Souvenir of Loretto centenary, October 10, 1899 : 1799-1899 ,Saint Michael's Catholic Church, Part 25

Author: Kittell, Ferdinand, 1847-1927
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Cresson, Pa. : Swope Bros., Printers
Number of Pages: 490


USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Loretto > Souvenir of Loretto centenary, October 10, 1899 : 1799-1899 ,Saint Michael's Catholic Church > Part 25


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Misses Alice Carter, Katharine McAllister and Katharine Ward and Messrs. Smith and Riketts, of the Cathedral Choir, con- tributed largely to the excellence of the music rendered at the pon- tifical mass.


Otto E. Reinhardt, Mr. Schwab's secretary, had charge of the details of the Loretto Club's excursion yesterday and like all his affairs it was most successfully conducted. Mr. Reinhardt is an obliging and very courteous gentleman.


W. A. Kessler, of Braddock, was presented with a gold- headed cane by the members of the Loretto Club for his active serv- ices in assisting in the arrangements. The presentation speech was made by Mr. P. H. McGuire en route to Loretto, to which the recipient feelingly responded.


The device by which the unveiling of the monument was in- stantly effected by the releasing of a cord by Mrs. C. M. Schwab on the honored guests' stand, was the invention of the Rev. Father Kittell, pastor at Loretto. It consisted of a trolley system, operat- ed by wires and a dual cord, and discounts anything we have ever seen in that line in rapidity and accuracy.


The reverend and esteemed pastor at Loretto, Father Kittell, was the happiest man there yesterday, not only because of the suc- cessful consummation of the Centenary, but also because of the 'munificent additional gift yesterday offered by Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Schwab-a new church for Loretto, at which place he first offi- ciated after his ordination to the priesthood twenty-seven years ago.


A conspicuous personage was Governor William A. Stone, who was the guest of Charles Schwab, at the pretty summer residence-


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. of the latter at his home on the outskirts of the town. He ocen- pied a pew with the president of the Carnegie Steel Company at the pontifical mass in the morning and sat among the specially in- vited guests during the exercises of the afternoon.


Mingled in the assemblage were some. now burdened with the weight of years. who had seen the prince-priest as he trod over the same ground. There were thousands of the descendants of the men and women who had gathered around Father Gallitzin when he founded this mountain colony. It was a gathering from all the country around Loretto, and many had come from a long distance to witness this testimonial to the deeds of his life, which fifty-nine years since his death. are still cherished in the land which was the scene of his missionary labors.


The Altoona delegation of the Loretto Centenary and monu- ment unveiling went up on Johnstown Accommodation and Pa- cific Express yesterday morning. A special train from Pittsburg. carrying several hundreds from western points. had arrived at the little town before the Mountain City people got there. On arriv- ing at the Loretto Road Station, on the Cambria and Clearfield Railroad, a large variety of vehicles was waiting to receive them. Here were seen undoubted evidences of a gala day in the trappings of the horses and the decorations of the carriages and wagons. The national colors were conspicuous in the trimmings. When the town was reached it was observed that the place had indeed been prettily decorated. There were pretty arches, gay with bunting, contrasting with the evergreen of the mountain pine and hemlock. And there were noticeable throngs in the streets. al- though the crowd had not yet obtained the dimensions that it reached later in the day. All roads led to St. Michael's Church. The confirmation services, at which Monsignor Martinelli had offi- ciated, had already passed and the time had not yet arrived for the pontifical mass, to which tickets of admission were issued.


But interesting sights were to be seen. The vault under the monument containing the venerated remains of Dr. Gallitzin was open for inspection, and there was to be seen all that is left of Gallit- zin's body. By the light of a couple of matches, and afterwards of a candle, the Times representative was able to see distinctly. through the glass lid, the little that is left of the prince-priest's body. There is no semblance of a hinnan form remaining. The skull is to be seen, but the rest of the body's substance has passed into ashes. The vault was thronged with people. many of whom


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had never gazed on the little that is left of Dr. Gallitzin's body. The chapel in which Father Gallitzin officiated and the house in which he lived and died are near by and contain many interesting relics. The repairs which were necessary to prevent these buildings be- coming ruins have, however, removed much of the appearance that they had at the time of the missionary priest. But there can be seen the altar at which he officiated, a plain. little unpretentious affair. In the house are some of the articles of furniture that he used, conspicuous among them being his bed.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


MOST REV. SEBASTIAN MARTINELLI, O. S. A., D. D., ARCH- BISHOP OF EPHESUS, AND DELEGATE APOS- TOLIC TO THE UNITED STATES.


