Parish names rooted in history of church
Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter. All disciples at the Last Supper. All Roman Catholic saints with churches named after them.
Eusebius, Fidelis, Alphonsus and Wendelin are not so famous Roman Catholic saints, except perhaps in Butler County.
The Rev. William M. Kuba, administrator for St. Eusebius Roman Catholic Church Parish in East Brady, explained the story of St. Eusebius.
In A.D. 325, Constantine was the Roman emperor.
“Constantine wanted to get the bishops together to decide what was the official teaching of the church,” Kuba said.
Eusebius, an early historian for the church, was involved.
“He was the one that sent the invitations for the Council of Nicea,” Kuba said. “Once he sent out the invitations, he sort of falls out of the history.”
Kuba said Constantine made the Catholic Church the official church of Rome. The scribes of Eusebius supposedly made 50 Bibles for Constantinople.
St. Eusebius Roman Catholic Church was established in 1874 or 1875. Kuba said some churches at that time would have been named in recognition of a saint being honored on the day of the church dedication. Perhaps that was a reason for the uncommon name of the church. Regardless, the church members had no say in the name.
“There are a variety of different categories that we can use for titles of churches. One would be a name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Another title would be something about Jesus Christ, either a name or an event or aspects of the life of Jesus,” said the Rev. Philip Farrell, episcopal vicar for Pastoral Vicariate Region 4 serving the northern part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
He said a name such as St. Mary of the Assumption is in a different category.He said, “We can use the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”Farrell said churches can be named for angels as in St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church.“Lastly we can use any of the saints who are martyrs or any of the saints who are an inspiration to us for any number of reasons,” Farrell said.A church can be named and blessed when the building is under construction, but once a church has a name, Farrell said the name only can be changed under certain circumstances.“Once the mortgage is burned, the church is generally consecrated. When a building is consecrated, only Rome can change the building's name. When it is only blessed, it's the bishop that can change it,” Farrell said.When parishes merge, the newly formed parish may have a new name, allowing the buildings of the member parishes to keep the same name, or the bishop can change the names of the individual church buildings at that time, he said. Congregation members can suggest new parish names to the bishop.“Obviously the bishop is the last word,” Farrell said.When the Rev. James Murphy came to what is now St. Fidelis Roman Catholic Church, 125 Buttercup Road, there were three parishes becoming one parish: St. John, St. Stanislaus and St. Conrad.“St. John closed, St. Stanislaus and St. Conrad went on,” Murphy said.The St. Fidelis Seminary in Herman was also closing. It was founded by Capuchin friars. St. Fidelis and St. Conrad are Capuchin names. The parishioners considered names for the new parish and overwhelmingly favored St. Fidelis. Murphy said the bishop approved the name.“St. Fidelis was interested in taking care of the poor,” Murphy said. “He was a civil lawyer and became a priest.In 1577, St. Fidelis was born in Sigmaringen, in present-day Germany.“He used his legal talents to help the poor. The civil authorities didn't like him and they killed him,” Murphy said.Parishioners celebrate St. Fidelis with a Mass.“The biggest way we recognize him is that we really try to take care of the poor in our area,” Murphy said.The parish goes beyond its local participation in the St. Vincent de Paul food bank and free community dinners.“We support a church in Africa,” Murphy said. “Along with the people in Evans City, St. Fidelis supports an orphanage in Africa too.”The Rev. James R. Bedillion, administrator for St. Alphonsus Parish, said the parish came from a merger, too. The parish includes Epiphany Roman Catholic Church in Boyers, St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in West Sunbury and St. Alphonsus in Murrinsville. When the parish was formed in 1993, St. Paschal Roman Catholic Church in Argentine was closed.However, the churches weren't new.“In 1841, the church in Murrinsville was established,” he said.Keri Ball, parish secretary and the safe environment coordinator, said the diocese was named St. Alphonsus Parish out of respect for the Murrinsville church as the oldest in the parish.“St. Alphonsus Liguori was from Italy. He was a lawyer and he founded the Redemptorists,” Ball said.The Redemptorists stressed Christ's love and Mary's help.“He is the patron saint of confessors and of moral theologians,” Ball said. “His feast day that we celebrate is August 1.”The Rev. Matthew McClain, pastor of St. Wendelin Roman Catholic Church, said St. Wendelin lived in the late 300s. He was acclaimed a saint immediately after his death.“He was the crown prince of Scotland who gave up his crown and went to Europe and wandered around in prayer,” McClain said.He was recognized as a holy man by Germans who made him the abbot of their monastery, McClain said. They didn't know about his royal heritage until he was on his deathbed.“He took jobs tending pigs. He was a shepherd as well,” McClain said. “He always is represented with a shepherd's crook with a crown at his feet.”In 1845, a family named Geibel and others from the German town of St. Wendel, established a school in Butler County. Two years later they founded a German Roman Catholic Church.Today, the parish remembers St. Wendelin with a Mass and a celebration in October.
