Sketch of the Life and

Work of Father Mollinger

Excerpt from Old Allegheny Review

INTRODUCTION

In presenting this book to the public we do so with the fullest confidence that it will prove of inestimable value to all who suffer from the various diseases described if they but follow its directions.
 
This country is being continually flooded with various forms of advertising matter proclaiming the virtues of innumerable remedies of more or less value.
 
In nearly every case you are called upon to believe these advertisements without any further proofs of their truthfulness than numerous testimonials from people you never saw or heard of.
 
This is not the case with the remedies recommended in this book. In the entire history of medicines no remedies have ever been offered to the public that were entitled to the entire confidence of the people so thoroughly as these are.
 
Never has a manufacturer of a proprietary medicine even been able to substantiate his claims by such an array of indisputable facts.
 
The thousands upon thousands of wonderful cures. performed by these remedies, have already moved the whole civilized world to its very depths, and the name of Father Mollinger has gone down in history as that of one of the world's greatest healers of disease.
 
The newspapers of the world vied with each other in honoring Father Mollinger and proclaiming his works, and Allegheny City became the Mecca of reporters, hither came thousands of afflicted people of all nationalities and creeds. All were treated without cost. Father Mollinger was broad in his philanthropy: Protestant, Catholic, Atheist and Pagan were treated alike.
 
This priest-physician issued in seven years over 80,000 prescriptions, the most of these in the last two years of life, as his fame spread. What healer of disease ever equaled this?
 
Two of the most essential points in compounding this vast number of prescriptions lay in the skill of the druggist and the purity of the ingredients used. To perform this responsible work, Father Mollinger selected Druggist A.F. Sawhill, of Allegheny, Pa., it was by him that everyone of these prescriptions were filled. The originals are on  file with him at present.
 
So particular was Father Mollinger in this respect that he wrote his prescriptions in a cipher to which only Mr. Sawhill had the key.
 
Owing to the great fame of Father Mollinger, others, since his death, placed upon the market various so-called Father Mollinger remedies. The fallacy of the claims made by the manufacturers of these nostrums is evidenced by the fact that they advertise a single remedy to cure a list of ailments for which Father Mollinger issued no less than thirteen distinct prescriptions.
 
In other words, they prey upon his reputation, they claim to accomplish more than he could. The public is cautioned against the wares of such sharks.
 
The original prescriptions are all on file with and all genuine Father Mollinger remedies bear the name of, A.F. Sawhill, Druggist, No. 187 Federal Street, Allegheny. Pa.
 

OIL CITY, PA, June 13. – “Father Mollinger, to whom so many surprising cures are ascribed, was in Oil City twenty-nine years ago, and it is credited by reputable citizens that he then effected the cure of Daniel Sweeney, who was believed to be on the point of death with black diphtheria.”

– Pittsburg Leader; June 14, 1891

 
It is said that there are 2,400 disorders to which the human frame is subject.
 

FATHER MOLLINGER

In ancient times the supernatural and the miraculous controlled the world.  Everything was explained, but nothing was understood. In those days a dead saint was better than a live physician.
 
St. Valentine cured Epilepsy; St. Gervasius was exceedingly good for Rheumatism; St. Michael for Cancer; St. Jude for Coughs and Colds; St. Ovidius restored the Hearing; St. Sebastian was good for the Bites of Snakes and the Stings of Insects; St. Apollonia for Toothache; St. Clara for any trouble with the Eyes, and St. Hubert for Hydrophobia.
 
It was known that the doctors reduced the revenues of the church; that was enough. Science was the enemy of religion.
 
Father Mollinger was a conspicuous example of the change that has been wrought in the attitude of the church towards medical science. In him were united the priest and the physician. His great fame was due to his success in alleviating the physical sufferings of humanity. Whatever of his marvelous healing power may be attributed in some minds, to his office as a priest. Father Mollinger himself attributed the wonderful cures to the use of the remedies he prescribed.
 
The Rev. Suibertas Goddfried Mollinger was born on a quiet frontier estate between Belgium and Holland, about 64 years ago. His father was of Dutch extraction, a gentleman of landed estate, and a Protestant. His mother was of the house of Hallenburg, a family of royal blood. She was a devout Catholic and raised her children in that faith.
 
In Father Mollinger’s early years an uncle took him through the continent and finally left him in Italy to study medicine. After studying two years in Naples, he studied in Rome and afterwards in Genoa.
 
In his studies of medicine he displayed an excellence in learning beyond any student of his various classes. He had a phenomenal memory, which, united with years of study, under the ablest professors in the greatest medical universities of the world, explains his wonderful knowledge of medicine.
 
After completing his studies, he returned home. Very soon afterwards at the earnest solicitation of his mother, it is said, he entered the seminary of Ghent and studied for the priesthood for four years. During his term at Ghent, he formed the acquaintance of an American bishop in search of missionary volunteers.
 
Of his many classmates who offered their services for this work, he was the only one who kept his promise when it came to the final point. He landed in New York towards the end of 1854, and went direct to Cleveland, Ohio, where he entered college under the direction of Bishop Rabe (Rappe).
 
