FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND FREEDOM
The Charter Establishing Pennsylvania
King Charles of England owed William Penn £16,000, money which Admiral Penn had lent the king. Seeking a haven in the new world for persecuted Friends (Quakers), Penn asked the King to grant him the land between Lord Baltimore's province of Maryland and the Duke of York's province of New York. The King signed the charter of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681. It was to include the land between the 39th and 42nd degrees of north latitude and from the Delaware river westward for five degrees of longitude. It was and still holds the record as the largest land grant ever given to a commoner. William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania -Penn's Woods, in October of 1682 on the ship Welcome. He visited Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love, just laid out as the capital city, created the three original counties and summoned a General Assembly in December. On December 7th, 1682 the first assembly adopted the "Great Law" a humanitarian code that became the fundamental basis of Pennsylvania law and which guaranteed liberty of conscience. Although Penn was granted all the land in Pennsylvania, he and his heirs chose not to grant or settle any part of it without first buying the claims of the Indians who lived their. In this manner, all of Pennsylvania except for the northwestern third was purchased by 1768. The Commonwealth bought the remaining lands in 1784-85, and 1789.
The First Settlers
English Quakers were the dominant element along with English Anglicans. Philadelphia became the metropolis of the British colonies and a center of intellectual and commercial life. Thousands of Germans were also attracted to the region and by the time of the Revolution, comprised a third of the population. The Germans populated the interior central counties. The first wave of Scotch-Irish came from about 1717 until the Revolution. Fleeing the hardships of the old-world, they were primarily the frontiersmen who ventured into the far central and western regions of Pennsylvania. The first Catholic congregation was organized in Philadelphia in 1720, and the first Catholic Church erected in 1733.
Despite Quaker opposition to slavery, about 4,000 slaves were brought to Pennsylvania by 1730. The 1790 census showed that the number of slaves had increased to 10,000 of whom about 6,300 had received their freedom. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 was the first emancipation statute in the United States.
The Colonial Wars
Western Pennsylvania was a hard and challenging place to live during these times. In the 1700's, what was to become Pittsburgh was the western frontier of a vast continent. The area was inhabited by Shawnee, Delaware, and Seneca tribes of Native Americans. European kingdoms coveted control of the land as a strategic point for further western exploration and trade. The territory claimed by New France included western Pennsylvania. The French efforts in 1753-1754 to establish control over the upper Ohio Valley led to the last and conclusive colonial war, the French and Indian war (1754-1763). French forts at Eire (Fort Presque Isle), Waterford (Fort LeBoeuf), Pittsburgh (Fort Duquesne), and Franklin (Fort Machault) threatened the British middle colonies.
In 1753 young Major George Washington was sent to survey the area of western Pennsylvania and warn the French against further encroachment on territory claimed by Britain. Washington failed. In 1754 Washington, now a 22 year old lieutenant colonel led British troops to take the "Point" at the forks of the Ohio.
With the French advancing toward him, Washington quickly built fortifications known as "Fort Necessity". In a skirmish, the French Commander Monsieur de Jumonville was killed. Washington drew back to Fort Necessity and there the British forces were overwhelmed on July 3 by the French in an all day battle. Washington surrendered and was permitted to march his troops back to Williamsburg under the terms of his surrender. Washington volunteered to join General Braddock's expedition against the French and their Indian allies. In the ensuing war, General Braddock's British and colonial army was slaughtered on the Monongahela River in 1755, near present day town of Braddock. Washington urged Braddock to adopt frontier style fighting but the traditional European style was continued with disastrous results for Braddock.
Despite the debacle, Washington was promoted to colonel. Washington later accompanied the campaign of General John Forbes (the Forbes Road) and the British recaptured the site of Pittsburgh in 1758 and the place was named Fort Pitt after William Pitt the Elder, Prime Minister of England. After the French and Indian war, the Indians rose up against the British colonies in Pontiac's war, but in August of 1763, Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated them at Bushy Run, forever ending the threat to the frontier in this region. The Indians migrated westward, gradually leaving Pennsylvania.
CATHOLIC FAITH IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA – THE SEEDS OF FAITH
It is probable that the first mass was conducted by Father Bonnecamp, a Jesuit priest, who accompanied Celeron in his exploration along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers in 1749. Other records show the First Mass was celebrated by Father Denis Baron in 1754, chaplain at Fort Duquesne.
The first known place of public worship was a chapel erected by the French in the stockade of Fort Duquesne some time in 1754 and dedicated under the title "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin of the Beautiful River". In those days and for a long time afterwards, the Ohio -on account of its clear water and rugged scenery- was known as the "beautiful river". After the departure of the French, for thirty to forty years the Catholic religion was almost without adherents in Western Pennsylvania.
As the western part of the state was settled, the Catholics gained a foothold. In 1784 with about 75 catholic families along the Chartiers creek and up the Monongahela valley, the superior of clergy in the United States, the Reverend John Carroll, was petitioned in Baltimore to send a priest to the area once or twice a year. Priests were scarce and the request could not be met. The first priest to pass through western Pennsylvania and minister to the Catholics there was a Carmelite, Father Paul, who came in 1785. In 1787 a Capuchin, Father Whalen remained in the area a short time. In 1793 the Reverends Banden and Barrieres came to Pittsburgh and remained from September through November. In the winter of 1796-97, The Reverend Fournier was here for fourteen weeks.