Monsignor Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate, who was the guest of Rev. Father Kittell, pastor of St. Michael's, Loretto, on the occasion of the unveiling of the Gallitzin monu- ment on October 10th, this year, has a charming personality. He has made an excellent impression in this country by his engaging manners, his thorough knowledge of things Amer- ican, and the case and fluency with which he speaks the Eng- lish language. These qualifications combined with his great executive ability and deep knowledge of Church affairs, led to his selection to the important post of ambassador plenipo- tentiary of the Pope in this country. He had studied Amer- ica, its customs and its people, and was familiar with its language and history long before he dreamed of represent- ing the Church in any capacity in this country. To this knowledge he added much by a visit of three months to the United States in 1893, at which time he visited the establish- ments of the Augustinian Order, and then spent some time at the Augustinian Monastery at Bryn Mawr, Pa., working for : the order.


Monsignor Martinelli is a charming talker. He is retir- ing and does not pretend to gifts of oratory. As a phi- losopher and theologian he stands high in the Church. He comes of a family which won distinction in the Church. The


MONSIGNOR MARTINELLI, THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATE.


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late Cardinal, Thomas Martinelli, was his brother, and another brother occupies a high office in the Augustinian Order. He was born near Lucca, Italy, August 20, 1848, and at the age of fifteen entered the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine. In a little more than a year he was made a monk. His ordination to the priesthood came six years later. During these years he was a teacher at the convent and college of the Irish Augustinians at their House of Santa Maria Pos- terula, on the banks of the Tiber at Rome. He was next chosen Assistant Secretary of the Holy Congregation of the Index, and was later made regent at the Irish House of the Augustinian Fathers, at Santa Maria Posterula. He became professor and master of theology, emeritus, and was recog- nized as one of the most learned of the order.


When Monsignor Martinelli was made Apostolic Delegate in 1896, he was prior general of the Augustinians, the highest position in the order. He had already held that office for six years, and had just been re-elected for another term of six years when the order of the Pope transferring him to this country came. As prior general he was head of the Augus- tinians throughout the world. His appointment was a sur- prise even to those who were supposed to be near the Pope, but the success of Monsignor Martinelli in guiding the Church in the United States during the last three years has confirmed the wisdom of Leo XIII. Early in the year it was rumored that he would receive further preferment at the hands of the Pope as Nunzio to Paris, but Monsignor Marti- nelli has always said that next to his native Italy he is most pleased with the United States.


RT. REV. RICHARD PHELAN, D. D., BISHOP OF PITTSBURG.


He was born in the townland of Sralee, near Ballyrag- get, County Kilkenny, Ireland, January 1, 1525. His par- ents, Michael Phelan and Mary Keoghan, were of respectable position and independent circumstances, and his ancestors, for generations before, had owned the homestead where he was born. He was the oldest of nine children, of whom four


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came to America. One entered the ranks of the clergy in Ireland, and is the Very Rev. Patrick Canon Phelan, P. P., in the Diocese of Ossory. Two of the daughters became nuns; one of the Order of St. Bridget, near her native place, and went on the mission in Australia; the other of the Order of Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburg.


He received his elementary education from private tutors in his father's house, and feeling himself destined for the sacred ministry, he entered St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny, to pursue the higher branches of study. His thoughts were carly turned towards the rising missions of America, and when the learned and saintly prelate, Rt. Rev. Michael O'Connor, first Bishop of Pittsburg, applied to St. Kieran's for stu- dents, he cast his lot with the new diocese, then embracing the western half of Pennsylvania. In December, 1849, ho came to the United States and resumed his studies in the old seminary of St. Michael, situated near the place where St. Michael's Church now stands in South Pittsburg ..


In September, 1851, he entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, where he received minor orders and was ordained Subdeacon and Deacon by Archbishop Kenrick. When the Diocese of Erie was formed (April 29, 1853), Bishop O'Con- nor was transferred from Pittsburg to that See, and the sub- ject of this sketch, while yet a. Deacon, was chosen for the new diocese.


