A Royal Son and Mother tells the story of the devout and long-suffering “Apostle of the Alleghenies”, as Fr. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin came to be known. Born the son of noble parents, Prince Dimitri Alexeievich, a Russian ambassador to the Netherlands, and the Prussian Countess Adelheid Amalie von Schmettau, Dimitri’s early life was one of inherited privilege . He was raised Russian Orthodox, lived very nominally by his family. However, in his teens his mother returned to the Faith of her youth, and Dimitri influenced greatly by her circle of friends, intellectuals, and priests, converted to the Catholic Faith, following her miraculous recovery from a serious illness. Although the ambassador had planned a military career for his son and had sent him to America for an education, he was shocked to learn that his son had renounced his inheritance and had entered a seminary instead. Demetrius was ordained a Catholic priest in 1795 and devoted his life to ministering to the pioneers of rural Maryland and Pennsylvania. Braving every sort of danger and forgoing personal comfort, he established numerous missions in remote settlements across the Allegheny frontier. During his years as pastor in Loretto, Pennsylvania, his spiritual children grew in number from a dozen to over ten thousand. The story of this mother and son is a beautiful tale, like many seen through the ages, of a devout mother , holy and good, and the ensuing strong Faith of her child, who learned from the hand that rocked their cradle to love the Good God and serve him to heights of holiness that affected many.
1 hour and 29 minutes.
