From Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post:
Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! In celebration of the patron saint of love, I present a tale of one who embodied love in his life: radio, stage, movie, and TV star Danny Thomas. For many years, this entertainer was a hugely successful TV star with his Make Room for Daddy and The Danny Thomas Show TV programs. Prior to that, he had made movie appearances, and even before that, was active in radio, using the name Amos Jacobs. Yet Mr. Thomas was not always a successful Hollywood icon. He was actually born into a poor Lebanese Nennon-ite Catholic immigrant family, as one of 10 children born of those parents. He struggled for a time as a stand-up comic before making it in radio. His early career had many ups and downs, yet Mr. Thomas persevered without losing hope. During one psrticularly low point in the early mid-1950s, he went into a Catholic church and knelt down to pray. He made a vow to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of lost causes, saying “show me my way in life and I will make you a shrine.” He left that church and before long began to discuss his idea with the then-Archbishop (later Cardinal) of Chicago, Fr. Samuel Stritch. Stritch suggested that a children’s hospital for the needy might be a better tribute, snd Thomas listened. He initially wanted the hospital to be in Chicago, where he got his start in show business, but, since Chicago already had an established children’s hospital, the Archbishop suggested a city where there would be greater need. He offered Memphis, TN. as an example.
Invigorated with a newfound zeal and sense of purpose, Mr. Thomas began to furiously raise money to build and staff it. Thomas started up the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) whose sole purpose was to fund and maintain the hospital. He was relentless and eventually achieved success with both his vow and in his career.