Leaving Baltimore in the beginning of 1854 he hastened to Erie; but owing to the strong opposition which the removal of Bishop O'Connor had aroused in Pittsburg, his ordination did not take place as soon as the Bishop intended it should, and on account of the delay some weeks of the spring of 1854 were passed in the seminary at Cleveland, Ohio. In the meantime Bishop O'Connor had been recalled to Pittsburg (February 20, 1854), where in the chapel of the Episcopal residence, on May 4th, of the same year, he was raised to the priesthood.


His first appointment was to the small mission of Cam- . cron's Bottoms, in Indiana County. After a few months' service in this remote and lonely place he visited the city,


RT. REV. RICHARD PHELAN. D. D., BISHOP OF PITTSBURG.


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where the people were in dismay, the priests overworked and too few for the great and sorrowful duty that was before them. The dread cholera was in their midst, and during the autumn of 1854, cast a gloom of sadness and fear over Pitts- burg. Father Phelan unselfishly offered his services to administer to those suffering from the pestilence: and dur- ing the months that the plague claimed the greatest number of victims, he stood at his post to assist and console the stricken and dying. When the cholera abated he returned to Cameron's Bottoms, but only for a short time.


In February, 1855, he was called to St. Paul's Cathedral, where he labored for three years and a half, performing the varied round of duties of an assistant in a large city parish. besides occasionally looking after the spiritual welfare of several small congregations in the outlying country districts. He was then appointed to the charge of Freeport, Kittanning and the smaller missions of a territory which now contains a number of flourishing congregations with resident pastors. During his residence at Freeport he purchased a cemetery, paid for a house for the pastor, repaired and improved the church, and also secured the ground-and began preparations for the church at Natrona, which was erected after his de- parture.


In 1868 Very Rev. Tobias Mullen was appointed Bishop of Erie, and on July 21st of that year Father Phelan was named to succeed him in the pastorate of St. Peter's Church, Allegheny City. Here, under his able management, several lots adjoining those already owned by the congregation on the corner of West Ohio Street and Sherman Avenue, were purchased, the new and stately church was erected, the handsome residence fronting on the park was built, and other improvements made. The corner-stone of the church was laid April 16, 1871. The building was completed in three years, and solemnly dedicated on Sunday, July 5, 1874.


Rt. Rev. M. Domenec, who succeeded Bishop O'Connor, and Rt. Rev. J. Tuigg, who succeeded Bishop Domenec, both in turn chose Father Phelan to administer the affairs of the diocese during their absence in Europe. After the return of


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Bishop Thigg from Romo in 1882, Father Phelan hold the responsible position of Vicar General until his consecration, August 2, 1885, as titular Bishop of Cybara, and Coadjutor, with right of succession, to Rt. Rev Bishop Tnigg, who, on account of sickness could no longer perform the duties of his office.


Bishop Tuigg died in Altoona, December 7, 1889, and at his death Bishop Phelan became Bishop of Pittsburg. In June, 1891, he left the parish, in which twenty-three years of his life had been spent, to occupy the Episcopal Residence, Grant Street, Pittsburg.


Half a century has rolled away since first he came to Pittsburg, and in this half century there have been great changes in the conditions of the Church in the diocese, as well as in his own life. In 1850 the Diocese of Pittsburg had about 25 priests, 35 churches,-the greater part of them small and plain, -and a Catholic population thatdid not exceed 40,000. Catholics were not only few in number, but they were, as a rule, without wealth, position or influence. Since then he has beheld a flourishing organization formed around him. Priests have been ordained, churches built, asylums and hos- pitals erected, parochial sclfools founded in almost every parish, religious orders, male and female, multiplied, and the broad foundations laid by the first Bishop of Pittsburg, built up year by year. The fourth Bishop of the See finds the 35 houses for divine worship grown into 245, and the 25 clergy- men into 222 diocesans, and about 150 regulars. Where fifty years ago were ten schools there are now 122, with some 30,000 children attending. The less than 40,000 Catholics have now become 300,000. When Father Phelan began his work in the sacred ministry religious prejudices ran high, and misguided men said and did things which it were better not to recall. Placed in the most trying positions, he always disarmed bigotry by his straightforward adherence to prin- ciples of justice and charity towards all men, and by his con- siderate treatment of those who in belief and worship were separated from him.


