Our Catl,olic fl eritage in Texas
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is still in its cradle; soon nevertheless it will become one of the most important dioceses in the country. For that [reason] it needs Clergy devoted, educated, versed in the tongues spoken by our different people. Only with the help of a Seminary can we hope to form a clergy [such] as ,ve need. Knowing your zeal for the Glory of God and the Spread of His Church, I dare to beg you give me three or four Fathers to begin this important work." 13 Bishop Mazenod, moved by this ardent appeal, agreed to send men to resume the labors of the Oblates in Texas. A contract was signed on November 14, 1851, by which the Superior General, Bishop Mazenod, authorized the establishment of two Oblate houses in the Diocese of Galveston. To start the work in Brownsville and in Galveston three priests were to be assigned to each house. Both establishments were to be respon- sible for organizing a college for boys in their respective jurisdiction, and both were to help maintain a seminary in Galveston. The priests sent to Brownsville were to carry on their missionary activity in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. On his part, Bishop Odin agreed to cede to the Oblates a lot 300 feet square which he owned in Galveston, as a site for a college in that city, and another lot 200 by 120 feet for the Brownsville college. He agreed, also, to pay the transportation of six priests and two Brothers from Marseilles to Texas. 14 Bishop Odin then toured much of Europe in search of other recruits for his Texas mission. When the new missionaries gathered on the pier of Le Havre on March 23, 1852, Bishop Odin, dressed in his episcopal robes, blessed all thirty-five, of whom seven were Oblates: Fathers Jean Marie Casimir Verdet (Superior), Rigomer Olivier, Etienne Vignolle, Pierre Fourrier Parisot, Pierra Ives Keralum, Jean Marie Gaye, and Coadjutor Brother Pierre Jean Rene Roudet, As the Belle A ssise hoisted sail, the brave band of missionaries fervently sang Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Mary, Star of the Sea). The little group of Oblates arrived in Galveston on May 22, 1852, and were lodged in the episcopal residence, "a framehouse with six or seven rooms." Vicar General Chambodut welcomed them and assigned them two or three rooms in the most secluded part of the house, "where they could make their religious exercises and lead a community life." The unsettled conditions on the Mexican border made it advisable for all to remain in Galveston for a while. Fathers Verdet, Gaye, Olivier,
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Ufbid., 12-13. 1'/bid., 13.
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