Part I

The story of the Catholic faith in our area is a rich tapestry, woven from the sacrifices and dedication of many. As circumstances changed over time and populations grew and declined, the faith remained important. It was lived out in various manifestations over three hundred years since the first Catholics set foot here.

When the French explorers under the leadership of René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, traveled down the Allegheny River to what is today known as The Point in downtown Pittsburgh, they were surely accompanied by missionary priests as was the custom of that time. We known that sometime in the years 1699-1700, these men rounded the land there and began a journey down the Ohio River, stopping at what would become McKees Rocks, and eventually ending in Louisiana, which was French territory.

This is the first recorded presence of Catholics in our area. Five decades later, in 1754, the French would be settled at Fort Duquesne, having driven the British out, and there, a chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of The Assumption of Our Lady on the Beautiful River, served the pastoral needs of the residents. Franciscan Recollect Father Denys Baron was chaplain, and the log kept from those times indicates baptisms and burials among the ministry of the priests there.

With the later defeat of the French and their native allies by the British, Fort Pitt was reclaimed. The region was a haven for the Scot-Irish Presbyterians who flocked to the region in great numbers, making the growth of the town that was later named Pittsburgh a very Protestant place. Following the War of Independence, Father John Carroll (1735 - 1815), member of the famous English Catholic family from Baltimore, was elected the first American bishop in 1789. A former Jesuit, Bishop Carroll, as the Bishop of Baltimore, was responsible for every Catholic in the new nation. The diocese covered the territory of the former thirteen colonies.