USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Loretto > Souvenir of Loretto centenary, October 10, 1899 : 1799-1899 ,Saint Michael's Catholic Church > Part 23
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example, too, of the illustrious and saintly founder be an in- spiration for us all. Yours devotedly in Xto.
P. J. DONAHUE, Bishop of Wheeling.
ST. MALACHY'S CHURCH, Philadelphia, Pa.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1899.
DEAR FATHER KITTELL: I assure yon that I will try to be with you on the 10th of October, but I cannot say positively at present that I will be free to do so. Yours truly in Dne.
E. F. PRENDERGAST, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia. (At the last moment he was unavoidably detained.)
BISHOP'S HOUSE, Erie, Pa.
REV. DEAR FATHER: SEPTEMBER 9, 1899.
I regret very much that it will be impossible for me to attend the celebration of the Centenary of your parish on the 10th prox. I have made a series of appointments in the dio- cese for that week, and it would be impossible for me to break them without great inconvenience to those interested. Wishing you a happy occasion, I am,
Yours in Xto. JOHN E. FITZMAURICE, Coadjutor Bishop.
BISHOP'S HOUSE, Harrisburg, Pa.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1899.
DEAR FATHER KITTELL:
On Sunday, October 8, I begin work in the northern part of the diocese, and I cannot leave there for two weeks. Ro- gretting that I shall not be able to attend your celebration, and thanking you for inviting me, I remain,
Very sincerely. J. W. SHANAHAN, Bishop of Harrisburg.
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BISHOP'S HOUSE, Scranton, Pa.
OCTOBER 5, 1899.
REV. DEAR SIR:
Since writing to you the other day (accepting the invita tion) I have been reminded by the President of our Diocesan Temperance Union (one of my priests), that the Temperance Societies of the diocese will parade here next Tuesday, Octo- ber 10, and, of course, they will expect me to be "in evidence." I regret very much, therefore, that I shall not have the pleasure of being with you on Monday next, as I had expected.
Permit me to wish yon the most complete snecess in your Centenary celebration, and to remain Faithfully yours in Xt. M. J. HOBAN, Bishop of Scranton.
ST. VINCENT'S ARCHABBEY. Beatty, Pa.
SEPTEMBER 27, 1899.
REV. AND DEAR FATHER:
Your kind invitation to attend the grand celebration of next month has been received. Accept my heartfelt thanks for the same. I am very sorry, however, to state that it will be impossible for me to be present, though I would very much appreciate attending the celebration. Our abbey will cer tainly be well represented by the attendance of the neighbor ing Benedictine pastors. With best wishes, I remain Yours sincerely in Dno. LEANDER, O. S. B., Archabbot.
COLLEGE OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C.
OCTOBER 2, 1899.
MY DEAR FATHER KITTELL:
Your invitation to the Centenary of the foundation of your parish honors me. I only wish that I could do more
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than thank you for it. But the fact is that I must be in In- dianapolis that very day giving the diocesan Retreat there.
God bless your new century. I am one of the very many who are to be present in good will, hearty congratulations, fervent prayers, although not bodily, among the vast con- course of people and the distinguished personages of your great celebration. Most faithfully yours in Xt.
WALTER ELLIOTT.
HOLLIDAYSBURG, September 26, 1899.
DEAR FATHER KITTELL:
I regret exceedingly that I cannot accept your kind invi- tation to attend the ceremonies in memory of the illustrions Gallitzin on the 10th of October next. Our court meets in Pittsburg on the 9th for a continual session of six weeks. It is my official duty to be present on the 10th.
Nothing would afford me more pleasure than to meet the illustrious prelates who will be present, and so many of my old Cambria County friends. No one reverences the Chris- tian character of Father Gallitzin more than I; that character shines through all the early records of the county, deeds, wills and contracts. Much of his work passed under my eye as judge in that county. He was a Christian lawyer in this. that taking human nature as it existed, he sought to allay and prevent strife by wise, just and clear writings, as well as by Christian connsel. With kindest regards, I am
Very truly yours. JOHN DEAN,
Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
OFFICE OF GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT P. R. R. ALTOONA, Pa., September 20, 1899.
