It was a time that called for tenderness and tears, but it was also a time that demanded readiness and strength. The young man was about to leave for America. Seeing his mother crying, he hesitated. He suggested staying home. His mother yelled out fiercely through her tears: “Mitri! Mitri! I am ashamed of you!” The high-strung young man was startled—so much so that he fell off the pier into the ocean. Then, he swam back to the pier and got on board.
And so Russian aristocrat Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin said goodbye to his mother, Princess Adelheid Amalie Gallitzin. He would never see her again. Instead, he took with him to the newly founded United States all the toughness, independence of spirit, and strong capacity for love he had learned from her and made himself into one of the thousands of American heroes you have probably never heard about.
True Grit From an Unsung American Hero
Americans particularly value two qualities: being, in some way, “self-made,” and being gritty. Great Americans have these qualities, from George Washington to Laura Ingalls Wilder. These great Americans in turn had mothers who also exemplified these qualities and expected them in turn from their children.
Much has been written about these mothers. However, Princess Amalie has never really been considered in the light of being a mother to a great American. For one thing, she was a noble, and she never set foot in America. For another, her son, at least today, is not in the lists of famous Americans.
But what is more American than for a nobleman like Demetrius Gallitzin to toss off his title, take on American citizenship, and set himself to the great task of finding places for new Americans to live? What is more gritty than to undertake this task in the American backwoods, far from fame and fortune? And if he was a great American, and if he owed much of his greatness to his mother’s care, might we not consider her as an honorary “American” mother?
It is necessary to first give a snapshot of the man before proceeding to the mother, a summary of a life of incredible endurance and love: Demetrius arrived in America in 1792, a young Russian nobleman with a bright future who was only supposed to make a brief tour of the new nation. Instead, he almost immediately gave up his title, entered the new Roman Catholic seminary, became a priest, and immediately sought out the lowliest mission assignments in Virginia, Maryland, and eastern Pennsylvania, caring for the poorest Americans.
Because a dying woman far away in the backwoods of Western Pennsylvania wanted a priest, he made a 150-mile sick call. Arriving at the settlement, he decided he was called to remain. For the next 40 years, he not only ministered as a priest, but he also used his own money to buy land and sell at a loss to poor pioneers. Like many great Americans, he was incredibly charitable, founding mills and tanneries for the people in the area, and adopting many of the orphans from the settlement.
Suffering a strangulated hernia after a fall from a horse, he got a sled and kept driving the hundreds of miles to visit his parishioners. Upon the Rev. Gallitzin’s arrival in 1800, there were a handful of people living in the settlement; by the time he died in 1840, it was the town of Loretto, Pennsylvania, with a population of more than 10,000.
An Inheritance of Determination and Love
The same qualities of toughness, independence, and a charitable heart are found in spades in the life of his mother and in the formation she gave him. This article begins with a striking example of this: their parting at the harbor of Rotterdam in 1792, how she combined a tender mother’s love with the steely resolve that her son must grow up.
For example, only 20 years before, there she was at the age of 24, the young wife of one of the great Russian nobles, Dmitri Gallitzin. This Dmitri Gallitzin was also the Russian ambassador to France and the Netherlands. A life of balls and receptions, prestige and importance, stretched far before her. And suddenly, in no uncertain terms, she informed her husband that she intended to devote her time to the education of her children.
This love poured out beyond the home, as can be seen in her charity to refugees of the French Revolution who escaped to Munster, Germany (she lived there while her husband served as a diplomat); clearly Demetrius Gallitzin had a pattern to follow in his mother for his charitable works.
Just as George Washington decided to take part in the French and Indian Wars against the wishes of his mother, Demetrius’s decision to give up his title and become an American did not meet with Princess Amalie’s favor. And yet, they went ahead—precisely because they had been raised by their mothers to do the right thing.
Great Americans are shaped, often by their mothers, who instill into their sons and daughters values that will one day serve them well as leaders. Although she never set foot on American soil, Amalie Gallitzin is one of the mothers who helped make America.
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
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