Frederick Francis "Fred" McCarthy, O.F.S., (5 September 1918 – 26 October 2009) was an American Franciscan cartoonist, creator of the popular ''Brother Juniper'' single-panel comic strip.

Early years

McCarthy grew up in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and drew cartoons from an early age, some of which he submitted (without success) to the ''

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''. He attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, but, feeling called to becoming a Franciscan friar, transferred to St. Bonaventure College in

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. He entered the Order and was given the

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

of Justin.

Career

McCarthy began drawing a cartoon

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

while a student there, at first for his own amusement, and then for posters and flyers. He named the short, freckled, and ever-cheerful (if sometimes naive) character "Brother Juniper" in 1942, after the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of St.

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

. McCarthy later served as art director of ''Friar'', a national

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

magazine, and this led to the Brother Juniper character coming to the attention of the

Publishers Syndicate Publishers Newspaper Syndicate (later Publishers Syndicate) was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated from 1925 to 1967, when it merged with the Hall Syndicate. Publishers syndicated such long-lived comic strips as '' Big Chief Wa ...

, a distributor of comic strips. The ''Brother Juniper'' strip was published from 1958 until 1989. Running in over 100 American newspapers as well as overseas, ''Brother Juniper'' was the only religious-themed comic ever syndicated in daily newspapers internationally. McCarthy also created two less-successful religious-themed strips, ''Sister Suzie'' about a teaching nun, and ''Brother Rufus''. He published these under the pen name "Fred Francis". McCarthy, a Secular Franciscan from 1938, was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1945 but left the friars and the priesthood in the early 1960s. He remained active as a Franciscan, however, resuming his life as a Franciscan

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

, in which he was active till the end of his life. He taught at a number of colleges and universities.

Death

McCarthy died on October 26, 2009, in

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020, was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, De ...

. He was survived by his wife, Lilly.

Publications

*McCarthy, Fred. ''Brother Juniper''. (1957). Garden City:Hanover House. *McCarthy, Fred. ''More Brother Juniper''. (1958). Garden City:Hanover House. *McCarthy, Fred. ''Brother Juniper Strikes Again''. (1959). Garden City:Hanover House. *McCarthy, Fred. ''Brother Juniper at Work and Play''. (1960). Garden City:Hanover House. *McCarthy, Fred. ''Inside Brother Juniper''. (1963). New York:Pocket Books. *McCarthy, Fred. ''Well Done, Brother Juniper''. (1963). Garden City:Doubleday. *McCarthy, Fred. ''The Whimsical World of Brother Juniper''. (1963). New York:Pocket Books. *McCarthy, Fred (as "Fred Francis"). ''Brother Rufus''. (1964). Garden City:Doubleday. *McCarthy, Fred (as "Fred Francis"). ''Sister Suzie''. (1964). Garden City:Doubleday. *McCarthy, Fred. ''The Ecumenical Brother Juniper''. (1965). Garden City:Doubleday. * Includes the eight previously published Brother Juniper collections in one volume.

References

External links

The Brother Juniper Rejuvenation Project at BrotherJuniper.com
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on February 22, 2018.

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Fred 1918 births 2009 deaths Artists from Boston St. Bonaventure University alumni American comics artists American Friars Minor 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Laicized Roman Catholic priests Former members of Catholic religious institutes Secular Franciscans