United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

27 THE THIRD

COMMANDMENT: LOVE THE LORD’S DAY

REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE LORD’S DAY —CCC, NOS. 2168-2195

IT’S THE MASS THAT MATTERS

The history of the Church in the United States includes missionaries and priest circuit-riders who traveled widely in their territories to bring the Mass and the other Sacraments to the Catholic people. Fr. Junipero Serra planted mission stations in California from San Diego to Sonoma. Fr. Jacques Marquette did the same in the early days of Michigan and Wisconsin. Fr. Eusebio Kino rode the trails of Arizona to bring the Eucharist to the dispersed pioneers settling the new lands. Fr. Pierre DeSmet served the North American Indians in parts of the upper Midwest. Briefly sketched here are stories of two priests who gave witness to these ideals. An unlikely and colorful pioneer priest was Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin. He was born as a prince in 1770. His father was a Russian prince, and his mother a Prussian countess. Fr. Gallitzin was raised an Orthodox Christian but became a Catholic after his mother’s conversion to the Catholic Church. Upon completing his education, he emigrated to the United States. In Baltimore, he met Bishop John Carroll, who interested him in mis sionary work. Fr. Gallitzin enrolled at St. Mary’s Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1795. He soon obtained permission to go to Captain Michael McGuire’s settlement in western Pennsylvania. Once he arrived there, Fr. Gallitzin built a small church and celebrated the first Mass in it on Christmas Day, 1799.