Rev. Patrick E. Maher, first assistant to Father O'Shea [at St. Mary's Catholic Church, New Castle], was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1879. Prior to studying for the priesthood he attended St. John's and St. Mary's Parochial Schools in his native city and then entered the Pittsburg College of the Holy Ghost, and there completed his classical course in June, 1900. For the three succeeding years he attended St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, and was ordained by his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, June 16, 1903. His first assignment was as assistant at St. Agnes', Pittsburg, his second being at St. Thomas', Braddock, and his third St. Mary's, New Castle, to which he came January 19, 1907.

Twentieth Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, 1908, page 488