The Catholic Patriotic Minute #40: Catholic Americans During The Great War
Catholics For Catholics Special Edition | April 6th, 2026
The Rise of Catholic Americans Defending Their Homeland During The Great War
Many argue that the United States was born a Christian nation. Although the government was not run by the Church, almost all Americans were Christian. In 1776, ninety-eight percent of Americans were Protestant, and nearly two percent were Roman Catholic. Between 1776 and 1917, there was a drastic rise in Catholic American patriots, from tens of thousands of Catholics to seventeen-million Catholics, many of whom were new immigrants. These new Catholics made the United States their homeland by defending a nation that was at first hostile to Catholicism but later their safe harbor from persecution.
Outrage arose amongst Americans in May of 1915 when a German submarine targeted and sank the British ship, the Lusitania, resulting in the deaths of 128 Americans. But, serious discussion of entering the war took place when the infamous “Zimmerman Telegram” was discovered.
In January of 1917, British intelligence came across a coded telegram, in which Germany offered the Mexican Government help in winning back the territory Mexico surrendered to the United States, in exchange for Mexico joining the Central Powers.The British informed the United States of the telegram after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare a month later.
April 6th marks the day that the United States officially entered the First World War in 1917. In conjunction with Congress, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany, in response to these threats. Five million Americans were prepared for the war and served in the armed forces. Out of the five million, about one million were Catholic.
U.S. Archbishops gave a united statement to President Wilson, “We are all true Americans, ready as our age, our ability, and our conditions will permit, to do whatsoever is in us to do, for the preservation, the progress and the triumph of our beloved country.”
At first, the Knights of Columbus was the only organization able to provide religious, recreational, and social services to soldiers at home and overseas. However, American bishops formed the National Catholic War Council to support the American soldiers and express their love of the country as well. Now, it is known as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Pope Benedict XV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Patrick J. Hayes to be the first Bishop for the United States Military. By the end of the First World War, Bishop Hayes guided one-thousand Catholic chaplains and oversaw the conversions of thousands of troops and their families. Not only did Catholic chaplains spiritually advise and administer the Holy Sacraments to a million Catholic troops, but many also attended to soldiers on battle fields and tried to save them.
Called the “fighting chaplain” by his soldiers, Chaplain Francis Duffy was remembered for his joy and his ability to rally all the soldiers under his watch. He shepherded the 69th New York Infantry Regiment, which became famously known as the “Fighting 69th,” a regiment full of Irish Catholics. According to his soldiers, he was always committed to hearing their confessions and assisting the injured on the battlefields. A seventeen-foot statue of Chaplain Duffy commemorates his life in Times Square.
Chaplain John De Valles is still honored as “the Angel of the Trenches.” Every night, he went out into the trenches alone to rescue both Allied and German wounded soldiers, without concern for his own life. One morning, he was even found unconscious in the trenches. Although he survived the war, he died shortly after due to all his war wounds.
A Major General gave an account of Chaplain Joseph L. N. Wolfe, stating “[t]hat man [was] right up in the front lines all the time, encouraging and administering to the boys.” Further, he remembered Chaplain Wolfe “stay[ed] out for days at a time under fire, administering the rites of his Church to the boys and burying the dead.”
Out of only five soldiers to receive two Congressional Medals of Honor due to their courageous acts in this war, two were Catholics– Matej Kocak and Louis Cukela.
During the First World War, Admiral William Shepherd Benson was the highest-ranking Catholic in the U.S. Military. As the first Chief of Naval Operations, he strengthened the Navy from 1915 to 1917, particularly by persuading Congress to pass the 1916 Naval Appropriations Act, which allowed the largest building program, at this time, of ten battleships, six battle cruisers, ten light cruisers, fifty destroyers, and sixty-seven submarines. He oversaw the naval transport of millions of soldiers and their supplies to France, all while Germany continued their unrestricted submarine warfare.
President Wilson selected Admiral Benson as a member of the commission that conferred with allied powers in 1917. Once the Allied Powers defeated the Central Powers on November 11, 1918, Admiral Benson was sent as a naval adviser to the U.S. delegation at the peace conference, where he defended the interests of the United States well. Edward M. House, the close advisor of President Wilson, later stated of Admiral Benson, “[p]robably no other American Admiral ever had so many momentous questions come before him or met them more wisely.”
After Catholic immigrants crossed the Atlantic to make the United States their home, they were at first met with anti-Catholic sentiments partially due to the large waves of immigration of the previous century. But, rather than cultivating resentment, a million Catholic Americans volunteered to defend their homeland, which was relatively new to most of them. Their history was not tied to America, but they still offered their lives for her.
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