Fred McCarthy

Who is Fred McCarthy?

Frederick Francis "Fred" McCarthy, O.F.S., was an American Franciscan cartoonist, creator of the popular Brother Juniper single-panel comic strip.

McCarthy grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and drew cartoons from an early age, some of which he submitted to the New Yorker He attended Boston College, but, feeling called to becoming a Franciscan friar, transferred to St. Bonaventure College in Olean, New York. He entered the Order and was given the religious name of Justin.

McCarthy began drawing a cartoon friar while a student there, at first for his own amusement, and then for posters and flyers. He named the short, freckled, and ever-cheerful character "Brother Juniper" in 1942, after the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of St. Francis of Assisi. McCarthy later served as art director of Friar, a national Franciscan magazine, and this led to the Brother Juniper character coming to the attention of the Publishers-Hall Syndicate, 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