Religious Communities of Men i1l Texas
the American Vincentian Province so depleted that retrenchment was inevitable. Early in October, 1847 he had to recall Father John Lynch, C.M., then working with much success in the Houston area, to assume the presidency of St. Mary's College at The Barrens. Father Maller felt compelled by early 1848 to inform Bishop Odin of his intention to withdraw all the Vincentians from Texas as soon as approval was given by the ilf aison 111 ere in Paris.z The Vincentians were, however, destined to continue in Texas for two more years. Father Maller made formal _application early in 1848 for permission to abandon the Texas mission field. He repeated his request to Superior General Etienne in 1850 because of the paucity of men in the American Province. Bishop Odin's invitation to another religious community to come to his diocese appears to have nettled Father Maller and confirmed him in the decision to withdraw his men. To Etienne he frankly explained that the abandonment of the Texas missions by the Vincentians would not leave Bishop Odin without men because he had already invited another community. 3 Not until Bishop Odin returned to Galveston from a long visitation of his vast diocese in December, 1850, did he learn that the awaited permission to suppress the two houses in Texas had been granted. "This sad news," he wrote Etienne, "has thrown me into profound distress. The history of our poor Congregation in this country for some years has been nothing but a repetition of houses closed and missions abandoned. . . . I had always cherished the idea of establishing a diocesan seminary to be entrusted to the Congregation of the Mission, but M. Maller has arrested my plan." In his sorrow, Odin termed the suppression of the two houses unfair, unjust, and short-sighted. "The city of San Antonio with its suburbs had 8,000 Catholics, a number sufficient to arouse the zeal of the Sons of St. Vincent," he pointed out, adding, "It has cost the Province nothing; on the contrary, it [the San Antonio house] has contributed to the support of the Novitiate. San Antonio is unique and growing daily. Why abandon what will, before ten years, be one of the flourishing states of the Union?" Regaining his calm, he continued on a note of resignation: "I regret very much your decision, but I fear my own representations are useless.... I submit to your judgment."' 1 Annales de la Co11gregatio11 de la JI-fission, LX, p. 291. 3 Maller to Etienne, August 20, 1850, C. A. T. 'Odin to Etienne, Galveston, December 23, 1850, C. A. T.
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