As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, American Catholics are able as well to reflect on an important truth: We live and pray and work as heirs — sons and daughters — inheritors of faith, successors to holy and extraordinary men and women who made timeless contributions to the life of the Church and of America. Here are five such great exemplars in American Catholic history: Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Archbishop John Carroll, St. Junípero Serra, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and Venerable and soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.
Charles and Archbishop John Carroll
In the British colonies in America, there was no more influential, wealthy and aristocratic Catholic family than the Carrolls. Established in Maryland by the Irish immigrant Charles Carroll in 1688, the Carrolls overcame every kind of prejudice to build an immense set of businesses and properties. The Carrolls overcame anti-Catholic persecution to produce not just the most prominent Catholic leaders in the colonies but some of the key figures in the founding of the American Republic. One worthy of our time was Charles Carroll of Carrollton.
Charles Carroll was born in 1737 and spent years of his youth
