AOH Stained Glass Window Search

Photo: Allegheny County AOH gifted windows of St. Brigid and St. Patrick
installed and blessed by Bishop Bradley at Old St. Patrick's Church
in Pittsburgh's Strip District, March 17, 2006

Here's a note and a request from AOH National Archivist Michael Cummings.

"A first of three mailings to hard-to-contact parishes has yielded two more windows----#306 & #307. Both are in Western Pennsylvania. St Michael's Church in Greenville, PA (near the Oho border) and Transfiguration Church in Monongehela, PA.

St Michael's Pastor sent me an article indicating the AOH gave a window in 1893 rededication but the windows were re-sized and the dedications are gone. I have asked Fr. if one of the windows is of St Patrick that is probably it. The Transfiguration window is still there also.

Another mailing has just gone out and one more is needed to finish off the parish contact attempts. I have always contended that PA and border States would end up having as many AOH windows as Mass.(present and past) just because of the concentration of these windows around mines and railroad depots and the Western spread of the AOH.

The best way to find them now may be looking at the newspapers the day after a church was dedicated or rededicated with a Mass. Newspapers were anxious to indicate who gave all the furnishings of the church. Of all the AOH windows now lost we have found nearly all of them that way. But we are in a race against time---at least toward the convention and the production of Volume III.

You will note on the attached Master List the windows for which we need photos. National President Meehan will make his semi-annual archives presentation sometime in March before St Patrick's Day. If you can help with family or friends secure any of these needed photos please do so now.

If you have any question or I can offer any advice, please do not hesitate to contact me. Click here to see the latest Master List. A newly revised one will be up on aoh.com shortly.

A total of 307 AOH Windows have been found in 37 states and here are the top 4 states:

1. MASSACHUSETTS = 56
2. PENNSYLVANIA = 39
3. NEW YORK = 35
4. OHIO = 26

Note: If you are going to St. Paul's Cathedral in Oakland, please take a good picture of the AOH window there and email/mail it to:

Michael J. Cummings
12 Marion Avenue
Albany, New York 12203-1814
518.482.0349(h)
518.447.4802(o)