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Our Catholic IIcritagc in Texas
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on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, when Rafael Pena and Candelaria Rubio were joined in matrimony by Father Telmon. 9 Brownsville, the place chosen as headquarters for missionary work by the Oblates, was a strange, unincorporated, little town that had grown up during the War with Mexico on the north bank of the Rio Grande opposite Matamoros, Mexico. First incorporated on January 24, 1850, it was reincorporated on February 7, 1853. At the time of the arrival of the Oblates, more than four thousand Mexicans, Americans, French, and Irish inhabited Brownsville. Although many were Catholics, they were indifferent and woefully lacking in instruction. "One must have all the courage that a lively faith and a sincere love of the Cross inspire,'' wrote Bishop Odin, to succeed in the lawless atmosphere that prevailed on the Rio Grande at this time. "We saw people hanged without any form of trial," declared Fathe Soulerin. 10 Fathers Telmon and Soulerin had, indeed, the lively faith and sincere love, which Odin said were requisite. With incredible determination they st;t out to build a church. They acquired several lots, obtained lumber, and with unquenchable enthusiasm they soon finished the frame building of the Immaculate Conception Church. "Mary, conceived without sin, was naturally chosen as the patron of the new Mission," wrote Odin. While the new church was being built, everybody contributed to the upkeep of the missionaries. A Lutheran lent a store for use in the meantime, and a Mormon took upon himself to collect among Jews, Protestants and infidels 200 francs a month which "he handed to the Fathers with the joy of a little Sister of the Poor." Father Telman organized a choir, Father Soulerin prepared a First Communion class. By the time Bishop Odin came to Brownsville for the first time, on August 15, 1850, a large group were ready to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the choir was prepared to sing the Bishop's High Mass.11 While working intensively in Brownsville, the missionaries found time to go once a week to Santa Rita, a ranch-village located about seven miles to the northwest. Here they found a chapel already built by the Mexicans who had been obliged to abandon their homes in Refugio, Goliad and San Patricio during the War with Mexico. "As soon as the 9Records of Immaculate Conception Church, Brownsville, Texas; also Notes for Ob/11/e History, 7. 10 Notes for OblaJe History, 9 1 Odin to Mazenod, March 18, 1850, C. A. T. 11 /bid., 9-10.
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