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HISTORY OF
ST. AUGUSTINE'S PARISH
THIRD EPOCH.
Rectorate of Rev. John J. Ludden -
May, 1892 to January, 1900.
The writer has deemed it appropriate to date the third epoch of the parish of St. Augustine to the assumption of the duties and labors of the rectorship by the late much lamented Father Ludden, for surely his advent to the administration of the affairs of the parish, temporal as well as spiritual, marks the beginning of an epoch in its history from that time to the present; for it was during his rectorate that the present commodious and beauiful brick church of St. Augustine was built.
Building of the Present Church of St. Augustine.
The present church of St. Augustine was commenced in 1893. Most of the material and labor were contributed by members of the parish. The stone in the foundation walls were hauled from near Ashville. The brick were burned in the hollow below the church on farm of John Behe, a Mr. Everly, of Loretto, and Alexius Wills. A man named Fisher is said to have helped, and two boys of St. Augustine - "Ben" Delozier and "Wash" Harber - carried the bricks from the moulders and stacked them in the kiln to be burnt.
Description of the Church of St. Augustine
The original plan of the church of St. Augustine, Cambria county, was probably a modification of the Gothic style of architecture subsequent to the period of the Renaissance, but the contractor having taken the contract at a figure much too low, he was allowed by Father Ludden to modify the plan not only as to the tower and towerette, but also as to the vaulted arch interior for which a flat ceiling of yellow pine was substituted - a blending of the Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture. The dimensions of the
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