Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/607

 TEXAS

549

TEXAS

administered confirmation (18 Jan., 1841), to Mar- Marie Dubuis, D.D. In 1872 we find the immense garetDe Lacy whom he had converted and baptized on territory of the diocese organized into the four dis-

the 15th of the same month. The entry in the "Liber Confirmatorum" of Galveston Diocese certi- fying to this sacred function may be said, together with the baptismal record beginning 7 December, 1840, to mark the beginning of the history of the Diocese of Galveston (q. v.)

tricts of Galveston, San Antonio, Brownsville, and Laredo, a vice-chancellor being [provided for each dis- trict. This organization prepared the way for the ecclesiastical division (1874) of the State of Texas, El Paso County excepted as before. All east of the Colorado River remained the Diocese of Galveston,

The Prefecture Apostolic of Texas was made a while out of the territory west and south of this river

vicariate ApostoUc in 1842 by the Bull of Pope Greg- and within the limits of the State were erected the

ory XVI, published 10 July, 1841. Rt. Rev, Jean- Diocese of San Antonio (q. v.), reaching from the

Marie Odin, previously vice-prefect ApostoUc, was Colorado to the Nueces River, and the Vicariate

consecrated Bishop of Claudiopolis and made vicar Apostolic of Brownsville (q. v.), now (1912) the Dio-

Apostolic. Bishop Odin, too, had previously refused cese of Corpus Christi, westward to the Rio Grande,

to be made Coadjutor Bishop of Detroit (May, 1841). A second division of the Diocese of Galveston was

In fact Texas was singularly blessed at that time in made in 1890 at the request of Bishop N. A. Gallagher

having labourers who were quickly deemed worthy of and the Diocese of Dallas (q. v.) was formed out of its

important bishojirics. Bishop Timon was visitor of northern and north-western portions. In 1891 El

Paso County hitherto

the hou.«os of his order in Texas and through- out thelTnited States until 1847 when he was made Bishop of Buffalo. Rev. John J, Lynch, CM., one of the companions of Bishop Odin on his coming to Galveston (29 May, 1841), was made president of St. Mary's College, Bar- rens, Missouri, in 1848; after a service of some years in Texas founded Niagara l"ni- v( rsity (Our Lady of Angels, Niagara Falls, N. Y.) in 185(5; and was consecrated Bish- op of ^Echina.s and Coadjutor of Toronto in 1859. In ISfjO he

Mission

belonging to theVica^ riate Apostolic of Ari- zona was attached to the Diocese of Dallas. Thus within theState and embracing all of its territory are the four Dioceses, Gal- veston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Corpus Christi. The popu- lat ion of the Diocese of Galveston is given (1912) as 70,000: whites, 65,000; blacks, 1200; Mexi- cans, 3800. St. M:iry's University, Galveston, is con- ducted by the Jesuit fathers. "St. Mary's Seminary at La Porte is now being

succeeded to the See of Toronto and became its managed by diocesan priests, under the presidency

first archbishop and Metropolitan of Ontario in 1870. In 1844 the settlement of New Braun- fels, Comal County, was founded and in 1845 Castroville. The colonists were mainly Cathohc Alsatians. Other Cathohc immigrants, Poles, Ger- mans, Bohemians, Italians, and others, have since continually come into the State. The State of Texas, with the exception of El Paso County, which was subject to the Vicariate of Arizona, was erected into a diocese in 1847 with Bishop Odin as bishop. There were then thirteen priests, including the bishop, in this vast territory. Of these at least six were of the Congregation of the Mi.ssion. In 1849 three Oblates of \Iary Immaculate were brought from Can- ada by Bishop Odin and two of these were sent to Fort Brown, Brownsville, on the Rio Grande. In spite of the privations and hardships of the Rio Grande Mission, and even their temporary withdrawal, enforced by lack of means, the Oblate Fathers have exercised their zeal in the State of Texas. Schools, colleges, and churches have arisen where they had trodden on the cactus and chaparral, and to-day these devoted missionaries have flourishing institutions in everj' ecclesiastical division of the great State. The

of Very Rev. J. M. Kirwin. The Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate have taken charge of parish work in Harris County. A Josephite Father also serves a church in the city of Houston, where the Basilians conduct St. Thomas College. Among the Orders of Nuns formerly recorded may be named the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament who have charge of an academy and parochial schools, also in Houston. The Diocese of San Antonio shows no change in the statistics given under the title except that the Redemptorist Order has taken charge of the parish of St. Gerard Majella in the city of San Antonio, where a new church and school are now being erected. Besides the informa- tion given under the title, the following facts about the Diocese of Dallas are worthy of record: Rev. Father J. M. Giraud in 1864 erected a church at Jefferson in North Texas. The church at St. Paul's, Collin County, an Irish .settlement, was the rehgious centre of a parish organized in 1870 by Father Thomas Henncssy, the present jiastor of the Annunciation, Houston. The population of the Diocese of Dallas (1912) includes about 40,000 Caucasians; 22,000 Mexicans, and 250 negroes. The present bishop of the

very existence of religion among the Mexicans along see is Rt. Rev. .loseph Patrick Lynch, D.D., b. 16 No-

the Rio Grande is largely due to the mighty labours vember, 1872, at St. Jo.seph, Mich. Whin apjwinted

of this Congregation. to the .see (after the sudden death of Bishop Dimne at

Religious orclers of nuns (1848) and of teaching Green Bay, Wis., 5 August, 1910), Bishop Lynch was

brothers (18.")3) began their fruitful labours. All administrator of the diocese and rector of St. Ed-

the activities of a fully develojicrl diocese assumed w.ard's Church in the city of Dalla.s. Ilis consecration

shape under the guiding hand of Bi.shop Odin and were took place 12 July, 191 1. Besides the orders of nuns

prosecuted with all possible vigour and success. mentioned in the .-irticle on the diocese the following

On Archbi.shop Odin's retirement he was succeeded should be noted: the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

in the See of Galveston in 1862 by Rt. Rev. Claude (Ottawa, Canada), conducting a house in Dallas with