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Ottr Catholic H e1·itage in Texas
A glance at the general growth of the nation in the period l 790- l 820 reveals that the population of the United States had increased from 3,000,000 to almost 8,000,000 and the number of Catholics had risen from 35,000 to over 195,000, of whom more than 70,000 were immi- grants.1 The latter, in search of homes in America, were for the most part practically penniless; they were, consequently, unable to contribute much to the support of ·the Church for a good many years. Yet, they could not be ignored or wilfully neglected. More priests had to be secured to look after their spiritual welfare; seminaries were needed to train new workers; parochial schools, academies for girls, and colleges for young men had to be provided ; homes for the aged and the poor and orphanages for the hundreds left fatherless by epidemics and the hard- ships of frontier life had to be founded; and, last, but not least, Catholic hospitals had to be erected, because many hospitals of that clay refused entry to priests desirous of ministering to the sick and even dying. To secure funds for these worthy undertakings from the struggling and often resourceless pioneers was impossible. The guardians of the Faith were, therefore, compelled to seek financial assistance elsewhere. "We find bishops and priests of this country on their knees begging that help be sent from France, because they were incapable of doing by them- selves all that was required to sustain the Faith ... in the great stretches that lay before them." All credit goes to the brave defenders of the Faith and shepherds of the flock in America that they were not too proud to become beggars for Charity's sake. 3 In answer to the plea of Bishop Du Bourg, of New Orleans, who had begged for help during his visit abroad, twelve representatives of two budding societies met in Lyons, France, on May 3, 1822, to discuss plans for extending their efforts and broadening their objectives. Their purpose was to form an organization capable not only of continuing to help regularly the Seminary of Foreign Missionaries of Lyons and its establishments, largely supported by Marie Pauline J aricot, 4 but also of giving the constant and substantial assistance requested by Bishop Dn Bourg for the missions in America. One of the delegates, Benoit Coste, although in accord with the 1 Gerald Shaughnessy, S. M., Has the Immigrant Kept the Fait/if, 73. 3 The best comprehensive study on how the needs of the early Church in America were met is that of Theodore Roemer, Ten Decades of Alms. 4 For a detailed account of its origin and early history see Edward Hickey, Tlie Society for tire PropagaJion of tire Fait/1, and David Lathoud, Marie Pauline Jaricnt.
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