St. Elizabeth of Hungary was established in 1941. The origin of the parish can be traced to the movement of population to Pleasant Hills in the late 1930's. Catholics in Pleasant Hills had to travel to the small church of St. David in Willock to attend Mass. As the population in Pleasant Hills continued to grow, it soon caused overcrowding in St. David. Rather than building a larger church in Willock, the pastor of St. David proposed to the bishop in 1941 that a church be built in Pleasant Hills. The bishop agreed and chose the name St. Elizabeth of Hungary for the new parish (Elizabeth was chosen because it was the name of the pastor's mother). Land for the new church was purchased in 1941 and on May 24, 1942, ground was broken for a school that would contain a temporary church in the basement. The building was completed in December of 1942 and the first Mass in the new church was celebrated on Christmas Day.
Before the church was built, St. Elizabeth of Hungary was a mission of St. David. Once the church was built, the two churches reversed status with St. David becoming a mission of St. Elizabeth. In September of 1943, the school opened with three classrooms. In 1944, three more classrooms were added and in 1948, an additional six classrooms were added to the building.
In 1951, work began on a new church. The finished building was dedicated on November 16, 1952. The space in the school building that had been used as the church was converted to class space. In 1973, the status of St. David was changed from a mission to a Chapel of Convenience. Both churches remain open for a number of years. But by 2018, the parish no longer had the staff or resources to maintain St. David Church. The final Mass in St. David Church was celebrated on Easter Sunday April 1, 2018.
With the turn of the century, trends in the Diocese of Pittsburgh began to reveal a decline in Mass attendance and sacramental participation. At the same time, the number of priests available for parish ministry also began to decline.
To address these challenges, Bishop David Zubik announced on April 12, 2015 a new diocesan initiative, On Mission for The Church Alive!, a consultative strategic planning process designed to foster viable, sustainable and vibrant parishes. As part of this process, the Bishop, in consultation with the faithful, began to consider new models of parish life based on pastoral needs, financial and temporal resources and available clergy.
In 2018, following the period of consultation, parishes were grouped together and served by a single clergy team to eventually form one new parish.
During this transition period, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish remained an independent parish while sharing clergy and staff and eventually publishing a joint bulletin with the other parishes. This ended on July 1, 2020 when St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish merged with the parishes of Holy Spirit Parish, West Mifflin; St. Clare of Assisi Parish, Clairton and St. Thomas a Becket Parish, Jefferson Hills to form the new Triumph of the Holy Cross Parish. As part of the merger St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church remained open as part of the new parish.
