Welcome to Saint Vincent Archabbey

From The Sportsman's Hall Parish Later Named Saint Vincent 1790-1846, By Omer U. Kline, O.S.B., Published by Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 15650-1690, U.S.A. © 1990, 1998 by Omer U. Kline. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

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Father Maguire
Father Maguire had had a remarkable life in the almost fifty years before his arrival at Sportsman's Hall. Although born and raised in Ireland, he went to the University of Louvain in Belgium for higher studies, which culminated in ordination to the priesthood. He also joined the Order of Saint Francis of the Strict Observance. His early priesthood was spent in pastoral ministry in various parts of the Netherlands and Germany; and he became a linguist of considerable ability, acquiring especially a remarkable knowledge of the German language. He next found himself in France during the frenzy of the French Revolution. Father Maguire was one of those clergymen who sided with the French government against the revolutionists during the latter part of the Reign of Terror. One one occasion he was seized and was being dragged to the guillotine when he was rescued and managed to escape.
Next, Father Maguire emerged in Rome where he taught Theology at the College of Saint Isidore for six years. But in the year 1815 he was again in Belgium and this time he ministered to the wounded and the dying after the Battle of Waterloo. It was shortly thereafter that Father Maguire, distressed with the disturbed condition of affairs in the Old World, decided to enter the missionary field on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. He arrived in Philadelphia early in the year 1817; and, after his appointment as pastor of the Sportsman's Hall Parish, he set out for western Pennsylvania.