USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > A history of the Catholic church in the dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny from its establishment to the present time > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
* A Memoir on the Life and Character of Rev. Prince Demetrius A. de Gallit- zin, etc., p. 50.
Digitized by Google
298
LORETTO.
two miles east of that city. The village is built on a rising ground which falls gently to the east and south, and is longer from east to west than it is in the opposite direction. The principal street in the former direction.is St. Mary's, which is but a part of the public road with board sidewalks, after the manner of mountain towns and villages. Before you have quite entered the village the ruins of the old mill will be seen on the left ; a little further on the old pastoral residence ap- pears on the right, with the chapel attached to it. Beside this is the old frame church-known in the different Lives of Gal- litsin as the "new church"-but neither it nor the residence is now used by the congregation, the former having been re- placed by the present church, and the latter by the pastoral residence lately built. A little further on, as the road winds gently to the right, on the same side, is St. Aloysius' Academy for young ladies and the girls' parish school, both in a hand- some brick building under the care of the Sisters of Mercy. The road, or St. Mary's Street, as it now becomes, resumes a direct course, and you enter the village having the large brick church with the tomb of the Apostle of the Alleghanies in front of it on your right. But more of all these hereafter. Parallel with this street and on the left of it runs St. Joseph's. St. Peter's crosses these about the middle of the village, and, after descending to the west to cross a little brook, rises to the level of the village and leaves you at the gate of St. Francis' Monastery and College. When I was at the college in 1869, the village was wholly Catholic with the exception of one Jewish family and a Protestant woman whose husband was of the true faith; and the same, I believe, is true to day.
Digitized by Google
CHAPTER XVIII.
CAMBRIA COUNTY (CONTINUED).
Dr Gallitzin as a land agent-as a pastor -Regulations for Mass, etc. - Sermons- Troubles-Death of the Princess Gallitzin-Wolves in sheep's clothing- Settlement of the litigations regarding his estate-Gradual extension of the colony-Bishop Egan visits Loretto - Dr Gallitzin as a writer -A new church-Scanty remittances from his estate-He asks and from his friends- The crisis-Relief-The little chapel-Bishop Kenrick of Philadelphia-Rev. Henry Lemcke arrives at Loretto -Sunday at Loretto- Fr. Lemcke at Ebensburg-Other writings of Dr. Gallitzin-The end approaching-Last ill- ness-Death of Dr. Gallitzin-Remarks on the Loretto settlement-Church property-Dr. Gallitzin's successors.
WHEN Cambria County was laid out-March 26th, 1804 -Dr. Gallitzin used his influence to have Loretto made the seat of justice, but Ebensburg was finally selected as being more central. " The formation of the new county," says Miss Brownson, "threw increased business into Father Gallitzin's hands, he was agent of several firms in Philadelphia and other large cities for the sale of lands in Western Pennsyl- vania, and there was an endless amount of papers to be drawn up, registered, and attended to in regard to it, even of that kind known as ejectments, leading sometimes to lawsuits, for there were not lacking swindlers and impostors to take ad- vantage of his well-known charity, obtain land from him for a trifle and on credit, and sell it again at a good profit, or occu- pying it to the annoyance of their peaceable and orderly neighbors, without any intention of ever paying for it. And he was not one to be imposed. upon with impunity at any time, least of all when he no longer regarded himself as his own property, but as the servant of the poor, the agent of the Lord in a noble work. He was as swift and keen in justice as in charity, and the more so that he knew the full danger of
Digitized by Google
300
RULES AND REGULATIONS.
