Missionary, born The Hague, 1770; died Loretto, Pennsylvania, 1840. He was baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, but became a Catholic, c.1787,came to Baltimore, 1792, and entered Saint Mary's Seminary and was ordained, 1795. In 1799 he went to McGuire's Settlement in the Alleghenies, erecting a small log church where Loretto, named by him, now stands; there he remained 41 years. Receiving no salary, he spent what he received of his inheritance developing the colony spiritually and industrially. He was one of the first in the United States to defend the Church by writing. Made Vicar-General of Western Pennsylvania, 1827, he refused to allow the proposal of his name for the sees of Cincinnati and Detroit. On the centenary of the Loretto mission, a bronze statue, donated by Charles M. Schwab, was erected over the rough-hewn monument marking his grave.
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