Davis, Thurston Noble (12 October 1913–17 September 1986), Jesuit priest and editor of America, Jesuit priest and editor of America, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Noble T. Davis, a sales representative for the Saturday Evening Post, and Rose Mary Carey. As a child Davis moved from Kentucky to Georgia to Ohio as a result of his father’s occupation, finally settling in Bloomfield, New Jersey. At the age of fourteen Davis commuted from Bloomfield to the Jesuit military high school, Xavier, in lower Manhattan. After high school (1931) he entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), receiving a B.A. in philosophy from Georgetown University in 1937 and theological education at the Jesuits’ Woodstock College in Maryland between 1937 and 1942. He was ordained for the priesthood in 1942 and after two years of work in Jesuit educational institutions was sent to Harvard University where, studying under the classicist ...
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Duffy, Francis Patrick (02 May 1871–26 June 1932), Catholic military chaplain, editor, and teacher, was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, the son of Irish immigrants Patrick Duffy and Mary Ready. The third of six children who lived to maturity, Duffy received his early Catholic education from the Sisters of St. Joseph but had to leave school at the age of thirteen to work in a mill. At fourteen, however, he was thought to be too frail to work, so he returned to school. Duffy earned a teacher’s certificate from the Cobourg Collegiate Institute in 1888. Feeling a call to the priesthood, he attended St. Michael’s College in Toronto, studying with the Basilian Fathers and graduating with a baccalaureate degree in 1893. In 1894 he accepted a position at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City, where he earned a master’s degree and applied for formal entry into the seminary. Archbishop ...
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Hudson, Daniel Eldred (18 December 1849–12 January 1934), Roman Catholic priest and magazine editor, was born at Nahant, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Henry Hudson, a fisherman, and Mary Hawkes, a domestic servant. The third of ten children, Hudson received his early education in public school. At fourteen he went to work at the Burnham Antique Boke Shop in Boston, a bookstore that stocked more than 500,000 books and pamphlets. The following year he found employment at the Boston publishing house of Lee and Shepherd, where he came into contact with several leading New England literary figures; ...
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Varela y Morales, Félix Francisco (20 November 1788–18 February 1853), educator, writer, and pastor, was born in Havana, Cuba, the son of Francisco Varela y Pérez, a military officer, and María Josefa Morales. An orphan by age six, Varela was sent to live with his paternal grandfather, Don Bartolomé, military commander of a Cuban regiment stationed at St. Augustine in the Spanish colony of East Florida. Varela’s announcement at age fourteen that he wanted to be a priest was a disappointment to his military-oriented family, but he was sent to Havana, where he attended classes at San Carlos Seminary and the University of Havana. Varela earned his baccalaureate in 1806 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1811. He was assigned to teach philosophy at San Carlos....