establishing precedents or giving dishonesty of any kind the slightest foothold in the new county. The temporal interests of his settlement required him to attend the courts in other counties and to make long journeys to Greensburg, in West- moreland, and even to Lancaster, frequently necessary, which, in addition to the increased missions he had to attend in the discharge of his spiritual duties, kept him constantly mov- ing."* Of his immediate relations with his people, the same writer adds: " He had his rules for all spiritual exercises as clear, distinct, and unalterable as the famous laws of the Medes and Persians. Everything with him was exact, pre- cise to the minute, and this not only from habit, from long training, but of very necessity for his own time as well as for their discipline and order. When it drew near the time for Mass on Sunday, he would come from his house to the church, the long train of his cassock thrown over his arm, passing with his peculiar rapid step from group to group of the men gathered on. the church grounds, talking together before Mass, while the women were devoutly saying their prayers. In the church there were no pews nor benches; the utmost ever allowed in it consisted of two or three stools, for the use of several very aged persons who came there; the children knelt in front, by the altar rails; the women were placed on one side, the men on the other, with a narrow passage between them, which neither ever ventured to de- crease. All superfluous dress had to be left behind, and at the church door every woman, young or old, was required to take off her bonnet and put a kind of handkerchief over her head. The slightest impropriety in dress-and the fashions of the day admitted plenty of it-was so well known to be hateful to him that if brought there it would be sure to be considered as a defiance of his admonitions, an insult to the house of God, and bring upon its wearer a scathing re- buke. As much as Father Gallitzin hated meanness in a man he despised coquetry in a woman-not that pleasant sparkle which comes with good health and a clear conscience, for he liked that within reasonable limits, but whatever showed
* Life, etc., p. 166.
Digitized by Google
301
SUNDAY ROUTINE.
itself in the lowering of the immortal to give precedence to that which perishes was to him a crime and a folly for which no denunciation could be too severe. He knew, also, the poverty of the generality of the people, and was careful that there should be no extravagance, no rivalry, no room for envy, by permitting even those whose circumstances would perhaps have admitted some display to make any beyond the means of the simplest and poorest, and so clearly did he make all feel that they were alike children of God, so well did he know the right word to say in confession, that to a stranger looking over the congregation they would have appeared as children of one father, dressed with different tastes, it is true, but with equal plainness. Father Gallitzin dreaded the ad- vent of finery into the settlement as he would the small-pox or cholera, especially as there is no known remedy for the diseases it brings." To this picture of the rule of the zealous missionary is added the following account of his manner in the matter of hearing Mass, both of which are amply con- firmed by tradition. " When the greetings outside the church door were all made, or whenever the moment arrived for the people to enter, he left them, and when later there was a gallery for the choir, went upstairs, other times remained at the back of the church, while they went in. When all was quiet-and that had to be very soon-he would sing the Litany, and, that ended, go twice round the outside of the church, lest any one might be lingering there instead of preparing for Mass inside. Then, in the stillness which he insisted upon, every ear would be strained to hear behind them that never-to-be-mistaken step, quick but never hurried, that marked his progress up the narrow passage, through the church to the sanctuary, while every one, however demurely kneeling with clasped hands and downcast eyes, knew well that his keen glances were piercing to the inmost heart, for then it was that the least irregularity of dress or posture was made note of. He always preached two sermons at Mass, one in English and one in German, neither of which was his mother-tongue, for French was the language most natural to him ; he spoke English with perfect ease, German not so well; his sermons were plain, but suited to the times,
Digitized by Google
302
DR. GALLITZIN'S MANNER.
the circumstances, and needs of his people, with which he was as familiar as with his own."* In these lengthy extracts we have a fair picture of Dr. Gallitzin. He was indeed always intent on doing good, but it was in his own way-a way which no one dare question or resist. The following passage will complete the picture: " It was even true, as began to be whispered, that he was arbitrary and capable of terrible anger, with a look of fire, a voice of thunder, and a will of iron, like that grand old Sixtus Quintus who declared : ' While I live the criminal shall die,' and made the watchword of Rome, Sixtus reigns. There are no words fitly to describe his master- ing spirit, that never was broken and could not be bent. The mere strangers to him and his religion, who strode up to see a funeral pass, baptism administered, or a sermon preached, who had never bowed at any command, at his word, 'Kneel down, sir; take off your hat,' obeyed, powerless to resist, while the rapid words were yet on his lips. At other times his voice rang out until the very rafters thrilled and trembled; the fast coming words, the cutting sarcasm, the broad, trench- ant blows of his doctrinal sermons once heard could never be forgotten. Magnificent in his wrath, he seemed born to hurl the thunders of the Church at the head of sacrilegious kings, and announce the scourging of God to cowering nations, and it was felt instinctively there was a power there not well to arouse. He was careful to honor the self-respect and family reserve which he knew to be a safeguard against the petty gossip and scandal which are the bane of all small communities, but at the same time in his eyes they were all members of one family and he their father, and he would some- times speak to all of the errors of one, not indeed personally, but too plainly intending only to use it as an illustration and a warning to others." t
But the object of his greatest solicitude was the neatness of the altar and the good order of the church ; and he could truly say with the Psalmist, " The zeal of thy house hath con- sumed me," and " I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house." However poor it might be, and it was certainly
* Life, etc., pp. 166-170.
