Very Rev. M.A. Lambing

VERY REV. M. A. LAMBING. pastor of St. John the Baptist's Roman Catholic Church, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, whose ancestors had come from Alsace and Ireland about the middle of the eighteenth century, was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 28, 1848.

His boyhood and youth were spent in Manorville, in the same county. He quit school when thirteen years old, as his help was needed by the family. and learned shoemaking with his father: but soon after left the bench for-more lucrative employment in the oil business, working in a refinery and also in the Oil Creek and the Parker fields. He kept up a course of study through these years and, believing he had a call to the priesthood; entered St. Michael's. Seminary, Glenwood, near Pittsburg, in the fall of 1870. He was ordained from this institution by Bishop Tuigg, June 10, 1876, and immediately assigned as assistant to the pastor of St. John's Church, Southside, Pittsburg. In February, 1878, he was transferred to a like position in St. Patrick's Church in the same city. July 17, 1819, he was appointed to his present charge.

Scottdale was originally (1872-1878) a mission attended from Connellsville, but in the latter year it was made a separate parish with Rev. Thomas M'Enrue as its first pastor. It was a small church of some two dozen communicants when placed under Father Lambing's care, but being the center of the coke regions, which were then opening up, it grew rapidly in numbers. The corner stone of the present edifice, one of the finest in that section, with a seating capacity of more than four hundred, was laid in 1881. Until August, 1887, he had charge of all the territory between Connellsville and St. Vincent's with a population of a dozen nationalities. During most of this time he was assisted by Rev. S. J. Schramm and Rev. P. Rigler. Since then he has had charge of only the English and German speaking Catholics in and about: Scottdale, assisted by Rev. A: P. Black (1901-1903) and now by Rev. P. C. Danner. Father Lambing erected not only his own church but also St. Joseph's Church, Mount Pleasant, and the rectory, parish school and convent,. Scottdale. Seven teachers are employed in the school, which has an enrollment of three hundred and thirty. In 1902 he was appointed dean over Westmoreland, Indiana and Fayette counties by the late Bishop Phelan, and is known as rural dean; he is also a member of important church committees of his diocese. A lifelong abstainer, he is a strong and consistent temperance advocate, and one of the most widely leaders of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, of which he has been a member since 1884. The total abstinence societies connected with his church own a large hall. Since his coming to Scottdale, ten young women and four young men of the parish have entered the religious life. Two of the young men, Revs. M. P. Boyle and P. Diskm, were ordained into the priesthood.

Father Lambing was a prominent figure in all the labor troubles of the coke regions, always striving for a just and peaceful solution of disputes and enjoying the fullest confidence of the men regardless of nationality or creed, and of their employers and the public. Catholics and Protestants alike unite in their praise of Father Lambing for the great and good work he has accomplished in the community, in the welfare of which he has always taken an-interest and an active part. With tenacity of purpose and patient perseverance,. never asking nor wishing a change of place, he has labored with untiring-energy for his congregation and the moral good of the community. His labors have been labors of love and well done; his greatest pleasure is his Master's service and the betterment of his fellowmen. His work is a credit to himself and an honor to his church.  

Source: Page(s) 218-219, History of Westmoreland County, Volume II, Pennsylvania by John N Boucher. New York, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906.
Transcribed August 2008 by Nathan Zipfel 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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