Rev. Philip Kretz

REV. PHILIP KRETZ, pastor of the Most Holy Sacrament church, at Greensburg, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, March 11, 1857, son of Wendelin and Mary (Volz) Kretz. When twelve years of age he entered St. Vincent's College, in Westmoreland county, where he acquired his education, and on July 15, 1880, was ordained to the priesthood. In October of the same year he was sent to Rome to study the higher branches of theology, and upon his return was made a member of the faculty in St. Vincent's College, where for five years thereafter he taught theology. He was given, in 1889, a charge at St. Mary's church, in Elk county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for five or six years. He was then sent to a mission in the Alleghanies, having charge of St. Boniface and St. Lawrence congregations. He was sent to Baltimore in 1895, where he had charge of Fourteen Holy Martyrs church, and in September, 1899, he was transferred to Greensburg to take charge of the Most Holy Sacrament church. This was the first Catholic property west of the Alleghanies, having been purchased by the church in 1789. After coming to Greensburg, Father Kretz saw the necessity of having a more commodious school building, and in July, 1904, the erection of the present structure, one of the most substantial buildings of Greensburg, was began and was ready for occupancy March 1, 1905. The building is supplied with all modern ventilating appliances and the various modern improvements found in the schools of the present and is a handsome and substantial structure. Father Kretz died August, 1905. 

Source Page 50 History of fWestmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N. Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906 
Transcribed December 15, 1999 by Marilynn Wienke for the Westmoreland county History Project 
Contributed for use by the Westmoreland County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland/)

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