:


RT. REV. A. A. CURTIS, D. D.


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He is now at the threshold of his 72d year, and his rugged constitution bids fair to carry the birthons of many more years of a useful life.


RT. REV. ALFRED A. CURTIS, D. D., TITULAR BISHOP OF ECHINUS.


He was born in Somerset County, Maryland, July 4, 1831. Feeling an inclination for a religious life he studied for the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was made minister in September, 1856. In April. 1872, he abjured Protestantism and was reconciled with the Church in Edge- baston, Birmingham, England. Returning to this country he was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral, Balti- more, on December 19, 1874. Was consecrated Bishop of Wilmington, Del., in November, 1886, and resigned his See in May, 1897. He is now Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and resides with the Cardinal Archbishop.


CHARLES M. SCHWAB.


One of the men niversally recognized as pre-eminent among those who have built up the iron and steel industry of America to its present stage of development, where it leads the world and ranks commercially secondarily only to the ag- rienltural and transportation interests of the country, is Charles M. Schwab, President of the Carnegie Steel Com- pany, Limited, Pittsburg, Pa. The progress made in the United States in the branch of manufacturing with which Mr. Schwab is associated is unparalleled in the industrial history of the world, and few men have been more conspien- ously identified with its advancement or could be accorded a modicum of credit greater for the result than this gentleman.


He is a native of Pennsylvania and was born February 18th, 1862, at Williamsburg, Blair County. His remote pro- genitors were Germans, but his parents are native Ameri- cans. His father was a woolen manufacturer in Williams- burg for many years. In 1872 the family located in Loretto, Cambria County, Pa., where young Schwab attended St. Francis' College, taking a scientific course under the tutelage


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of the Franciscan Friars. When but a small youth, before he became a student, his time was employed on the farm and in driving the coach which carried visiting relatives of the students from the railway station to the college, and there are many who still have a pleasant remembrance of the Pres- ident of the Carnegie Steel Company as that smiling, chubby, courteous lad, who met them at tho Loretto Station with the college carry-all twenty-five years ago.


In July, 1880, he graduated from college and immediately set out to earn his livelihood. During the same month he en- gaged to take a position in a grocery store at Braddock, Pa., and thus the executive head of the largest steel manufactur- ing enterprise in the world began his career. The gro- cery trade, however, did not impress the young man as prom- ising limitless opportunities, and when after two months' ex- perience behind the sugar counter, he found an opening more suited to his tastes and abilities, he relinquished his first po- sition to enter the service of the Carnegie Steel Company, Lilnited, in the engineering department.


His ambition was to become an engineer, and the story of how he succeeded in that is part of the familiar history of the American steel industry for the last fifteen years during the period of its marvelous expansion. His beginning as an engineer was at the bottom. The first duty assigned to him was stake driving with the corps under P. F. Brendlinger at the Edgar Thomson Works, Bessemer. From the outstart it was evident to his superiors that the young man was capable of filling any position in the department, and the transition in his fortunes was consequently rapid. In six months he was appointed chief engineer, and while at the head of the engineering department supervised the construc- tion of eight of the blast furnaces now comprising the Edgar Thomson plant, which is the most extensive one in operation.


·


Mr. Schwab also originated other engineering works of considerable magnitude at Bessemer, including an addition to the rail mill capacity which gave the works an output ex- ceeding any mill in the world, and with improved blast fur- nace and steel conversion practice effected such large econo-


C. M. SCHWAB.


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mies in manufacturing cost as to make competition possible in the markets of the world to the extent that the product of this mill is now to be found in every quarter of the globe where railroads are operated. He continued as chief en- gineer and assistant manager of the Edgar Thomson furnaces and rail mill from 1881 to 1887. The late Captain William R. Jones, whose enduring works must ever be associated with the early development of the American steel industry, was gen- eral manager of the plant at that time, and showed abiding faith in the genius and capacity of his assistant.


Mr. Schwab co-operated with Captain Jones in the de- velopment and practical demonstration of the invention known as the "metal mixer," which has made Captain Jones' name . almost as famous in the steel industry throughout the world as those of Sir Henry Bessemer, Siemens and other ro- nowned metallurgists, whose genins has made steel man- facture on the present day seale possible. By the metal mix- ing process molten iron instead of cold pig iron is used in stool making; the initial heat of the iron as it comes from the blast furnace being retained by running the molten metal into a large mixing reservoir, thus facilitating its conversion into steel, and saving the labor and expense of casting the iron into pigs in sand beds and remelting.