The Faith Takes Root
In 1787, the first permanent Catholic settlement known as "Sportsman's Hall" in Unity Township, Westmoreland County (near present day Latrobe) was established. The site later became Saint Vincent Archabbey, the first Benedictine monastery in the United States. Catholic settlements migrated
from this point to Greensburg in 1789 and Waynesburg in Greene County in 1799. Also In 1799 the Reverend Demetrius Gallitzin (Prince Gallitzin) came to reside with a colony of Catholics in Loretto in Cambria County. Father Gallitzin's mission field included much of what became the diocese of Pittsburgh. In 1805 the Reverend Phaelan established a church in Sugar Creek, in Armstrong County.
The First Church
In 1808 the Reverend O'Brian became the first resident pastor in Pittsburgh and established the first church, Saint Patrick’s. The church was built on a parcel of land from a Revolutionary war veteran. The present day Saint Patrick's church of this parish is the direct decedent of this first church. In 1811 Saint Patrick's was dedicated by Bishop Egan and the sacrament of confirmation was administered. It was the first visit by a bishop to this part of the state. In 1820 due to ill health Father O'Brian retired. He was succeeded by the Reverend Maguire. In 1827 work was begun on a new church, Saint Paul's. It was finished and dedicated May 4, 1834 and was the largest and most imposing church edifice in the United States. In 1828 the Poor Claire nuns came to Pittsburgh and established a convent and academy on Nunnery Hill in Allegheny City -present day North Side of Pittsburgh. Father O'Brian died of cholera in 1833. Reverend O'Reilly succeeded him.
The first community of religious men was established in Pittsburgh in April of 1839, the Fathers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In 1843 the division of the State of Pennsylvania into two ' dioceses was approved and the Diocese of Pittsburgh was established from the Diocese of Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh Diocese covered "western" Pennsylvania. There were 33 churches, 16 priests and just under 25,000 Catholics. In 1844 the "Pittsburgh Catholic" began publication and is the oldest Catholic newspaper in continuous publication in the United States. Visit the Pittsburgh Catholic web site at www.pittsburghcatholic.org.
The First Parish - Saint Patrick
Founded in 1808. This 1850 drawing shows the Pennsylvania Canal and the footbridge at Liberty and Washington Streets. Faber's Foundry in left center and Saint Patrick Church (circled) at the footbridge.
The Second Parish - Saint Paul
St. Paul was founded in 1834. Before St. Paul was established, the city had only one Catholic parish, St. Patrick. As the population of the city grew in the 1820's, it soon became obvious that the city would need another church to accommodate the growing Catholic congregation. The committee chose a lot on the corner of Grant
Street and Fifth Avenue. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on June 24, 1829. However, the congregation was not wealthy and fund raising was slow. As a result, the church was not ready for occupancy until 1834. Even at that time, the church was not completed as the tower was not finished (it never was finished). On May 4, 1834, St. Paul was dedicated.
The next milestone in the history of the church occurred in 1843, when Pittsburgh became a diocese and St. Paul became the diocesan Cathedral. In 1844, the city of Pittsburgh decided to grade off the hill upon which the Cathedral sat. The streets were lowered a second time in 1847. As a result, the church ended up sitting on a mound of dirt towering 30 feet over the surrounding streets. This caused an undermining of the foundation. On January 27, 1850, a parish meeting determined that the church would have to be torn down and the lot graded off to the level of the street. Fund raising for a new church began immediately. However, before the parish could act, a fire destroyed the church on May 6, 1851. Work immediately began on the new church and the cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1851. In September of 1853, the basement was completed and used for services. On June 24, 1855, the Cathedral was consecrated. The Cathedral served the community for the remainder of the century. However, by the turn of the twentieth century, the expansion of the business district made it necessary to move the Cathedral. In a meeting held on April 9, 1901, the decision was made to sell the existing property and buy another lot of land at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in Oakland. The last Mass was celebrated on May 10, 1903. The church was torn down and the site is now occupied by the Union Trust Building. A new parish, Epiphany, was
founded for the remaining parishioners. While the new Cathedral was being built, Epiphany also served as a temporary Cathedral. The cornerstone for the new Cathedral was laid on September 6, 1903 and the completed building was dedicated on October 24, 1906. The Cathedral still stands today.
The Third Parish - Saint Philomena
Saint Philomena was founded in 1839, the first German ethnic parish in the diocese. It was called the "factory church" since the first worship site was in a former industrial building. The church was first located in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. Among the priests who served at Saint Philomena were Saint John Neumann and Blessed Francis Seelos. Saint John Neumann remarked that during his Pittsburgh stay he did the impossible by building a church when the parish had no money. Also during his time here he wrote two catechisms that were widely used for decades after their completion. Saint John Neumann is also noted for his establishment and support of the parochial school system. The cornerstone of the second church was laid on May 26, 1842 and the completed church was dedicated on October 4, 1846.
