George Gerard Meiners (1875-1954), one of Bridgette Donnelly's 16 great-great-grandparents, in 1944. It was George Gerard Meiners who began the family enterprise of making Sacred Heart badges, many carried by American Catholic soldiers into battle during World War II and later wars.From him the manufacture passed to his son-in-law, Thomas James Donnelly (1900-1980), then his grandson, Thomas Meiners Donnelly (1934-1997), and then to his Donnelly great-grandchildren, especially Thomas Christian Donnelly (1956-) and Mary Jude Donnelly Gruenschlaeger (1964-).In 1999 Thomas Christian Donnelly and his mother, Mary Stauber Donnelly (1934-2000), presented one of the badges to Pope John Paul II via his Swiss Guards at the Vatican. |