Twas the Night After Saints Tour

We must get over wanting to be needed-this is the hardest of all temptations to resist - C.S. Lewis

A good quote, all things considered. One I tell myself in some form every day; I'm not the important one, He is. I had that reinforced in confession today with a priest I'd never met before, but I think I'll be going to him again for confessions. For one thing, his 8:30am Saturday mornings are better for my schedules than right before class. For a second thing, he kicked my butt, the first time I've had that happen in a confessional in over a year!

Anyhow, last night I went on the Candlelight Saints Tour in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Home of St. Francis University and Seminary, home of St. Michael the Archangel Basilica, and home of the final resting place of Prince Gallitzin. Prince Gallitzin is an interesting figure, and one I have to admit I've never heard of before; a Servant of God whose cause for Sainthood is ongoing, and a man whose story is unmistakably powerful.

Prince Demetrius Augustin Gallitzin was born in 1770, three days before Christmas in The Hague, where his father served as Russian Czaress Catherine the Great's ambassador to the country. His father was a prince by birth and an ambassador by appointment, his mother was a countess and daughter of Prussian Field Marshall von Schmettau. His mother would later give up her time in court life to see to the childrens' educations herself: manners, self-discipline, physical fitness and sports being favored subjects. It was said that she made sure their education was complete in everything but religion.

In 1780 she moved the children to Munster, Germany to enroll Demetrius at the university. She ended up returning to the Catholic faith of her youth due to the influence of the Headmaster, von Fuerstenberg and the school's Spiritual Director, Father Overberg. Within two years, both her children followed.

In 1792, the young Prince Gallitzin was sent to the New World to finish his education. It was felt that he would be able to take in the high culture of Europe, and the colonial life to continue in the footsteps of his father as an aristocrat who actually knew about all aspects of the world. He was greeted in Baltimore by Bishop Carroll after the docking of his ship, where he introduced himself under the name of Augustine Smith. It would be months before the Bishop would receive a letter from him with his true identity, that of Prince Demetrius Gallitzin.

Not long after that revelation, he asked to be admitted to St. Mary's Sulpician Seminary, which at first, Bishop Carroll declined him admission to. This man was surely too frail for the rigors of the priesthood in the young nation. However, he later changed his mind at the young man's faith and tenacity; a move which prompted Countess Amalia, Gallitzin's mother to send a very unhappy letter to America to the Bishop about convincing her son to devote his life to serving the lower classes. When he was ordained, he became the first priest in the newborn nation of America who had received all of his orders.

In 1795, Father Smith (Gillitzin's assumed name) served at Conewago and surrounding missions in Pennsylvania, he answered a sick call to McGuire's Settlement, where he purchased 300+ acres of land from Wm. Holliday. He spent a few years in Virginia after that, and then returned in 1799 to McGuire's Settlement in Western Pennsylvania, with a jurisdiction extending over fifty miles in every direction. He built the first Catholic church, St. Michael the Archangel, between Lancaster, PA and St. Louis, MO...and then celebrated Midnight Mass in it in 1799. It was a humble structure, little more than a glorified shack. 4 iterations later, we have St. Michael the Archangel Basilica.

In 1800, Father Smith named the community he had helped found in the small settlement, Loretto, in honor of the Shrine of Our Lady in Loreto, Italy. There were 40 families in the community and the first school in it was quickly opened. He wasn't done though; not yet. Gallitzin had much life left ahead of him, and spent his entire inheritance building the town of Loretto (a tannery, the school, a lumber mill, etc.) and churches. He used his knowledge of surveying and languages in his priestly duties for a number of years.

In 1802 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1810 he legally returned to the family name from the assumed Smith he had been using, but few questioned his name change. Everyone essentially knew Fr. Smith spoke with an accent that wasn't from around the neighborhood, and therefore it was good odds he was returning to the name he had come to America with. In 1816 he would publish his book Defense of Catholic Principles and in 1823 would be appointed Vicar-General of western Pennsylvania.

In 1834 Gallitzin was thrown from a horse, and suffered a leg injury that would be with him for the rest of his life, prompting the Church to at long last send more priests to assist him in his works. Four years later, he would die on May 6th, the "Apostle of the Alleghenies" was only then revealed to his flock to have been no less than European royalty who had forsaken glamour and riches to serve God and to serve them.

In 1847, Gallitzin's remains were moved to a vault outside the entrance of his church, a monument of rocks and rough mountain stone. In 1899, one hundred years after building the church, a bronze statue was erected by famed financier and investor Charles Schwab, who would also contribute most of the funds to create the Basilica that stands today, as well as build a Carmelite monastery.

Servant of God, Demetrius Gallitzin, pray for us!