St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church 2.81

St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Church is a historic Roman Catholic church located at 311 Franklin Avenue in Vandergrift, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania within the Diocese of Greensburg.DescriptionSt. Gertrude church was designed by noted architect John T. Comes and built in 1911. It is a basilica plan church in the Italian Romanesque Revival style. The front façade features a central pavilion that slightly projects from two campanilles and a 13-light rose window.The church grounds consist of three buildings: the church itself, a pastoral rectory, and Cardinal Maida Academy, which provides education for students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Between the church and school once stood a fourth building...a convent in use by the Benedictine Sisters, who taught at the school until the end of the 20th Century, when sisters were replaced by state-certified teachers to comply with federal and state Department of Education requirements. The convent was demolished in the early 21st Century, and the church parking lot has been expanded to the convent grounds.Many of the Benedictine Sisters who taught at the school stayed in active ministry and were transferred to Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh, a merged convent in Bakerstown, Pennsylvania.