Our Catliolic Heritage in T e:xas
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Odin had obtained permission from His Eminence Maurice Cardinal de Bobal, Archbishop of Lyons, to consecrate Dubuis in the chapel of St. John's Seminary, with the Most Reverend Armand de Charbonnel, former Bishop of Toronto, Canada, and the Most Reverend John Paul Lyonnet, Bishop of Valence, as co-consecrators. The imposing ceremony so stirred the starry-eyed seminarians watching the old pioneer consecrate another product of their own seminary, already a veteran of the distant mission field, that more than a dozen were inspired to volunteer to go to Texas with Dubuis. Among them was a subdeacon, John Anthony Forest, who one day was to become the third Bishop of San Antonio, the second Dio- cese in Texas. 56 Before starting back, the new Bishop visited several cities and seminaries in France to recruit volunteers for his Diocese. By the time Dubuis returned to New Orleans in April, 1863, the War between the States was at its height. Farragut's fleet had captured the city. Before the Bishop and his missionary priests, seminarians, and nuns -sixty in all-were permitted to enter the country, they had to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and promise they would not take up arms against the United States. Leaving the seminarians in New Orleans, Dubuis continued his journey with the others to Texas by way of Mexico through Bagdad and Matamoros. He did not reach Galveston until more than a month later, shortly after the Federals had been repulsed by the city.u Two years before, when Dubuis and Odin departed for New Orleans, the Civil War was about to convulse Texas, for only a slight majority had voted in favor of secession. The tragic days brought much anxiety to those left behind. "Our town is going down rapidly," wrote Father Faure from San Antonio to Odin in August of 1861. "Many families are going to Monterrey (Mexico). Money is disappearing, everything is get- ting dear. May the good Lord grant us peace soon." at Teche, France, March 8, 1817. Having entered the Grand Seminary at Lyons in I 840, was ordained June 1, I 844, and then served for a1most two years as a priest at St. Martin de Fontaine, near Lyons. Inspired by Odin's appeal for workers in the distant missions, he set out for Texas in I 846. Upon his arrival in May, he was sent to the Barrens to learn English. By January, 1847, he was back in Galveston ready to take up his duties. He labored in Castroville most successfully and later in San Antonio, where he was a pastor and vicar-general for the western district until his appointment as successor to Odin. Glennon, op. cit., 148-153; L'Abbe J.P., Mon1eigneur Dubt1is, 1-142. 16 FltzSlmon, o,. cit., 14; excerpts from the Register of the Grand Seminary of Lyons, C. A. T. 11 History of tl,e Diocese of Galveston and St. MarJ's Cathedral (compiled by the Priests of the Seminary), 108-110.
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