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 29
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But Father M'Cullagh's labors were not confined to the
* Reminiscences of the Rev. Thomas M'Cullagh, of the Diocese of Pittsburg, by Rev. T. Mullen (New York, 1861), p. 44.
t Ibid., p. 45.
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"THE CRUSADER."
congregation; for in addition to his literary pursuits, of which mention will presently be made, he had ten or twelve miles of the railroad under his jurisdiction, upon which hun- dreds of Irish Catholics were employed. A large number was also engaged in opening the tunnel through the mountain about three miles north of the Summit; and as they were likely to remain for several years, he deemed it expedient to build a temporary church for their better accommodation. This became the nucleus of the congregation at Gallitzin, that is next to engage our attention.
In 1851 the type and press of a weekly paper were exposed for sale ; and after having maturely considered the propriety of the movement, Father M.Cullagh and three or four of the priests of the mountain district purchased them, and com- menced the publication of a weekly Catholic journal under the title of The Crusader. The editorial management was entrusted to the pastor of the Summit, who, although all contributed, was the principal writer. The first number ap- peared January Ist, 1852 ; and the paper was issued weekly until November 24th of the following year, when it was dis- continued and the subscription-list transferred to the Pitts- burg Catholic. During its brief career the Crusader was conducted with ability, and exercised a healthy influence in the sphere to which its circulation extended .*
In the summer of 1856 Father M'Cullagh was transferred to St. Patrick's Church, Pittsburg, and Rev. E. F. Garland, of the latter, became pastor of St. Aloysius. During this time the diocesan seminary was reopened at the Summit, but was transferred a year later to Pittsburg. Immediately after the completion and dedication of St. Patrick's Church, August 15th, 1858, Father M'Cullagh returned to his former charge, and Father Garland to his. While in the city his health had · begun to become impaired, and he retired for a few weeks to St. Xavier's Academy, Westmoreland County, to recruit. But the relief afforded was only temporary ; his health was per- manently impaired, and on his return to the Summit it con- tinued to grow worse, until it became evident to all that he
* Reminiscences, etc., pp. 49-54.
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DEATH OF REV. THOMAS M'CULLAGH.
could not long continue to exercise his sacred functions. He contemplated a trip to Lake Superior, but on maturer reflec- tion it was abandoned. He preferred to remain at his post, until, being entirely exhausted, he was forced to commit his flock to another shepherd. Coming to Pittsburg, he entered the Mercy Hospital, where he could receive the best care and medical treatment. The general debility of which he had been complaining during the last two years culminated in congestion of the brain. Several days passed without any in- dications of immediate danger, during which time he received the last sacraments. " On Sunday night he rested well, and on Monday morning appeared much refreshed. . Soon, however, another change occurred, and it was evident his last hour was approaching. He now began to sink rapidly, and at ten minutes past six, on the afternoon of the same day, the 20th of June, 1859, in the thirty-ninth year of his age and the sixteenth of his ministry, he expired without a struggle."* His remains were conveyed by the cars to Cresson Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, one mile from the Summit, and from thence to the church, where, with all the ceremonies of re- ligion, they were consigned to their last resting-place in the adjacent cemetery. A few years later a tasteful monument was erected by the congregation to mark the spot.
REV. THOMAS M'CULLAGH was born at Cranag, parish of the Upper Badony, county Tyrone, Ireland, in the latter part of October, 1819. His parents belonged to the middle class, and were more remarkable for virtue than for wealth. After having studied in the schools of his native.place, he en- tered Maynooth College. While engaged in the studies nec- essary to fit him for the sacred ministry, he pursued other branches more remotely connected with it as opportunities were offered. I have elsewhere spoken of the manner in which certain students of the college, in the fall of 1843, re- sponded to the invitation of the newly consecrated Bishop O'Connor to labor in his diocese, where, as he told them, " he had no inducements to offer, except plenty of work and little for it." Mr. M.Cullagh sailed for America on the 9th of
* Reminiscences, etc., p. 60.
