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Our Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
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advisable to secure approval of his superiors before making a move. The undertaking he knew would require men and funds far beyond the means of the American Vincentian Province; these would have to be supplied through the Motherhouse in Paris. While Timon wrote to the Very Reverend C. M. Nozo, Superior Gen- eral, to acquaint him with the quandary in which he found himself, Bishop Blanc, to whom Timon had explained his dilemma, wrote directly to Cardinal Fransoni. The Bishop reported the steps he had taken to comply with the request of the Cardinal and asked him to urge the Motherhouse of the Vincentians in Paris to accept the new mission field· and commission Timon to make the survey of Texas as soon as possible.:u Rome appears to have lost no time in taking the matter up with Saint-Lazare, as suggested by Bishop Blanc; and Father Nozo, in view of the interest manifested by the Holy Father through the Sacred Con- gregation, gladly agreed to cooperate in the worthy undertaking for the reimplantation of the Faith in Texas. L' A mi de la Religion, the Parisian Catholic journal, published a brief notice of the agreement in the summer of 1838, which the impatient Timon read a month later with feelings of joy but mingled somewhat with anxiety. All through the summer he had waited for authorization from Saint-Lazare to start on his eventful trip. His eagerness had grown in intensity with time. Now he was glad to learn that the project had been approved, but he wondered why he had not been apprised of the details. Bishop Blanc, who had also read the news of the acceptance of the Papal proposals by Father Nozo, urged Timon not to delay his trip to Louisiana and Texas. Timon still held out, however, in hopes of hearing directly from Paris. Unaware that the Superior General had sent him the details of the agreement with Propaganda Fide as soon as it was concluded, Timon wrote Nozo reprovingly, "I have been waiting for a reply to my obser- vations on Texas ... to learn your will." 25 The Nozo dispatch, as a matter of fact, was never received. The impatient Vincentian learned on November 2i 6 that ten days before he penned his letter of October 30, there had arrived in New MThe details of Timon's appeal to Father Nozo, made probably early in April, and of Bishop Blanc's communication to Cardinal Fransoni are found in a letter of Blanc to Rosati, January .23, 1839, Archives of the St. Lo11is Archdiocesa11 C luu,cery, St. Louis, Mo., hereinafter referred to as A. S. L. C. UTimon to Nozo, October 30, 1838, Archives of the Vincentian Motherhouse, Paris, France, cited in Bayard, o,p. cit., 24. 26 Bayard, o,p. cit., 25.
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