Establislimcnt of t/1c Dioceses, i847-i948
1 43
Mexico. Not long afterwards, the Bishop visited the little parish and thrilled his humble listeners by preaching to them in Spanish. The year 1892 is illustrative of the restless energy of Bishop Brennan. He began by announcing his determination to build a new church for Denison, make an addition to the hospital of the Incarnate Word Sisters, improve the church at Ennis, and. establish mission stations along the new Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad from Hillsboro to Whitesboro, as well as from Dallas to Cleburne. A letter addressed to the clergy late in the previous December had advised them of his intentions to hold periodic ecclesiastical conferences and to introduce the pious practice of the Forty Hour Adoration. Accordingly, he opened on January 9, 1892, the first Forty Hour exercises in the pro-Cathedral, which he closed in company with his distinguished guest, Bishop Hennessy, of Wichita, Kansas. As the Americas were commemorating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the New World, Bishop Brennan issued a pastoral letter to all the clergy of his Diocese on February 22, directing them to observe October 12 by celebrating High Mass wherever possible and by preaching appropriate sermons in all churches. "Amer~~ is the_world's g_t.:~~test _b!~ssin&:t he exclaimed, "th~ -~-~T._~n _family's hope- of salvation. Without Columbus there would have been no Washington.~ ~ . _no_Amer-i<,a: Goo'sgrealest- blessing .to mankind -since _th~ -~oming ~f Christ was the discovery of America." - -- --- - - ---- ...._A new church was dedi~ated by the Bishop at Pilot Point on March 7, at which time he preached in both German and English. Twelve days later he ordained Father Hugo Baedenheuer, and on April 2, the Bishop was at Waxahachie, where he sold the old brick church and four and one half acres of land to the Methodists for $1,500 cash. The next day he went to Thurber, selected a site for a new church and cemetery, and preached in English, Polish, and Italian. On April 9, 1892, he left for El Paso and then undertook a tour of inspection in the heretofore unvisited area of the Panhandle. The Bishop could not have made many stops en route, because he was ten days later in Austin, where he preached a forceful sermon in St. Mary's Church on the glories of Texas, in which he enthusiastically reviewed the history of the State. An editorial of the Austin Stat-esmmt the next day compli- mented the Bishop on his having reached "the highest pitch of eloquence" in extolling the moving episodes in the history of Texas and the lives of the men "who bled for her."
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