t Ibid., pp. 183, 184.
Digitized by Google
303
TROUBLE BREWING.
never very rich, it must show at least no sign of neglect. At the door of the chapel to the rear of his residence, framed and hanging in the little vestibule, were the following printed rules, which are still there, as I have seen and read them times without number:
" Notice.
1. Scrape the dirt off your shoes on the iron scraper provided for that purpose.
2. Do not spit on the floor of the chapel.
3. Do not put your hats and caps on the chapel windows.
4. Do not rub against the papered walls of the chapel.
5. Do not put your heels on the washboards.
6. After coming in at the passage door, shut the door after you.
DEMETRIUS AUGUSTINE GALLITZIN, Parish Priest of Loretto."
His rigorous enforcement of rules and regulations, as well as his credulity-which was one of his few weak points-in believing reports made to him, did not fail to make enemies, some of whom were persons who were deeply indebted to his kindness. When brought face to face with them, his indomita- ble will, which always triumphed, frequently embittered their feelings. The Bishop, while he sustained the good man, counselled prudence and moderation. The first serious trouble was in 1804. The Bishop sent a letter bearing date of November 30th, of that year, in which he expressed the con- fidence he felt in Dr. Gallitzin, and which he commanded to be affixed to the doors of the church, hoping thereby to put the disturbers at peace. But it was not sufficient to restore good feeling.
The death of the princess, his mother, April 27th, 1806, while it was a great affliction to Dr. Gallitzin, also caused him no little anxiety concerning the recovery of his portion of the estate. But his sister hastened to relieve his mind by assur- ing him that nothing should prevent her from forwarding him his part as promptly as it was in her power. Another source
Digitized by Google
304
WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING.
of affliction was the occasional presence in his flock of a priest unworthy of his sacred calling. We need not be either sur- prised or scandalized at the appearance of such men in the early days of our history. The government of the Church was not then fully organized; people were so seldom per- mitted to enjoy the consolations of religion that they could easily be imposed upon ; the Bishop resided at so great a dis- tance, and communication with him was so difficult and re- quired so much time, that unworthy priests could pass from place to place and impose upon the people with impunity. And if out of the twelve whom our Saviour himself chose, " one was a devil," we need not think it unaccountable that a wolf should occasionally appear in sheep's clothing in our day. To one so thoroughly imbued with the ecclesiastical spirit as Dr. Gallitzin was, an occurrence of this kind was peculiarly trying. The divisions caused by one of these reached such a pitch that accusations were made to the Bishop against Dr. Gallitzin, and at home the zealous missionary was threatened with personal violence. Writing of it to the Bishop in a letter dated June 20th, 1807, he says among other things: " After having tried (in vain) all those means which charity and a desire of bringing my enemies to repentance could suggest, finding that they wilfully and maliciously persevered, and that even coming to church on Sunday and holy days was only a cloak to propagate their poison and trying to gain proselytes, I publicly excluded them from the benefits of the church ; debarred them from polluting the floor of the church, or the holy ground on which it stands, with their presence; I refused sprinkling the holy water upon my congregation until those ringleaders of rebellion, those forgers of libels against the anointed of the Lord, would withdraw. I then commanded them by name to leave that church which under divine provi- dence I had established with the sweat of my brow for the salvation of souls, and to which they only came for the ruin and damnation of their and their neighbors' souls, praying God to move their hearts to repentance, and to give them grace to re-enter the church at the gate of submission and humility. The next day I started for Greensburg ; having received information as above, I immediately applied for two
Digitized by Google
305
EXTENSION OF THE COLONY.
writs of scandal, and had them served as quick as possible, which produced a very happy change." From about the close of this year the trouble appears to have ceased; and the people from that time forward had a better appreciation of what their pastor had done and suffered in their behalf. His troubles for the future were to be of a financial character aris- ing out of the tardiness with which he received remittances from Europe.
