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and summer he used a small, wooden-sole sled hauled by two horses, the driver seated on the leader, worn out by the labors of forty-five years, his constitution, never robust it is said, doubtless more enfeebled by cold in his church, in which he never allowed fire, on Easter Sunday morning, 1840, he said early Mass and heard confessions and at the Mass which was said by Father McGirr, he preached the Resurrection, one sentence of which sermon, related to the writer by one who heard it was "If Christ had not risen, this man and I (referring to Father McGirr), would be the greatest imposters in the world." The closing words his sermon were, "It is consummated," truly prophetic words and his last to his congregation. The Mass over, he was compelled by reason of a chill he had taken to take his bed, and Fathers Lemke, of St. Joseph's, and Father Heyden, of St. Thomas', Bedford, were summoned, Father McGirr being present, the last rites of the Church were administered and his physician, Dr. Aristides Roderigue, of Ebensburg, was summoned to his bedside, but his malady was beyond the power of medical skill to cure, and he died Wednesday, May 6, following.
The funeral, which took place on Saturday, May 9, was attended by about five thousand people, gathered from all parts of the county. The Requiem Mass was celebrated by Father Heyden, who preached in English from the text "The just shall live in everlasting remembrance," a text prophetic of the remembrance in which the memory of the "Apostle of the Alleghenies is now held, and Father Lemke, preached in German, his text also being exceedingly appropriate "Of whom the world was not worthy; wondering its deserts, and dens, and in caves of the earth."
The interment was made, according to the request of the deceased between the church and the chapel but seven years later the remains were moved to the tomb erected for the purpose in which they now repose, beneath a handsome monument surmounted by a life-size bronze statue of Father Gallitzin, the gift of Charles M. Schwab, who at its unveiling in 1899, proposed to build at his own expense the present beautiful church, consecrated by the late Rt. Rev. E. A. Garvey in 1901.
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