Mother of 7 (5 of whom, including Catherine of Aragon, survived to adulthood), Isabella had precedence over her husband Ferdinand as co-ruling monarchs of a unifying Spain. At her coronation, she insisted on asserting her independent authority by holding an unsheathed sword -- a masculine symbol in the era -- & that Ferdinand not stand next to her as many powerful nobles & churchmen were advocating. Given tremendous leeway by 3 different popes during her reign to govern the Church in Spain as a Catholic monarch, she also made officials in Rome nervous with the harshness of the new Spanish Inquisition, which from 1492 forward targeted Jews & Muslims who chose conversion vs. expulsion but who were suspected of practicing their traditional religious customs inside their homes. Among these Jewish "conversos" investigated, condemned, & publicly punished by Isabella's government was St. Teresa of Avila's paternal grandfather.

Meet ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC (1451-1504), Queen of Castile & Léon, who eloped with (future king) Ferdinand of Aragon against her family's wishes, instituted the state-run Spanish Inquisition, sent Columbus across the Atlantic, & appointed numerous bishops with 3 popes' approval.

Virgin martyrs are a modern Catholic phenomenon, not just an Early Church one. This one fought off a Soviet soldier who tried to violate her chastity at the end of WWII. He reportedly shot her in the heart when, during her struggle, she knelt & held up her small crucifix to him.

Meet BL. MARIA MAGDALENA JAHN (1916-1945), who worked at a fruit processing plant as a teen in Germany, looked after people with special needs, became a Sister of St. Elizabeth & served as a nurse & cook, & was shot dead by a Soviet soldier whose rape attempt she was resisting.

Meet GEORGIANA DREW BARRYMORE (1856-1893), actress, comedienne, mother of the great John, Lionel, & Ethel Barrymore, great-grandmother of Drew Barrymore. Influenced toward Catholicism by Polish actress Helena Modjeska, she had her children baptized & educated in the Church.

Meet ANITA COLBY (1914-1992), one of America's first top models. Raised by devout Catholic parents & committed quietly yet seriously to her faith her whole life, she also acted in Hollywood films, mentored Ingrid Bergman & other stars for Selznick Pictures, & married late, at 56.

Meet PATRICIA NEAL (1926-2010), another Hollywood actress who became Catholic late in life. From Kentucky, she was in major films by the late 1940s, had an affair with Gary Cooper, married writer Roald Dahl & had 5 children, & entered the Church at 84, 4 months before her death.

Meet SUSAN HAYWARD (1917-1975), Academy Award winning actress of Hollywood's golden age; born as Edythe Marrener in Brooklyn; co-starred with Gary Cooper, William Holden, Gregory Peck, many others; married twice (once divorced) with 2 sons; became Catholic as a 49-year-old widow.

Meet LORETTA YOUNG (1913-2000), Academy Award winning actress, TV star, & Golden Age Hollywood's most famous devout Catholic. Amid a troubled private life, she was active in the Catholic Motion Picture Guild, helped build up churches & charities, & was friends with many priests.

Born as Gretchen Michaela Young in Salt Lake City, Utah, & from a Luxembourgish-American Catholic family, Young's troubled personal history included growing up in her maritally-separated mother's Catholic boarding house in Hollywood, eloping at 17, getting an annulment the following year, divorcing her second of three husbands in 1969, & suffering probable rape by 34-year-old actor Clark Gable in 1935 when she was 22 & between her 1st & 2nd marriages. Her first of 3 children, Judy, resulted from that, & Young, to protect her own & Gable's careers had her put in a Catholic orphanage & then "adopted" her as if she were not her natural child.

This account is 6 months old today! This was the last of my first three posts from Dec. 10, 2025, when my very first followers signed on! Thanks to the thousands who have signed on since!

This account is 6 months old today! Here's another of my first posts from Dec. 10, 2025, when my very first followers signed on! This was also my first post with a typo -- oops! It should say "Cusi Huarcay". Thanks for all the follows, reposts, etc.! We are just getting started!

This account is 6 months old today! Celebrating by re-posting the first posts from Dec. 10, 2025, when my very first followers signed on! Thanks for all the follows, reposts, etc. At 6 months, I can report that we are just getting started here!

1/4 - My @RealRCWomen account is 6 months old today! I'm resharing the first 3 posts from Dec. 10, 2025 that helped the account grow from 1 follower to a few hundred...to now over 5,700! Can #CatholicX get the account up to 6,000 or more followers to help me celebrate?

Although we're sometimes given a different impression these days, there's more to the story of the Dominican order than St. Thomas Aquinas & arguments over what he meant.

Meet BL. DIANA DEGLI ANDALÒ (1201-1236) from Bologna. After St. Dominic de Guzmàn welcomed her into his new order, her family stopped this & kidnapped & physically hurt her to get her out of an Augustinian hermitage she fled to. She finally founded a convent on her father's land.