Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
the vicariate, so poor in worldly goods yet so rich in the harvest of souls. He sat patiently for hours hearing penitent sinners; he traveled for days visiting his people and instructing his children. Neither heat nor cold, neither privations nor hardships affected him. "I never heard him com- plain," said faithful Father C. Jaillet, his Vicar-General and companion on most of the trips. The Bishop was never happier than when traveling among the poor; his good humor then replaced his melancholy. The worries of administration and of how he could meet the urgent needs of his increasing flock faded before the simple generosity of the hardworking rancheros, who placed before him their beans and tortillas with a spirit of such genuine charity that their poor fare was more delectable to his taste than the most delicate viands are to the palette of epicures. Taking Father Parisot with him in 1879, he visited over eighty ranches on a tour from Corpus Christi by way of Brownsville to Roma and Laredo. Many of these people could not remember the time a Bishop had been among them. During his visitation Manucy confirmed 2,862 children and adults. 65 Old St. Patrick's Church of Corpus Christi was replaced by a new church in 1883. The Church of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, in Point Isabel was likewise replaced by a new structure, and a new church, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, was completed in Edinburg. Six Oblates stationed in Brownsville visited "one hundred and fifty ranches in Hidalgo and Cameron." The district of Brownsville, reaching as far as Rio Grande City, had a population of 16,200, of whom 5,000 lived in Rio Grande City. A small band of three or four Oblates had no easy task looking after the faithful scattered on 110 ranches through Hidalgo, Starr, and Webb counties, with a population estimated at about 9,100. There were in the entire Vicariate Apostolic 12 churches, 12 chapels, 21 priests, I school for boys under twelve, 3 academies for girls, and 5 convents. The Catholic population was thought to be over 40,000, of whom at least 37,500 were Mexicans. 66 The previous year ( 1882) yellow fever, not a stranger to Texas port towns, had visited the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville and had taken the veteran Oblate missionary, Father F. Vandenberghe, superior and pastor of the Immaculate Conception parish in Brownsville, to his eternal reward. The Incarnate Word Sisters, too, felt the cold hand of the 65 Sister Mary Xavier, Father Jalliet, Saddle Priest of the Rio Grande, 74-86; Parisot, r,;. cit., 132. 66 Sadliers' Catholic Directory, Almanac, and Ordo for 1883, 493-494.
i j
Powered by FlippingBook