I
R eligiozes C 01mnu11iities of 11'/ en in Texas
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the General Chapter of the Benedictines held in 1862 considered raising the foundation to the rank of a canonical priory. 26 Troubles soon descended, however, upon the optimistic pioneers, whose Prior exultantly exclaimed in 1861: "From here our influence shall be felt far and wide. We will be able to preserve the Faith in the whole of Texas and we ought to follow the immigrants who are moving westward to California, and finally through the Mexican population in our locality may come in contact with the people in Mexico itself."z 7 On the very eve of the Civil War Bishop Odin, the guardian angel of the Texas missions, was promoted to the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Although Bishop Dubuis was consecrated shortly afterwards and was well acquainted with the work of the Benedictines in San Antonio, he left almost immediately for Europe and more than two years elapsed before he was able to take over the actual administration of the Diocese. Before he returned, the fratricidal war between the North and the South desolated the land and brought untold sorrow to the German settlements in Texas. The Benedictines became suspect, for, first of all, whoever came from the North was considered a Yankee, and, secondly, the Germans in general were opposed to slavery. It was natural, consequently, that the Benedictines were adjudged suspcious characters. The War Between the States, like all wars, put an end to building and arrested progress. The reconstruction of the monastery of San Jose proved a greater task than had been anticipated. The convent, when the Benedictines came, was in ruins. Fifty years of exposure to the elements had weakened the walls, Prior Hoermann wrote, and the stone floor harbored all kinds of vermin. The new roof, put up with much difficulty, proved inadequate. During heavy rains the poor monks, as Father Heier- mann confessed, "were often drenched in bed and in the morning water stood ankle-deep in our rooms." Unfortunately, "the work of repair was scarcely begun when the Civil War broke out and made it difficult to continue the project, because neither laborers nor material could be gotten." 28 The following year Abbot Wimmer, still sanguine, sent Father Eber- hard Gahr and Columban Schmidtbauer to reinforce the thinning ranks of Benedictines in Texas. The two were welcomed, in the absence of the
26 Fellner, op. cit., 588. 21 /bid., 587. 21 Fellner, o,;. cit., 59 I• 593,
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