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SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
November, and arrived in Pittsburg just in time to assist at the first Pontifical Mass celebrated in the old church occupied by the Germans during the erection of the present St. Philo- mena's. " The wants of the mission, particularly in the coun- try around Pittsburg, were at that time very great, and the physical strength of the few priests in the city taxed to the utmost. However advisable it might be, under ordinary cir- cumstances, to allow him to prolong his studies, Mr. M'Cul- lagh's services as a priest could no longer be spared. He was consequently ordained on the 4th of February, 1844, in the old Cathedral, which was afterwards burnt down. His ordi- nation was the first ceremony of the kind ever witnessed in the Diocese of Pittsburg. Immediately after his ordination he took charge of several missions around the city, thus occu- pying a post where his zeal was sure almost every day to find a fresh field for its exercise. Pittsburg was his head-quarters, whither he returned, from time to time, to prepare for further expeditions. With little relaxation from other labors, Father M'Cullagh in 1844 assumed the editorial control of the Pittsburg Catholic, the organ of the diocese, and continued to discharge the duties connected with this office the greater part of the two following years. After his official connection with the paper had ceased, he was always a frequent and welcome contributor to its columns.
" During the three years immediately subsequent to Father M'Cullagh's ordination, notwithstanding the wants of the dio- cese, but few additions could be made to the number of priests on the mission; at last it was resolved to open a source whence a regular supply could be obtained. In 1847 St. Michael's Seminary was established in the house now (1861) occupied as a Male Orphan Asylum in Birmingham, and the interests of the institution-a most important one for the diocese-en- trusted to Father M'Cullagh, who became its first president. However advisable it might be for the seminary to enjoy for a lengthened period the advantages of his scholarly attain- ments and beneficent rule, his health, which at the best was never robust, rendered it necessary for him to resign this position the following year. He immediately took charge of St. Vincent's congregation, Westmoreland County, where he
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PASTORS OF ST. ALOYSIUS.
hoped to find a region and climate better adapted to the deli- cacy of his constitution. St. Xavier's Academy, which was then in its infancy and in the immediate neighborhood of St. Vincent's, secured his services as chaplain. Though early convinced that his health required great care and attention, he continued to labor in his new position for the good of re- ligion with unabated zeal. Most of the time that he could spare from duties connected with St. Vincent's and the Academy he devoted to the Catholic settlements in West- moreland, and contrived in this way to render good service to the interests of religion in the county. When the Academy was transferred to its present beautiful site, he fixed his resi- dence in its neighborhood and continued his vigilant super- vision over its early struggles. . . . While there his constitutional delicacy had almost disappeared. The climate, the treatment, and congenial pursuits had produced a marked change in his whole appearance, and the salient points, the only drawback to his otherwise remarkably well-formed person, had subsided beneath a compact covering of flesh and muscle." *
From St. Xavier's he was transferred, as has been stated, to the Summit, where his life was identified with that of the congregation. From certain manuscripts left at his death, it appears that he had at one time entertained the project of editing a monthly periodical, when the appearance of the Metropolitan Magazine induced him to abandon the idea.
At the death of Father M'Cullagh, Rev. Thos. Ryan was appointed pastor of St. Aloysius and the temporary church at the tunnel. At first, like his predecessor, he was alone; but when the latter congregation, now known as St. Patrick's, Gallitzin, had increased so as to render it too laborious for one priest to minister to both, an assistant was appointed, commencing February, 1863. At length it became expedient to separate the two congregations and assign to each a resi- dent pastor. When this division was made, November 10th, 1869, Father Ryan preferred Gallitzin, and Rev. John Hack- ett was transferred from Freeport to the Summit. During
* Reminiscences, etc., pp. 32-44.
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DEATH OF REV. J. HACKETT.
all this time the congregation had undergone but little change ; its increase, if any, had been extremely moderate, and it might be said of it more truly perhaps than of any other congregation in the diocese that it kept the even tenor of its way. At length, however, a change came, and a sor- rowful one for the members of St. Aloysius' congregation. The good pastor, who had for nine years devoted his undi- vided attention to their spiritual welfare, after having gradu- ally declined for a few months, although continuing to exercise his pastoral functions and to bear his infirmities with silent resignation, was taken suddenly ill on Thursday, Octo- ber 31st, 1878, and died of cerebro-spinal meningitis on the afternoon of November 4th, in the 48th year of his age and in the beginning of the 24th year of his ministry. The funeral took place from the church, and the remains were laid to rest in the adjacent cemetery by the side of those of Father M'Cullagh and Rev. Peter Brown, of Johnstown.