This method, before its snecessful demonstration by Cap- tain Jones and Mr. Schwab, was considered impracticable by experts, as it was feared the molten metal would chill before it reached the steel converter, causing disastrous delays and losses, but with the daring characteristics of all their achieve- ments Jones and Schwab discarded the iron making practice of nearly fifty years and persevered with nutiring resolution until they triumphod.


The process is now followed in every large works in the United States and Enrope, as it greatly reduced manufactur- ing cost and relieved blast furnace operatives of the most ex- hausting drudgery man ever performed.


In 1887 Mr. Schwab was appointed Superintendent of the Homestead works of the Carnegie Steel Company and recon- structed the entire establishment, making it the largest mill


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in the world producing steel blooms, billets, structural shapes, bridge steel, boiler, armor, ship and tank plate and steel castings.


Shortly after Mr. Schwab assumed the management of the Homestead works, the Carnegie Company undertook the manufacture of armor plate for the United States Navy at the request of the Navy Department, and the success attend- ing this great enterprise from the first day of operation may be attributed to the engineer's clear perception of the mechanical and metallurgical difficulties involved, and the manner in which he overcaine obstacles in the work seeming- ly insuperable. No branch of the steel industry presented in its inception such hazards to the engineer and steel maker as did the armor plate manufacture, and the work accom- plished by Mr. Schwab was particularly creditable from the fact that he succeeded from the outstart while every previous attempt failed at the beginning, and armor was not produced successfully until after a long experimentative period.


Mr. Schwab remained at Homestead as Superintendent until October, 1889, when upon the death of Capt. William R. Jones, resulting from an accident at the Edgar Thomson Works, he was appointed General Superintendent of the Edgar Thomson works and furnaces.


In 1892 the Homestead works were again placed under Mr. Schwab's management for the second time and with headquarters at Homestead he directed the operation of both the Edgar Thomson and Homestead plants. He was elected a member of the Board of Managers in 1896, and in February, 1897, ho succeeded John G. A. Leishman as President of the Carnegie Company.


This, in brief, is the record of Charles M. Schwab's career from the country boy on the driver's seat of the college coach to the president's chair of one of the largest commercial in- stitutions of the world,


Among European engineersand metallurgists, Mr. Schwab is ranked with the foremost men of the profession throughout the world. His services to the iron and steel industries are highly valued abroad and have been amply rewarded, as many


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of the rolling mill devices and steel works equipments now `used in Europe are the inventions of the Pittsburg engineer. He holds membership in various scientific and industrial organizations in America and Europe, including the Ameri- ican Iron and Steel Association, the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the British Iron and Steel Institute.


Mr. Schwab possesses a forceful character, koon judg- ment and a manner openly frank and unassuming, but the predominating trait of his nature is a gentle, affable and sym- pathetic temperament which prompts a feeling of admiration and has won the friendship of all who have met him.


Appreciating the necessity of training the youth of to- day that they may be self-dependent in after life, Mr. Schwab founded and equipped a freepoly technic schoolin Homestead in which instruction is given in mechanical drawing, rudiment- ary engineering and kindred practical studies. The school is conducted as a branch of the state schools, and has been such a gratifying success that the founder now contemplates building and equipping a training school for girls. His beneficence has been well applied in this undertaking as well as to numerous public charities which he liberally but quietly supports. He is a director of the Mercy Hospital of Pitts- burg, which was organized by the late Thomas M. Carnegie and others.


Mr. Schwab is endeavoring to do as much to make Pitts- burg the American home of art as he has done to make that city the work-shop of the world: contributing liberally to every enterprise promoted in furtherance of that objeet. Ho has given substantial encouragement to the many musical organizations in and about Pittsburg, and is defraying the expenses of an European education of more than one promis- ing artist. He is a musician of no mean order himself and takes an enthusiastic interest in everything devoted to the æesthetic taste of the public. He is connected with a nmm- ber of social organizations, including the Pittsburg and Du- quesne Clubs of Pittsburg, and the Metropolitan Club of Washington. His sponsor in the latter organization was Ad-




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