Tl1e Daum of a New Era
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unable for many years to be a self-sustaining congregation m spite of their enthusiasm and generosity. The success of the enterprise would depend, therefore, on the continuous interest of the Motherhouse and the efforts of Procurator General Father Etienne to secure the necessary funds from such philanthropic organizations as the Lyons-Paris and the Leopoldine societies for the propagation of the Faith. These and other European societies had for years contributed liberally to Vincentian missions in China, Africa, and the Levant, and would now have to add to their charities the missions in Texas. They were, in fact, to carry the burden until the American Extension Society came into being and shouldered the burden. Timon foresaw the significance of Galveston in the reestablishment of the Church. "It appears to me that this point [Galveston] must become a very important one," he assured Bishop Blanc and Father Nozo of Saint-Lazare. 36 But since his time was limited, the Church scout, after consulting his trusted friends, the Menards and Dr. Labadie, informed Blanc that he intended to go on to Victoria, thence to Houston and to San Antonio de Bexar. He advised Blanc that Father Llebaria would have an opportunity during the latter part of the journey to min- ister to the ranchos and haciendas. If circumstances permitted, Timon wrote, he would also visit Nacogdoches and San Augustine in East Texas. After saying Mass, Timon and his companion boarded the steamer Ruftts Ptttnam on New Year's for the Capital of the Republic. Houston was a busy town on that morning of January 2, 1839, when the two missionaries landed on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. Congress in session had brought the usual throng of lobbyists and hangers-on into the two-year-old settlement, crowding more than 4,000 inhabitants into a scant six hundred buildings-for the most part huts and shacks and only an occasional cottage and far too many saloons. 37 Small wonder, then, that all Timon could find after hours of searching was a one-room hut, in which on January 3 he celebrated the first Mass said in Houston, with but a few in attendance. The tireless missionary, fighting a natural dejection, decided to do as he had done in Galveston. In search of the scattered sheep, he, therefore, went from house to house to discover how many Catholics there were, and to his surprise, found that there were more than 300. Many of them, however, he learned, were ashamed or afraid to acknowledge their Faith. He soon 36 Timon to Blanc, December 28, 1838; Timon to Nozo, December 29, 1838, Archives of the Vince11tian Motherhouse, Paris, cited by Bayard, op. cit. 37 Harriet Smither, "Diary of Adolphus Sterne," The Quarterly, XXX, I 47.
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