011,r Catliotic Heritage i11 Tex«s
300
first American province had been established in 1849. The Bishop gladly assumed all financial obligations until the new establishment became self- supporting. He agreed also to pay for the transportation of the Brothers to Texas. The Belle Assise, which sailed from Havre on March 23, 1852, brought the first three Brothers of Mary: John Baptist Laignoux, Nicholas Koenig, and Xavier Mauclerc to work in Texas. Brother Mauclerc, one of the three sent to found a school in San Antonio, remained in Gal- veston to continue his studies at the seminary.M At about the same time, Brother Andrew Edel, Professor of Botany, Agriculture, and Horticulture in the recently established St. Mary's In- stitute, Dayton, Ohio, was ordered to proceed to Texas by way of New Orleans to become director of the projected establishment. Brother Edel was a veteran religious who knew English and was acquainted with the ways of the American frontiersmen. He made his way down the Missis- sippi to New Orleans and there met his colleagues at the Archbishop's house. On May 16, 1852, he and his three companions set sail for Galves- ton, where they arrived two days later and were welcomed by the Very Reverend Louis Cha.mbodut, Vicar-General, who gave them temporary quarters. After a brief stay in Galveston, utilized to perfect their English, the three Brothers of Mary set out for San Antonio, where Father Claude Marie Dubois, the future successor of Bishop Odin, welcomed them. Their first school, located temporarily on the southwest corner of Military Plaza, opened on August 25, 1852. Brother Laignoux taught the lower Spanish classes; Brother Koenig, those in English, and a layman named O'Neill was employed to conduct the more advance classes in English. Only twelve students were enrolled the first day, but within a month thirty boys were attending. Bishop Odin, delighted with the diligence and enthusiasm of the youth- ful Society, began immediately to raise funds for a permanent building. Brother Edel, aided by John Twohig, who became his most devoted friend, selected a location on the left bank of the San Antonio River, the present site of the downtown school of St. Mary's University. By the following March a simple, two-story structure, 60 x 25 feet, was erected and was ready for use, except for the furnishings. The location had the incon- venience of being on the side of the river opposite the settled portion of the city. Students had either to make a long detour or row across the river
34 Cf. Notes for Oblate Hislnry, I 4. C. A. T.
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