Organizer of St. James Church:
Reverend John M. Bierl, D. D., O. M. C.

Rev. Lambing writes:

The subject of this brief notice was born July 22, 1838, in Kritzenast, Oberpfalz, bavaria. He came to America September 16, 1858, and entered St. Vincent’s Seminary, Latrobe, Pa., where he finished his higher studies, and was ordained by Bishop Domenec, February 2, 1862. He was first appointed pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Pittsburg, where he remained till July, 1865, when he was transferred to the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, East Liberty—now within the city limits. He jointed the Order of St. Francis . . . but spent a year at Butler before leaving the Diocese. He then went to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he made his novitiate, and was professed September 8, 1875. He was pastor of St. Benedict’s Church, in the same city, for a time, when he was transferred to Our Lady of the Angels, Albany, N. Y., and thence to Camden, N. J. As an evidence of his learning and ability, he was called to Loretto, Italy, in 1888, and later to St. Peter’s, Rome, as confessor for the English and German-speaking people. Having remained there for seventeen years, he returned to America, and was again for two years at Camden, when he was called to the house of his Order at Utica, N. Y. His heath continued good till the beginning of the present year, when it began to fail, although he and his numerous clerical and lay friends—even in distant Wilkinsburg—hoped he would be spared to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of his ordination, February 8. On January 28 he preached his last sermon. His health continued to grow worse, although he was able to receive the felicitations of a small number of his brethren in the sacred ministry; but just as the day closed his laborious and fruitful career in the service of his Divine Master also came to an end, and he passed to his eternal reward.

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Rev. A. A. Lambing, LL. D., An Interesting Bit of Local History: Brief Sketch of St. James’ Roman Catholic Church, Wilkinsburg, Pa. circa 1912, portrait p. 15.