News from the Catholic Historical Society passing in the Annunciation Neighbor- hood” in the Reporter Dispatch Christopher J. Kauffman died publication of the Allegheny on January 30, 2018 at age 81. The City Society (Pittsburgh’s North internationally recognized historian Side), Spring 2018 issue (No. authored histories of the Knights 74). Kathleen will present two of Columbus, religious orders, ru- papers at the Eleventh Triennial ral Catholicism, the Catholic Health Conference on the History of Association, and the six-volume Women Religious to be held at Bicentennial History of the Catholic St. Mary College, Notre Dame, Church in the United States (1989). Indiana, on June 23-26, 2019: (1) He was professor of American Fr. Suitbert G. Mollinger Museum sign “The Persevering Social Activist Catholic History at the Catholic Source: Saint Anthony Chapel Work by Women Religious in the University of America 1989-2008, neighborhood and was an inter- 1960s-1970s as Embodied by Sister and longtime editor of the U.S. nationally known healer, drawing Mary Dennis Donovan,” and (2) Catholic Historian journal. Kauffman thousands every week to his chapel. “The Napkin Ring: A Symbol of delivered a lecture for the Catho- The museum, located on the sec- Community Life.” lic Historical Society of Western ond floor of the gift shop houses Pennsylvania (“Society”) in June Former Society board member items of religious and cultural 1996 on “The History of Catholic Sister Sally Witt, C.S.J., was fea- significance and is open Tuesdays, Hospitals in the U.S.A.” tured in an article in the March 15, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays 2018 issue of Global Sisters Report from 1 to 4 P.M. persons on writing histories of women , assis- Society Board Member Dennis P. religious congregations. Witt has Charles T. Strauss, Ph.D. tant professor of history at Mount Wodzinski authored a Novem- published the histories of the ber 30, 2017 article in The Catholic Sisters of St. Joseph of Watertown St. Mary’s University in Maryland, Accent on Pittsburgh’s first diocesan (2005), the Sisters of the Holy has been selected as the new historian, Monsignor Andrew A. Spirit (2014), and is currently re- Executive Secretary-Treasurer of Lambing, and his connection to searching the history of the Sisters the American Catholic Historical the Society. On January 17, 2018, of St. Joseph of Concordia. The Association The appointment Dennis became Director of the Ar- article may be accessed at: http:// was announced on August 3, 2018. chives and Records Center of the globalsistersreport.org/blog/q/ Strauss delivered a lecture for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, succeeding trends/q-sr-sally-witt-writing-his- Society on “Rev. John Hugo and Kenneth A. White, who retired. On tories-women-religious-congrega- Suburban Parish Life in Cold War September 10, 2018, Dennis was tions-52596. Pittsburgh” in April 2014. elected Secretary of the Society, , the succeeding John C. Bates who had Kate Lukaszewicz, curator of the Father Aleksandr J. Schrenk served in that position since 2013. Father Suitbert G. Mollinger Mu- Society’s “Rome Correspondent,” seum, delivered a lecture on “The received his S.T.L. from the Patris- Kathleen M. Washy, Society Life of Father Suitbert Mollinger” tic Institute Augustinianum in June Treasurer and Archivist of the at the Cranberry Public Library 2018, and subsequently returned Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, on May 16, 2018. Mollinger (1828- to the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He authored an article entitled “Sister 1892) established St. Anthony joined the Society’s board of direc- Frances Rooney, CSJ: Growing Up Chapel in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill tors on September 10, 2018. 129 Gathered Fragments | Fall 2018 Katherine Koch, a frequent Greensburg in 1889. tral bell tower stands 265 feet tall, contributor to Gathered Fragments, with accompanying twin towers at was one of three finalists in the A granite monument honoring 150 feet. Bishop Tobias Mullen historical fiction category of the both St. Francis Medical Center (1818-1900) – who had served American Christian Fiction Writers’ and Christian Housing Inc. was as pastor of St. Peter Church in Genesis Contest for new writers. dedicated on the grounds of St. Allegheny [today, Pittsburgh’s This was announced at the ACFW’s Augustine Plaza in Lawrenceville North Side] (1854-1868) prior to annual conference in Nashville, on November 5, 2017. The Sis- his elevation to episcopate – was Tennessee, in September 2018. ters of St. Francis of Millvale the driving force behind the cathe- Ms. Koch’s submitted manuscript operated the now-closed hospital dral’s construction, which lasted was The Sower of Black Field – a 1865-2002 and were instrumental 1875-1893. The cathedral was historical fiction novel about Fr. in forming the non-profit housing originally dubbed “Mullen’s Folly” Viktor Koch, C.P., her great-grand- corporation which