Religious Communities of 1llc11- in Texas
gentleman." Because of their poor health Father Gaudet and Subdeacon Gelot went from New Orleans to Galveston later with Bishop Odin. 6 Fathers Telmon and Soulerin rejoiced at the first sight of the land that was to witness their apostolic work. The happy coincidence of their having taken possession of the new missionary field on the "Feast of the greatest of all missionaries" was noted by Soulerin. In an improvised chapel set up in a shed, both priests said Mass the next day, giving thanks for their safe arrival and the privilege of bringing the consolations of religion to this remote area. Father Telman preached in French and Lt. Garesche translated the sermon into Spanish and English. That afternoon they administered their first baptism 7 in Point Isabel, now Port Isabel, the little port from which was to come the Most Reverend Mariano S. Garriga, the first native born Bishop of Texas. Two days later, on December 5, 1849, Lt. Garesche took the zealous missionaries in a military ambulance on their twenty-five mile journey to Brownsville. As they passed the cross-dotted battlefield of Palo Alto, Lt. Garesche told them of the heoric devotion of Army Chaplains Anthony Rey, S.J., and John McElroy, S.J., who tended the wounded and dying of both armies. The whole town turned out to welcome the newcomers, whose holy mission had been made known to the scarcely three-year-old community. Bearded farmers and cattlemen, merchants. lawyers and judges, all turned out, and solemnly expressed in their own manner their appreciation for the sacrifice being made by the holy missionaries in their behalf. A long shed, which had hurriedly been put up to shelter cotton bales, unfurnished and without a fireplace, in which "rats and spiders lived as in a republic," according to Father Soulerin, was turned over to them for a residence.• A rich Catholic merchant, a Mr. Gary, lent the Oblate missionaries an unoccupied store building, which was quickly transformed into a chapel, and on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Mission on the Rio Grande was formally inaugurated with a High Mass and placed under the auspices of Mary Immaculate. The day before, Father Telmon had given Christian burial to Juana Trevino Stevens, the wife of M. M. Stevens. This was the first funeral recorded in the new parish. The first marriage was celebrated in the temporary chapel
6 Notes for Oblate History, 6. 1 /bia., 2-3. 8 /bid., 8.
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