An Immigrant Church Waves of Migration From 1830 to 1860, Catholic immigrants to America were predominantly from Ireland. The Irish immigration was the main cause for the jump in the Catholic Population from about a half million in 1830 to more than 3 million in From , German Catholics formed the second wave of catholic immigrants, in about equal numbers to the Irish. From s consisted of immigrants from Italy and Eastern Europe. Most of the immigrants lived in neighborhoods, often slums with others from their homeland.

The Real “Fighting Irish” Fr. William Corby (was the son of an Irish immigrant Daniel Corby & mother, Elizabeth was Canadian) was an American priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and a Union Army chaplain in the American Civil War attached to the Irish Brigade. He is best known for giving general absolution to Irish Brigade on the 2 nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Of the original 3,000 Irish-Americans, roughly only 500 survived the war and over 1,000 were killed or wounded in Gettysburg. The “Irish Brigade” was compromised of initially infantry from New York, but overtime comprised of groups from Boston & Philadelphia. Realize that many of these soldiers, especially the leaders were revolutionaries that were Imprisoned and/or kicked out of Great Britain as they wanted a Free Ireland so joining the Union Army was one way to fight against tyranny & oppression from England.