Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1853-09-30
Biographical Sketches of the Princess
and Rev. DR.. GallitZin.


in Cambria county with greater veneraton than that
ofDr GALLrrzIS; and who, that and admired
the son. could fail to reverence and love the memory
Of the mother
From the Pittsburgh Catholic.
Mr. EDrroR.-I send you for publication, IN
your valuable Journal, two interesting biOgraPhi-
cal notices. translated from the Church History
of Able Rhorbachcr one of Princess dc Gallit-
zin. and the other. of her iIlustrious son, Rev.
Demetrius Augustine GaIlitzin, so dear to all,
the renowned Missionary and glory ofthe Church
in Weston Pennsylvania, now the fourishing
Diocese ofPittsburgh. Whatever details can be
collected throwing light on the history Of this
holy Prizes who labored for nearly half a century
in planting and propagating the Church in the
Allegheny region and surrounding districts, viii
be read With no ordinary interest. Who does
not wish even to know something Of the mother
ofso distinguished a son
In tht latter quarter of the eighteenth century,
1788.l the centre of Catholic attraction in Ger
many Fas the city of Munster, in Wetsphalia.-
There The world admired the piety of a Russian
lady, Converted to Catholicism viz, the Princess
Glllitzin born Countess Amelia Schmettau. PIa-
ced at q boarding school in Areslau, at a very
ealy age, she left it about eight or nine years aG
tcwards, with some knowledge ofmusic butt as
fol anything else, she was 50 ill-nstructcd, as TO
bascarcc able to read and write. Moreover she
was so llIigracefu in her appearance at her debut
insociety, that her mother sent her to a boarding
sdlool in Berlin, kept by certain French At
hGs5, named PremonvaI. She remained there
cGhtccn lnonths,no5 to improve herself in re adj
ing and writing, but to learn to dance, to speak
Fieuch, and TO know a little Mythology. Under
th. direction of such guide, who hmzelfwas
pupil Of Lamet1ie's school, She necessarily lost
al ideas Of religion. which had been instilled into
ha before.
Being now restored to the bosom finer pa
rents. and mixing freely in the gay world, she
bcralno disgusted with the emma and fIiyolity
inscparabc from such life, and withal she felt
great modification on perceiving her deficiencies
when compared with other ladies of quality,
who could speal, on all subjects with certain
air of confidence and mental acumon. She be-
came firmly resolved to acquire this talent by go
ing through a course of private reading. Placing
herself under no restraint as to choice 0l books
she abandoned hersclfto al indiscIimiuate peru
sal Of all that fell il her way. Though these
books We're generally romanccs, and though she
read them with ayidity, still this kind threading
had other effect upon her than to fill her with
q love of solitude, which she divided bctwoenrea-
ding and music. BY degrees, a certain rcmem-
brance Of her first carly legios improsses made
hcr royolye in mind her moral condition, and, by
further reflection, she was led to conceive great
fear of hell and eternity. The necessity ofsecu-
ring and quoting herself on this score, awakened
IL /,
1fel so rrat l-a,i orher life. and ysI.ieL final
y, after many waudeTings in the barren paths or
natural wisdom, conducted her at last 10 the gate
ofheaycnly truth. y profound sentiment of the
moral dignity ofman, as wen as Of the impor-
tauce Of the eternal distinction between good and
evil, revived in her. Such were the results Of re-
fiction in a young lady fifteen years ragei
Nevertheless, she did not escape the contagion,
which from England and France, through the fri
volous writings Of a Voltaire, Helyidius and a
Diderot, spread incrcdulity, matcraIs1n and lib.
crtinisrn among the nobility and Courts ofEuropc
The Princess, guided by her noble feelings, but
sill stranger to al positive scIigion tried, by
mere reason, to convince herself of the truths of
the existence Of God, and in the immortality of
the soul. Even after her marriage with Prince
De C;allitzin, in 1868, she continued with an ar
dor ever increasing, to give hcrsclfup 90 1acdita
ton on the end other creation, and similar sub
jccts. Her husband, De GalIitzin, was an en-
thusiastic admircr Of VoItaire and Dderot.-
Wherever the Princess accompanied him, she
met with nothing but examples Of the greatest
immortality and corruption. This sad experience
determined her, in the beginning of the year
I77O, to abandon altogether the world and its
commerce, to devote herself exclusively 10 the ed
ucation of her children. Mary Ann, born 1863,
and Demetrius, (the future American NIissona-
ry,) born III. She moreover wished, by private
study, to make up for the deficiencies of her own
education.
After having spent many years in Holland,
where her husband was Russian Ambassador,
she established hcr residence at Munster, in
Westphalia in I779. 1t was here she became
acquainted with N. De Furstcnberg, whose cf-
forts and knowledge displayed in the cause ofed-
ucation, had gained him great name. lie
was Yicar-General and Prime Minister to the
Prince Bishop of3Iunstcr
Yet long time did the Princess continue 10
consider seIfoye and egotism as a sufficient foun-
dation for moral conduct and after these prin-
ciples did she labor to train up her children to
virtue. After the lapse ola certain period she
began to feel the insuficieney ofthese principles,
and to regret that, through want Of faith, she
was so long without perceiving that religion. In
the year 1888 the merciful hand of the Lord sent
her a grievous sickness. Finding that she grew
more thoughtful and serious on her sick bed Ba-
ron Furstenberg sent his conlcssor to hold up 20
her the belief in the Saviour and the succors of