A new history book about Lowell by Richard P. Howe Jr and Chaim Rosenberg to be published on March 11, 2013. To order a copy and to learn about local readings and book signings, check out our Legendary Locals of Lowell page.
Superstitious Bruins fans were startled to spot the above JC Penney ad on page 11 of today’s Lowell Sun. The ad congratulates the B’s for winning the 2011 Eastern Conference Championship. The problem is that the Bruins haven’t yet won that championship. They could have done so last night, but they lost to Tampa, 5-4, which evened the series at three games and forced a Game 7 in Boston tomorrow night. Hopefully the Bruins will win. We wouldn’t want all those championship hats and t-shirts going to waste.
Early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were both inhospitable and intolerant of those who didn’t share their religious beliefs. These Puritans were particularly hostile to the “devilish” Roman Catholic Frenchmen of Quebec and especially to the Jesuit missionary priests they brought with them. Jesuit conversions of the natives along with the “popish” rituals and practices and the ties to France intensified Puritan fears. To ward-off any spread of Catholicism and its influences, the General Court forbade the entrance of any Jesuit into the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While the Revolution with its needs of France as an ally might have soften some rules, anti-Catholic sentiment – prejudice, discrimination and even violence in Massachusetts continued thoughout the years even as the Catholic population increased through waves of immigration into the 20th Century. Ironically in 1960, a son of Massachusetts became the first Catholic President of the United States.
…in 1647, Massachusetts Bay banned Jesuit priests from the colony on penalty of death. The English Puritans who settled the colony feared the Jesuits for several reasons. First, simply because they were Catholic. To Puritans, Catholicism was nothing less than idolatrous blasphemy, and Catholics were destined for eternal damnation. Second, because the Jesuits were French, and France and England were engaged in a bitter struggle for control of North America. Finally, Jesuit missionaries had converted large numbers of Indians in Canada to Catholicism. Indian converts were potential allies of France and enemies of the English. Although no Jesuit was executed for defying the ban, the legacy of anti-Catholicism in Massachusetts survived for generations.
Read the full article at MassMoments.com here: http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=155
The Wish Project is located in Foundry Industrial park, Plain Street. In its own words “Our goal is to help people stretch their limited finances by providing large expensive items such as furniture at no cost so they can work with their social workers to escape homelessness for good”. Below, Teal Kate interviews Wish Project Founder and Executive Director, Donna Hunnewell. For more information on the Wish Project visit the website.
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