PITTSBURG
124
PITTSBURG
Younplothc now Diocese of Erie. A comparison of
the condition of the diocese at the date of its division
to form the Diocese of Erie with what it was at the
time of its erection ten years before will furnish the
most convincing evidence of the zeal, prudence, and
energy which characterized the administration of
Bishop O'Connor. At the time of the division, the 43
churches had increased to 7S, and 4 more were in
course of erection. The 16 priests had increased to 64,
and the Catholic population from less than 2.5,000 to
at least 50,000.
On 23 May, 1860, Bishop O'Connor resigned his see to carry out his cherished purpose of entering the Society of Jesus. He made his novitiate in Germany and then returned to this country, where he laboured with characteristic energy and zeal as a professor, also preacliing and l(>cturing all over the United States and Canada. With his other acquirements. Bishop O'Con- nor was a linguist of considerable note, being familiar with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and speaking English, Irish, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. He was called to his reward 18 October, 1872, in his sixty- third year. His remains were deposited by the side of his Jesuit brethren at Woodstock, Maryland, and there still lies all that is mortal of one of the most brilliant lights that has ever shed its lustre on the Church in the United States. When Bishop O'Connor resigned, the statistics of the diocese were as follows: 77 churches, 86 priests, 30 clerical students, 4 male and 2 female religious orders, 1 seminary, 3 male and 2 female institutions of higher education, 2 orphan asylums, 1 hospital, and a Catholic population of 50,000. Any one who understands the resources of the diocese in 1843 would find it difficult to compre- hend how the bishop could have accomplished so much for the good of religion. A stranger, after exam- ining all that had been done — the charitable and edu- cational estabjislimonts fovmded, churches built — • would at once ci include that the person who accom- plished so much must have had control of vast means, or must JKivc licen at the head of a numerous and in- fluential, wralt by, and munificent. Catholic body. Yet Bishop ( )X '(inniir in fact enjoyed none of these advan- tages. The Catholics of the Diocese of Pittsburg at that time, though generous to support religion, cannot be said to have been influential in the community, or possessed of great means. Indeed they were, almost without exception, the poorer people of the commu- nity. But during siiteen years they had enjoyed the advantages of an episcopal administration, all things considered, the most brilliant and most successful in the history of the American Church. The Very Revs. James A. Stillinger and Edward McMahon were Bishop O'Connor's vicars-general.
The Right Hev. Micliael Domenec, who succeeded Bishop O'Connor, 28 September, 1860, was, at the time of his aiipiiintnient, pastor of the church of St. Vincent do Paul, ( Jcrniantown. He was born at Ruez, near Tarrag<iiui, Spain, in 1816. His early education was received at Madrid. The outbreak of the Carlist War interrupfccl his studies, and at the age of fifteen he went to France to complete his education. Having spent some years in the Lazarist seminary in Paris, he entered that order. In the company of the Very Rev. John Timon, then visitor-general of the Lazarists, he came to the United States in 1838, and was or- dained at the seminary at Barrens, Missouri, 29 June, 1839. Having acted as professor in that seminary, at the same time labouring as a missionary in various parts of Mi.ssouri, he was sent in 1845 with some other Lazarist Fathers to take charge of the diocesan sem- inary at Philadelphia, a position formerly occupied by the first Bisliop of Pittsburg. In conjunction with his work at t he seminary he was pastor, first at Nice- town, and afterwards at Germantown. He was con- secrated in St. Paul's Cathedral, Pittsburg, on December, 1860, by Archbishop F. P. Kenrick of
Baltimore, and entered upon his new duties with a
zeal and activity, the effects of which were soon evi-
dent all over the diocese in new churches, schools, hos-
pitals, and asylums for the sick and poor.
While Bishop Domenec was recognized as a man of great learning, an eloquent preacher, and a zealous and indefatigable chief pastor of the diocese, it is to be regretted that the closing chapter in the life and history of this amiable and saintly prelate was dark- ened by the gloom of one of the severest trials that any bishop in the LTnited States has ever passed through. When the panic of 1873 had destroyed the prosperity of the country and disheartened the people of the Diocese of Pittsburg, the bishop, probably overcome by financial and other difficulties which beset him, set out on a visit to Rome, 5 Nov., 1875, to petition for the division of the Diocese of Pitts- burg, and the formation of a new diocese with Alle- gheny City as its see. Priests and people were taken by surprise when the division was announced from Rome, and found difficulty in crediting the report. But further intelligence confirmed it. "The Diocese of Pittsburg was divided, and Bishop Domenec was transferred to the new See of Allegheny. The Bulls for both the division and the transfer were dated 11 January, 1876. Many persons had expected that the division of the diocese with Altoona as the new see would take place in time, but felt that the panic which the people were passing through m.ust necessarily defer it for a few years to come. By Bulls dated 16 January, 1876, the Very Rev. John 'Tuigg of Altoona was elevated to the vacant See of Pittsburg. The new diocese of Allegheny had 8 counties, with an area of 6530 sq. miles, leaving the parent diocese 6 coun- ties, and an area of 4784 sq. miles. Broken in health and saddened by the trials which he had passed through. Bishop Domenec resigned the See of Alle- gheny 27 July, 1877, and retired to his native land, where he died at Tarragona, 7 January, 1878. Bishop Domenec had for his vicars-general the Very Revs. Tobias Mullen, afterwards Bishop of Erie, and John Hickey. The Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost entered the diocese 15 April, 1874, and, on 1 Octo- ber, 1878, opened the Pittsburg College of the Holy CJho.st, which is now (1911) attended by over 400 students.
The Right Rev. John Tuigg was born in County Cork, Ireland, 19 February, 1821. He began his studies for the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin, and completed his theological course at St. Michael's Seminary, Pittsburg. He was ordained by Bi.shop O'Connor on 14 May, 1850, and was as- signed to the cathedral as an assistant priest, and secretary to the bishop. He organized the ]iarish of St. Bridget, Pittsburg, in 1853. He was then en- trusted with the charge of the important mission of Altoona, where monuments of his pastoral zeal and energy exist, in the shape of a church, convent, and schools. In 1869 he was appointed vicar-forane for the eastern portion of the diocese. On 11 January, 1876, he was appointed to fill the vacant See of Pitts- burg, and was consecrated bishop in the Cathedral of St. Paul on 19 March, 1876, by the Most Rev. James Frederic Wood, Archbishop of Philadelphia. At that time, owing mainly to the effects of the panic of three years previous, and the discontent arising from the division of the former Diocese of Pittsburg, he found great financial and other cares to encounter. The division of the diocese was the beginning of the darkest period in the history of the Church in \\'estern Pennsylvania. It was followed by disputes, mistrust, and litigations, which sundered many old fri<'n<lship8, created clerical and lay factions, and did violence to the peace and cliarity which had hitherto blessed the diocese. In the manner in which it was lirought about, in the lines which de.^^igiuited the limits of each dio- cese, in the apportionment of debt, in fact from every