Due to the growing commercialization of the Strip District over time, the parish was no longer viable in its original location. On April 15, 1922, the church was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The last Mass held in Saint Philomena in the Strip District on November 16, 1925. Saint Philomena was then relocated in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. The first Mass was held in the new Saint Philomena occurred on June 4, 1922. The church served the community for 70 years, but eventually, population loss in the city led to the closing of the parish. As part of the Diocesan reorganization and revitalization, Saint Philomena closed in 1993 and the church was sold shortly afterwards.
The Fourth Parish
Saint Philip in Crafton was founded in 1839. The origin of the parish can be traced back a decade earlier when a local farmer arranged for a priest from Pittsburgh to come to his house once a week to celebrate Mass. The other three weeks of the month, local Catholics had to travel to the city to attend Mass.
By 1838, the local Catholics decided to build a church. Land was purchased on August 20, 1838, and work soon began on a small brick church. This church was dedicated on July 25,1839. At first, the parish was a mission of St. Paul, but in 1840 became a mission of St. Patrick in Pittsburgh. When St. James parish, West End, was founded in 1854, St. Philip was attached to that parish as a mission. Sometime during the 1860's the church was enlarged by a 25 foot addition. In 1870, St. Luke, Carnegie was founded and took responsibility for St. Philip. Four years later, St. Philip became an independent parish with the assignment of its first resident pastor. has been modernized and renovated, but the basic structure still remains and the church continues to serve the congregation.
The Fifth Parish
Saint Mary was founded in 1840 in the area then called Pine Creek, now Glenshaw. The origins of the church can be traced to 1835 when a group of local Catholics took it upon themselves to build a log church. The church served as a mission of Saint Patrick, Strip District until 1839, when it became a mission of Saint Philomena. On August 15, 1840, the property upon which the church was located was transferred by deed to the Bishop of Pittsburgh. This marks the beginning of the parish, although it still continued as a mission of Saint Philomena. Not until November 1847 was a resident pastor assigned to the church. This church served the congregation until 1866 when it was torn down and replaced by a larger brick church in 1867. This second church served the congregation for nearly a century. The movement of population from the city of Pittsburgh to the suburbs in the 1950's and 1960's led to the need of a larger church. The new church was dedicated on August 30, 1964
Allegheny County - First Twenty Parishes
1808 St Patrick - Downtown, to Strip District
1834 St Paul - Downtown, to Oakland (Elevated to Cathedral in 1843)
1839 St Philomena - Strip District, to Squirrel Hill
1839 St Philip - Crafton
1840 St Mary Assumption - Glenshaw
1845 St Joseph - O'Hara Township
1846 St Peter - McKeesport
1848 St Michael - South Side
1848 St Mary - North Side
1850 St Peter - North Side
1851 St Michael - Elizabeth
1852 St Mary - Sharpsburg
1853 St Mary - Aleppo Township
1853 St James - West End
1853 St John Evangelist - South Side
1853 St Brigid - Hill District
1853 St Mary - Lawrenceville
1854 St Thomas - Braddock
1855 St Mary - McKees Rocks
1856 Holy Trinity - Hill District
Butler County - First Ten Parishes
1821 St Peter - Butler
1841 St Alphonsus - Murrinsville
1842 St Mary Assumption - Herman
1845 St Joseph - North Oakland
1845 St Wendolan - Carbon Center
1853 St John - Coylesville
1867 St Paul - Butler
1874 St James - Petrolia
1875 Mater Dolorosa - Chicora
1876 St Joseph - Oakland
Beaver County - First Ten Parishes
1830 Sts Peter and Paul - Beaver
1837 St Cecelia - Rochester
1854 St Rose of Lima - Darlington
1862 St Joseph - New Brighton
1866 St John Baptist - Baden
1871 St Mary - Beaver Falls
1871 St Theresa - Koppel
1888 St John Baptist - Monaca
1892 St Joseph - West Aliquippa
1904 St Veronica - Ambridge
Lawrence County - First Ten Parishes
1845 St James Apostle - New Bedford
1852 St Mary - New Castle
1888 St Joseph Worker - New Castle
1895 St Agatha - Ellwood City
1901 St Vitus - New Castle
1902 Madonna Czestochowa - New Castle
1902 St Monica - Wampum
1904 St Margaret - New Castle
1906 St Lawrence - Hillsville
1909 St Anthony - Bessemer
Washington County - First Ten Parishes
1837 St James - West Alexander
1855 Immaculate Conception - Washington
1865 Transfiguration - Monongahela
1875 Sacred Heart - Claysville
1880 St Jerome - Charleroi
1888 St Thomas Aquinas - California
1891 St Patrick - Canonsburg
1892 St Alphonsus - McDonald
1893 St Francis - Finleyville
1901 Sts Cyril & Method - Charleroi
Greene County Parishes
1839 St Ann - Waynesburg
1923 Our Lady of Consolation - Nemacolin
1925 Sacred Heart - Rice's Landing
1925 St Mary - Crucible
1928 St Ignatius - Bobtown
1928 St Marcellus - Jefferson
1941 Holy Family - Greensboro
1952 St Hugh - Carmichaels
1992 St Thomas - Clarksville
The Parish Location
The parish is rich in history and tradition. Most immigrants left the Old World for the promise of a better earthly life. Foreigners in the New World, their faith in God sustained many of these families and hardships were overcome. The sacrifice of those generations laid the foundation for our success today. Through God's grace the parish is seeing a rebirth and growth, not only as a "service" parish but as a Faith Community. In the early 1900's over 7,000 families lived in the Strip. Over the decades, the area lost its resident population. The 2000 census listed just 160 families residing in the Strip. With the population shift to the suburbs, most urban parishes saw their membership decline. In 1993 as part of the diocese's revitalization and reorganization plan the churches of Saint Patrick, the first parish of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Saint Stanislaus Kostka, founded in 1875 as the first ethnic Polish parish, and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, founded in 1895 and the first ethnic Slovak parish in the city, were united into one parish: Saint Patrick- Saint Stanislaus Kostka Parish.
