On May 3, 1900, Sister Mary Agnes Price became the postmaster of the
newest post office in the Raleigh area. The post office was called
"Nazareth," named for the Catholic orphanage located near Bilyeu Street
and Western Boulevard. Sister Mary Agnes' brother, Father Thomas
Frederick Price, founded the orphanage two years earlier. Thomas Frederick Price was the first native North Carolinian to be
ordained a Catholic priest in 1886. As a priest, he was known to be
energetic and full of zeal, even continuing his sermon and cracking
jokes after being pelted with vegetables. It was Father Price's idea to
start an orphanage and seminary, and he was granted permission by
Bishop Haid, the Vicar of the Apostolic Church of North Carolina.
