She had colonial ancestors in New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia with names such as Alden, Wolcott, Lay, Carbery, Hite, Manning, Blair, Warfield, Dorsey, and Neale. They all converged on our nations capital when it was first being built. Rather than repeat what others have done, this book attempts to bring many of these ancestors to life by examining, in some detail, their timeline and life circumstances. A personal letter, a detail in a will, or even some good DNA detective work can move that curtain hiding a vista of the past. I wanted to try to understand the challenges these people were facing, so different from today but still the same human responses at play. I have not hesitated to speculate as long as this is truly identified as speculation. It became evident that there were a number of overriding themes I wanted to cover: (1) the convergence of many diverse traditions and religions, (2) some personal stories that interested me, including some memoirs never before published, (3) discoveries resulting from genetic testing, (4) the familys interaction with slavery and the Civil War, and (5) recognition of earlier family research, setting the record straight where necessary. With the advent of full genome testing, it became possible to trace relationships in all branches of the familynot just the Fox male line or the all-female line. While quite haphazard in going back this far, this did tend to confirm what the books said about mothers family. Most significantly, however, it led to contacts with a few very knowledgeable people and to some fascinating new speculations. In a way, this is a sequel to the earlier book since more Fox family information has been uncovered both via genetic testing and by personal contact.

Miracles give hope to the hopeless and exemplify the intersection of the divine and the mundane. They have shaped world history and continue to influence us through their presence in films, television, novels, and popular culture. This encyclopedia provides a unique resource on the philosophical, historical, religious, and cross-cultural conceptions of miracles that cut across denominational lines. Multidisciplinary in approach, this informative yet entertaining encyclopedia covers major aspects of miraculous phenomena through more than 150 alphabetically arranged entries that document how humanity's belief in religious miracles over multiple places, periods, and faiths have affected society—even changed the course of history. Written for high school students and general readers, the coverage enables readers to learn about different civilizations and cultures, the controversies surrounding different beliefs, and the often uncomfortable engagement of religion with science. This single-volume book provides a one-stop ready-reference that addresses a broad variety of subject matter on miraculous phenomena and guides further investigations into the subject. Helpful illustrations and lucid explanations of the ancillary concepts associated with miraculous phenomena make learning about this topic more engaging. Readers will be able to link the doctrinal concepts, such as "grace" or "prayer," with the descriptions of miraculous events, especially those associated with saints or holy objects. The examination of the controversial aspects of different belief systems along with the book's balanced coverage of the interpretation of miracles will encourage students to weigh different explanations, thus fostering the development of their critical thinking skills.

While our current culture places a divide between religion and medicine, in some cultures, the healer and the religious leader were the same. The phrase "physician of souls" is a connective term that links those who primarily tend the physical bodies of the suffering to those who primarily tend the emotions or the psyche or the soul. Through teamwork between various types of caregivers, the interconnection of body-mind-soul becomes more apparent. Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner aims to retrieve, expand, and apply the term for religious leaders and theologians in their response to pain, illness, moral injury, soul-wounding, and crisis. Stevenson-Moessner develops a credo based on John Chrysostom's approach to healing, emphasizing the interconnection of body-mind-soul-culture, resistance to exploitation and degradation, and the importance of community in the healing process. The author advocates for a more prominent role for religious professionals such as chaplains in the healing process, emphasizing their unique ability to represent the faith tradition of the patient and, in the Christian tradition, act as an emissary of Christ the Healer. Finally, the book discusses healing using every means of cure, including both medical and religious rituals, as well as alternative and holistic approaches. The book seeks to revive the concept of "physician of souls" and apply it in modern times to promote healing and well-being on an individual, communal, and societal level. Physician of Souls also includes color pictures to demonstrate aspects of the case studies and concepts, enhancing learning for students, chaplains, and pastoral theologians. By emphasizing the importance of a holistic approach to healing, Physician of Souls aims to bridge the gap between the medical and religious professions and promote a more integrated approach to healthcare.

Chronicling the sometimes outlandish, often tragic history of the environs of the White House, this book covers two centuries of assassinations, slave escapes, deadly duels, sex scandals, battles, brawls and spy intrigues that took place in the presidential neighborhood, Lafayette Square. The author recounts the triumphs and catastrophes of heroes and villains both famous and unsung, placing them in the context of contemporary world events of the day.