Life was difficult for most of the immigrants of the 1800's. What is today's "Strip District" was known as Bayardstown (also as O'Haraville, Northern Liberties, and Denny's Bottoms). Bayardstown was a rough and tumble area of the city known for its marauding gangs and Election Day brawls. The city's first public bath house was established in the Strip at 16th and Penn in 1897 by Mrs. William Thaw, Jr. in memory of her husband. Among the railroad yards, factories and row houses that occupied this section of the city with their dirt, noise and confusion, where everyday life was hard and dangerous, the Poles did what they had done in Poland, built a church as an oasis of beauty, built for the future generation. Faith, through art and architecture opposed the temporariness and imperfections around them. As carved in stone over the great rose window and portal doors “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.”
During the Great Depression of the 1930's, shanty towns called "Hooverville" sprang up in and around the Strip. Out of work and homeless became the norm rather than the exception for thousands of men, women and children.
The Parish Begins
The first Poles of Pittsburgh, most coming from the West Prussia region, tended to cluster in Allegheny City, now the North Side of Pittsburgh and worshiping at Saint Wenceslas -a Bohemian ethnic parish. Poles also settled in Birmingham, now the South Side of Pittsburgh, worshiping at Saint Michael, a German ethnic parish. In 1873, some 200 Polish families joined to form the Saint Stanislaus Beneficial Society to preserve the Polish traditions and customs and to form a Polish ethnic parish.
In November of 1875 a former Presbyterian church on Penn Avenue between 15th and 16th streets was purchased. The building was consecrated and became Saint Stanislaus Kostka church. The first ethnic Polish Catholic church in Pittsburgh. The first pastor was a Passionist priest, Father Anthony Klawiter. A school was established in the church basement with lay parishioners serving as teachers. In 1877 Father Klawiter left the parish. For the next nine years the parish was served by a number of priests primarily Passionists and Benedictines. In 1886 the Holy Ghost fathers were assigned to the parish. The Spiritan Fathers served the parish until 1997.
In 1887 the original church building was sold and a school, church and rectory were built at 22nd and Smallman Streets. In 1888 five Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo came from Silesia in Poland to Pittsburgh to take charge of the school. In 1891, 13 acres were purchased in Millvale for the parish cemetery and the property at the corner of 215t and Smallman was purchased for the new church. Under the Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo, the school enrollment grew from 300 to 700 students within four years. At the same time, so many young women of the parish became interested in joining the sisters that the community soon established its first American novitiate and began accepting postulants
With unrest in Poland and Silesia under German control, the sisters were recalled to Poland in 1895. The youngest of the five original Borromean nuns, Sister Collette Hilbert, was granted permission to remain in the United States. Along with four American postulants, they settled in Trenton, New Jersey. Sister Collette, became Mother Collette, foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Joseph, a religious community that flourishes to this day. The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, replaced the Borromean nuns. Among their numbers was the order's foundress, Blessed Mother Frances Siedliska. The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth served the parish school until it was closed in 1958.
The Saints Among Us
The Strip District was a fertile field for God's sons and daughters to labor in. Serving God meant caring for His people on earth. We are all called to sainthood and the tireless love of the following holy men and women is a reminder to all of us that with God, all things are possible.
Blessed Frances Siedliska at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church
To the greater glory of God, on April 23, 1989, Mother Frances Siedliska was beatified by Pope John Paul II. Frances Siedliska was born on 12 November 1842 at her family estate at Roszkowa Wola, Poland in the midst of the wealth and culture of Polish nobility. From early childhood, Frances responded to God's grace: she possessed a brilliant mind, a great heart, generous ardor for doing good and a gift of attracting souls who desired to dedicate themselves completely to God. Divine Providence favored her with remarkable personal gifts which she would use to found a religious congregation. It was at Rome that the new congregation was established on the First Sunday of Advent in 1875, with the blessing given two years earlier by Pope Pius IX. In her unceasing search for God, Frances Siedliska found in the Holy Family the perfect model of total self-giving to God and modeled the spirituality of her congregation upon the example of the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their home of Nazareth.