The settlement of the litigation regarding his estate was made known to him by his agents in a letter dated Münster, February Ist, 1808. The Senate of St. Petersburg decided that admission into the priesthood debarred him from inherit- ing. The Emperor sanctioned the decision, and gave it the force of law. The property reverted to his sister, who, how- ever, could sell it. His agents concluded that he had nothing to fear, for his sister would pay him his portion, and in this opinion he seemed to have found consolation.
The Loretto colony appears to have had as yet but one common centre, although it was increasing in numbers and widening in extent ; for the persecutions of which the pastor had been the victim served to make him better known, and attracted more settlers from the east. The log church was now filled to excess, and in 1808 he enlarged and otherwise improved it, at his own expense ; for it may be stated here once for all that he never received any salary or income from the people, but paid out of his own resources the expenses of the church as well as the maintenance of his own household. In fact, it was his extreme antipathy to the pew-rent system that induced him to apply to the Bishop for permission to leave Taneytown and come to the mountain, where he could mould the affairs of the Church after his own views. The colony began to branch out and lay the foundation of other congregations that will arrest our attention after a little- Ebensburg, Carrolltown, St. Augustine, Wilmore, Summit- ville, etc .- but at what precise time stations began to be held in these different places, it is now impossible to determine. More will be said on the subject under the head of these re- spective congregations. In September, 1808, he wrote to the Bishop, asking for a priest to take a part of his territory, and
Digitized by Google
306
FIRST CONFIRMATION AT LORETTO.
leave him to labor for the Catholics of Cambria County alone, and to manage the temporalities of Loretto; but owing to the scarcity of priests, that prelate was unable to comply with the request. The temporalities gave him no little anxiety. His just expectation of receiving aid from Europe was constantly doomed to partial, often to total disappoint- ment, so that for almost thirty years his mind had but meagre repose.
He now passed from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Baltimore to that of the newly appointed Bishop of Phila- delphia. His real name also began to be generally known, and the confusion consequent on the promiscuous employ- ment of the name of Smith and Gallitzin induced him to petition the State Legislature, December 5th, 1809, to author- ize him to use the name Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, since he had been naturalized as Augustine Smith. The petition was immediately granted, and the name of Smith, which had already begun to lose its hold on the public mind, was soon forgotten.
In the summer of 1811 the good pastor had the happiness of welcoming Bishop Egan, the first incumbent of the new See of Philadelphia, to his mountain home. Confirmation was then administered for the first time, if not in the entire original Diocese of Pittsburg, at least in that portion lying west of the mountains. Contrary to the ordinary custom in the administration of this sacrament, children were confirmed at a tender age. In a small memorandum of Dr. Gallitzin's which I have seen, and which contains a list of the persons confirmed at this visit, as well as other interesting matters to which reference will soon be made, I found the names of in- fants of but one year who were then confirmed. Nor was it an unwarranted departure from the ordinary custom, for it was nineteen years before Loretto again saw the shadow of a mitre. There were one hundred and eighty-five persons con- firmed upon this visit. The same memorandum contains a list of the Easter communicants for the years 1810, 1811, and 1813. The list for 1810 comprises 219 names, of which 82 are men and 137 women; of the latter 68 were married, 5 were widows, and 64 unmarried. In 1811 there were 424 persons,
Digitized by Google
307
DR. GALLITZIN AS A WRITER.
of whom 171 were men and 253 women ; and in 1813 there were 555 persons-203 men, 265 women, 47 boys, and 40 girls. One would be led to infer from the names that the Irish ele- ment at that time prevailed over the German. But the question arises : Over how large a tract of country were these Catholics distributed? For if it embraced all the terri- . tory under Dr. Gallitzin's jurisdiction at that time, it can afford but an imperfect idea of the population of the Lo- retto settlement. Be that as it may, this memorandum, as well as another to be referred to presently, contains some val- uable scraps of information that have evidently escaped the notice of all his former biographers.
