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01,r Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
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Reverend Fathers of the Society of Jesus will take charge of this insti- tution."u It seems that Bishop Odin did not succed in getting the Jesuits to assume charge of St. Mary's that year or the next and that the institu- tion continued as a college after the departure of the Franciscans under the direction of two laymen. It is not known how many seminarians at- tended during the year 1859-1860, but the following year there were four ecclesiastical students in attendance while negotiations were under way with the Christian Brothers.2: St. Mary's under the Cliristian Brotliers. The next four years (1861- 1865) in the history of St. Mary's are quite obscure. Just when the Chris- ttian Brothers started work at St. Mary's is not certain, but for the school year 1865-1866 Brother Joachim is listed as the Director, assisted by four other Brothers, with the Vicar-Chancellor, the Very Reverend Joseph Anstaett as Chaplain. There were four ecclesiastical students in at- tendance.23 P-roposed Semina,.y at San Jose. St. Mary's in Galveston continued to operate haltingly as a college, but the seminary died with the with- drawal of the Franciscan Conventuals. Bishop Dubuis, who succeeded Bishop Odin in 1861 after his promotion to the Archdiocese of New Orleans, was as deeply interested in maintaining a diocesan seminary as his predecessor. As soon as he became the Bishop of Galveston he made a strong appeal to the Benedictine Fathers, with whose work he was well acquainted, to found a seminary in the old Mission of San J ose. 24 21 Tlu Melf'o,Politan Cat/1olic ... Directory . .., 1860, p. 127. T/1e Directory (printing date, November 25, 1859) had the institution listed as "St. Mary's Col- lege" and still under the auspices of the Order of the Minor Conventuals.'' But this issue (page 336) also listed the institution as "St. Mary's University, Galveston, under the Society of Jesus.'' "It was formerly under the control of the minor Con- ventuals," it adds, "but we were informed by the Bishop's report that the institution was about to be placed under the charge of the Jesuit Fathers." %7.Tl,e Metropolitan Catholic . .. Directory ... 1861 (printed December, 1860), states on page 210, "St. Mary's College, Galveston, now conducted by two laymen, will be placed shortly in the care of the Brothers of the Christian Doctrine.'' In the Recapitulation is found the information that two were ordained in 1 860 and that four ecclesiastical students were in attendance. 23 The Directory was not published for 1862 or 1863, as the 1864 issue informs us and states, furthermore, "It has been found impossible to get any report or reliable returns from this State [Texas]." The Director,y for 1865 had only this to report that it lacked "returns from many Southern Dioceses, Galveston included.'' It is hoped that the research begun by one of the Christian Brothers who was teaching at Kerwin High School in Galveston will be completed and published. Sadlier's Catholic Almanac and Ordo for 1866, pp. 1 56, 1 58. 24 For the coming of the Benedictine, see Chapter VI, p. -, ante.
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