Reprinted from The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny
The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew by Mattia Preti
Donated by King Francesco I of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
New York, Boston, Philadelphia and … Bardstown? Furthermore, what could be the connection between this not-very-well-known Kentucky town and Naples, Italy? And what are its remote links not just with one, but two Catholic chivalric orders?
Bardstown, KY today is a quaint town – population 13,000 – with numerous buildings from the 1770’s onwards. It resembles Litchfield or Farmington, CT, Deerfield or Salem, MA – all localities once important in preindustrial America but subsequently bypassed by economic progress and therefore fortunately preserved. Bardstown, however, has unique Catholic significance. For it was to this region that Catholic settlers came to establish a new community west of the Alleghenies. These first Catholics, moreover, were in large part descendants of the original English Catholic population of Maryland. Continue reading
