Seton Catholic High School was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Pittston, Pennsylvania Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city lies in the Wyoming Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna River and on the south side of the Lackawanna River. It is approximately midway between Wilkes-Barre, Pen ...

named after Elizabeth Ann Seton. The school was originally called St. John's High School, and burned down on February 19, 1960. It was renovated in 1961, renamed in 1976 to the Seton Catholic High School, and was consolidated into Holy Redeemer High School in 2007.

History

The St. John's

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

s date back to 1864 with the first graduating class of the St. John's Academy being in 1865. In 1881, plans for a free school were developed and an initial donation of $2,000 was provided by Michael Reap. The St. John's High School was chartered on March 17, 1900.

Fire of 1960

Approximately 1:20 P.M. on February 19, 1960, a fire erupted at the school. 770 students were evacuated. The fire raged until approximately 3:00 P.M. None were harmed except for two firefighters with foot injuries and five that suffered from

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (a kind of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

. The area had received a snowfall the evening prior. The fire was caused by a faulty wire on the third floor of the building. More than 300 firemen battled the fire. A malfunctioning city alarm system delayed arrival of some of the firefighters and water pressure hindered volunteers from fighting the fire. During the fire, some of the boys went back into the building to save records and a statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. The police estimated the damage caused by the fire was approximately $1 million. The building cost approximately $750,000 to restore. Along with the building, a new youth center was erected, and classes resumed in the main building on November 13, 1961.

Seton Catholic High School

The school was renamed as the Seton Catholic High School (or Seton Central Catholic High School) on June 21, 1976, in honor of Elizabeth Ann Seton, who had been canonized in 1975. On September 1, 1976, management of the operations of the school became shared across 24 parishes in the general area of Pittston.

Consolidation with Holy Redeemer High School

On January 17, 2007, Bishop Joseph Martino announced Seton Catholic would be consolidated with other schools in Luzerne County, including Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton, Bishop Hoban High School in Wilkes-Barre, and Bishop O'Reilly High School in Kingston, into Holy Redeemer High School, a building previously occupied by Bishop Hoban High School.

Notable alumni

* James Joseph Brown – mining engineer and inventor, husband of RMS Titanic survivor Molly Brown * William M. Fay – judge * Shawn Klush (1988) – musical artist * Mary Ann Love (1958) – politician * Thomas Tigue (1964) – politician

References