PITTSBTTRG
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PITTSBURG
the Diocese of Pittsburg. In Allegheny County:
Pittsburg, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Very Rev. M.
O'Connor and his assistant, the Rev. Joseph F. Deane;
St. Patrick's, the Rev. E. F. Garland; St. Philomena's
(German), the Revs. John N. Neuman, Julius P. Saen-
derl, F. X. Tschenheus, Peter Czackert, C.SS.R. The
Rev. A. P. Gibbs resided in Pittsburg and attended a
number of small congregations and missions in Alle-
gheny and other counties : St. Philip's, Broadhead (now
Crafton); St. Mary's, Pine Creek; St. Alphonsus, Wex-
ford ; St. Peter's, McKeesport. Westmoreland County :
St. Vincent's; Mt. Carmel (near Derry), the Rev. Jas.
A. Stillinger. Indiana County: Blairsville, Sts. Simon
and Jude, and St. Patrick's, Cameron's Bottom; the
Rev. Jas. A. Stillinger, from St. Vincent's. Butler
County: Butler, St. Peter's, the Rev. H. P. Gal-
lagher; Donegal, St. Joseph's (now Ntsrth Oakland);
Cathedral of St. Paul, PrrrsBUHQ
Murrinsville, St. Alphonsus; St. Mary's (now Her- man), the Rev. H. P. Gallagher (residing at Butler). Armstrong County: St. Patrick's, Sugar Creek; St. Mary's, Freeport; the Rev. Joseph Cody, residing at Sugar Creek. Washington County: St. James, West Alexander. Fayette County: St. Peter's, Browns- ville (in course of erection), the Rev. M. Gallagher. Greene County: Waynesburg, St. Ann's; other sta- tions in Greene County, Washington County, and Fayette County, attended by the Rev. M. Gallagher, from Brownsville. Beaver County: Beaver, Sts. Peter and Paul. Bedford County: Bedford, St. Thomas, the Rev. Thomas Heyden. Somerset County: Harman Bottom, St. John's, the Rev. Thomas Heyden (residing at Bedford). Huntingdon County: Huntingdon, Holy Trinity, attended from Newry by the Rev. James Bradley. Blair County: Newry, St. Patrick's; St. Luke's, Sinking Valley and St. Mary's, HoUidaysburg, attended from Newry by the Rev. James Bradley. Cambria County: Loretto, St. Michael's; Jefferson (now Wilmore), St. Barthol- omew's; Johnstown, St. John Gaulbert; Eben.sburg, St. Patrick's (now Holy Name of Jesus); Hart's Sleeping Place, St. Joseph's; Summit, St. Aloysius'a (these places attended in 1843 by the Rev. Peter H. Lemke, pastor of Loretto, and his assistant, the Rev. Matthew W. Gibson). Mercer County: Mercer, St. Raphael's, attended from Butler, by the Rev. H. P.
Gallagher. Clearfield County: Clearfield, St. Fran-
cis; French Settlement, St. Mary's; Grampian Hills,
St. Bonaventure. Crawford County : Cupewago (dedi-
cation unknown) ; French Settlement, St. Hippolyte's;
Oil Creek, St. Stephen's. Erie County: Erie, St. Pat-
rick's; Erie, St. Mary's. Elk County: Elk Creek (dedi-
cation unknown); Marysville (dedication unknown).
Clarion County: Erismans, St. Michael's; Red Bank,
St. Nicholas's. The Rev. J. A. Berti seems to have
attended the missions of Clearfield, Crawford, Erie,
Elk, and Clarion Counties in 1843.
As yet there were but two religious communities in the diocese, the Redemptorist Fathers at St. Philo- mena's church, and the Sisters of Charity, who had charge of St. Paul's Orphan Asylum, and two schools in Pittsburg. The first parochial school building at St. Paul's, which has already been mentioned, was opened 14 April, 1844. On 1(3 June of the same year the first diocesan synod was held, and statutes were enacted for the government of the Church. On the 30th of the same month a chapel was opened for the use of the coloured Catholics of the city. In the same year the publication of "The Catholic" was begun, and the paper has been regularly issued every week down to the present time. St. Michael's ecclesiastical seminary, for the education of candidates for the priesthood, was established also in 1844. Thus in the brief space of a single year Bishop O'Connor had suc- ceeded in thoroughly organizing all the departments of his vast diocese. The Presentation Brothers came in 1845 to take charge of St. Paul's Boys' School. They withdrew from the diocese, however, in 1848. In 1846 Bishop O'Connor received the Benedictine Order into the diocese. Their abbey was founded at St. Vincent's, Beatty, Pa., by the late Archabbot Boniface Wimmer (then the Rev. Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B.) from the Benedictine monastery of Melten, in Bavaria, and in its college and seminary many young men have received their higher education and com- pleted their studies for the priesthood. The little seed sown at Sportsman's Hall has ilcvelopcd into the great Archabbey of St. Vincent's, which is, at tliisdate (1911), the largest Benedictine inst it ution in t he wdrld. In 1847 a community of the members of the Third Order of St. Francis came from Ireland and settled at Loretto, Camlsria County, Pa. In 1848 the Sisters of Notre Dame opened a convent and school at St. Philomena's, Pittsburg. The Passionists, tlieu an Italian order, were introduced into the diocese in l.S.'j'i, and from their first monastery of St. Paul's, Pitts- burg, the order has since spread into many States of the Union.
By 1852 the diocese had increased to such an extent that the bishop began to consider the propriety of having it divided, and a new one formed from the northern counties. He laid the matter before the Fathers of the First Plenary Council of Baltimore, which assembled 9 May, 1852, and the division was recommended to the Holy See. The Bulls dividing the Diocese of Pittsburg and erecting the new Dio- cese of Erie were dated 29 July, 1853. The dividing line ran east and west along the northern boundaries of Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong, Butler, and Law- rence, taking from Pittsburg all the counties lying north thereof, and giving thirteen counties to the new and fifteen to the old diocese. The area of the Dio- cese of Pittsburg was reduced from 21,300 sq. miles to 11,314 sq. miles. Bishop O'Connor chose the new and poorer diocese as his portion, and the Holy See approved his choice. The Rev. Joshua M. Young, of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, was named Bishop of Pittsburg. 'The reluctance of Father Young to be the successor of Bishop O'Connor in the See of Pitts- burg and the urgent petition of the clergy and the people of the diocese moved the Holy See to restore Bishop O'Connor after five months (20 December, 1853) to his former bishopric, and appoint Bishop
