Christmas Trivia: Candy Canes’ Catholic Connection
The sweet confection has an interesting Catholic connection.
Enjoy candy canes? Perhaps you have had a cane or two made by Bobs Candies, which has been making the iconic Christmas treat with Christian meaning for years.
Did you know there is a Catholic connection to the Christmas confection?
The Arkansas Catholic explains the history:
In the United States, handmade white candy canes were first recorded in 1847. In 1919 Bob McCormack started the McCormack’s Famous Candy Company in Albany, Ga., and started selling candy canes. The company, later known as Bobs’ Candy Company and then Bobs Candies, was known as the largest manufacturer of striped candy in the world. Bobs Starlight Mints, Peppermint Candy Balls and Sweet Stripes are still produced today.
This candy-shaping process was labor intensive because was it done by hand, until McCormack’s brother-in-law, Father Gregory Harding Keller, stepped in to make the process faster and more efficient.
When Father Keller invented the machine to twist the soft candy into spirals and cut the stick candy in 1952 and another machine to put the crook in the candy cane in 1957, sales took off. The candy twisting/cutting and later bending machine became known as the Keller Machine.
Bee McCormack, daughter of Bob McCormack, was quoted as saying, “There was no such thing as the candy cane industry. It was made by little shops that handmade candy and sold them in jars. … There was no such thing as the candy cane industry until the Keller Machine.”
That machine is patented.
The Arkanas Catholic, in 2017, interviewed the inventor-priest’s nephew, who detailed how much his uncle liked to create innovations:
Father Thomas Keller, a retired diocesan priest living in Little Rock and nephew of Father Gregory Keller, said he was a “great man” who he called “Doc Keller.”
After getting his first doctorate in Rome, Doc Keller wasn’t able to return home because of World War I so he stayed and got another doctorate, Father Thomas Keller said.
“He loved inventing stuff for his brother-in-law,” [he] recalled. “He used the front room in his rectory for his inventions. His first one was the peanut butter sandwich machine.” ...
“He was an interesting character,” he said. “He was a very smart man. He never wrote anything in theology. It was all to help his brother-in-law with the candy company.”
A sweet legacy indeed!
LEARN MORE FROM CHURCHPOP:
The Candy Cane’s Secret: Unveiling the Christian Meaning Behind the Ancient Christmas Treat
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Amy Smith Amy Smith is a Register senior editor who edits features for the “Culture of Life” section and online. Fueled by prayer and coffee, she enjoys writing about everything from Jane Austen to saints for the Register. She is the author of The Plans God Has for You: Hopeful Lessons for Young Women (Emmaus Road Publishing). Her writing has also appeared in various other Catholic publications. She has a master’s degree in journalism and a B.A. in English.