The work of Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd extended rapidly to Poland, England, France and, since 1885, throughout the United States. In her zealous vigilance and burning fervor for religious observance, she spared herself no pain. During the day, she devoted herself to her congregation, presided at religious exercises, held conferences, consoled the sisters who were suffering and restored peace to troubled souls. A part of the night she spent writing to the distant houses to promote the spirit of the Holy Family, the love of sacrifice and the union of hearts. Gradually many labor drained her physical strength and her longing for heaven was expressed in the words of the psalmist, "Let us go into the house of the Lord" (Ps 122: 1). She gave her soul to God on the feast of the Presentation of Mary, 21 November 1902 in Rome. The canonical process for beatification was initiated soon after her death. The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth still serve God and man throughout the wQr1d with ministries in Italy, Poland, France, England, the United States, the Phillippines, Russia, Australia, India, and Jerusalem. Here in the United States they minister in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut and Texas. The Sisters in the Pittsburgh province sponsor the Holy Family Institute founded in 1900 as an orphanage, Mount Nazareth Center in Bellevue, Saint Leonard's Home in Altoona and Saint Augustine Academy in Lakewood, Ohio. The sisters also minister in various parishes, grade schools, high schools and hospitals with a continuing mission to respond to the critical unmet needs of families -to promote the unity, fidelity, integrity and dignity of the family.
Blessed Francis Seelos At Saint Philomena Church
His Holiness Pope John Paul II, proclaimed Father Seelos "Blessed" in Saint Peter's Square on April 9th of the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000. Francis Xavier Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Fűssen, Bavaria, Germany. He was baptized on the same day in the parish church of St. Mang. Having expressed a desire for the priesthood since childhood, he entered the diocesan seminary in 1842 after having completed his studies in philosophy. Soon after meeting the missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (The Redemptorists), founded for the evangelization of the most abandoned, he decided to enter the Congregation and to minister to the German-speaking immigrants in the United States. He was accepted by the Congregation on November 22, 1842, and sailed the following year from Le Havre, France arriving in New York on April 20, 1843. On December 22, 1844, after having completed his novitiate and theological studies, Seelos was ordained a priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
After being ordained, he worked for nine years in the parish of St. Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first as assistant pastor with St. John Neumann, the superior of the religious community; He later was superior himself and was pastor for the last three years. During this time, he was also the Redemptorist novice master. With Neumann he also dedicated himself to preaching missions. Regarding their relationship, Seelos said: "He has introduced me to the active life" and "he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor."
His availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding to the needs of the faithful, quickly made him well-known as an expert confessor and spiritual director, so much so that people came to him even from neighboring towns. Faithful to the Redemptorist chrism, he practiced a simple lifestyle and a simple manner of expressing himself. The themes of his preaching, rich in biblical content, were always heard and understood by everyone, regardless of education, culture or background. A constant endeavor in his pastoral activity was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored this ministry but also held it as fundamental for the growth of the Christian community in the parish.
In 1854, he was transferred from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, then Cumberland (1857), and then Annapolis (1862), all the while engaged in parish ministry and serving in the formation of future Redemptorists as prefect of students. He was true to his character in this post, remaining always the kind and happy pastor, prudently attentive to the needs of his students and conscientious of their doctrinal formation. Above all, he strove to instill in these future Redemptorist missionaries the enthusiasm, the spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people.
In 1860, he was proposed as a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he dedicated himself to the life of an itinerant missionary preacher in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Michigan, he was assigned in 1866 as pastor to the Redemptorist Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was known as a pastor who was joyously available to his faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and the most abandoned. In God's plan, however, his ministry in New Orleans was destined to be brief. In the month of September, exhausted from visiting and caring for the victims of yellow fever, he contracted the dreaded disease. After several weeks of patiently enduring his illness, he passed on to eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and 9 months.
To learn more about the life of Blessed Francis Seelos visit the web site: http://www.seelos.org/
Saint John Neumann At Saint Philomena Church
Twenty-five years after Neumann's death, in 1885, Philadelphia Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan instituted a diocesan investigation of his virtues. Eleven years later the cause was formally accepted for study by the Congregation of Rites, now called the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The body was exhumed and examined by Church commissions. Relics were obtained. In 1921, the Christian virtues of Philadelphia's fourth Bishop were proclaimed to be of heroic degree by Pope Benedict XV, who said: "Works even the most simple, performed with constant perfection in the midst of inevitable difficulties, spell heroism in any servant works, we find in them a strong argument for saying to the faithful of whatever age, sex or condition: 'You are all bound to imitate the Venerable Neumann'."
A baby boy was born on March 28, 1811 in the centuries old village of Prachatitz in Bohemia (now Czechoslovakia). He was taken the same day to the parish church, baptized and named for one of the patron saints of his homeland, John Nepomucene. The baby was the third child and the first son in the family of Philip and Agnes Neumann. His father, a native of Bavaria, owned a small stocking mill and was a minor village official. His mother was a Czech, a devout woman who attended Mass daily. Young John Nepomucene Neumann developed into a keen student with a passion for books and for learning. He was gifted with a quick mind for study and a rare ability for languages. His schooling began in Prachatitz and continued after he was twelve in the town of Budweis, twenty-two miles away. He attended the Budweis Gymnasium (high school) and a philosophical institute there. At age seven, the boy began to receive the sacrament of penance. At eight, he was confirmed by the Bishop of Budweis on the occasion of the first episcopal visit to Prachatitz that villagers could remember. Neumann had no strong inclination for the priesthood in childhood, and at twenty he was still undecided about the choice of a career. The story of how he came to enter seminary is told in his own autobiographical sketch: "When the time came, at the end of the philosophy course, for me to decide either for theology, or law or medicine, I felt more of an attraction for the last. This was all the more so because, out of eighty or ninety applicants for theology, only twenty were to be accepted. For this, along with the best scholastic transcript, recommendations were also required, and I wanted to have nothing to do with them. In this uncertainty about the choice of a profession, I came home in the autumn vacation of 1831 and found that my father was not against letting me study medicine in Prague, even though the expenses involved were great. My mother was not too happy with this. Even though I pointed out to her that I did not know anyone who would back my request for admission into the institute for the study of theology, nevertheless she thought that I should give it a try. I then wrote a letter of application and sent it to Budweis by a special messenger ... Shortly after that I received the letter of acceptance into the Budweis Theological Seminary. From that moment on I never gave another thought to medicine and I also gave up completely the study of physics and astronomy on which I preferred to spend time, and this without any great difficulty."
