GALLITZIN, DEMETRIUS AUGUSTINE (I 7 7o 1840), American Roman Catholic priest, called "The Apostle of the Alleghanies," was born at The Hague on Dec. 22, 17 70. His father, Dimitri Alexeievich Gallitzin, Russian ambassador to Hol land, was an intimate friend of Voltaire and a follower of Diderot ; so, too, for many years was his mother, until a severe illness in 1786 led her back to the Roman Catholic church, in which she had been reared. At the age of 17 he, too, became a member of that church. Dismissed from the Austrian service after the assassination of the king of Sweden, he gave up the military or diplomatic career planned by his father and set out to complete his education by travel. In 1792 he arrived in Baltimore (Md.), where he decided to enter the priesthood. After engaging in mis sion work in Maryland and Pennsylvania, in 1799 he planned a settlement in what is now Cambria county (Pa.), and bought up much land, which he gave or sold at low prices to Catholic im migrants, spending $150,000 or more in the purchase of about 20,000 ac. in a spot singularly ill suited for such an enterprise. His disinheritance by the emperor of Russia because of his re ligion caused him to lose his half of the estate, save for some money sent by his sister, and he was soon deeply in debt. Con sequently when Gallitzin was suggested for the see of Philadelphia in 1814, Bishop Carroll gave as an objection Gallitzin's "great load of debt rashly, though for excellent and charitable purposes, contracted." Gallitzin died at Loretto, a settlement he had found ed, on May 6, 1840. Among his parishioners he was a great power for good. It is said that at his death there were 10,00o members of his church in the district, where 4o years before he had found a scant dozen. One of the villages he founded bears his name. Among his controversial pamphlets are : A Defence of Catholic Principles (1816) ; Letter to a Protestant Friend on the Holy Scriptures (1820) ; Appeal to the Protestant Public (1834) ; and Six Letters of Advice (1834), in reply to attacks on the Catholic Church by a Presbyterian synod.
M. Brownson, Life of D. A. Gallitzin, Prince and Priest (1873) ; a brief summary of his life by A. A. Lambing in American Catholic Records (Pittsburgh, Oct., i886, pp. 58-68) ; and a good bibliography by Thomas C. Middleton in The Gallitzin Memorandum Book; in American Catholic Historical Society in Phila delphia, Records, vol. iv. p. 32 seq. For further bibliography see Catholic Encyclopaedia.