MY DEAR SIR:
I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 15th inst., and to thank you for your invitation to assist on Tuesday, Oc- tober 10th, prox., at the celebration of the Centenary of the foundation of Loretto, and regret very much that on account
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of our annual track inspection beginning on that date it will be impossible for me to attend.
It will give me great pleasure, however, to delegate Mr. C. A. Wood as my representative, and I thank you very much for the suggestion.
Trusting that the weather and all other conditions may be most favorable, I remain
Very respectfully. J. M. WALLIS, General Superintendent.
OFFICE OF C. & C. DIVISION P. R. R. CRESSON, Pa., September 26, 1899.
DEAR FATHER:
Replying to your very kind note of the 18th inst., I regret very much to say I will be muable to attend the celebration of the Centenary of Loretto on the 10th of October, owing to the fact that our annual track inspection commences upon that day. I am very sorry to be compelled to miss so inter- esting an occasion, and trust you will be favored with pleas- ant weather and the greatest success in your efforts.
Very sincerely yours. F. P. ABERCROMBIE, Superintendent. -
Father Kittoll then spoke as follows:
Yonr Excellences, Distinguished Guests, Friends:
Born almost within sound of the bell of this parish church, the very year the tomb of Father Gallitzin there before ns was erected, I had always from my carliest remem. brance a reverential regard for that saintly Apostle of the Alleghenies. In my boyhood days I frequently visited this quaint old town and gazed with rapt astonishment on the tomb and church which to my youthful vision appeared won. derful specimens of architecture. Little then did I imagine that I would live to see what I behold to-day. Bnt Divine Providence so ordained that my first appointment in the sacred ministry 27 years ago should be to the position of President of the College on the opposite hill and Assistant Priest of this congregation; that my first confession shonkd
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be heard in Father Gallitzin's old chapel, which I had the good fortune to rebuild and preserve, and that my first ser- mon should be preached in the church of which I am now the pastor. And no sooner did I 'become pastor than I resolved to revive and perpetuate, as far as it was in my power, the name and memory of the one in whose honor we are assem- bled to-day. How far I have succeeded with God's blessing and most generous co-operation you are abont to witness.
In his life of Father Gallitzin, published 30 years ago, Father Heyden wrote: "It is true, his inconsolable flock, not long after his decease, erected to his memory an humble momment, but not at all worthy of this great man; and it is to be hoped that a more suitable and superb one will soon mark the sacred spot where so much worth is interred, a. spot worthy to be a place of pilgrimage, where all who want to have revived in them the spirit of faith and sacrifice and charity will often resort."
Quoting these words in an appeal to the public issued in 1891, I stated: "It is proposed to replace the unsightly (and now decayed) wooden cross and coffin which surmount the so-called monument with a life-size and life-like statue of the venerable Gallitzin, for which the pile of massive blocks would serve admirably as a pedestal."
For nearly nine years it has been my prayer, my hope and my endeavor to see the tomb of the founder of this com- munity surmounted by his statue; and it is with the deep- est reverence and most lively gratitude that in this centen- nial year of the foundation of the parish I thank Almighty God that my prayer has been heard, my hope realized, my endeavor crowned with success.
For this happy consummation wo of this community hereby make public acknowledgment of eternal indebtedness to one whose praise it is not necessary to proclaim; to one of whom we are and always will be proud; to an old Loretto boy, Mr. Charles M. Schwab, President of the great Carnegie Steel Company.
He then announced that he had a great surprise in store for all present, and especially for the members of the parish,
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and that it would be revealed in a letter handed to him a short time previously by Mr. C. M. Schwab, which he would proceed to read. as follows :
LORETTO, October loth, 1899. MY DEAR FATHER KITTELL:
Since our residence amongst the good people of Loretto and vicinity we have been so kindly received and so con- siderately treated by all that Mrs. Schwab and I would like to show our appreciation of their kindness by consummating, on this great day, a project which we have had in mind for some time.
Therefore, Dear Father Kittell, with your permission and that of the Rt. Rev. Bishop, we would like to present to this town and parish of my boyhood days, a new church (Here the vast audience raised a long and mighty cheer.) adapted to the requirements of your people-our friends.
Accept the same from us with our very best wishes. We trust work may be started at once. Sincerely yours,
MR. AND MRS. C. M. SCHWAB.
