Patriotism and Fraternalism in the Knights of Columbus: A History of the Fourth Degree

This is a comprehensive account of how the anti-Catholicism of the early 20th century was vigorously countered by the Knights of Columbus’s “Fourth Degree.” In this study, Christopher Kauffman presents the story of the widespread attack upon Catholics’ loyalty to the nation, and the explicit rendering of Catholic patriotism that arose in response to it. In competition with organizations which fostered historical memories exclusive of Catholics and immigrants, and which frequently portrayed the Knights of Columbus in the vanguard of “Vatican Imperialism” in the United States, the Fourth Degree, Patriotism, was founded to assert a distinctively Catholic historical memory. Such symbols of “republicanism” as “the little red school house,” were regarded by these anti-Catholic groups as emblematic of the necessary training for citizenship, as opposed to the “Vatican dominated” parochial schools with their alleged conspiracy against national institutions and the democratic spirit.

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