John Neumann spent two years at the diocesan seminary in Budweis, then transferred to that of the archdiocese at the University of Prague, where he completed his studies in 1835. Some of his textbooks and theological papers, transcripts of his marks and written reports of his instructors are all still in existence. His academic record was excellent, and he had exceptional skill in mastering languages. In addition to his native German and Bohemian, he knew Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin. In Prague he undertook to learn English and French as well. In later life he taught himself Gaelic in order to minister to Irish immigrants. At the seminary, Neumann made up his mind to become a missionary in America. Tens of thousands of German Catholics had emigrated to the United States. Whether living in crowded eastern cities or in the sparsely settled farm country to the west, most of them spoke only German and were out of communication with their Church. Urgent appeals for the assistance of German-speaking priests were being received in the homeland, and Neumann dedicated his life to that service. "My resolution was so strong and lively," he wrote, "that I could no longer think of anything else."
He met only disappointment at first. After passing his examinations, he learned that no new priests would be ordained in his diocese that year. He then attempted, even before ordination, to obtain an assignment to a diocese in the United States. This required his receiving a formal request from one of the American bishops. Neumann tried to procure such an invitation and waited in vain for months at Prachatitz. Finally, he set out for America on his own-without knowing when he would become a priest or where he would undertake his missionary service. He knew only that he faced a life of hardship and lonely separation from his family. After a long, slow journey from Prachatitz, Neumann reached the French port of Le Havre. Along the way he hoped to receive a request for his presence from one of the bishops in the United States; but none reached him. Discouraged but stoutly determined, he bought passage to New York from the captain of the Europa, an American three-master engaged in transport of immigrants. It had no comforts for its passengers. The young priest-to-be had to supply his own food for the voyage and to buy a pot to cook it in. He purchased a straw mattress on which to sleep on deck. For ten days he lived uncomfortably on the vessel until the captain had attracted enough passengers to make the voyage profitable. Finally, on April 20, 1836, the Europa sailed for a rough, forty-day crossing of the Atlantic.
John Neumann could not wait for the ship to dock. While it was delayed several days at quarantine, be found a ride in a row boat to Staten Island and reached Manhattan by a small steamer. It was June 2. All that afternoon he tramped the streets of New York alone looking unsuccessfully for a Catholic Church. He was 25 years old, not yet a missionary, not yet a priest, and so far as he knew not wanted by anyone in America. But next day all his uncertainty was ended. He was welcomed to the Diocese of New York by Bishop John DuBois and told that a letter had been sent to him shortly before, gratefully accepting his service as a missionary.
In the whole New York Diocese with its thousands of immigrants, there were only three priests who could speak the German language. "1 can and must ordain you quickly," said the Bishop. "1 need you." He sent the young man to the German Church of St. Nicholas on Second Street in Manhattan to prepare for ordination. It was most appropriate that Neumann's first assignment in America was to teach catechism in German to the group of children soon to receive first Communion. All his life he was deeply concerned for the religious education of young people in church and in school.
On Saturday, June 25, 1836 in old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street in New York, (sketch below) John Neumann was at last ordained by Bishop DuBois. The very next day he celebrated his first public Mass at St. Nicholas and gave ' first Holy Communion to the group of children he had prepared. The church overflowed with families, friends and parishioners who shared the joy of their German-speaking priest. That night. in his journal the new Father Neumenn poured out to God his resolution for the days and years to come: "1 will pray to You that You may give me holiness, and to all the living and dead, pardon, that some day we may all be together with You, our dearest God." Two days later, Neumann set out for Erie County at the far western edge of the New York diocese. He traveled by Hudson River steamer, railroad, stage coach and canal boat, headed for the remote area of the state where an inrush of immigrants had followed the opening of the Erie Canal. It was exactly the type of missionary duty to which the newly-ordained priest had dedicated himself.
For four years, 1836 to 1840, Neumann served as missionary in the farm country near Buffalo, New York. Much of the land was just being cleared of woodland and put into cultivation for the first time. Families were poor and widely scattered; towns were no more than a handful of houses; roads were bad, sometimes non-existent. The priest walked many miles from house to house, village to village, in good weather and foul. His duties took him as far northwest as Niagara Falls and as far east as Batavia. It was scarcely less fatiguing after he learned with some difficulty to ride a horse.
In his diary he describes his life: "Only a poor priest, one who can endure hardship, can labor here. His duties call him far and near ... he leads a wandering life. There is no pleasure, except the care of souls the Catholic population is continually increasing, many are in extreme poverty. They live in miserable shanties, some with not even a window."