Not satisfied with his other duties, which were certainly arduous and numerous enough to occupy the time of the most zealous priest, Dr. Gallitzin now entered the field as a writer, and produced a couple of small works which even in our day have a high reputation. They were the instruments of numerous conversions, as well as the means of dispelling much of the ignorance and consequent bigotry in the public mind of that day regarding the religion of which he was the illustrious champion. The circumstances which called forth these precious volumes were briefly these : Late in the sum- mer of 1814, when the British troops were advancing on Washington City, President Madison appointed a day of public fasting and prayer, in the celebration of which a cer- tain Rev. Mr. Johnson, of Huntingdon, preached a sermon, in the course of which he indulged in a considerable amount of misrepresentation of the Church, from its august head to the humblest of its members. The sermon created quite a sensation in the mountain country, and when the echo of it reached the ears of Dr. Gallitzin he addressed the preacher through the Huntingdon Gazette, demanding an apology for the insults he had offered to religion. But he elicited no reply. He then published several Letters in the same news- paper explaining the teaching of the Church and answering such of the preacher's arguments as were deserving of atten- tion. The Letters attracted great attention, and, being soon after published in pamphlet form, went through several editions. Later they were amplified and in other respects
Digitized by Google
308
CONVERSIONS.
somewhat changed, and then published in their present form under the title of "A Defence of Catholic Principles in a Letter to a Protestant Clergyman. By Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin. 12mo, pp. 174. 1816." His fame as a controversial writer was now established, and he is believed to have been the first to enter the field of polemics in the American Church. Four years later he published another small work, a contin- uation of the "Defence," under the title of " A Letter to a Protestant Friend on the Holy Scriptures, etc. Ebensburg. Printed by Thos. Foley, 1820. 12mo, pp. 150." The publica- tion of these works had a marvellous effect in promoting conversions among settlers whose hostility to the Church arose principally from a misapprehension of her true charac- ter, and it was not unusual for the pastor of Loretto to find a dozen or more converts stand together in the little chapel claiming admission into the one fold. So numerous were the applications for a more detailed exposition of the Catholic doctrine than was contained in these books that he published the following unique notice in the Cambria County Gazette :
" Notice.
" A certain number of Protestants having manifested a great desire of becoming members of the Roman Catholic Church, I hereby acquaint the said Protestants, and the public in general, that I have appointed the second Sunday after Easter (17th April) for admitting them into the Church, accord- ing to the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Ritual.
" DEMETRIUS A. GALLITZIN,
" Parish Priest. " LORETTO, March 22, 1825."
At the end of two years Mr. Johnson published a reply to Dr. Gallitzin's works, entitled " A Vindication of the Reforma- tion," which was admitted on all hands to be inferior to the works to which it was an answer. The pastor of Loretto contented himself with publishing " An Appeal to the Pro- testant Public," in which he showed up the weak points of the " Vindication," and exhorted all to seek the truth earnest- ly. The only practical result attained by the enemies of the
Digitized by Google
309
LORETTO AS AN EPISCOPAL SEE.
Church was the awakening of a spirit of inquiry, which, as we have seen, multiplied conversions.
In 1814 the See of Philadelphia became vacant by the death of Bishop Egan, and in the following year Dr. Gallitzin lost his most steadfast friend and prudent counsellor by the death of Archbishop Carroll. His labors were also increased about this time by the construction of the State roads, or turnpikes, one of which, known as the northern pike, passed but three miles south of Loretto. About the same time 'he withdrew from the Society of St. Sulpice. The feeble health of Father O'Brien of Pittsburg, and the death of Father Heilbron of Sportsman's Hall, in 1816, added for a time to his missionary duties. But his name had now become famous, and he was spoken of as a candidate for the bishopric of Bardstown, Ky .* He was afterwards, it appears, actually nominated to the See of Detroit.t Bishop Conwell, who had named him Vicar- General for the western part of the State soon after his con- secration, determined later to nominate him his coadjutor, as we learn from a letter of his to Father Heyden of December 3d, 1827.}
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.