Religious Cotmmmities of Men in Texas
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Academy, a high school fully accredited by the Texas Board of Edu- cation.53 The old City of the Alamo had a Colored population of about 6,000 souls in 1888. Although the various religious sects had churches or chapels for the Negro, the Colored Catholics of the city had none. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, held in 1884, had stressed the need for the evangelization of the Negro. We have seen how the new interest in this long neglected segment of the population found expression in the Diocese of Galveston as early as 1886. At about the same time the second Bishop of the Diocese of San Antonio, the Most Reverend John C. Neraz began to implement the charge of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. · In September 1887, the Reverend R. J. Maloney, O.M.I., preached an impassioned sermon in St. Mary's Church urging the charitable to con- tribute generously to the cause of missions for the Negro and the Indians. In the audience set Mrs. Margaret M. Murphy. the widow of the late Judge J. P. Murphy of Corpus Christi. Inspired by the eloquent sermon. she resolved to dedicate the rest of her life and all of her fortune to the preaching of the Gospel to the Colored. Early the next year a site was acquired and building was begun for a school and a church. On September r6, 1888, the church was blessed with great solemnity by Bishop Neraz and placed under the patronage of St. Peter Claver. This church has the distinction of being the first in the United States to be placed under the patronage of St. Peter Claver, who was canonized in 1885. Father R. J. Maloney, O.M.I., who had inspired this great work, was named the first pastor; he labored zealously in the first parish for the Colored in San Antonio until his death on February 13. 1893. Oblate Fathers continued to care for the parish until 1896. when the Reverend John Dumoulin, a diocesan priest, took charge. He served until 1904, when the parish was finally placed under the care of the Reverend Thomas McCormack. S.S.J. The Josephite Fathers have continued to care for this first parish for the Colored in San Antonio.u Mrs. Murphy became so interested in the work of conversion and instruc- tion of the Negro that she not only gave her fortune but devoted her life to the new parish. She formed a pious community with episcopal sanction 5 'lbid., 7 5. 54 Parisot-Smith, History of the Diocese of San Antonio, 207-209; Clancv, C.S.C.. Tiu Clmrclr ;,, Te:ras, 1874-1897, 11, I77•ti9 (Unpubli~hed MS. in c: A. T.): Archdiocese of San Antonio, Diamnnd Jubilee, 1874-1949, p. 137.
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