Discover Interesting Facts about American Catholicism

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur reviews Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest by Marion Amberg.

Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest

By Marion Amberg

Published by Our Sunday Visitor

Where is the largest collection of rosaries? What is the oldest Catholic newspaper in America? Who are the five saintly women inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame? Incredible Catholic America: Smallest, Tallest, Oldest, Oddest by Marion Amberg is a fun and interesting book of stories and facts about American Catholic people and places.   

More Than Just Trivia 

While trivia buffs will enjoy the treasure trove of information in these pages, especially the “Extreme Trivia Questions” sprinkled throughout the text, this book is more than a series of random facts. Amberg divides the information into five sections: Incredible Facts, Incredible Churches and Church Art, Incredible People of Faith, Incredible Trivia, and Incredible Legends and Lore. Each entry included within the sections features two or three paragraphs of explanation and context.  

A few of the items you will learn about in Incredible Facts include the world’s oldest shrine to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the country’s largest religious painting, and the first American basilica.  

In Incredible Churches and Church Art, you will learn about a triple-decker church, a mystical copy of the Shroud of Turin, and railroad chapel cars.  

Incredible People of Faith introduces notable individuals, such as the priest who was tarred and feathered and still celebrated Mass the next day, the first American-born woman to become a Catholic nun, and the first American-born martyr.  

Incredible Trivia tells of the place where eating muskrat is allowed on Lenten Fridays, a chapel in California that has a cat door, and a chapel decorated with plaster faces portraying characters from medieval mystery and morality plays.  

The final section on Incredible Legends and Lore includes the stories of mysterious food deliveries to a Carmelite monastery in Utah, the unexplained creation of a painting of the Crucifixion, and an infant Jesus statue that cried to help save a Mexican nun during the Mexican persecution of Catholics.   

An Interesting Look at American Catholic History  

Incredible Catholic America is an innovative look at the people and places that have helped shape American Catholic history. It is easy to read and can be appreciated by young people as well as adults. While fascinating in itself, it could easily serve as a jumping-off point to learn more about the topics included in this book. It includes a helpful index by state and people, so that you can easily find something of interest to read about.  

Ask for Incredible Catholic America at your local Catholic bookseller, or order online from Amazon.com or the publisher, Our Sunday Visitor.

Is this a book you'd like to read? Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2025 Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
Images: Canva
This article contains Amazon affiliate links, which provide a small compensation to the author of this piece when purchases are made through the links, at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting our Catholic Mom writers in this way.