, , ., ,l--
Our Catltolic Heritage in Texas
to Nacogdoches in April, 1871, and a school was opened at the urgent request of the city fathers in the abandoned building of the once flourish- ing Nacogdoches College. 66 The new community was soon reinforced by Mother M. Joseph (Pottard), who came from the Motherhouse in Notre Dame. Together they worked diligently to teach the long neglected chil- dren of the old town of Nacogdoches. Three years later the community of the Sisters of Holy Cross in Nacogdoches moved to Clarksville, but Mother Joseph, whose heart had been won by the poor children of the old Spanish-Mexican outpost. chose to remain among the Spanish-speaking. At El Moral, a small settll!ment about eighteen miles from Nacogdoches, the frontier town founded over a century before by their forefathers from Mexico, lived the now neglected and despised Mexicans. There Mother M. Joseph remained to keep alive the faith which the Saintly Margil had labored to plant in the virgin soil of Texas more than a century before. "For nearly forty years she lived among them as counselor, guide, friend, teacher and shepherd. She rode a little mustang pony over all this part of the country advising and encouraging the people.... The remnants of Catholicity among this people in this region are due in large part to this woman's sacrifice and heroism." 67 A ttenipt to found.a tte--dl Community. Upon her arrival in Clarksville in 1874, Sister M. Euphrosine, under the direction of Bishop Dubuis and at his bidding attempted to found a separate jurisdiction. The new Com- munity was to be known as the Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus. It was her fond hope, and that of the Bishop, that it might grow into a truly Texas community. Sister M. Euphrosine and her companion strictly observed the same Rule and kept the same habit they had used as Sisters of Holy Cross. Their efforts met with initial success. Girls joined the new Community and for a time it seemed the experiment would succeed. But Clarksville, which had been the leading town in Northeastern Texas before the railroads, declined rapidly after it was by-passed by the modern iron 66 Soutl,er,i Messenger, July 9, 1936. The school in Corpus Christi was taken over shortly afterwards by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament. ' 7 Adina de Zavala, "Sister Joseph of Nacogdoches, Texas," Mary Immaculate, San Antonio, May 1940. This Mother St. Joseph is not to be confused with Sister M. St. Joseph Dunne, who joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in Corpus Christi in 1 870. The one in Nacogdoches stayed and worked among the Spanish-speaking until she was taken to Houston on account of illness. She died in 1893 at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Houston. Her remains were brought to Austin by Father Hurth, C.S.C., President of St. Edward's University at the time, and given burial in the cemetery of the Congrega- tion at the College. Southern Messenger, July 16, 1956.
Powered by FlippingBook