REV. JOHN HACKETT was born in the parish and near the town of Connel, in the Diocese of Waterford, Ireland, in the year 1830. Having finished his course of theology in the mis- sionary college of All-Hallows, he came to America and to the Diocese of Pittsburg, where he was ordained by Bishop O'Connor November 25th, 1855. At first he ministered to the congregation of Temperanceville and Brodhead, and re- sided at the Cathedral ; but at the end of about two years he was transferred to the church at Latrobe, and thence to Cameron Bottom. From there he passed to Wilmore, Sep- tember, 1861, and in July, 1868, to Freeport. While there he built the little church at Natrona. Finally he was transferred, as we have seen, to the Summit, which in the inscrutable de- sign of Providence was to be the closing scene of his labors. Few priests of the diocese were more highly or justly es- teemed than Father Hackett. Unassuming in his manner and wholly devoted to the welfare of his people, the affairs of the world made little impression upon him, while the simplicity of his character and his eminently clerical bearing endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.
Rev. Thos. Davin, the present pastor of St. Aloysius', suc- ceeded Father Hackett. The congregation is composed
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GALLITZIN.
principally of farmers of Irish and German descent with a small number of coal-miners, and owing to its scattered char- acter has never been able to organize a parish school. It will number perhaps a little less than two hundred families, and its future career will in all probability be as uneventful as its past has been.
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, GALLITZIN.
The village of Gallitzin is situated on the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, and is 105 miles east of Pittsburg by the railroad. Here, after ascending the mountains westward from Altoona and rising about eleven hundred feet in eleven miles, in which the road passes for the most part along the northern side of a deep ravine, presenting some of the most beautiful scenery in America, a part of which is the famous Horseshoe Curve, or Kitanning Point as it is more commonly called, the railroad passes through the summit of the moun- tain by means of a tunnel 3670 feet in length. "One is hurried onward through dense and unbroken darkness, and just as the first ray of light, the first breath of glorious mountain air breaks in there is heard the echoing cry, GAL- LITZIN ! the far-sounding name of him who with feet beautiful upon the mountains opened to the entrancing sunlight of faith the gloomy caverns of heresy and sin-a name shouted there with startling appropriateness, rendered the more striking that its deep significance was neither intended nor suspected." * Having passed through the village, or, more correctly, under it,-for the greater part is built over the western end of the tunnel,-the road makes the descent of the mountain, perhaps twelve hundred feet, in twenty-five miles to Conemaugh bor- ough, near Johnstown.
Although it is probable that a few Catholic families set- tled in the vicinity of where the village now stands, and that Dr. Gallitzin held stations among them at intervals, the pres- ent congregation owes its existence to the railroad. Work was commenced on the tunnel in 1849, and continued for
* Life, etc., p. 405.
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ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH.
about four years, during which time a large number of men, principally Catholics, were constantly employed. The better to accommodate them Father M'Cullagh built a cheap tem- porary frame church there in which he offered up the Holy Sacrifice once or twice in the month on Sundays, riding thither from the Summit, a distance of three miles, between the two Masses. After the completion of the tunnel a village sprung up composed principally of coal-miners and men in the employ of the railroad company, and in honor of the Apostle of the Alleghenies it was named Gallitsin. The church remained, and was visited on one Sunday in the month by the pastor of the Summit. When at the death of Father M'Cullagh the church at the latter place passed into the hands of Father Ryan, he had charge, like his prede- cessor, of that also at Gallitzin. At first he visited it once in the month, but soon the congregation increased and he began to offer the Holy Sacrifice in both places every Sunday. In 1860 or a little later he replaced the temporary church, which was now ready to fall, by a more substantial frame building about 60 feet in length by 35 in width, of a plain and simple style. It stands on the highest summit of the Alleghenies, and commands a view that is at no point less than ten miles, while at some it will extend to forty miles. But the cold in winter is intense. The congregation continued to increase, so that in the beginning of 1863 it became necessary to appoint an assistant to aid the pastor in his ministrations. An enlarge- ment of the church was also necessary, and a frame addition 60 feet in length by 40 in width was built across the end of the existing edifice in the summer of 1869, and was dedicated by the Bishop on the 12th of September.
Gallitzin was separated from the Summit, as was said above, and became an independent parish with Father Ryan as its spiritual head in November of the same year. About this time a neat frame residence was also built for his recep- tion, but beyond that nothing more than a moderate growth of the congregation has marked the lapse of time. The pas- tor remains with his flock, which has not yet had the advan- tage of a parish school. The village and the surrounding country is almost entirely Catholic, and is either Irish or of
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ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH.
Irish descent. The congregation will number about two hundred and forty families, composed of miners, men in the employ of the railroad company, and farmers, and it will grow in the future as it has done in the past.
ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH, CAMBRIA COUNTY.
