News - July 2026 RSS Feed

On July 1, we celebrated the memorial of Saint Junipero Serra, whom Matthew Bunson lists as one of five heroes of American Catholicism. One of the objectives for the visit of Pope Francis to the United States in 2015 was the canonization of Junipero Serra.

Last week we looked at the life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton who was the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. This we're looking at his cousin John Carroll who would become the first Archbishop of Baltimore.

As we celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of adoption and signing of the Declaration of Independence, I thought that I would devote several columns to individual Catholics who have had a profound impact in our nation’s history. Today I want to look at Charles Carroll of Carrolton (1737-1832), the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence and the only Catholic to do so.