Creation of ,e Secular Clc·rgy
Like all schools and seminaries of that day, St. Joseph had its measure of financial difficulties. It seems the wolf was not only at the door but had most of its head within the door at all times. These were hard days in Texas. Bishop Neraz declared at one time that it was a strain to pay twenty dollars a month for the support of one student recently arrived from Europe. In later years Bishop Forest deeded certain properties in Victoria to the undiscouraged Father vVyer to reimburse him for expen- ditures up to $2500 made for the benefit of the diocesan Seminary so heroically kept alive by the enthusiasm of one man. Upon the death of Father Gardet in 1891, Father Wyer succeeded him as Pastor of St. Mary's and continued in this capacity until his death in 1902. In spite of his many duties, Father Wyer continued to be the mainstay of the Seminary. Some of the more advanced students assisted him with the teaching, but throughout the life of the Seminary, which covered the same span as his own, he was responsible for all ecclesiastical subjects. One cannot help but marvel how he found time amidst his many duties to plan and begin the building of the new St. Mary's Church, which was completed by his successor, the Reverend John Sheehan, later made Monsignor, one of the first students of St. Mary's Seminary, who himself had been ordained in the old church on March 15, 1885. Although the Seminary closed with the death of its founder and chief worker in 1902 and its buildings have disappeared, the most imposing edifice of the parish church of St. Mary's remains to this day as a fitting monument to the extraordinary energy and ability of Father Wyer, builder of men as well as of churches. "It is safe to say that the record of Father Wyer as an educator will stand forever unrivaled in the annals of the Church in Texas." 48 He had, by his singular devotion and ironclad determination, linked the past to the present by maintaining a Seminary in operation until permanent ones were established both in Galveston and San Antonio. St. Mary's Seminarj, at La Porte, r9or. The Most Reverend John Anthony Forest, Bishop of San Antonio, was not the only one interested in maintaining a diocesan Seminary at all costs. The Reverend N. A. Gallagher, of Galveston, like his illustrious predecessor, Bishop Odin, longed to restore the first Seminary founded in Texas. Early in 1901 he purchased the property known as the Sylvan Beach Hotel, together with several adjoining acres of land at La Porte, in Harris County. He was 48 The summary here presented is based on the account given in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Diamond Jubilee, 1874-19,19, pp. 86-87.
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