Our Catl,olic Heritage in Texas
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completed by December, and on Christmas Day, 1882, the new pastor, Father A. Rossi, S.J., celebrated the first Mass. Before a year, Father Rossi was replaced as pastor by the Reverend Richard Di Palma, S.J. In 1890, the first Community House of the Order was formally estab- lished in El Paso with Reverend M. Penella, S.J., as Superior. He was succeeded in 1892 by the Reverend Carlos M. Pinto, S.J., lovingly called the Apostle and the Masterbuilder of El Paso. To his burning zeal and tireless energy we owe the building of almost all the churches in El Paso. It had been his ambition to build schools and temples. "Not a church was in sight when he came to-El Paso. When he retired, sick and worn out by his constant endeavors during twenty-seven years of striving, his dream had become a reality. In stately splendor stood the churches of the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Conception, the Guardian Angel, the Holy Family, and in the distance beyond the Rio Grande, the Sacred Heart of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, all the result of his incessant labors. There were schools also, as many as there were churches. But his gaze could pause with pride upon his Church of St. Ignatius, named after him who had founded the Order whose selfless endeavors have but one purpose: the greater honor and glory of God."" In 1917, when conditions became unbearable in Mexico as the result of the new persecutions of the Church, the Mexican Province decided to move their Novitiate to Texas. They opened their first College in Stock- ton, Texas. It was moved to El Paso in 1925, where it was reopened as Ysleta College. In the summer of 1951, the Mexican Province moved its Novitiate back to Mexico, after twenty-six fruitful years during which time they were greatly aided by the New Orleans Province. 45 Three years after their formal establishment in the El Paso area, Bishop N. A. Gallagher of Galveston assigned the east end of the city on June 21, 1884 to the Jesuits, who undertook the organization of a new parish with the Reverend John F. O'Connor, S.J., as pastor. The begin- nings of Sacread Heart parish date from this grant. The Jesuits con- ducted services from 1884 to 1892 in a chapel set up in the old building of St. Mary's University in Galveston. It is of interest to note that the block on which Sacred Heart Church stands today was donated originally to Bishop Odin of the Diocese of "Carlos E. Castaneda, "Where Dreams Come True," in Owens, Carlos S. Pinto, SJ., xiii. '5Cleofas Calleros, "Modern Catholic History of El Paso," in Diocese of El Paso, Texas Centennial Celebration, 1836-1936, pp. I 2-14.
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