Our Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
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havinCT been awav on a seven-month visitation, did not hear of the change 0 , until December. He immediately congratulated his old friend and adviser, "Flattery means nothing to your Lordship, but it is my sincere wish that I may never cause my good father and revered Metropolitan pain or sorrow." 10 Visitation of tl,e Nueces-Rio Grande frontier. Upon his return to Texas in the fall of 1849, Odin was anxious to make an official inspection of conditions in the area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, which he had studiously avoided entering. This was dangerous territory, for the Comanches and their allies roamed at will throughout the area, their last refuge before the irresistible advance of the American frontier. The Indians, naturally, resented the intrusion of the White men. Danger, however, was never a deterrent to the daring spirit of the veteran pioneer of the new Diocese. After putting things in order in Galveston and Houston and attending to the most urgent administrative details, Odin resolutely set out on April 22, 1850, for San Antonio and continued west to Camp Seco (Arroyo Seco), where he was warmly welcomed by a Major and Mrs. Thompson. They made him comfortable for the night and furnished him with a good escort to Leona. Though almost in sight of San Antonio, he was entering a territory where traveling alone was not safe. Odin found the military camp at Leona larger than that of Seco. He was invited to stay until the next day to say Sunday Mass for the troops. The dragoons' quarters were used for the purpose and all the officers and men attended Mass, many of whom received Holy Communion. The serious wound of a captain plainly evidenced the hostility of the Comanches. Accompanied by an escort, he continued to Chicon, where some Texas volunteers were encamped, thence to Eagle Pass under protection of a guard of Texas Rangers. "This is a new village on the banks of the Rio Grande," declared Odin, "160 miles from San Antonio. It is hardly a year old and already has more than 300 inhabitants, as many Americans as Mexicans. Near the village there is a camp of four companies." For a week the Bishop stayed in Eagle Pass trying to decide the best route to follow for inspecting the settlements along the Rio ·Grande, the westernmost limits of his diocese. Army scouts reported that over 600 Comanches were roaming the land and urged him to proceed along the Mexican side of the river. Crossing the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass, Odin 10 Shearer, op. cit., 255-257 ; Odin to Blanc, Galveston, December 9, 1850, C. A. T. -
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