Gallitzine Or Galitzin Dmitri Augustin
Gallitzine Or Galitzin Dmitri Augustin [1]
son of the Russian princess Amalie of Gallitzine, was born at the Hague December 22, 1770. His mother was an enthusiastic Roman Catholic convert, and under her influence he joined the Roman Church at seventeen. He entered the Austrian army, and served with it in the Netherlands in 1792. He set out, after leaving the army, for a journey in America, and on the voyage was led by the counsels of a missionary named Brosius to turn his mind to the priesthood. He was ordained March 18, 1795, and devoted his life to missionary labors. In 1799 he selected a spot among the Alleghanies as the seat of a Roman Catholic town, and founded Loretto, now a town of several thousand inhabitants, with Roman Catholic schools for boys and girls in the neighborhood. As "Father Smith" he labored extensively in the wild region of the Alleghanies, and left enduring marks of his energy, faith, and devotion throughout that country. He died at Loretto May 6; 1840. He published a Defence of Catholic Principles (Pittsburg, 1816; new edit. Dublin, 1867): — Appeal to the Protestant Public (Pittsburg, 1818), and other small works.
