Memorial Day

On May 30, 1884—a date fast becoming known as Memorial Day, the Civil War veteran, and future United States Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., declared in a New Hampshire speech that “it is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for the country in return.”

Since then, it has morphed into a day of remembrance for the 750,000 American service members—North and South–who perished in the Civil War.  At the urging of Mary Ann Williams of Georgia, May 30 was proclaimed “Decoration Day;” the veterans’ graves were adorned with flowers through much of the twentieth century. Eventually, the honor was broadened to encompass the deceased from every American conflict. Congress officially designated “Memorial Day” in 1967; a year later, it was converted into a national holiday on the last Monday in May.

For more information, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends The Memory of the Civil War in American Culture, edited by Alice Fahs and Joan Waugh.

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The Election of Pope Leo XIV

In a historic turn of May 2025 events, Robert Francis Prevost, of suburban Chicago, was elected to the papacy by the College of Cardinals that assembled in Rome after the death of Pope Francis.

There were several papabile (plausible possibilities) to be the Bishop of Rome, but few analysts considered Cardinal Prevost to be a viable candidate. It had long been an unspoken rule that an American could never be elected pope, given the already overwhelming power and influence of the United States.  It seemed more likely that the Italians would reclaim the Holy See after more than four decades during which the Polish John Paul II, the German Benedict XVI, and the Argentinian Francis had reigned.  The front-runner, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had entered the conclave with a sturdy base of support, but the cardinals who had been unhappy during the reign of Francis perceived Parolin as more of the same; his momentum stalled—and so did the anticipation about Cardinal Erdo of Hungary; he  was unable to garner the required two-thirds vote; then, with remarkable speed, Cardinal Prevost, a  moderate, emerged as the compromise, and was elected on the fourth ballot.  Though born and raised in the United States, he had lived in Peru and the Vatican for many years, and was considered cosmopolitan enough to reassure his brother cardinals that they could entrust the papacy to a man from a superpower nation.

In the last few weeks, history has been in the making with the first papal blessings delivered in American accented English in St. Peter’s Square. Time will determine how much influence a boy from Illinois can have on the Catholic Church.

For more information, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends Christopher Shannon’s American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World.

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Michael F. Bishop, a writer and historian, is the former executive director of the International Churchill Society and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

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History Matters is a feature courtesy of the Grateful American Book Prize, an annual award for high quality, 7th to 9th grade-level books dealing with important moments in American history.