Our C atlwlic Heritage in T ezas
2 34
and named it the Sisters of the Holy Ghost of which she became the first rnperior and was affectionately known as Mother Margaret Mary, The new congregation, which had its beginnings on Nolan Street in San An- tonio, Texas, has grown and spread throughout the South. The primary objective was to teach in parish schools for the Colored. Since their found- ing they have extended their teaching labors to include Americans and Latin Americans as well. They have schools in Texas, Louisiana, Missis- sippi, Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma and New York. They care not only for schools but orphanages and old-folks centers, giving freely of their time to visit the sick and the poor and to gi\'e catechetical instruction. 55 One of the zealous pastors of St. Peter Claver, Father Harry Kane, S.S.J., started a mission for the Colored on Leal Street in San Antonio, which was opened in 1914 and remained as a mission of St. Peter Claver until it was made a separate parish in 1942. 56 Work among the Negroes in San Antonio was not confined to conversion and instruction. In 1901, the Most Reverend Bishop John Anthony Forest established a home for the Colored poor, with Father Dumoulin in charge. The home for the aged became the nucleus for the Holy Redeemer Parish. . Since there was no church at that time in the vicinity, the new home of the Holy Redeemer came to be used as a Catholic chapel for Negroes and others in the area. From 1901 to 1910 the East End was served from St. Peter Claver's Church. In 1910, Father Lambert Welbers, S.S.J., set up Holy Redeemer parish as a separate and independent unit, and the following year he built the present school now staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Family. A new church was erected and today Holy Redeemer Parish has two resident priests to care for the Colored who dwell east of Pine Street. Father Welbers, S.S.J., served with exemplary devotion as its pastor for 37 years until his death in 1947. At the time of his death he was the oldest member of his Order, and his work so endeared him to both the Colored and the white throughout the city that his memory is held in benediction even by non-Catholics. The Congregation of Holy Redeemer Parish numbered over 400 families, nearly all converts, or the children 0f converts. 51 Reference has already been made to St. Catherine, the third Colored parish in San Antonio. It had its beginnings in 1914 as a mission of St. Peter Claver. It was Father Kane, S.S.J., who acquired a small building at
r.sc1ancy, o,P. cit., II, 180. S6Archdioce~e of San Antonio, niamrmd J11bilee, 1874-1949, p. I 38. 51 ' bid., I 39.
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