Well, who’d a thunk?

McNamara’s Blog has this fascinating tidbit about the leader of the confederacy, who loved nuns and reputedly wore a Miraculous Medal:

When he was a child, future Confederate President Jefferson Davis attended Catholic school for a short while, the College of St. Thomas near Springfield, Kentucky. (In those days, “college” was a loose term meaning anything from grammar school through junior college.)

Founded by the Dominican Fathers in 1812, St. Thomas was the first school west of the Appalachians, so many of its students were Protestant. But daily attendance at Catholic religious services was mandatory, and “little Jeff” (as his teachers called him) thought about converting. Davis later wrote that he thought “it would be well that I should become a Catholic.” He talked to one of his teachers, Father Thomas Wilson, who suggested waiting a while because he was so young. Rather than discouraging him, this experience gave Davis a better impression of Catholics than ever. One biographer writes that “he remained prejudiced in their favor.”

Davis was a lifelong Epsicopalian, but he wrote: “When I was a child, the kindness of the Friars so won upon my affection that the impression has never been effaced, but has rather extended from them to their whole Church.”

There’s more, so be sure to visit the link for the rest.

Lest we forget, one of the most celebrated daughters of the south, Margaret Mitchell, was Catholic — and so was her iconic heroine, Scarlett O’Hara.