• Founding of Pennsylvania Religious Tolerance and Freedom
• Catholic Faith in Western Pennsylvania
• First Parishes in Southwestern Pennsylvania
• The Location
• Parish Beginnings
• Saints Among Us

The Strip District was a fertile field for God's sons and daughters to labor in. Serving God meant caring for His people on earth. We are all called to sainthood and the tireless love of the following holy men and women is a reminder to all of us that with God, all things are possible.

• Blessed Frances Siedliska at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church
• Blessed Francis Seelos At Saint Philomena Church
• Saint John Neumann At Saint Philomena Church

Blessed Frances Siedliska at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church

To the greater glory of God, on April 23, 1989, Mother Frances Siedliska was beatified by Pope John Paul II.  Frances Siedliska was born on 12 November 1842 at her family estate at Roszkowa Wola, Poland in the midst of the wealth and culture of Polish nobility. From early childhood, Frances responded to God's grace: she possessed a brilliant mind, a great heart, generous ardor for doing good and a gift of attracting souls who desired to dedicate themselves completely to God. Divine Providence favored her with remarkable personal gifts which she would use to found a religious congregation.  It was at Rome that the new congregation was established on the First Sunday of Advent in 1875, with the blessing given two years earlier by Pope Pius IX. In her unceasing search for God, Frances Siedliska found in the Holy Family the perfect model of total self-giving to God and modeled the spirituality of her congregation upon the example of the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their home of Nazareth.

The work of Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd extended rapidly to Poland, England, France and, since 1885, throughout the United States.  In her zealous vigilance and burning fervor for religious observance, she spared herself no pain. During the day, she devoted herself to her congregation, presided at religious exercises, held conferences, consoled the sisters who were suffering and restored peace to troubled souls. A part of the night she spent writing to the distant houses to promote the spirit of the Holy Family, the love of sacrifice and the union of hearts. Gradually many labor drained her physical strength and her longing for heaven was expressed in the words of the psalmist, "Let us go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122: 1). She gave her soul to God on the feast of the Presentation of Mary, 21 November 1902 in Rome. The canonical process for beatification was initiated soon after her death.  The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth still serve God and man throughout the wQr1d with ministries in Italy, Poland, France, England, the United States, the Phillippines, Russia, Australia, India, and Jerusalem. Here in the United States they minister in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut and Texas. Sisters in Pittsburgh province