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History of Parish of St. Augustine, St. Augustine, Pa. |
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dollar ($) mark was used the cents were marked by an h after them for hundredths at least down to about 1835.
Father Gallitzin Comes to the McGuire Settlement.
During the year 1796 Mrs. John Burgoon, a non-Catholic, having become sick with what she feared to be a fatal illness and desiring, through the grace of God to die within the fold of the Catholic Church, asked for a priest to prepare her for death and Mrs. Luke McGuire, whose maiden name was O'Hara, and another lady, set out on horseback through the wilderness to Conewago, 130 miles distant, to ask a priest to come to the settlement on this mission of mercy. A priest then known as the Reverend Mr. Smith, now revered as Father Gallitzin, returned with them, received the sick woman into the Church; but she did not then die, but lived for many years afterwards.
"Father Smith" made several visits to the settlement and being impressed with the sublime solitude of the place with its dense forests of lofty pines, its fertile soil and pure water deemed it a suitable place to locate a Catholic colony to get people of his faith away from the temptations and dangers of towns and cities, asked permission from his ecclesiastical superior, Rt. Rev. John Carroll, first Bishop and afterwards first Archbishop of Baltimore and the entire United States, for permission to locate in this settlement, and in answer to his request, the good Bishop, ever his firm friend, after stating that he had intended to give him a more important mission, granted the desired permission; and about the middle of July, 1799, the future Apostle of the Alleghenies, arrived at the McGuire settlement and availing himself of the bequest of the late Captain Michael McGuire of 400 acres of land for the use of the Church, immediately commenced the erection of the church of pine logs, chunked and daubed, with a roof of pine shingles, 25 by 40 feet in dimensions, and everything having been completed, the little church decorated with festoons of evergreens, it was on Christmas morning, 1799, the last year but one of the eighteenth century, blessed by the pastor under the protection and patronage of Blessed Michael the Archangel and under the title of St. Michael's, the parish still exists although for some years it was called St. Mary's, but its really only canonical name was restored to it by the late Very Rev. Father E. A. Bush, when pastor of the parish.
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