Papist Patriots: The Making of an American Catholic Identity
"Farrelly offers a highly readable synthesis of early American Catholicism's origins with important nuances that elucidate the contours of Catholic identity formation that made it American." --Journal of Southern History"A thoughtful and often surprising assessment of Catholicism and its fate in colonial Maryland, and how Catholic Marylanders became patriots in a deeply Protestant nation."--John T. McGreevy, author ofCatholicism and American Freedom: A History"Farrelly's book is a tour de force in developing a new argument about the foundations of an American Catholic identity... [H]er lively style of writing... will make her text available to a wide reading audience." --Church History"Maura Farrelly has a fresh and challenging perspective on the Americanization of Roman Catholicism, one that tracks its origins to early Maryland.Papist Patriotsbears close reading by all students of American history and religion." -- Christine Leigh Heyrman, author ofSouthern Cross: TheBeginnings of the Bible Belt"Distinguished by impressive research and a well-written, lively narrative, Farrelly's study will change the way historians think about Catholics in colonial America. The author argues that the foundation for the making of an American Catholic identity rests in Maryland's 1649 Act of Religious Toleration. Over time, Maryland's Catholics became more American than English so that by the 1770s these Papists had become ardent Patriots. By endorsing the republicanism and individualism of the independence movement they created an American Catholic identity that has endured into the twenty-first century." -- Jay P. Dolan, author ofIn Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension"Every so often a book comes along that presents a dramatically different interpretation of known historical facts in a way that is,well, convincing.This is one of those books...[this is] a book that will become a standard reference work on the history and historiography of American Catholicism." --The Catholic Historical Review"A fresh look at Catholics in America...Well written, highly readable, and well researched."--CHOICE"A lively account of the Catholic community in Maryland...The strength of the book lies in the author's ability to synthesize a vast array sources to recreate the political conditions that influenced the development of the Catholic community in Maryland...The author's original contribution lies in her thesis that Catholics began to view themselves as Marylandians instead of English in the period following the Glorious Revolution and in her potrayal of religious conditions in the community...A spirited debate will no doubt ensue."--American Catholic Studies"Farrelly writes exceptionally well...Her readable style will make the book an apt choice for history courses. More generally, this now stands as one of the best books we have on colonial Maryland, and on early Anglo-American Catholicism."--American Historical Review"Offers a perspective on Catholicism and patriotism that will be of interest to historians of religion in early America and historians of the Revolution alike."--Journal of American History