www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The NEW Prince Gallitzan thread.

Let's start this thread over.

Topic: Cause of Fr. Demetius Gallitzin
Mike C.
Member
Member # 1189

posted 06-25-2005 07:24 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word has been received from Rome that the cause of Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin has been introduced in Rome.

He was a convert from Russian Orthodoxy, and emigrated to the US, and was the first priest ordained in the US. For information you can write to:

Diocesian Chancery
126 Logan Blvd.
Hollindaysburg, PA 16648
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 309 | From: Haddonfield, NJ | Registered: Mar 2002 | IP: Logged |

J Thur

Member
Member # 1103

posted 06-25-2005 08:40 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike,

YES!!! T'IS GOOD NEWS!!!

I am quite familiar with Fr. Gallitzin. About 1/4 of those buried in St. Michael's Basilica Cemetery in Loretto, PA, are my ancestors and distant relatives. My cousins and I did some tombstone searches back there last year.

Coincidentally, for the past week, I've been documenting baptismal and marriage data in my family tree records. Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin baptized and married many of my family, and also stood for several as them as godparent.

Demetrius was quite a character, an Evangelist-Missionary extraordinaire.

He tried, unsuccessfully, to make Loretto the diocesan seat. Loretto was a Catholic town built on property Fr. Demetrius purchased to lure Catholic migrants from Maryland and such. Many came from Taneytown and Emittsburg, Maryland.

His statue stands proud and tall in front of old St. Michael's Basilica and next to the crypt, which was financed by Charles Schwab, the steel tycoon. It was recently remodelled and it looks beautiful. No white-washing.

Fr. Demetrius was the first Catholic priest to be ordained deacon AND priest on U.S. soil.

This is good news.

Joe Thur
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 2714 | From: . | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged |

DocBrian
Member
Member # 2278

posted 06-25-2005 08:57 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic Encyclopedia entry:

Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 54 | From: Cambria County, PA | Registered: Nov 2004 | IP: Logged |

J Thur

Member
Member # 1103

posted 06-25-2005 09:08 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DocBrian,

Thank you for the article.

The foundation of the second church is still there in the front part of the cemetery. Yes, it is thirty by forty feet.

Captain Michael McGuire is an interesting man. After serving in the army under George Washington, the federal government had no money to pay back the military leaders for their years of service. So, they gave them land to settle.

My Aunt Paula is a direct descendant of the Captain and has his Revolutionary War chest handed down to her.

Fr. Demetrius baptized many of my Luther family on a conditional basis, except for one, Conrad, who came over from the Hessian army as a deserter. He kept his Protestant faith while most of all Luthers in Cambria were Catholic.

I believe Fr. Prince Gallitzin's house is still standing behind the cemetery.

Joe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 2714 | From: . | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged |

DocBrian
Member
Member # 2278

posted 06-25-2005 09:53 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, it is still standing. His chapel is attached to the house, and his bedroom overlooks the chapel. Our homeschooling group took a tour of the site not too long ago. It was a wonderful testament to a great, holy, hardworking priest.

He had a window in his bedroom overlooking the chapel, so that from his bedroom he could open the shutter and be in the Presence of Our Lord in prayer. He had a strong Eucharistic devotion.

Some of my patients are also direct descendants of the families you mention in your post.

I think Fr. Gallitzin should be the patron with whom we in this diocese plead for a return to sacred reverent masses. Fr. Gallitzin said thousands of Tridentine Masses in the chapel, and had such strong devotion to Christ, that I'm certain his prayers in this regard could obtain for us the miracle of the granting of the Indult for the Tridentine Mass in this diocese.

Though I'm now fully in the fold of Byzantium, I have many friends praying for the restoration of the traditional Latin mass here.

The pastoral courage of Demetrius Gallitzin

...

Let me summarize for you the life of this famous priest. (Information for this article is taken largely from the Biography of Gallitzin, Apostle of the Alleghenies, by Margaret and Matthew Bunson, commissioned by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in 1999, the bicentennial of the founding of Loretto.)

Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin was born of a Russian Prince and a German Countess in the Netherlands on December 22, 1770. Demetrius (nicknamed �Mitri� by his family) was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church with all the pomp and circumstance befitting his noble lineage. In fact, his godmother was the Empress, Catherine the Great of Russia.

