History

Founded in 1790, Saint Vincent Parish was the first Catholic parish in Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains. Father Theodore Brouwers, O.F.M., purchased 300 acres of land called "Sportsman's Hall Tract" and thus founded Sportsman's Hall Parish, the early name for Saint Vincent Parish.

The Parish was later placed under the patronage of Saint Vincent de Paul when a new church was built under the supervision of Father James Stillinger. Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick dedicated the church on July 19, 1835. It was Bishop Kenrick's custom to name churches after the saint whose feast occurred on the day of the dedication, and the new church was dedicated on the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul.

In 1846, Benedictine Father Boniface Wimmer arrived at Saint Vincent and founded the first Benedictine monastery in the United States. From then on the parish was inseparably linked with the Benedictine monastery and educational institution which shared its name.

A detailed history of the parish, from 1790-1846, can be found in the now out-of-print book, The Sportsman's Hall Parish Later Named Saint Vincent, 1790-1846, by Omer U. Kline, O.S.B. As the book is now out-of-print, it has been excerpted in great detail on the Saint Vincent Archabbey Home Page under the history section.

For further reading on Saint Vincent, Jerome Oetgen in 2000 published Mission to America, A History of Saint Vincent Archabbey, The First Benedictine Monastery in the United States. He also wrote An American Abbot, Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., 1809-1887. Both books were published by Catholic University of America Press and are currently in print. They are available at the Basilica Gift Shop on the first floor of the Saint Vincent Parish Center or by mail from Archabbey Publications, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, PA 15650-2690. For a free catalogue from Archabbey Publications, write to the address above.