Our Catholic Heritage, Volume VII

Our Catlroli& He1·itage in Texas

338

parochial schools. Their first experience was in 1887, when, at the request of Bishop Gallagher of Galveston, who was deeply interested in the educa- tion of Negro children, they took charge of Holy Rosary School for Colored Children. There was much criticism even from Catholics and some threat- ened to withdraw their children from the Academy if the Sisters engaged in this work. But Christian charity prevailed. The parish school of the Holy Rosary parish for the Colored grew. Mother Mary Agnes Magevney refused compensation for the Sisters who taught in the school. Within a year, a new building had to be erected at the corner of Twenty-fl£th and Avenue I. By 1895 two former students had joined the Sisters of the Holy Family (Colored), whose members from New Orleans took over the school in 1897. Other parochial schools conducted by the Dominican Sisters are: St. Mary's Cathedral School, Galveston, 1893; St. Anthony's School, Beau- mont, 1895; St. Mary's School, Taylor, 1896; Sacred Heart, Houston, 1897; Sacred Heart, Brenham, 1910; All Saints' School, Houston Heights, 1913; Holy Rosary School, Houston, 1913; St. Mary's School, Port Arthur, 1914; Our Lady of Guadalupe School for Mexican Children, Austin, 1915-1919; Newman School, Austin, 1918; St. Michael's School, Burlington, 1921; St. Catherine's School, Port Neches, 1922; St. Mary's School, Orange, 1924; and Kinvin High School, Galveston, 1926-1931. In addition to teaching, the Sisters of St. Dominic, out of the charity of their hearts, answered the request of Bishop Gallagher to take charge of the infirmary and the domestic department of his new Seminary at La Porte. "What sacrifices have been made at all times by the ... Sisters assigned to this duty, the Great Master alone can tell." 93 Newman Hall, Austin, 1918. It may be said that this modern Catholic dormitory for University of Texas women students, which serves as the community's house in Austin for the Dominican Sisters who have St. Austin's parish school in charge, had its informal origin in Holy Rosary Convent on 2501 Nueces Street. This was a former mansion consisting of a two-story frame building where the Dominican Sisters, sent to Austin to take care of the school of Our Lady of Guadalupe (for the Spanish-speak- ing), lived from 1915 to 1917. For a long time the need of a Hall for Catholic women students had been felt. Mother Pauline, O.P., urged by Catholics in Austin and the Reverend J. Elliot Rose, C.S.P., Chaplain of the Newman Club at the University, agreed to undertake the enterprise

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91Sister M. Veronica, o-J. cit., 50.

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