Catholic Passengers on Titanic

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chris anthony

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I was just wondering, were there any well known Catholics on Titanic? all i know of are the ones who were buried in Mount Olivet Cemetary, Mrs. Rothschild, and Mr. Navratil. Does anyone know of any others? Any information would be very helpful. Thanks.

Chris
 
Hi Chris.

First off, Mr. Navratil is not buried in Mount Olivet, but in the Jewish Cemetery, Baron De Hirsch.

Margaret Rice was also buried at Mount Olivet: she was traveling to the US, along with her five sons: they boarded at Cobh, and all of them perished. It is their images that are on the Cobh Titanic Memorial (see their story in "Triumph & Tragedy" & "The Irish Aboard the Titanic").

Molly Brown was a Catholic; she attended Mass at Annunciation Parish, in Leadville (I believe that is where she and her husband, JJ, were married). The Browns strictly adhered to the Churh's teachings. Thus, they would not divorce, they were separated, until JJ's death.
 
No. Chris is right. Mr. Navratil was a Catholic, he used the name Hoffman (a jewish name) and he was buried in Baron De Hirsch, because he went under a false name. And secondly Chris wasn't saying that Mr. Navratil was buried in Mt. Olivet, he was mentioning him as another Catholic that he knew of.
 
We had a thread on this over a year ago (I think I started it, actually) and it mysteriously disappeared. Perhaps a moderator thought we were getting into dangerous territory?

Anyway, Chris, the Baxter family was Catholic; Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon was raised a Catholic owing to an Italian mother but the entire family converted to Anglicanism when he was a teenager (someone else posted this on the other thread, and Randy Bryan Bigham, I believe, posted that Lady Duff Gordon was raised a Catholic owing to an Irish grandmother and he is the expert on her ladyship). The other aristocrat - the Countess of Rothes - was not Catholic but her father converted and willed the family seat of Prinknash Park to a monastary.

Dr. Minahan and Daisy were Catholics but I don't know about Lillian Minahan (the surnames in her family tree tend to be rather WASPY). Thomas McCaffrey was buried in Notre Dames des Neiges Cemetery so he was probably Catholic. On the other thread, someone wrote that Miss Young was buried in a Catholic cemetery while not being a Catholic herself. It was also posted that Thomas Cardeza converted to Catholicism upon his marriage, causing a temporary rift with his mother. We can assume that the Spanish Penascos and the South American passengers (the Carraus, Mr Artagratayvia (sp?)) were Catholic, and French passengers (Omont, Aubart, DeVilliers, Rheims, Chevre, Marie DeMeugot Spencer) were Catholic. Though, of course, the world does have French Protestants. Jacques Futrelle was apparently of Huguenot descent, though contemporary newspaper accounts mentioned that his daugther Virginia went to a school called Notre Dame.

As far as the Irish passengers, Purser McElroy was a Catholic (prominent, though not a passenger). Mr. Flynn, in spite of his Irish name, was NOT a Catholic but Brady was, and I think Brereton and McGough were. I don't remember about Timothy McCarthy. Peter Daly had an Irish name and a French mother and he married a Peruvian, so I assume he was Catholic. The Spedden's nurse and family confidante, Margaret "Muddy Boons" Burns, was a Catholic. According to Dr. Leader's obit, a "Father O'Farrell" officiated at her funeral, but I doubt she was a Catholic.

Annie May Stengel's funeral was a solemn high requiem mass at the Church of Good Counsel in Newark. I'm not sure if that sort of service means Catholic or not, and I don't know what religion her husband was.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Brian A.
 
Brian,

Your posts looks as if they are still on-site. In the Message Board under under Searching/Keyword type in Catholic. There are over 100 hits. No 2: Life on Board: Worship on Board the Titanic: About the Church Service contains posts by yourself.
 
Max, I did not say that Mr. Navratil was not a Catholic.
I was not certain if he was a Catholic, and I did not!! claim that he was not a Catholic.

I simply stated that he was not buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery. I got to visit all three Halifax Cemeteries, in August 1996 & April 2001. I will always remember visiting Michel Navratil's grave at the Baron De Hirsch Cemetery, just as I was quite moved by a statue of Jesus carrying a lamb, at the Mount Olivet Cemetery.
 
Thanks Inger and Lester! You were right: that was the thread I was thinking of. I hadn't been able to locate it, for whatever reason, two years ago and I wondered if someone thought I had taken liberties with Mrs. Stengel's character, which was certainly not my intention.
 
My guess would be any Christians might have hit the service, since it was their only option. With Captain Smith reading, I don't think it was anything too in-depth that would be too troubling to people of other denominations.
 
Dare I mention ecumenical services? Ecumenical meaning in this context belonging to or representing the whole Christian church. While not citing primary sources, as I have none to hand, I have read of many such broadly encompassing services open to all passengers of a particular class in Titanic's era.

Max I would not consider it an "error" as James Cameron's film was a work of fiction rather than documentary. There are those who would take the opposing view of course.
 
I realize this thread is over a year old, but I just found it today. I wanted to respond to the issue of Margaret Brown and where she would gone on Sunday morning to worship aboard _Titanic_.

Although there were restrictions about where first, second, and third class passengers could go, these would not have applied to that time when Mass was being said by Father Byles. Margaret Brown would not have, as a Catholic, attended a Protestant (Church of England) service. Although she was first class, she would have been allowed to go to the Mass in the second class lounge.

I hope this helps shed light on the situation.
 
Thank you, Father Archer, for your insight!

I see this is your first post. Welcome! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and that we see you often around the board in 2007.

Denise
 

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