Our Ctr.tl,olic II uitagc in Texas
to the Holy Father. Pope Pius X saw fit to issue a Bull on March 23, 1912, raising the Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville to the status of a diocese in perpetmmi, circumscribed by the same boundaries previously assigned to the Vicariate, and ordering that it be henceforth designated as the Diocese of Corpus Christi, this city having been declared the episcopal See. The Bull abrogated whatever rights might have accrued to the city of Laredo and its principal church as the ancient seat and resi- dence of the former Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville, and constituted the Church of St. Patrick in Corpus Christi the Cathedral of the new diocese, which was made a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of New Orleans. 81 "In order that the proper administration of the new diocese of Corpus Christi may be easily carried out," the Bull declared, "we order that the acts, documents, and all legal papers, which have reference to it and its faithful are to be removed from the ecclesiastical archives at Laredo as soon as possible and transferred to the archives and episcopal curia in the city of Corpus Christi, and there to be religiously guarded and pre- served." In accord with this provision a committee was immediately sent to Laredo to bring back the archives. The members of the committee reported that they had "transferred nothing because nothing was found to transfer."u The Bull had been sent to Archbishop James H. Blenk of New Orleans, who was authorized to delegate any person of ecclesiastical dignity to erect the old Vicariate into a diocese. He accordingly named on April 30, 1913 the Very Reverend Francis Racine, Vicar· General of New Orleans, his representative to go to Texas to execute the provisions of the Bull. Racine arrived in Corpus Christi on May 9, 1913 with the Bull of Erection. 83 The bishop of the new diocese was appointed by the Holy See on April 4, 1913. The choice fell on the Most Reverend Paul J. Nussbaum, C. P., a native of Philadelphia. He was born on September 7, 1870. While very young he had shown a deep devotion to the faith. At the age of twenty, he joined the Passionists. After attending the seminaries of the Order 11 Dull of Erection of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, March 23, 1912, C. A. 1'. USix years later, in 1918, a large package was sent to Corpus Christi from Chicago containing records and Roman documents of Bishop Verdaguer. How these incomplete records of the Diocese of Corpus Christi came to be in Chicago or why they were returned at this time is not known. See Sister Mary Xavier Holworthy, o;. cit., 50. 83 Appolntrnent of Francis Racine, April 18, 1913, Corjus Christi Archives. Copy in C. A. T. See also Sister Mary Xavier Holworthy, o;. cit., 49-50.
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