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graphical notes of his esteemed brother, Rev. Joseph A. Gallagher, who succeeded him in the pastorate of Loretto, are to be found." The writer knows, however, that he also went to California where he died early in the seventies of last century.
Father John Burns - First Resident Pastor.
There was an interregnum between the ending of the pastorate of Rev. Joseph A. Gallagher and the appointment of Rev. John Burns as first resident pastor from June, 1852 to March, 1853. During this period we find the names appended to the Baptismal Register as the officiating priest as follows: Gerald A. Murtagh; P. Odila, 0. S. B., H. P. Gallagher; Tho Inbuleugh; P. Henricus Lemke, 0. S. B.; J. A. Gallagher; and Ju Carlett and Ricardus Browne.
The first entry on the Baptismal Register by Father Burns in 1853, is dated March 20. It is all in Latin, as follows: "Georgius natus ex Jacobo Litzinger et Elizabeth McDermott, die decimo nono Februarii. Sponsores fuere Leonardus Litzinger, et Charlotte Will.
"Joannes Burns."
After a couple of records we find the signature J. Burns, the Latin Christian name being dropped.
According to the record, Father John Burns baptized during his pastorate of more than thirteen years (the longest pastorate up to the present time), 861 persons, his last entry bearing date April 22, 1866.
The congregation having increased from other causes than by births, particularly by reason of the lumber industry, the region being at that time, except the clearings for homestead farms, covered by a dense forest of pine, and many workmen, most of whom were Catholics, flocked in to hew timber for rafts to float down Clearfield Creek and Chest Creek to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and thence down that stream to the marts for this timber, the first church was found to be too small to accommodate the large congregation, and the enlargement of the sacred edifice was projected; transepts were built to it, giving a capacity of 70 feet by 170 feet, and a rededication of the church took place during the pastorate of Father E. J. Burns, brother of Father John Burns on August 28, 1868, by Rt. Rev. M. Domenec, Bishop of Pittsburg.
Worn out by the labors and trials of his long and arduous service in this Vineyard of the Lord, the extent of
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