by Joannie Watson | July 4, 2025 1:00 am
Today, Americans should give thanks to God that we live in this beautiful country, enjoying the freedoms that we do.
Today is the feast of Pier Giorgio Frassati, often overlooked in the United States in favor of our nation’s birthday. I often feel a little sorry for him, being overshadowed at Mass by a secular holiday, and so it’s not without a little chagrin that I am turning to a different holy man in today’s post, in light of the American holiday.
I have recently been reading about the holy men and women who were instrumental in sewing the Catholic Faith directly into the fabric of this country. Working for a pilgrimage company, I daily encounter a desire in people to travel oversees to visit the shrines of saints and miracles–which is lovely, don’t get me wrong. But we often overlook the places on our own American shores, and the saints that lived among us (some canonized formally and some not).
One of these holy men was Father Simon Brute, whose cause for canonization was opened by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 2005. I would imagine very few American Catholics are familiar with this man, whom John Adams once declared was the most learned man in America.
Simon grew up in France the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution, when the radical anti-Catholic nationalists were attempting to eradicate the Faith from all areas of society. He was thirteen when Louis XVI was guillotined, and his teenage years were marked by the Reign of Terror. After his father died, his mother struggled to provide financially for her sons, but always provided for them spiritually. She hid two priests in their home during the Reign of Terror. When the priests had to move elsewhere and there opportunity for clandestine Mass, she led Catholics in prayer on Sunday mornings in their home. Risking his life, Simon took the Eucharist to clergy in prison.
Simon went to medical school and became a doctor, but felt a pull to the priesthood. At the age of 25, he entered seminary, the oldest student in his class. After ordination, his intellect would be put to use teaching seminarians, but his heart’s desire was to be a missionary. He would eventually head not to India or China, but to the United States.
His intellect was once again put to work teaching seminarians, this time at Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland. While struggling with the English language, he continued to feel pulled India or China. He soon found a spiritual friend in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who had founded her order in nearby Emmitsburg. She helped him with his English, and he served as her spiritual director and chaplain to her Sisters.
Father Brute eventually became president of St. Mary’s College in Baltimore, primary theological consultant of the Councils of Baltimore, and eventually the first Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana. The diocese was the 13th diocese of the New World.
When he arrived in Vincennes, he had two priests to serve all the people of Indiana and eastern Illinois. By his death, there were 25 priests and 20 seminarians. The number of churches in the diocese had grown from seven to twenty-seven, four more were being built, and Mass was said at 30 additional locations throughout the two states. There were two religious communities which had been founded, a college for young men, and an academy for young women. He had made remarkable progress in establishing Catholicism into the fabric of society and forming future generations.
Simon was never able to be the missionary to China or India that he wanted. Instead, he played a key role in the establishment of the Catholic Church in the United States. By teaching the future priests of the new dioceses and churches, by providing spiritual guidance to teachers and religious Sisters, by founding a new diocese and opening new parishes, his work had exponential effects.
Simon never forgot those early years of his life. His Catholic Faith was forever shaped by the witness of martyrs and reality of the Faith. From the darkness of French Revolution came the light of many saints: John Vianney, Jeanne Jugan, Mother Theodore Guerin, Basil Moreau. While the “Eldest Daughter of the Faith” was rejecting the light of the Gospel, there were holy men and women were bringing it to the New World.
On this birthday of our nation, it can be easy to look around and lament our post-Christian culture. We can see the very beliefs and values we hold as vital being questioned and attacked. At the same time, however, we are incredibly free in this country to practice our Faith. We should not be taking this for granted. When we see our fellow Catholics being imprisoned or killed in Nigeria, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, Palestine, and North Korea, we have to be incredibly grateful for our freedom.
We can argue about whether the Catholic faith is persecuted in this country, but to be honest, the fact that we can argue about it shows that we probably are taking a lot for granted. In America, we argue about liturgical preferences, without stopping to be grateful that we can go to Mass without being beheaded or fired upon. We have expensive Catholic conferences or galas that, while encouraging people to be bold “under fire,” actually only prove that we as Americans are incredibly blessed to live in this free country.
This is not a call to be complacent, but to be grateful. We must not take the work of people like Simon Brute for granted, who spent his life working to spread the Gospel, both in word and in deed. His mother had taught him the importance of learning his faith and living his faith, and he brought that to new mission ground.
Today, Americans should give thanks to God that we live in this beautiful country, enjoying the freedoms that we do. We must pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters, for whom the horrors of the past French Revolution are reality today. And we must live lives worthy of the courageous men and women who evangelized these shores.
Image credit: Photo by Jan Huber[1] on Unsplash[2]
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