St. Augustine's Church stands in a country place about nine miles north of Loretto; and the locality, owing to the peculiar formation of the surrounding mountains, is familiarly called "the Loop." The Catholic settlement is an offshoot of the Loretto colony, and was first visited from that place. It is uncertain at what time stations first began to be held at the Loop, for the name " St. Augustine" was unknown until after the church was dedicated ; but there can be no doubt that Dr. Gallitzin was there as early as 1835. It continued to be under the jurisdiction of the pastor of Loretto until 1848. When Bishop O'Connor paid his first visit to it in the summer of the previous year, a church was in course of erection though un- finished, as he informs us in his Notes, and the incipient con- gregation already numbered five hundred souls. When detached from Loretto in 1848, it, together with the little flock at Cameron Bottom, was placed under the care of Rev. Jas. Gallagher, who most probably resided at the former place. The church was not dedicated until the following year, when it was placed under the invocation of St. Augustine, but the date of the ceremony has not been ascertained. A frame residence was also built for the pastor. In the summer of 1850 Rev. John Burns succeeded Father Gallagher. Time sped rapidly and the congregation increased, but beyond this its history for many years is uneventful. In 1859 a little church was built at Chest Springs, as will presently appear, for the better accommodation of a part of the people. Father Burns entered the Benedictine Order May 26th, 1866, and was succeeded by his brother, Rev. Ed. Burns. Soon after his arrival he found it necessary to enlarge the church. A new portion was accordingly built, and when finished was dedi- cated by Bishop Domenec, August 28th, 1868. The church is frame, is 170 feet in length by 70 in width, but so unique in
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DEATH OF REV. E. BURNS.
construction as to defy description. An additional priest was now demanded to aid the pastor, and the congregation has since been under the care of two, with the exception of brief intervals. At length it sustained a loss in the death of Father Burns, which took place somewhat suddenly at Pittsburg, December 29th, 1872. At the time of his death he was in the 37th year of his age. His remains repose in St. Mary's Ceme- tery, Pittsburg.
REV. EDWARD BURNS was a native of county Tipperary, Ireland. Having there pursued his studies for some time, he came to America, and entered the diocesan seminary at Pitts- burg. From there he was ordained in the autumn of 1862 and stationed at the Cathedral, where he remained until trans- ferred to St. Augustine's.
He was succeeded by Rev. Thos. M.Enrue, who presided over the congregation until September, 1877, when he gave place to Rev. F. X. M'Carthy, who was succeeded in August, 1879, by Rev. M. Ryan. The congregation still continues to increase, and is composed exclusively of farmers. In point of nationality it is American. The distance at which the greater part of the people live from the church has prevented the opening of a parish school. Few congregations in the coun- try impose a heavier tax on the strength of the pastor than St. Augustine's, owing to its size, its scattered character, the in- difference of the roads, and the inclemency of the mountain weather in all seasons except summer. It is by far the largest country congregation in the western part of the State, and will number between five and six hundred families.
ST. MONICA'S CHURCH, CHEST SPRINGS.
The village of Chest Springs is six miles north of Loretto and about four south-west of St. Augustine's Church, and in 1870 contained a population of 269. As the congregation of St. Augustine's increased, and it was difficult for many of the people living at a distance to hear Mass during a considerable portion of the year, it was deemed advisable to accommodate a part at least by erecting this church, near which a large number resided. It is a small frame building, was erected in
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ST. MONICA'S CHURCH.
1859, and was dedicated March 20th of the following year by Rev. J. Burns, then pastor of the parent church. Mass was at first celebrated on two Sundays in the month, but is now offered every Sunday ; but it has always and is still regarded as an outpost of St. Augustine's, and cannot for that reason be said to have a congregation properly so called. . It is prob- able, however, that the time will come when it will be de- tached and become an independent parish.
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CHAPTER XX.
CAMBRIA COUNTY (CONCLUDED).
Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Ebensburg-Carrolltown-St. Joseph's Church, Hart's Sleeping-Place-St. Benedict's Church, Carrolltown-St. Lawrence's Church, Glen Connell-St. Boniface's Church, St. Boniface-St. Nicholas' Church, St. Nicholas-Johnstown-St. John Gualbert's Church, Johnstown-Death and sketch of Rev. P. Brown-St. Joseph's German Church-German Church of the Immaculate Conception, Cambria City.
CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS, EBENSBURG, CAMBRIA COUNTY.
