{"id":1955,"date":"2013-03-18T10:01:07","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T10:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:41:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:41:31","slug":"eucharistic-rally-at-pitt-stadium-attracts-90000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/18\/eucharistic-rally-at-pitt-stadium-attracts-90000\/","title":{"rendered":"Eucharistic Rally at Pitt Stadium attracts 90,000"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"This <\/a>
This Eucharistic rally at Forbes Field on Oct. 13, 1941, included 10,000 choir and altar boys. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Here <\/a>
Here is the outdoor sanctuary for a Eucharistic rally at Forbes Field on Oct. 5, 1930. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bishop <\/a>
Bishop Hugh C. Boyle at the 1930 rally at Forbes Field. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Oct. 18, 1936:\u00a0<\/strong>Roman Catholics played a role in Pittsburgh before the city was named for William Pitt. Father Denys Baron, chaplain at Fort Duquesne, a French garrison at the Point, offered the first Roman Catholic Mass here on April 17, 1754.<\/p>\n

The faith spread across Western Pennsylvania and by 1941, the Pittsburgh diocese counted a total population of 874,000 Catholics and 387 parishes. That made it the second largest diocese in the nation, with the largest being the diocese of Brooklyn in New York.<\/p>\n

During the last century, the Holy Name Society hosted Eucharistic rallies in the evening at Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium. In 1941, Bishop Hugh Boyle presided over a gathering at Forbes Field, which attracted nearly 1,000 priests and about 10,000 altar boys and choir boys. The stadium was packed with more than 40,000 people. An overflow crowd gathered in Schenley Park and on Flagstaff Hill.<\/p>\n

A dramatic moment was the lighting of tens of thousands of candles. Catholics prayed for the intentions of Pope Pius XII, which included, \u201cactual realization of social justice and works of assistance in favor of the humble and needy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a pope has never toured Pittsburgh, two men who later became the Bishop of Rome made visits to the city. In September of 1951, Monsignor Giovanni Battisti Montini, who was serving as the substitute papal secretary of state, came to the U.S. on vacation.<\/p>\n

He paid a condolence call on the mother of his late colleague, Monsignor Walter S. Carroll, who had died in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 24, 1950. \u00a0Monsignor Carroll had served in the Vatican\u2019s Office of Secretariat of State.<\/p>\n

While here, Monsignor Montini offered Mass at Sacred Heart Church for the opening of the school year. At the time, Monsignor Carroll\u2019s brother, Coleman, was pastor at Sacred Heart. Monsignor Montini was elected to the papacy in 1963 and was known as Pope Paul VI.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 20, 1969, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla visited St. Stanislaus Kostka in the Strip District, where he prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament and at the side altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In October of 1978, he was elected to the papacy and became Pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roman Catholics played a role in Pittsburgh before the city was named for William Pitt.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesEucharistic Rally at Pitt Stadium attracts 90,000<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[960,970,977,987,1244],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mjpzsmnssF1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C970&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/02\/14\/final-moments-of-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":0},"title":"Final moments of Forbes Field","date":"February 14, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Instead of demolition, the question was asked \u201cWhy not open it up for kids to play ball?\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_n0yi05o5031rr5swxo7_1280.jpg?fit=1000%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2386,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/22\/pitt-stadium-football-mecca\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":1},"title":"Pitt Stadium, football mecca","date":"October 22, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pitt Stadium was completed in 1925, and on Sept. 26 of that year, Pitt christened the concrete bowl with a 26-0 victory over Washington and Lee.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3wd6wDJb1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C765&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2035,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/20\/oakland-as-viewed-from-the-post-gazette-helicopter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":2},"title":"Oakland as viewed from the Post-Gazette helicopter","date":"February 20, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Post-Gazette helicopter? Hmmm. Earlier generations of photographers had all the fun.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mih59bY2Hj1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C842&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1937,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/25\/the-bambinos-big-show-at-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":3},"title":"The Bambino\u2019s big show at Forbes Field","date":"March 25, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"At the time, Babe Ruth was nearing the end of his career.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mk10enxWuV1rr5swxo2_1280-e1418794881739.jpg?fit=1200%2C782&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6215,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/12\/23\/color-aerial-photos-of-pittsburgh-from-1974\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":4},"title":"Color aerial photos of Pittsburgh from 1974","date":"December 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Spectacular views from the blimp Mayflower show a city in transition","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/WEBDigs.Blimp009.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2592,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/27\/donelli-short-lived-coach-for-the-steelers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":5},"title":"Buff Donelli, short-lived coach for the Steelers","date":"August 27, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The team lost five straight under Donelli, who left after the NFL forced him to decide between college and the pros.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m99nre95aR1rr5swxo1_1280-e1418794650329.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4427,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions\/4427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}