Finding Father Mollinger: The Historiography of a Catholic Priest

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the late nineteenth century, Father Suitbert Mollinger was an internationally famous Catholic priest who pastored in Troy Hill, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. During his tenure there, his fame ever increased on account of his medical ministry and impressive collection of Catholic relics, the third largest such collection in the world. While pilgrims daily sought physical remedy from Mollinger, the crowds surged in mid-June every year, during the feast week of St. Anthony of Padua. While these stories have been expounded in diocesan and parish histories, recent advances in research technologies have been critical to uncovering a more robust narrative of Mollinger’s life, including his methods of healing and his life in Europe. Exploring the digitized Dutch archives revealed a misguided young man inexplicably estranged from his family and serving a prison sentence for a fraud conviction. This article explores the evolving historiography of this important figure in nineteenth-century American Catholicism.