<em>The</em> Catholic Herald and Visitor <em>and the</em> Catholic

Abstract

Roman Catholic newspapers are important but overlooked sources providing an intimate window into Catholic thought in Civil War–era Pennsylvania. A sizeable portion of Philadelphia's and Pittsburgh's Civil War–era populations were Roman Catholic, mostly recent Irish and German immigrants. Indeed, an estimated 225,000 Philadelphians were Catholic; the diocese included 160 churches, 158 priests, and three colleges by 1861. In Pittsburgh, there were an estimated 50,000 Catholics, 86 priests, 77 churches, and one college. Throughout the conflict, Philadelphia's Catholics found a voice in the Catholic Herald and Visitor. Catholics in western Pennsylvania published their own weekly in Pittsburgh named the Catholic. For most of the war, the Herald was the official organ of Bishop James Wood of Philadelphia, while the Catholic was published with the approbation of Pittsburgh's Bishop Michael Domenec. These weeklies were the only locally edited English-language Catholic papers in the state, a fact that gave them an important role in shaping Catholic opinion in Pennsylvania during the Civil War.