Thursday, January 8, 2026

It is the 8th of January 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

There are two curious parallel tracks in the history of the American colonies and the early Republic. One is of a religious tolerance unseen in the Old World- a desire for a new way of doing the church and the state.

The second is a virulent anti-Catholic bias- it’s a constant in the new World. Protestant biases remained, but also a suspicion of a people whose allegiance wasn’t to “we the people” but to an alleged foreign power in Rome.

Thus, the Catholic experience- and laws to protect Catholics would serve as a litmus test for the new country- would it really hold to principles of religious freedom?

And the lynchpin of it all would be the language of the first amendment to the Bill of Rights- that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” and while these words aren’t directly from the Bishop John Carroll it has been said that he, more than any other figure in colonial history is responsible for them and the development of a Catholic Church in America.

John Carroll was born on the 8th of January in 1735 in Upper Marlborough, Maryland. Maryland, you might remember, was the colony that had offered limited freedom to Catholics. The Carroll family would be synonymous with both the founding generation and the Catholic Church- his brother, Daniel, was a signatory on the Constitution, and his cousin Charles Carroll was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence.

By the time he was 13, his family had sent him abroad to receive a proper Catholic education under the Jesuits in French Flanders. John would take to the Jesuits, enter the novitiate, and was ordained in 1761. He taught philosophy, was a private tutor, and worked for the English crown.

The Early 1770s seemed to portend a life of scholarship and travel. Until the suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773 (a wild story for another time- but Jesuits were driven out of their homes across the globe). And so John went back home to Maryland, where he served, quietly, as a Catholic priest (religious tolerance was present, so long as you didn’t cause too much of a fuss).

When the Revolution broke out in 1776, Carroll put his lot in with the patriots against the crown. He was asked by the Continental Congress to accompany Benjamin Franklin to negotiate with the Canadians. It didn’t succeed, but Father Carroll was seen not as a suspicious catholic but as a fellow freedom fighter.

Carroll would further help the cause of Catholic integration in his arguments for religious freedom. He wrote: “America may come to exhibit a proof to the world, by general and equal toleration, by giving a free circulation to fair argument, is the most effectual method to bring all denominations of Christians to an unity of faith”.

He would also rankle some Catholics in the old world by promoting his friend, Matthew Carey’s, English translation of the Bible. In another modern twist, when Baltimore was made its own diocese, he and others successfully lobbied to have the bishopric decided by a democratic vote. The vote went in favor of Carroll, who would spend his life as bishop and then Archbishop of Baltimore.

Seeing that higher education seemed to be the purview of the new people, John Carroll would purchase an acre of land in a tobacco port off the Potomac that could be used for an institution for Catholic higher education. This plot, named for the King “George Town,” would give its name to the famous college in the modern-day District of Columbia. His relationship with Elizabeth Ann Seton encouraged her to begin the American Sisters of Charity, and he encouraged the Dominicans to settle in Kentucky.  

John Carroll’s legacy would ultimately be of a Catholic exploring the compatibility of the new American political culture and his faith. His success in navigating post-Reformation biases in the new World helped smooth the way for further Catholic integration into the broader American landscape. Is he the most important Catholic in American History? Maybe- he was Bishop John Carroll, who died in 1815, born on this day in 1735; he was 80 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Acts 9:

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of January 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who still wonders what a “Hoya” is… he is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man reminding you that God did not change Saul’s name to Paul… it just changed… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.