St. Joseph Church
New Kensington, Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust
A Parish of the Diocese of Greensburg

The Reverend Richard P. Karenbauer             The Reverend Alan W. Grote
         Pastor                                                Parochial Vicar

Bishop Hugh L. Lamb
First Bishop of Greensburg
(1952-1959)

            Bishop Lamb brought a vision for schools, hospitals and institutions to care for the elderly. Under his direction, nearly $6.5 million was spent on construction or additions to existing facilities. Eight new schools were created, including the first high school, Greensburg Central Catholic, which was dedicated in November 1959. He also established 10 new parishes.

            Bishop Lamb was instrumental in the founding of Jeannette District Memorial Hospital, which opened in 1959. To help construction begin, he gave a $300,000 gift and later supplied additional loans to make the hospital a reality. He then secured the Sisters of Charity to staff the facility.

            The Nov. 29, 1959, dedication at Greensburg Central Catholic was to be his final public appearance. On Dec. 4, the bishop was hospitalized in Jeannette District Memorial Hospital. Four days later, Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, he died at the age of 69 after suffering a heart attack.

            Bishop Lamb was born in Modena, Pa., on Oct. 6, 1890. He graduated from Coatesville High School in 1907, and enrolled in St. Charles Seminary, Overbrook. He also attended the North American College, Rome, and graduated from Propaganda University, Rome, in 1915, with a doctorate in sacred theology.

            Ordained on May 29, 1915, in St. John Lateran Basilica, Rome, his early assignments included parishes in Philadelphia and Coatesville. He served a professorship at St. Charles Seminary through 1921.
From then until 1923, he was secretary to the late Cardinal Dennis Dougherty, archbishop of Philadelphia, and superintendent of schools in the archdiocese until 1926.

            He was named a domestic prelate in 1927, and served as chancellor until 1936. In 1929 he was named a prothonotary apostolic. On March 19, 1936, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He served as vicar general until 1951 when Pope Pius XII appointed him bishop for the new Diocese of Greensburg.

            The unexpected death of Cardinal Dougherty on May 31, 1951, delayed Bishop Lamb's arrival in Greensburg. He remained in Philadelphia as administrator of the archdiocese until the cardinal's successor was named.