Our Cat/u;lic Heritage in T1:.·x,u
a life of service in a diocesan seminary under the kindly direction and patronage of the Bishop has a dedication to the work of the diocese and a sense of loyalty comparable to that felt by members of a religious Order to their Congregation or Community. The creation of a secular clergy is essential to the permanence of the work and the growth of the Church. The Council of Trent, back in 1563, recommended that every diocese should strive to found and maintain sem- inaries where young men may be properly trained for religious work under competent direction and a suitable environment. It called upon bishops to provide places for the education of the priests for his diocese whenever possible. Bishop Odin was well aware of all this. As early as 1850 he wrote Bishop Mazenod of Marseilles, France, "I cannot find enough Priests to 5atisfy all the demands made upon me. I should like to found a Seminary and confide its care to the Oblates. The Texas Mission is still in its cradle; soon nevertheless it will become one of the most important dioceses in the country. For that it needs a 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 as we need it.... Give me three or four Fathers to begin this important work." 1 Early in 1851, in anot~er letter to Bishop de Mazenod, Odin said again, "It is impossible for me to procure sufficient workers to satisfy the demands. I wish to lay the foundation of a diocesan Seminary [to which] I would like to add a day school for the boys of the city." He thought the school for boys would help support the Seminary and at the same time help secure vocations. Even as he wrote, the Oblate Fathers, whom he expected to take care of the Seminary, were on the point of giving up their work in South Texas for lack of men. When he learned this, he decided to make a personal appeal to the saintly Bishop of Marseilles during his trip in Europe. His plea was heard, the Oblates returned to Texas to renew their mis- sionary work and to establish the first seminary. It was agreed that the Oblate community in Galveston would take care of the Bishop's seminary. When Bishop Odin's recruits for the Texas Mission sailed for Texas on the Belle Assise on March 23, 1852, there were, in addition to missionaries and sisters, a number of seminarians with which to start his Seminary. The seminarians who came with them, who may rightly be called the first of the Diocese of Texas, were: Adolf Dessaraund, subdeacon of Car- cassonne; Edward Kuntzman, subdeacon of Strassbourg; Claude Dumas, 1 Bishop Odin to Bishop de Mazenod, March 18, 1850.
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