On concluding the reading of this letter the Rev. Chair- man introduced Mr. Schwab, who was greeted with the most enthusiastic applause as he stepped forward in full view of the people. After thanking them most sincerely for their cordial greeting, he delivered the following address:
"He believed that he was not born for himself but for the whole universe."
Thus spoke Lucanus of old of one whose deeds of bound- less benevolence live in immortal fame.
In vain the pages of history may be searched for another more deserving of this tribute, or one life that exemplified this unselfish belief more fully than that of the pioneer, priest and nobleman, noble by nature as by the title entailment of birth-who, one hundred years ago, founded this flourishing community, and whose life of heroic self-sacrifice for the spiritual and temporal welfare of our ancestors we of Cam- bria commemorate to-day upon the centennial anniversary of Loretto.
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What inspiration for the pen of a poet the life of Gallitzin affords! A descendant of rulers of European empires; kin to many of Russia's greatest statesmen, diplomats and counsel- ors of Peter the Great; of an ancestry distinguished on fields of battle where history was made. A prince of the Russian Imperial Court himself, trained to command hosts in the val- orous profession of arms; a life of glory, pomp and power was this young man's prospect at the age of 22. But he was born to other and nobler things, and flinging ambition and his princely expectations to the winds, he voluntarily banished himself from the favor of his Czar, renounced wealth, lofty titles, estates and all the dazzling splendor of imperialism that were his by right of birth, and became an exile in a far away land. All this he abjured to fulfill his duty to his fellow- man according to his own conception, which involved phys- ical peril, the pangs of hunger, and a life of self-abnegation which ended here on this mountain fifty-nine years ago among those he served and loved and who loved him.
The younger Pliny said that the orection of a monument is superfluous, as the memory of us will last if we have deserved it in our lives.
The memory of Prince Gallitzin and his noble work bas survived over half a century withont such reminders, and will endure for all time. He erected a monument more last- ing than metal or granite in the hearts of his devoted follow- ers and their children, but we wish our posterity and the generations yet unborn to believe that we of the present were not unmindful of the claims upon our tribute that his life imposed, and on this centennial anniversary of the parish, founded by the pioncer and Apostle of the Alleghenies, we dedicate this testimonial as a slight token of grateful remem- brance of the loving descendants of those who were sue- cored through hardship and adversity by him who endured mental and bodily anguish that they might not suffer.
Addressing the pastor, Rev. Ferdinard Kittell, he con- cluded:
Reverend Father: Mrs. Schwab and myself are pleased beyond expression to present through you to my native
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MOST REV. JOHN IRELAND, D. D. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. PAUL, MINN. THE ORATOR OF THE DAY.
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and beloved Loretto and the parish of which it is the center, this figure in bronze of its founder and benefactor of man- kind-Rev. Prince Demetrius Augustine de Gallitzin.
Mrs. Schwab then came to the front, and by simply pulling a string which ran over pulleys from the stand to the statue, thereby loosened the arms of the trolly-frame, in- vented by the pastor, which held the veil: and in an instant the arms opened and the frame slid down the inclined wire on which it was suspended, carrying with it the veil, and the statue of Father Gallitzin and its majestic polished granite base stood revealed in all their beauty. Then arose from the throats of the five thousand spectators such a cheer as never before echoed over the old Alleghenies. and many wept for very joy.
When the excitement had finally subsided, for it contin- ued a considerable time. the Rev. Chairman introduced the . Most Rev. John Ireland. D. D., the illustrious Archbishop of St. Paul, who had kindly consented to respond for the pas- tor and parishioners to the noble address of Mr. Schwab. He spoke as follows:
There are men whom the friends of humanity and of God would wish to see live forever-men whose life was an inspir- ing example to their fellows, whose passage over earth was as a visit of beings from a higher world. Let us strive at least, as best we may. to send down over the stream of time their memories and the influence of their power-erecting to them enduring monuments. writing their acts and words on the scroll of story. reproducing in our lives something of their lives.
Of such men Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin was a noble exemplar. Truly great was he: his name will not be forgot- ten by Loretto, by America, by the Catholic Church, by hu- manity itself. The truly great men are the few. . Let us, if you will, forget the many who but come and go without being able to make themselves deserving of eternal fame: but when one passes over earth who is singularly worthy of admira- tion and love, let us guard well his memory and transmit it faithfully to future generations.