His headquarters at first were at Williamsville, which consisted of half a dozen houses and a stone church still roofless when he arrived. Since there was no rectory, he boarded with a Catholic family in an apartment over the village tavern. One of his first tasks was to dismiss a schoolmaster addicted to alcohol. For months he taught the children himself until a new instructor was found.
After a year, the young priest moved his base to North Bush, a settlement near the present Kenmore, New York. There he was guest in the cabin of a farmer. He had to walk a mile and a half through muddy woods to reach his church--a small log chapel which he helped to complete. Later the people of the community gave him a five-acre lot near the chapel and built a two-room log cabin for a rectory. For some time he lived alone, cooking his meals, doing the housework, and often neglecting both in order to attend his priestly functions. But in September, 1838, his younger brother, Wenceslaus, came from Bohemia after many invitations to live in North Bush. Thereafter, Wenceslaus took over the chores of the rectory household and taught in the local school.
In New York state, Neumann observed the missionary work being done among German immigrants by several priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Although the Redemptorist Order had been established in Italy a century before, missionaries had not been sent to America until 1832. Father Joseph Prost, Superior of the small group then in the country, had been active at a church in Rochester, New York, and Neumann was particularly impressed by the religious devotion he found among parishioners there.
He came to feel that he might be more effective in nourishing the spiritual life of the people if he were a member of a religious community rather than a lone missionary-pastor. He recalled the saying: Vae soli! Woe to the one who is alone!
He decided to apply to Prost for admission to the Redemptorist Congregation. A factor in this decision undoubtedly was the complete physical collapse which left him unable to attend to his duties for three months in the summer of 1840. ”I think this is the best thing I can do for the security of my salvation," he wrote to his family.
After receiving prompt acceptance for admission and after asking relief from his responsibilities in the New York Diocese, Neumann left Buffalo for the Redemptorist foundation in Pittsburgh in October, 1840. His brother, "Little Wenzel" remained behind only long enough to gather up their few possessions. Then he, too, traveled to Pittsburgh and became a Redemptorist lay brother, serving for the rest of his long life. John Neumann took the habit of the Redemptorist Congregation on November 30, 1840 in Pittsburgh at old St. Philomena's Church, at that time called "The Factory Church", because it was located in an old industrial· building. As a novitiate, his experience was unique. Instead of a quiet period of reflection and community prayer, he found himself repeatedly transferred from foundation to foundation, city to city, as need arose for interim pastors for German congregations. A Redemptorist chronicler reported: "The first novice of our American Province did not enjoy the advantages found in the regular instruction and careful discipline of a well-regulated novitiate. He was entrusted with duties which usually fell to the charge of a professed religious only; nevertheless he distinguished himself by a faithful observance of rules, unaffected love for the Congregation, and the practice of eminent virtues."
After this busy probation, Neumann made his religious vows in Baltimore on January 16, 1842--the first Redemptorist Profession in America. His first assignment was as assistant rector at St. James Church in the Maryland city. In March, 1844, he was sent to Pittsburgh as Superior of the Redemptorist Foundation there. A great new church had been started to replace the old factory building of St. Philomena. Financial difficulties had been encountered, and it became Neumann's task to solve these problems as well as supervise the endless details of construction. When the new St. Philomena was at last dedicated in 1846, it was said that he had accomplished the impossible and had built a church without money.
Along with his responsibilities as Superior, Neumann made it his rule to carry more than his share of pastoral care for 6000 German Catholics in Pittsburgh at that time. He visited the sick, heard confessions, celebrated Mass and preached regularly. He labored to build up attendance at the parish schools. He made himself available to all who wanted his counsel. He drove himself hard and again sacrificed his health as he had in North Bush. He developed a persistent and racking cough which took much of his strength. He himself believed that his end might be near, but he refused to give up his work. Finally, it became necessary to order him to leave Pittsburgh and return to Baltimore. "I am only doing what is necessary," wrote the American Superior. "Without doubt, if he continues as he is, he may have to face an early death."
During his two years at the Pittsburgh foundation, notwithstanding the pressures upon him, Neumann found time to write catechisms which --in many editions both in German and English --were in use among Catholic children in the United States long after the author's death. Two catechisms that he wrote were approved by the American bishops at their Plenary Council in 1852. The rest and recuperation anticipated on his return to Baltimore were not forth coming for the ailing 35 year-old priest. Within a few day of his arrival he received unexpected instructions from Europe that he was to serve temporarily as Superior of all Redemptorists in the United States. Although he had been a member of the Congregation only five years, he was called upon to cope with serious administrative problems which had been encountered during a period of rapid expansion. The Congregation had too few priests and much too little money, but was being pressed by Catholic bishops in important cities to assume responsibility for the ever-growing number of German congregations. For 23 months, Neumann carried the burden of his assignment. He strengthened the Redemptorist Congregation, resisted pressure for unsound expansion and struggled to maintain focus upon spirituality and missionary zeal. Simultaneously, he undertook responsibilities for pastoral care among Germans in Baltimore and continued his unflagging interest in education.
