This week I am joined by Dan LeRoy, author of the fantastic new book Liberty’s Lions: The Catholic Revolutionaries Who Established America. We pull the veil back on time and take a look at the contributions of Catholics during the Revolutionary years. Often suppressed by history due to the general poor perception of Catholics in the colonies, there’s a lot to learn here and you’ll grow in greater appreciation of their many contributions. Get your copy of Liberty’s Lions here.

From the Publisher Sophia Institute Press

If God loves us and is so powerful, why does God allow disease and natural disasters, as well as terrorism and other human atrocities?

Great catholics were crucial to America’s founding, they were downgraded by most historians who never spoke their names.

End of problem ― thanks to an independent historian, Dan LeRoy, who gets right to the point. “The primary goal of this book: to gather together, in one place and for the first time, the significant contributions of Catholics to the American Revolution.” The veteran writer-researcher does this in twelve chapters that flow like a screenplay and make his electrifying case: Catholics did something more remarkable than just support the patriot cause they helped lead it.

LeRoy skillfully depicts the risks taken by each man, whom he calls a “group of Catholics who were among the greatest statesmen, thinkers, and military leaders of the day.” He also answers two fundamental questions unaddressed by other historians: (1) What would the Revolution have been like without these Catholics? and (2)Why did they do it?

Here, at last, is a full chronicle of the Founding that does justice to the heroic “papists” whose lives were on the line, alongside the descendants of Puritans and other refugees. In some cases, George Washington himself knew them, admired them, advanced their careers, and ultimately thanked them ― on behalf of a grateful nation. Among hundreds of insights, you’ll learn about:

  • The Jesuit torn between his priestly duties and support for his countrymen
  • The two Catholic Carrolls ― one a courageous cleric, the other a signer of the Constitution
  • The pivotal role of American Catholics in the first slave revolt
  • The endless suffering of Catholics living in early America
  • The saintly heroism of Lafayette ― his wife, the Marquise de Lafayette, that is
  • The patriots from Poland who finally get their due
  • What Ben Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, and other Founders thought of Catholicism
Bio

Dan LeRoy is an author, journalist and teacher who has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Village Voice, Alternative Press, Esquire.com and National Review Online. Mr. LeRoy is certainly the only person in history to have contributed to publications founded by William F. Buckley, Jr. and by Gene Simmons of KISS. Meanwhile, his speculative fiction has appeared in several anthologies, and on the No Sleep podcast.

He has written three books: one about the Beastie Boys classic Paul’s Boutique, for Continuum’s 33 1/3 series, and one about famous unreleased albums, The Greatest Music Never Sold. His book For Whom the Cowbell Tolls, written with Peter Relic, was published in 2014. His latest book, Liberty’s Lions: The Catholic Revolutionaries Who Established America, will be published by Sophia Institute Press in 2021.

Since 2006, Mr. LeRoy has also been the director of Writing and Publishing at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, near Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, visit his website, danleroy.com.

Where to Find

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.