developed over because of its enormous size. Mul- uncle who founded a Passionist two dozen low-income elderly len is buried in the Bishops’ Crypt Province in 1930s Nazi Germany, housing projects in Western Penn- beneath the high altar. In January survived WWII behind enemy sylvania between the 1970s and 2018, the cathedral began a four- lines, and saved the Bavarian town early 2000s. year $4.7 million dollar renovation. of Schwarzenfeld from American On November 17, 2017, St. Nich- army reprisals.. The feast of the Immaculate olas Croatian Church in Mill- Conception on December 8, 2017 events vale witnessed the second annual marked the dedication of the Applaud the Light, sponsored by On October 29, 2017, Bishop Mark “crowning jewel” of the National the non-profit Society to Preserve Shrine of the Basilica of the Im- Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown the Millvale Murals of Maxo Van- blessed the new parish center for maculate Conception in Wash- ka. The evening included singers ington, D.C., by Donald Cardinal the Cathedral of the Blessed (including soprano Amy Stetten, Wuerl, former bishop of Pitts- Sacrament in Altoona. Locat- a great-niece of Vanka), poetry burgh. The gold Trinity Dome ed next to the parish rectory, the by historian Charles McCollester, building houses offices, classrooms, above the front central section of and an update on mural conser- the Upper Church includes depic- and archival and genealogy rooms. vation progress. New lighting was The bell hanging in the tower atop tions of more than a dozen saints unveiled for four of Vanka’s 1941 connected to the United States, the building had been located in murals – Christ on the Battlefield, the spire of the convent where the including Bishop John Neumann Mary on the Battlefield, The Capitalist, and Mother Katharine Drexel Sisters of Charity from Cincinnati and Simple Family Meal. established their first foundation who both served in Pittsburgh. in Western Pennsylvania in 1870 at The Diocese of Erie celebrated The dome mosaic is composed the request of Pittsburgh Bishop the 125th anniversary of historic of more than 14 million pieces of Venetian glass covering more than Michael Domenec. The cathedral St. Peter Cathedral with Mass- now sits on the site of that first es at the cathedral celebrated by 18,300 square feet. The mosaic was convent. The parish is the oldest in Bishop Lawrence Persico in 2017 done in Italy and shipped in 30,000 the city of Altoona and originally and 2018. Each Mass was followed sections weighing 24 tons. It marks was named St. John. Father John by a tour of “the mother church” the final step in completion of the Tuigg was the first pastor (1853- of the diocese and presentation Upper Church that began in 1955. 1876) and became the third bishop of the history of the cathedral. James Cardinal Gibbons blessed the shrine’s cornerstone in 1920. of Pittsburgh in 1876. Construc- Famed architect Patrick Keely tion of the present cathedral began designed the stone Gothic Revival Journalist Richard Gazarik deliv- in 1924 but was not completed structure. St. Peter’s foundation ered a lecture for the Lawrenceville until 1960. The Sisters of Chari- consists of stone from the closed Historical Society on July 18, 2018 ty opened a new motherhouse in Erie Canal. The cathedral’s cen- in the Carnegie Library in Law- 130 News from the Catholic Historical. Society renceville on Father James Cox and hurriedly buried in (1886-1951), who served as pastor the crypt. A massacre of St. Patrick Parish in Pittsburgh’s ensued over several Strip District, led a mass march of hours. Claims that gov- the unemployed to Washington, ernment security forces D.C., in 1932, and was the Jobless threw bombs into the Party’s candidate for president of crowd and army sharp- the United States. shooters posing as civil- ians fired into the crowd The October 14, 2018 canonization from the National Palace of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo were never proved. A Romero y Galdámez (1917-1980) chilling account of the of El Salvador, recalled his assassi- funeral was printed in nation on March 24, 1980 in a hos- the Greensburg diocesan pital chapel. His funeral Mass was newspaper, The Catho- attended by three representatives lic Accent, available at: of the National Conference of http://issues.catholic- Catholic Bishops including Greens- accent.org/publication/ burg Bishop William G. Connare index.php?i=275097 (1911-1995). Some 250,000 peo- &m=0&l=&p=5&pr Artist Jan Henryk de Rosen ple attended the prelate’s funeral e=#{“page”:4,”issue_ Source: Wikipedia celebrated outside the Metropolitan id”:275097}. Thomas Wilson gave presentations Cathedral. During the ceremony, on the murals of Jan Henryk gunfire and smoke bombs erupted tours, pilgrimages, de Rosen (February 25) and the in the cathedral square. Thousands, and exhibits stained glass windows (March 18); including Connare, sought safe- The year 2018 witnessed sever- (2) Sacred Heart in Shadyside, ty inside the cathedral.