While living in Pittsburgh i made many trips to Troy Hill, a working class neighborhood on a bluff overlooking the city from the north side, to view the wondrous collection of relics that a long-ago Belgian priest collected all over Europe with an inheritance left by his wealthy family. He arrived in Pittsburgh about the same time as my paternal grandparents and for about the same reasons, so i continue to pay attention to the lovely little chapel when he honored St. Anthony of Padua and left it to his poor parish to maintain later. They could not, so it fell into almost total disrepair over the years and was only opened to the public after much work by locals and money from pilgrims from all over the world who traveled to Pittsburgh to see this marvelous collection of art and artifacts--and just old-fashioned history of the Catholic Church. Gone over 10 years, i still think about the chapel and would like to see it again. Always happy to hear that others have discovered it and appreciate its art, too.
Hey Ruth,
Larry and I visited St. Anthony’s Church on Troy Hill the other day. It reminded me of so many that we visited in Peru; with those huge ornate wood backdrops to the altars, gold leaf and all. Over 4,200 relics displayed in glass cases and then inside the cases were ornate little display containers that looked like brass or gold. Some of the relics were a tooth from St. Anthony, a few slivers of (The Cross) A few pieces of wood from the table used at (The Last Supper), Skulls of several saints, whose names elude me at the moment, none I recognized by name. There were a few scrapes of cloth worn by (The Virgin Mary), bones of various saints. My goodness it was awesome. We were lucky to have a nun take us on a complete tour. She was also the main person who cataloged all 5,000 relics (not all displayed yet), so we were very fortunate to say the least. All around the perimeter of the church, all the stations of the cross, full sized, hand carved, and with amazing detail and color; very graphic in its depiction of the crucifixion. Larry wasn’t feeling that well, but he enjoyed the visit, too. It has to be seen to appreciate how special this little chapel is. St. Anthony was so loved by Father Mollinger, they even died of the same affliction; dropsy, a heart condition.
Below is some information from their site:
At 1700 Harpster St., Pittsburgh, PA (Troy Hill), this chapel, and founded in 1883 by Father Mollinger, this collection of relics that now ranges 4,200, started from his rescuing many reliquaries from Germany during the time of Bismark's "culture struggle."
The relics are contained in 800 cases with 525 accompanying documents. Many relics contained in one reliquary require only one document, or "authentic."
The Chapel is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
