Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin
Missionary priest in America
Who they were
Demetrius Gallitzin, born at The Hague on 22 December 1770 to a Russian prince and ambassador, was raised with little religion and became a Catholic, taking the name Augustine. Sent to travel in America, he landed at Baltimore in 1792, stayed to become a priest and settled in the wilds of the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania.
He spent forty-one years at Loretto, turning a dense wilderness into a settlement of farms, and died there as he had lived, poor, on 6 May 1840.
The miracles
The Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe his cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A prince who became a poor missionary priest on the American frontier.
The cause
Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin is named a Servant of God; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown: the cause of Demetrius Gallitzin.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin
- Wikidata Q704917 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.