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..
Mon are great who are able to conceive a magnificent ideal through which they may confer precions bonetits npon humanity, and are able during the years allotted to them to live worthy of that ideal. And thus Gallitzin was great.
A statue is erected to him in the village of Loretto, amid the Allegheny mountains of America, It might have been that his statne would grace to-day a public square of Berlin, or of St. Petersburg, and that the passers-by would point to it as the monment of a noted warrior or a noted statesman, In Loretto the monument tells of a priest of the Church of God, of a pioneer missionary through these mountain ranges; but as such Gallitzin is great, aye, greater than he could have been had he been the warrior or the statesman in the capital cities of European countries.
Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin was born of a most illus- trious family: he was the heir to large estates in Russia: ho was appointed an officer in the Austrian army: he was called by the sovereign of Russia to be a chieftain in the armies of that great empire. His education had been such as to fit him for a magnificent career, to put him side by side with the great warriors and statesmen of Europe. Yet in a moment of communion with Heaven he offered himself to the Almighty to be a priest, and for the sake of the Christian priesthood he set aside all earthly hopes, all carthly ambitions.
He had come to America to journey through the young republic and study its institutions, with the intention of re- turning soon to Europe and there taking the high position to which birth, wealth and talent entitled him. The thought of dedicating himself to God in the priesthood came to him while he was visiting the city of Baltimore.
A priest, with God's help, I will be, he said, He entered the seminary of Baltimore, and after a few years he was ordained a priest. How are we to explain this sudden change in the career of Gallitzin ? His noble mind had lifted him up as in vision to the skies; he had scen that he could do more for God and for humanity by devoting himself to the ministry of Christ, than by following in the wake of kings
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and emperors. The priesthood of Christ is, indeed, the noblest, the grandest career that opens to a child of man.
When Christ Jesus, the Son of the Most High, walked upon earth, he was a priest, a being commissioned by the Eternal Father to reconcile humanity with Heaven, to in- voke upon humanity the graces of Heaven, and to lift up humanity even to the throne of the Almighty. Christ in- stituted the priesthood to continue upon carth His own mission: and no work is so divine, because no work brings man so closely to God, as the priesthood. We must see things as God sees them: glorious as earthly crowns may be, worthy as they may be of human ambition, high above them in the eye of God is the eternal priesthood of His Incarnate Son.
And what work confers so great benefits upon humanity as the work of the priesthood worthily accomplished ? The purpose of the priesthood is to save the souls of men. to put them into nion with Christ, to open to thom the gates of eternal glory. The work of the priesthood is to bring down the dow of Heaven upon souls of mon, to strengthen them, console them, guard thom against sin, to procure for human- ity oven upon earth a happiness sweeter than anght else conld procure for it, and finally to crown the life upon earth with the glories of the life in Heaven.
Callitzin, in the light of faith, understood the grandeur of the priesthood: it was to him no too arduous sacrifice to turn away from a brilliant worldly freer; no sacrifice to bid farewell to rich estates. He abandoned earth for Hlavou; he abandoned courts and armies for the Christian priesthood.
Oh, sonl of Gallitzin, [ can fancy theo soaring upwards towards the skies, and saying. Oh, for the sake of God, for the sake of God's people. } put aside ambitions of carth: 1 choose as my portion humility, poverty. sacrifice. Great is the soul capable of sacrifice, capable of grasping a high ideal. -- and such the soul of Gallitzin.
Gallitzin vowed himself to the priesthood in America. Why in America? Hore is a further proof of the grandeur of his soul, of his earnestness in the consecration of himself
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to the priesthood. He was told . by his father and by his friends that if he wished to be a priest he should at least return to Europe where illustrious episcopal sees would fall to his lot. Had he hearkened to their prayers, he might one day have become a prince-bishop in Germany as his school- mate Von Droste became the prince-bishop of Cologne. A play-fellow of his became King of Holland; he would have opened to him avenues to highest preferment in his kingdom. Gallitzin could have been a priest in Europe and there gath- ered around his priesthood whatever carth could give to dec- orate, in the eyes of men, the priesthood. But, he said: I will be a priest in America, because here in 'America I take to myself the priesthood for its own merits; if I become a priest where earthly glory awaits me, I shall perhaps be tempted to think much of the earthly glory and little of the priesthood of Christ. In America a hundred years ago to be a priest was to vow one's self to poverty, to constant sacrifice, to a life of ceaseless labor; naught but the beauty itself of the priesthood could there have won to it the youthful courtier and prince.