EBENSBURG, the county-seat of Cambria County, is a flour- ishing town on the top of one of the spurs of the Allegheny Mountains, about ten miles west of the summit of the main ridge, and commands a grand and extensive view of the sur- rounding country. The turnpike from the east to Pittsburg passes through it, and another runs to Indiana. It is also connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cresson by a branch road thirteen miles in length. It was the wish of the railroad company to have this branch pass through Loretto, which would have conferred a great benefit upon its Catholic educational institutions ; but the people would not take the required amount of stock-a refusal of which they now fruit- lessly repent-and the road passes two miles south of the village. Ebensburg was settled by the Welsh, and Rev. Rees Lloyd, who came about the year 1796 and gave the town the name it bears, was the first to arrive. But the land upon which it stands had been purchased about two years before by Rev. Morgan J. Rees from Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The town was founded about the close of the last century, was made the
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ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, EBENSBURG.
county-seat in 1805, incorporated as a borough in 1825,* and had in 1870 a population of 1240.
Although Ebensburg was originally settled by Protestants of the most illiberal school, it was not long before a small number of Catholic families found their way into the town and its immediate environs, who, like those of all the sur- rounding country, were under the jurisdiction of Dr. Gallitzin. It cannot be ascertained with certainty at what time he began to say Mass among the people, but Father Bradley informs me that a small frame church was erected there about the year 1816 and dedicated to St. Patrick. It continued to form a part of Dr. Gallitzin's extensive mission until the arrival of Rev. Patrick Rafferty, who came to reside there most proba- bly in 1829, although he does not appear to have remained more than a few months. Then came Rev. P. Duffy, whose name will occur further on, and who is known with certainty to have been pastor of the congregation in July, 1830.t Rev. Jas. Bradley, the present pastor of the church at Newry, was appointed pastor of Ebensburg in October, 1830, immediately after his ordination. Making this the centre of his mission, he visited a large number of stations in Cambria and Indiana counties, giving to the church at Ebensburg not more than one Sunday, or at most two, in the month. "In 1831," he tells me, " the Portage Railroad from Johnstown to Holli- daysburg (connecting the western and eastern divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal) was under contract, and a good number of hands were employed in grading it. Attending to them and to all Dr. Gallitzin's sick-calls kept me very busy that year. In (October) 1832 Father O'Reilly was appointed to assist Father M'Guire, of Pittsburg, and I had to take charge of his large district of Newry in addition to the Ebensburg dis- trict for two years longer. I was relieved of the Ebensburg district in the fall of 1834 by Father Lemcke." He then took up his residence at Newry and confined his labors to the . country east of the mountains.
In the history of Loretto we have seen the manner in
* Historical Collections, pp. 180, 181.
t U. S. Catholic Miscellany.
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CHANGES OF PASTORS.
which Dr. Gallitzin introduced Father Lemcke to the people of Ebensburg. But it would appear that although he suc- ceeded Father Bradley, there was an interval between the departure of the one and the arrival of the other. For the next ten years Mass was celebrated no more frequently than it had been before, for the pastor's field of labor was still very extensive. Father Lemcke resided at Ebensburg until 1837, when he removed to his farm at Carrolltown, nine miles to the north, but he continued to visit the congregation until about 1844. During the two following years it was visited monthly from the Summit. When Bishop O'Connor made his first visitation, his Notes, so frequently referred to, inform us that it contained 300 souls. The church was now too small, and being old was out of repair, and the Bishop en- couraged the congregation to undertake the erection of a new one. They complied with his request, and he laid the corner- stone on the 3d of August, 1848. The date of its completion and dedication is not ·known. It is a small plain brick build- ing, and is yet standing. Rev. P. Duffy returned in 1849 and was pastor for at least two years, if not for a longer period. The congregation was then visited monthly for two years from Loretto. Finally, at the close of 1855, Rev. M. J. Mitchell was appointed pastor, and the church has since been independent. No further change was made until after the close of the Rebellion. A part of the time Father Mitchell rc- sided at the Franciscan Monastery at Loretto, but at length a house was purchased for him and he closed his pastorate, residing among his people. He was succeeded by Rev. R. C. Christy about the close of the year 1864. The congrega- tion had increased but little in the past twenty years, nor has it increased much since : but the circumstances of the people had undergone a considerable change for the better, and they began to consider the propriety of replacing the old church with a better one. A lot was purchased near the existing church, work was commenced, and the corner-stone was laid by the paster June 4th, 1867. The church was not finished until the end of two years, when it was dedicated by the Bishop November 14th, and the title was changed from St. Patrick -under whose invocation the two former had been placed-
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