PITTSBURG
122
PITTSBURG
O'Brien's health declined, and in March, 1820, he
retired to Maryland, where he died 1 November, 1832.
He was succeeded in Maj', 1820, by the Rev. Charles
B. Maguire, who had been pastor of the church at
Sportsman's Hall since 1817. "Priest Maguire", as
he was called by the Protestant people of Pittsburg,
was a man of great ability and extensive learning, and
in his day one of the best known and most respected
and influential citizens of the community. He gave
to the parish of St. Patrick, and to the Church in West-
ern Pennsylvania something of his own strong person-
ality and splendid qualities of order, progress, indus-
try, love, and fidelity to Jesus Christ — influences that
are still felt. He began in 1827 the erection of St. Paul's
church, which, when finished and dedicated 4 May,
1834, was the largest and most imposing church edifice
in the United States. The Poor Clare Nuns opened a
convent and academy in 1828 on Nunnery Hill in
what was then Allegheny (now the North Side of Pitts-
burg). The community left Nunnery Hill in 1835
and, after remaining in another part of Allegheny
until 1837, the sisters either returned to Europe, or
entered other religious communities in the United
States.
Father Maguire died of cholera 17 July, 1833, and was succeeded as pastor by his assistant, the Rev. John O'Reilly, who completed St. Paul's church, in- troduced the Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1835, and established in the same year a Catholic school, and in 1838 an orphan asylum which the Sisters of Charity conducted until they were withdrawn from the diocese by their superiors in 1845. In April, 1837, Father O'Reilly was transferred to Philadelphia, and the Rev. Thomas Heyden, of Bed- ford, took his place. In November of the same year, Father Heyden returned to Bedford, and the Rev. P. R. Kenrick, the late Archbishop of St. Louis, be- came pastor of St. Paul's, Pittsburg. In the sum- mer of 1838, Father O'Reilly exchanged places with Father Kenrick, and returned to Pittsburg. He re- mained at St. Paul's until succeeded by the Rev. Michael O'Connor, 17 June, 1841. He then went to Rome, entered the Congregation of the Mission, and died at St. Louis, Missouri, 4 March, 1862. The first religious community of men was estabhshed in Pitts- burg, 8 April, 1839, which date marks the advent of the Fathers of the Congregation of Our Most Holy Redeemer, in the person of the Rev. Father Prost, who came to take charge of St. Patrick's parish, and establish St. Philomena's.
Bishop Flaget appears to have been the first to regard Pittsburg as the future see of a bishop, ha\ang entertained this idea in 1825. As early as 1835 Bishop Kenrick proposed to the cardinal prefect of Propa- ganda a division of the Diocese of Philadelphia by the erection at Pittsburg of an episcopal see, and he recommended the appointment of the Rev. John Hughes as Bishop either of Philadelphia or of Pitts- burg. The suggestion of Bishop Kenrick was offi- cially approved in Rome, and in January, 1836, the Rev. John Hughes was named Bishop of Philadelphia, and Bishop Kenrick was transferred to Pittsburg. Some obstacle intervened, and the appointments were recalled. The matter was again discussed in the Third Provincial Council of Baltimore, 16 April, 1837, but no definite action was taken. In the Fifth Provincial Council, which assembled at Baltimore, 14 May, 1843, the division of the State of Pennsylvania into two dioceses was recommended to the Holy See, and the Rev. Dr. Michael O'Connor was named as the most suitable person to govern the new .see. Both actions of the council were confirmed at Rome. The new Diocese of Pittsburg, according to the Bull of erec- tion, issued 11 .\\igust, 1843, was "Western Pennsyl- vania". This designation being rather vague. Bishop Kenrick, of Philadelphia, and Bishop O'Connor agreed to consider the Diocese of Pittsburgh as com-
prising the Counties of Bedford, Huntingdon, Clear-
field, McKean, and Potter, and all west of them in the
State of Pennsylvania. This agreement was after-
wards confirmed by a rescript of the Holy See. The
new diocese contained an area of 21,300 sq. miles, or
a little less than one-half of the state, and not more
than one-third either of the entire, or of the Catholic
population. Dr. Michael O'Connor was in Rome at
the time of the division of the Diocese of Philadelphia,
and his appointment to the new see was announced
to him by Gregory XVI, while the future bishop knelt
at his feet to ask permission to enter the Society of
Jesus. "You shall be a bishop first, and a Jesuit after-
wards", said the venerable pontiff. These prophetic
words were literally fulfilled. The Bull of his appoint-
ment was dated 11 August, 1843, and he was conse-
crated four days later by Cardinal Franzoni in the
church of S. Agata, at Rome, on the feast of the
Assumption of the Blessed 'Virgin, the titular feast
of the first chapel at Fort Duquesne.
Michael O'Connor was born near the city of Cork, Ireland, 27 September, 1810. His early education was received at Queenstown, in his native county. At the age of fourteen he went to France, where he studied for several years. Then he was sent by the Bishop of Cloyne and Ross to the College of the Propaganda, at Rome where he won the title of Doctor of Divinity. Cardinal Wiseman, then Rector of the English College at Rome, in his "Recollections of the Last Four Popes", speaks in terms of high commenda- tion of the ability of the youthful O'Connor, and of the manner in which he won his doctor's cap and ring. On 1 June, 1833, he was ordained, and immediately afterwards was appointed professor of Sacred Scrip- ture at the Propaganda. 'The post of vice-rector of the Irish College was next assigned to him, and, re- turning to his native land, he was stationed for a time in the parish of Fermoy. At the invitation of Bishop Kenrick he came to the United States in 1839, and was at once appointed to a professorship in St . Charles Borromeo's Seminary, Philadelphia, afterwards be- coming its president. During his connexion with the seminary, he attended the mission at JMorristown, and built the church of St. Francis Xavier at Fairmount. In June, 1841, he was appointed vicar-general of the western part of the State of Pennsylvania, and came to Pittsburg to succeed the Rev. John O'Reilly, :is pastor of St. Paul's. The event is chronicled in his notebook as follows: "June 17, 1841, arrived at Pitts- burg on this day (Thursday); lodging at Mrs. Tim- mons, at .S4.00 per week". One month after his ar- rival. Father O'Connor undertook the erection of a parochial school, organized a literary society for the young men of the city, and opened a reading-room. He was consecrated Bishop of Pittsburg 15 August, 1843, at Rome. Soon after his consecration he left Rome and passed through Ireland on his way to America, with a view of providing priests and religious for his diocese. He called at Maynooth in October, 1843, and made an appeal to the students, asking some of them to volunteer their services for the new Dio- cese of Pittsburg. Five students whose course of studies was almost completed and three others also far advanced resolved to accompany the bishop. Coming to Dublin, he obtained a colony of seven Sisters of the recently-founded Order of Our Lady of Mercy to take charge of the parochial schools and of the higher education of young ladies. These were the first Sisters of the Order "of Mercy, founded by Mother Catherine McCauley, to establish a convent in the United States. He "sailed for .-Vmerica 12 November, and arrived at Pittsburg in December, 1843. .\t that time the bishop had in his vast diocese 33 churches, a few of which were unfinished, 16 priests, and a Cath- olic population of less than 25,000 souls.
The following were the churches and priests of Western Pennsylvania at the time of the erection of
