From the Archives

The Church in Oklahoma grew by leaps and bounds due to the increasing immigrant population and their Catholic roots. Since the entire state made up the Diocese of Oklahoma (until February 1973), it is fitting that the contributions to that growth in the coal mines of southeastern Oklahoma be examined. Italians, Poles, Russians and the Irish were the most plentiful ethnic groups.

As the Katy railroad was completed in the eastern part of what would be the State of Oklahoma, coal, the life blood of a railroad, was discovered near McAlester. Part of the Choctaw Nation, an agreement was reached with the tribe to begin to mine the coal. Figures of the day (the mid-1880s) estimate that 500,000 tons per annum were being removed from the earth. 

The towns of McAlester, Krebs, Lehigh, Savannah and Hartshorne expanded rapidly. The Benedictines of Sacred Heart Abbey saw the need to provide for the faithful in those towns and Lehigh converted a schoolhouse into Our Lady of Good Counsel in 1884. By 1886, North McAlester, Krebs and Savannah had church buildings.

Krebs was predominantly Italian and still maintains a connection with its roots as numerous Italian restaurants dot the landscape as well as Lovera’s Italian grocery. By 1888, about 4,000 (today it is about 2,000) people lived in the town and the school had more than 300 children. 

The parish still exists, and the church built in 1903 is the oldest in the Diocese of Tulsa.

Savannah and Lehigh no longer have Catholic churches and North McAlester merged with Krebs. A church was built in McAlester proper in 1895. 

The first Catholic priest to visit Hartshorne was Father Bernard Murphy (later abbot of Sacred Heart) in 1890. The Benedictine presence continued until the arrival of the Carmelites in 1916. They headquartered in Hartshorne early in their Oklahoma experience.

These immigrant communities stretched the limits of the clergy and presented numerous challenges. Due to the arduous nature of the work, the lifestyle could be rough and tumble and for a time they could be lawless. The Church was present to smooth some of the jagged edges and offer the sacraments as well as structure and organization.

Serving as a priest could be trying in this environment and it often required courage as Italian anarchists were none too fond of the Catholic Church. Eventually, civilization prevailed, and some towns thrived while others dwindled when the demand for coal diminished. 

What is certain, however, is that the primary apostolate of being missionaries to the American Indian shifted dramatically to serving a growing immigrant population and thus changed the face of the Church in Oklahoma. 


Photo: (Left to right) Italian miners Joe Luciano, Dominic Clemente, Donato Rigazzi, Eli Gizzi and Angelo Centello relaxed on a Sunday while imbibing in homemade Choc beer. Hartshorne, circa 1915.