Francis J. Finn
1859 – 1928
Before 1865, most American Catholic Literature was either translated from French, German, or Flemish books, or reprints from English and Irish works.[5] At St. Mary's College Finn learned how to teach and discipline boys. If they promised to behave, he promised to tell them a story. He began with Oliver Twist. One afternoon while supervising a class busy writing a composition, Mr. Finn thought of how they represented to him the typical American Catholic boy. With nothing else to do, he took up pencil and paper. “Why not write about such boys as are before me?” he asked himself. In no time a