In February, 1857, he was ordained a priest and assigned to the then diocese of Pittsburgh, now diocese of Erie. Under Bishop O'Connor and Bishop Domenec he did missionary work through the State of Pennsylvania for eight years.
 
During this period of his life he endured many hardships and was often compelled to ride forty miles in answer to a call from some dying person.
 
In 1865 he was appointed to the rectorship of Wexford and Perrysville. In the latter place he built a church and served his congregation for three years.
 
It was on Trinity Sunday, twenty-four years ago, that Father Mollinger came to Mt. Troy as pastor of the parish of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. He was the first priest that ever preached on the hill in Allegheny City, where St. Anthony’s shrine now stands.
 
Under the supervision of Father Stiebel, the pastor of St. Mary’s and also vicar-general of the diocese, Father Mollinger started building his church. By order of Bishop Domenec he took charge of the place.
 
Just prior to his appointment as pastor of Mt. Troy, his uncle in Belgium died and left him 20,000 francs a year out of his estate. After considerable litigation for a number of years, he obtained his income and some other money which had been tied up in the courts.
 
With this he commenced to build his famous St. Anthony’s shrine, since then he expended $237,000 on the chapel and its contents. Not long after starting to build his shrine several relatives died leaving him large properties. He never kept any accounts and it is impossible to estimate with any degree of exactness how much he was really worth.
 
Father Mollinger died at 1:50 PM, Wednesday, June 15, 1892, from the effects of a rupture sustained many years ago. This was aggravated by overwork. He literally worked himself into his grave in his efforts to relieve the sufferings of his fellow beings.
 
At 10:30 o’clock, on the morning of June 17, Father Mollinger's body was removed from his residence to the chapel on Mt. Troy, where, for so many years, he had been accustomed to receive the people and cure them of their ailments and infirmities. Here the body lay in state until the following day, the church being kept open all night to accommodate the thousands who wished to view the remains.
 
With the most impressive services, all that was mortal of the famous priest-physician was laid in its last resting place in the cemetery of the church of the Holy Name. It was the greatest funeral procession ever seen in Western Pennsylvania.
 
The news of Father Mollinger’s death fell like a thunderbolt on the thousands that were waiting for treatment at his hands. They had waited day after day in expectation that each succeeding day would find the great healer able to resume his work. Some would not leave until they saw his remains laid in the grave.
 
In all his work, Father Mollinger acted as a priest and physician to his congregation, but his fame began to spread about ten years ago, until his name and fame were as wide as the universe. A careful estimate, made by those closest to him, places the number of patients who visited him at 323,750.
 
The story of his healing has been told in every land, and his home on Mt. Troy stood out to the unnumbered sick like the star of Bethlehem to the bewildered shepherds. As many as fifteen thousand people have visited Mt. Troy in a single day.
 
The world has never witnessed such gatherings of afflicted humanity as have assembled at this Mecca of the sick. Many came thousands of miles; they came from countries; some were so poor that, when they reached Pittsburg, they had not money enough left to buy food, and this good man often caused refreshments to be issued the crowds in waiting to see him.
 
The street cars of the lines leading to Mt. Troy were often called ambulances by their conductors, so crowded were they at times with the maimed and the sick. Early dawn would find the vicinity of the church crowded with distorted humanity.
 
The neighborhood was filled with boarding houses and restaurants. Large amounts of money were offered the attendants of the priest-physician, as bribes, to gain admittance out of turn. The thousands of wonderful cures performed by Father Mollinger are now a matter of history.
 

“It is variously estimated that from, 12,000 to 20,000 people visited Mt. Troy, June 13, 1891, either as spectators or in the hope of receiving treatment from Father Mollinger.”

– Pittsburg Leader, June 12, 1891

SELECTED DESCRIPTION OF CURES

Chorea or St. Vitus Dance. This disease is characterized by incomplete control of the muscles of voluntary motion by the will, giving rise to irregular, tremulous and often ludicrous actions. It has been quaintly designated “Insanity of the Muscles.
 
The disease occurs most frequently in young people, between the ages of six and fifteen. By degrees all the voluntary muscles become afflicted and the child finds it impossible to keep quiet. It usually affects one side of the body more than the other. The movement is always more severe when the patient is being watched.
 
Sold by druggists. Price, $1.00 per bottle.
 
Dyspepsia. This is a disorder that is becoming alarmingly prevalent and undermines the entire health. When Dyspepsia takes her seat upon the throne of the stomach, she invites countless other disorders to the banquet, robs life of all its charms, and is a prolific breeder of a species of animal called “cranks.”
 
Life in a lunatic asylum would be paradise to life in a community inhabited solely confirmed dyspeptics. The causes of this disorder are almost as numerous as its victims.
 
Fight dyspepsia as you would a snake in the grass. It will shorten and embitter your life. Use Father Mollinger’s Original Prescription and you will suddenly find yourself minus a very choice variety of evil spirits.
 
Sold by druggists. Price, $1.00 per bottle.