Mount Saint Macrina is the site of the largest
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
among
Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to:
* The Catholic Church in Greece
* The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite:
** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church
** The Belarusian Gree ...
s in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. It is also home to the
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
of Byzantine Catholic Order of Sisters of St. Basil.
History
Established in 1933 by Mother
Macrina Melnychuk (1879-1948) near
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is the largest city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 9,984 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, southeast of Pittsburgh.
History
southeast of ...
, the pilgrimage takes place each
Labor Day
Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
weekend on the grounds of the Basilian monastery there, drawing more than 30,000. Mount Saint Macrina, named for
Saint Basil
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (330 – 1 or 2 January 379) was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379. He was an influential theologian who suppor ...
's sister,
Saint Macrina, was formally dedicated in 1934.
Once named Oak Hill, it was the estate (more than 1,000 acres) of coal baron J.V. Thompson (Josiah Van Kirk Thompson), a leading figure in the great
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
and
coke boom of the late 19th century. Financial misfortune forced him into bankruptcy, and in 1933 the Byzantine Catholic Order of Sisters of St. Basil acquired the property. The Thompson mansion, visible from
U.S. Route 40
U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...
, is now the Sisters' retreat center.
The monastery for the community of sisters is a five-story yellow brick building at the north end of the property. An international Order, other groups of the Sisters of St. Basil are spread throughout the world. The newest building on the property is Mount Macrina Manor Nursing Home, dedicated in 1971. Today, the Thompson Mansion serves as a retreat center.
Brothers of Prayers previously held their weekly prayer gathering on the Mount Saint Macrina grounds originally in the Trinity Center and eventually the House of Prayer chapel. The Brothers have moved to St. Thérèse de Lisieux Church, 61 Mill Street, Uniontown, PA. Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:15 PM EST.
In 1999, the Department of the Interior named Mount Saint Macrina to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
under its old name of "Oak Hill Estate."
Burials
*
Basil Takach, in the
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery
*
Stephen Kocisko
Stephen John Kocisko (June 11, 1915 – March 7, 1995) was the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the United States, American branch of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
Early life
Bo ...
, in the cemetery of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery
*
Thomas Dolinay, in the cemetery of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery
*
Basil Schott
Basil Myron Schott (September 21, 1939 – June 10, 2010) was the Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh from 2002 until his death.
The youngest son of Michael Schott and Mary Schott (née Krusko), Basil Schott was born i ...
*
George Kuzma
George Martin Kuzma (July 24, 1925 – December 7, 2008) was an American bishop of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church.
At the age of 29, Kuzma was ordained as a priest. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Passaic in New Jersey on November 11, ...
Albert N Skomra - who lived nearby and loved to go for a run on the grounds- is now buried there
References
Further reading
*
External links
Reverend Mother M. Macrina Melnychuk, O.S.B.M. - The Carpathian ConnectionMount Saint Macrina websiteByzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh website
{{National Register of Historic Places
Christianity in Pittsburgh
Eastern Catholicism in Pennsylvania
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Neoclassical architecture in Pennsylvania
Houses in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County, Pennsylvania