Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Cummisky, O. S. B., Rev. John November 23, 1884 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com August 29, 2010, 11:08 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Page 574
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     REV. FATHER JOHN CUMMISKY, O. S. B., is the well beloved pastor of St. 
Agatha's Catholic church of Portland and has been in charge of the parish 
since its inception seventeen years ago, prior to which time it was part of 
the Sacred Heart congregation. He was born at Lead, South Dakota, November 23, 
1884, a son of John Breen and Bella (Martin) Cummisky. The father, who was a 
railroad engineer for fifty-five years, left the Sunshine state for Oregon, 
locating in Portland, where he continued to reside until his death, which 
occurred July 4, 1928, when he had attained the advanced age of ninety-two 
years. His family numbered five sons and two daughters, namely: Father 
Cummisky, of this review; Philip M., of Lead, South Dakota; Albert J., of 
Portland; Arthur B., of Omaha; Leo P., of Monmouth, Oregon; Genevieve, a 
resident of Portland; and Grace, who died in childhood.

     Losing his mother when but a child, Rev. John Cummisky, with others of 
the family, was placed with the Sisters of Mercy at Omaha, Nebraska, 
subsequently going to Sturgis, South Dakota, where he was instructed by the 
Sisters of St. Benedict. Father Cummisky, in 1898, entered the Benedictine 
College at Conception, Missouri, where he was graduated in 1904. In the fall 
of the following year he came west to Mount Angel, Oregon, where he entered 
the Benedictine Order to prepare for the priesthood and was ordained in 1910. 
During Easter of the succeeding year he was appointed the first pastor of St. 
Agatha's parish, which until then was a mission attached to the Sacred Heart 
church. His consecrated labors as head of the new parish soon found 
substantial manifestation. A brick building erected for school and church 
purposes, under the leadership of the zealous young priest, was dedicated on 
Thanksgiving day, 1911, and the first service was held therein on the 
following Sunday, the worshipers being the members of about forty families. 
The parochial school was opened in September, 1912, with sixty pupils and a 
teaching staff of two Sisters. Today there are more than two hundred and fifty 
scholars under the instruction of seven Sisters. The corner stone of the 
beautiful new stone church was laid on New Year's day of 1920 and the house of 
worship was dedicated on the first Sunday in October of that year. It is a 
simple gothic structure, liturgically correct in its appointments and presents 
a handsome appearance in the midst of well kept grounds. St. Agatha's parish 
now numbers two hundred and forty families and is in a flourishing condition. 
The buildings erected during Father Cummisky's pastorate include not only a 
church and school but a large parish hall, a Sisters' home and a parish house. 
Father Cummisky is a man of deep learning and gentle piety, much beloved not 
only by his flock but by members of all denominations for his childlike faith 
and his complete self abnegation.

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