One of his major accomplishments was to arrange for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, newly arrived in the United States from Munich, to locate in Baltimore and to take charge of schools at the Redemptorist churches. While in Baltimore during this period, Neumann appeared in Federal Court and became a citizen of the United States. After his successor as American Superior arrived from Europe, Neumann became the first rector of the great German church which had just been completed and named for the founder of the Redemptorists, St. Alphonsus Liguori. The church stands today in the heart of downtown Baltimore. As rector, Neumann rejoiced in the opportunity for personal ministry among the people of the parish. He sought to be always available to anyone who needed or wanted him. When the present rectory was built next door to St. Alphonsus on Saratoga Street, he selected for himself the tiny first-floor room nearest the main door so he could easily be found, day or night, by any who came. During the night he himself often served as rectory porter.
In 1851, a new Archbishop of Baltimore arrived--James Patrick Kenrick, who had just completed twenty years as Bishop of Philadelphia. It was not long before Kenrick became aware of the outstanding virtues of the rector of St. Alphonsus. Attracted by Neumann's extraordinary spirituality and devotion, the Archbishop began visiting the small room in the rectory to make his confession to Father Neumann. Toward the end of 1851, Kenrick astounded and dismayed his confessor by hinting that Neumann was under consideration to become the next Bishop of Philadelphia.
To learn more about the life of Saint John Neumann visit the website:
http:// themissionchurch.com/ stiohnneumann.htm
ST PATRICK HISTORY
In 1808, Rev. William F.X. O'Brien was assigned to Pittsburgh to establish a parish. At this time only about 20 Catholic families lived in the city. That year he laid the cornerstone for the new church, although the church was not dedicated until August of 1811. Even then the church was not completed. No pews were installed. Instead, plans for the pews were drawn on the floor and, as they could afford it, families would hire a carpenter to build their pew on the site they picked out.
As the city population began to rise, so too did the congregation of St. Patrick. In 1825, an addition to the church was begun and the exterior was completed in 1826. Even this addition proved inadequate and the pastor of St. Patrick, Fr. Charles Maguire, called a meeting of local Catholics on August 27, 1827, to consider the building of a new church, which would later become St. Paul Cathedral. To secure the financial support of the rapidly growing German population, Fr. Maguire agreed to turn St. Patrick over to the Germans after the new church was built. When St. Paul was dedicated in the summer of 1834, St. Patrick became a German ethnic parish.
The parish's German phase lasted only five years. Due to financial disputes with the pastor of St. Paul regarding rental fees for the church, the Germans decided to abandon St. Patrick and found a new parish. In October of 1840, an English speaking congregation was again established in St. Patrick. On August 10, 1854, a machine shop next to the church caught fire and the flames spread to the church and destroyed it. As the city was growing, it was decided to move the site of the church from 11th Street to 14th Street. The new church was dedicated on August 15, 1858.
This church did not last long. The economic and population boom engendered by the Civil War soon led Saint Patrick 3'd church to overcrowding. As the same time the Pennsylvania Railroad Company wished to purchase the site of the church for expansion. A lot was purchased on 17th Street and Liberty Avenue and work began on a new church. This church was dedicated on December 15,1865. The old church was sold to the railroad company and torn down.
By 1923, the future of the parish was in doubt. Most of the parish's residents had been pushed out of the area by the expansion of business in the area, particularly the produce industry. Only 35 families remained in the parish. But that year also saw the arrival of a new pastor, Rev. James Cox. This priest revitalized the parish dramatically. In 1924, the parish became the "American Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes" by Rev. Cox in thanks for the healing of his eyes at Lourdes earlier. Beginning in 1925, a local radio station began broadcasting the daily Mass from St. Patrick, a practice that lasted for 33 years. When the depression began, St. Patrick became a center for relief for the poor. The parish distributed over two million free meals and 500,000 baskets of food, clothing and fuel.
On March 21, 1935, a fire destroyed St. Patrick church. While a new church was being built, the parish used the Good Samaritan Chapel to celebrate Mass. The new St. Patrick church was dedicated on March 17, 1936. Included in the church was a piece of the Blarney Stone from Blarney Castle in Ireland. The stone was placed in the tower that sheltered the baptistery. In 1937, the Monastery Gardens were erected. The gardens included a large outdoor grotto containing a marble altar. Outdoor Masses were celebrated there in good weather. By the end of the twentieth century, the population in the city had dropped to the point that it was no longer practical for each parish in the Strip District to remain independent. In 1993, St. Patrick merged with St. Stanislaus Kostka and St. Elizabeth to form the new St. Patrick-St. Stanislaus Kostka parish. St. Patrick church remains open and continues to serve the new parish.
As one turns into the church courtyard, the beautiful monastic-like garden imparts a feeling of peace. The garden features an outdoor grotto in honor of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes. Statues in the garden honor: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Bernadette, Saint Ann, Saint Joseph, Saint Patrick, Saint Anthony, and Blessed Kateri Tekawitha -Lady of the Mohawks. The surprising beauty and oasis of solitude in the bustling city reminds us that God’s grace can be found in the most unexpected places.
The vestibule honors the Saints of God as well as those pious men and women, who by their actions Ascending the Holy Stairs (a devotion done on one’s knees) or walking up the vestibule stairs, one is again imparted with a sense of peace through the dignified simplicity of the church and the devotion of their lives -serving Jesus, are in the process of being beatified and canonized.