BIO: Rev. Anthony HOUST, Clearfield County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm _____________________________________________________________ From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr., Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, page 896. _____________________________________________________________ REV. ANTHONY HOUST,* who has been pastor of the Sacred Heart Slavish Roman Catholic Church at Houtzdale, Pa., for the past nine years, is a man of scholarly attainments and an authority on many branches of church history. Rev. Father Houst was born in Bohuslavitz, Austria-Moravia, and was educated in his native land at Munich, at Gaya College, and at Nicholsburg. After completing his studies at Munich, he was ordained on September 26, 1882, at Southburg, Austria. Father Houst then came to America landing at New York, on December 8, 1882, where he remained for three months. He then went to Louisville, Ky., for six months, after which he spent eleven years at St. Louis, Mo. His next call was to Long Island City, N. Y., where he labored for one year, going then to Fayetteville, Tex., for nine months, and for two years afterward, had charge of the Bohemian church at Pittsburg, Pa. Another year was passed at Yonkers, N. Y., and from there he came to Houtzdale, in 1902, becoming pastor of the Sacred Heart church. Here he has a congregation of more than 300 and the larger number of these are honest, hard-working people, who own their own homes and willingly contribute to the support of the church in which they desire to rear their children. Father Houst takes a personal interest in all his parishioners and encourages them in their prudent acquisition of property. The church property has been much improved since Father Houst took charge and its accommodations are modern in character. His people are mainly connected with the mining regions and the larger number live outside of Houtzdale, this scattering making the duties of the priest more onerous than they would otherwise be, but through his tender spiritual care and his watchfulness over their daily lives, he has greatly endeared himself and the church is well supported. Father Houst has found time to do considerable literary work and in 1890 published a complete history of the Bohemian Catholic Church in the United States. He is a member of the Catholic Slavish Union.