In 1787, influenced by the faith of his pious Catholic mother, Demetrius and his sister were received into the Catholic Church, made their first confession and received First Holy Communion. Later on Demetrius reflected on this moment in his life: �Although I was born a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, and although all my male relatives were either Greeks or Protestants, yet did I resolve that religion only which, upon impartial inquiry, should appear to be the pure religion of Jesus Christ. My choice fell upon the Catholic Church.�

In 1792, Demetrius traveled to America and was soon introduced to Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first bishop of the United States. The Archbishop encouraged Demetrius to pursue his evolving priestly vocation and sponsored his studies at Saint Mary�s Seminary in Baltimore. On March 18, 1795, Bishop Carroll ordained Demetrius to the priesthood, the first priest to receive all his orders in preparation for the priesthood in the United States of America.

After serving in several initial assignments, Father Gallitzin requested permission to minister in the rugged mountains of west central Pennsylvania and on March 1, 1799, Bishop Carroll assigned Father Gallitzin as resident pastor of a small village known as McGuire Settlement. Later, the pioneer priest renamed the town Loretto after the place of Marian devotion in Italy. Father Gallitzin built the first permanent church in Loretto and the first Mass was celebrated there on Christmas 1799.

For the next 41 years, Father Gallitzin traveled the Allegheny Mountains, often in very difficult conditions, preaching, teaching, serving, praying and offering the sacraments to the young but growing Catholic Church. Father Gallitzin ministered faithfully until the very end of his life, and after a brief illness, died on May 6, 1840.

Demetrius Gallitzin found that his life and vocation were completely fulfilled in the serene mountains of Pennsylvania, far removed from his noble upbringing. On one occasion he wrote to his mother who was encouraging him to return to the relative safety and comfort of Europe: �You can be fully assured that I have no other will in life, and wish to have no other, than that of fulfilling God�s will. You can be further assured that I find no lasting joy outside the activities of my calling.�

It seems to me that in hearing the story of Father Gallitzin, we should understand the personal strength and pastoral courage that characterized his service to the Church. From the time he left his privileged surroundings in Europe, he forged ahead without regret and responded to the call of the Gospel with zeal and conviction.

...

the entire article can be read at:

http://www.doy.org/viewpast.asp?ID=984

Joe

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by J Thur:
How familiar is the rest of the country with the late Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin?

Hoping to get the thread back on track.

Joe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had not heard of him before this. I just read his biography and am impressed. If we had a couple of Byzantine priests like him today, we would no longer have to worry about being a dying church.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Father Gallitzin was truly a man of faith, courage, service, and charity. A devoted Servant of God.

Another person who was a great missionary Priest in Pennsylvania was Father John Wolansky, who was sent to Shenandoah, PA by Metropolitan Sembratovich in 1884 and began our Church in this Western hemisphere.

http://stcyrils.tripod.com/origin/

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck


J Thur

Member # 1103

posted 06-27-2005 08:02 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What makes such two priests so worthy and great? How can we compare? What obstacles were in their path? What did they contribute? What should we be thankful for?

Joe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 2714 | From: . | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged |

Hello guys, I just want to update some information for you regarding the address posted above. the street name is Logan Valley Blvd and the town is Hollidaysburg, PA 16648.

This is my stompin' ground so the error cought my attention. PS I recommend visiting Loretto if you get the chance, it's a beautiful area.

Hello guys, I just want to update some information for you regarding the address posted above. the street name is Logan Valley Blvd and the town is Hollidaysburg, PA 16648.

This is my stompin' ground so the error cought my attention. PS I recommend visiting Loretto if you get the chance, it's a beautiful area.

Mine too. I grew up just a stone's throw from this address.

I will have to check this out. I'm not far from Cambria County - it's only 70 or 80 miles.

I was aware of Father Gallitzin, but I did not know this much about him. There is a railroad tunnel named for him near Altoona, I believe.

He truly was the Missionary to the Alleghenies.

It's a the town Gallitzan, and the tunnels are the Gallitzan tunnels. And the state park, Prince Gallitzan. Still don't know what miracles are attributed to him to have him beatified? Great man, but aren't miracles needed to be a saint in the eyes of the church?

Massasauga,

Yes, but being declared a Servant of God is the first step on the road to Sainthood. This starts the process by which miracles may be submitted for investigation. I believe one healing has been submitted already.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Wonderful news...

As providence would have it, I will be moving near Loretto within the next few weeks. I've been to Fr. Gallitzan's tomb, and when you are there you feel as if you are in the presence of holiness. I will be teaching at Mt. Aloysius College, which is only a few miles away from the tomb.

Anthony