Bishop Tobin on the Blessing of Having Faithful Catholics as Ancestors.

"Mrs. Catherine Cooper was my great-great-grandmother on my father's side. She lived from 1810 to 1901 spending all of her life in and around the little town of Loretto in the Allegheny Mountains of Central Pennsylvania. Her major claim to fame is that she was baptized and married by the famous 'Prince Gallitzen,' Father Demetrius Gallitzen, who eschewed his Russian nobility and enormous wealth to come to America as a missionary priest, spending forty years evangelizing the yet unsettled region.

"In doing some family research recently, I was re-introduced to the life of Catherine Cooper and I was particularly impressed by her obituary published in the local paper. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence (RI), reflected on the life of his great-great-grandmother and on the blessing of having had faithful Catholics as his ancestors.

To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:

The Imitation of Christ: In Memory of Mrs. Catherine Cooper (19 SEP 19)