In America, too, there was more to be done for God and for humanity than in Europe, Here the harvest was abundant; the reapers, few. Only a few priests and one bishop were there in the United States; and Catholics wore scattered from one end of the country to the other, receiving the administra .- tions of religion once in a year, or, perhaps, once in two or three years. And in America Catholics were poor, and formed, both socially and politically, an unimportant and prestigeless element. The heart of Gallitzin went out to the Catholics of America, He said: Here I will stay, these I will serve. I will labor for my fellows who are most in need of me; I will be a priest for the sake of the priesthood alone. Oh, Gallitzin, truly was thy priesthood pure from all unholy alloy! Truly, was thy consecration of thyself to the Catho- lics of America disinterested and entire! Catholics of Amer- ica to-day thank thee; and invoke thy intercession with the eternal God that thy spirit of sacrifice burn brightly in the
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bosoms of tens of thousands of men and women to-day in America.
Gallitzin became a priest in America, -a priest in Loretto. Why in Loretto? Again because of his greatness of sonl. Placed at first in the missions of Eastern Pennsylvania he was one day called to visit a dying woman on the sminmit of the wild rangos of the Alleghenies. Hither he came a hundred years ago. The country was covered with dense forests; the wild beast and the Indian roamed through the wilderness. A few families were here already, Catholics, pioneers of the faith. Who to-day will not prononneo with deep emotion the name of the brave Capt. Michael MeGnire? Having fought for his country in the Revolutionary War, he sought, when peace had come, to make for himself and his children a home on the distant frontier, where land was cheap, and independ- ence of character was possible. His log hnt once crested to shelter him from rain and storm, he remembered holy Church; he was a child of the race of martyrs and mission- aries. Ho had secured a large tract of land; of this he marked out a portion as his gift to God, and sont word to the Bishop of Baltimore that four hundred acres were awaiting his good will. boretto, thon wast. indeed, cradled in the faith; thon hadst as thy founders stern Christians, and thon hadst the noble Callitzin as thy pioneer priest. Visiting the MeGnire settlement Gallitzin felt that here more than olso- where in America was there need of a priest: the place was so wild, so nninviting, that it was not to be hoped in the ordi- nary course of ecclesiastical appointment that a priest would come hither for years. Then, said he, I will come. I will labor where there is the greatest need: I will stand in the front of the battle where no one else is likely to be. He returned eastward, secured the permission of his bishop and again went his way to the Alleghenies. At the same time he gave yet further evidence of his grandeur of soul: he con- ceived a great ideal which would be carried out by his dwell- ing on the mountains. He was too great a man, too noble a priest, to be satisfied with common routine work. He could have lived on in Lancaster or in Conewago, doing quietly the
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work that came before him; but he said, let me do more. His sonl soared into superior regions, and his heart carried him wherever his ideas led. Let me, he said, take with me the Catholic people, scattered homeless through the cities of the ' east, and bring them out upon the land where they will have their own homes, where they will grow into social independ- ence, where they will no longer be the hewers of wood and drawers of water, slaves of others, Let me in free America bring them to free homes. By going on the mountains I will attract thither hundreds and hundreds, and to the mountains I will go.
Gallitzin was in America the pioneer in the work of Cath- olic colonization. From time to time during the century now past others, in one part or another of the country, did some- thing for Catholic colonization, enough to show in the country at large, what Loretto was showing in the Alleghenies, that Gallitzin bad grasped an idea, wondrons in its power for good, if duly put into effect, and that. Gallitzin's example, if continnonsly followed out in America, would have led to richest results for the Catholic Church and for Catholics in America. At the close of a century of Catholic American his- tory, we can say in all truth that if leading priests and lay- mon in the Church had worked systematically during this century to draw the people from the streets and slums of large cities and settle them out npon the land, advancing year after year further westward, the Catholic Church to-day in America would be a power so great that we do not dare con- template the vision for the grief which would take possession of our souls at the thought that such vision had not become a reality.
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