Frederick Francis "Fred" McCarthy, O.F.S., was an American Franciscan cartoonist, creator of the popular Brother Juniper single-panel comic strip.
Background
McCarthy grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and drew cartoons from an early age, some of which he submitted (without success) to the New Yorker He attended Boston College, but, feeling called to becoming a Franciscan friar, transferred to Saint Bonaventure College in Olean, New New York
Career
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 (if sometimes naive) character "Brother Juniper" in 1942, after the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of Saint 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
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, in which he was active till the end of his life. He taught at a number of colleges and universities.