Name/Title
"Knights of Columbus Oath"Entry/Object ID
2008.310.1.1Description
"Knights of Columbus Oath," ca. 1960. The item is a reprinting of a fabricated oath attributed to the Roman Catholic male support group in a Pennsylvania political campaign in 1912 and was used to denigrate a Catholic candidate. Though the item was reproduced in the United States Congressional Record and was and has been cited as, therefore, authentic, that placing in the record was part of a congressional hearing that decried the item as false and libelous to Roman Catholics. The oath has its roots in 1680s England as the "Jesuit Oath" and purports to portray Catholics who swore by it as willing to use graphic violence to defend the faith against "heretics." The oath reappeared in the 1928 and 1960 presidential campaigns, because of Catholic candidates, and as this item has a 1950 date in its cover image of the Pope and the Vatican, it is likely one produced for that latter campaign, perhaps in West Virginia, where the reappearance was most pronounced. With losses, folds, creases and soiling, the overall condition is fair.Lexicon
Search Terms
California. Department of Public Health. Bureau of Child Hygiene, United States. Department of Labor. Children's Bureau.