Om· Catholic Heritage i1t Texas
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authority over them to Bishop Gallagher at the request of Mother Mary Agnes, to take effect at Bishop's acceptance." 89 Bishop Gallagher not only accepted but went in person to Columbus to escort the community to Galveston and bring them to the convent he had prepared for them. Led by Mother Magevney, twenty Sisters jour- neyed back to Texas with the Bishop. They were: Mother Mary Megevney, Mother Mary Rose Lynch, and Sisters Mary Louis Curran, Mary Francis Ackerman, Mary Evangela Donoghue, Mary Peter Deehan, Mary Reg- inald Moroney, Mary De Sales Bradell, Mary Imelda Rosecrans, Mary Joseph Geghan, Mary Sienna Slevin, Mary Magdalen Farrell, Mary Patrick O'Reilly, Mary Teresa Murray, Mary Michael Reynolds, Mary Ignatius Farley, Mary Alphonsus McDermott, Mary Loretta Casey, Mary Bernard Hegarty, and Mary Stanislaus Hegarty. A boarding and day school was opened on October 9, 1882, in the new home i~ Galveston, which became Sacred Heart Convent. Three years later, the new school received its charter from the State. Its rapid growth made necessary an addition in 1888 on the Sixteenth Street side and in 1893 an even larger one was put up on the Market Street side. Mother Agnes, the foundress, died in 1891. The chapel in the new addition was built over her grave, with the altar of the Blessed Mother immediately over it. The terrible storm of 1900 buffeted the Academy and Convent violently and water rose eighteen inches in the lower floor, notwithstand- ing the fact that the plant was located on one of the highest spots in the Island. Fortunately no lives were lost. Many hundreds were given shelter and for four months the more unfortunate were fed from the dwindling supplies in the Convent.'° The Academy was temporarily closed and many of the Sisters were taken to Lampasas to recuperate from the effects of the storm and malaria prevalent in Galveston, but in 1903 it was reopened. That same year infor- mation was received from Rome that through the intercession of Bishop Gallagher the Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Galveston, had been de- clared on June 23, 1902, an affiliate of the Order of Preachers. "The Postulates received to the habit share ih the spiritual favors of the entire 19 Copy of telegram, dated July 20, 1882, in C. A. T. 90 Sister M. Veronica, O.P., The Dominican Sisters in Texas, Golden Jubilee of Sacred Heart Convent, 1882-1932, pp. 21-22.
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