Catliolic Educational Endeavors
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of providing the needed dormitory. The Paulist Fathers sold part of the grounds attached to St. Austin's Chapel, and the cornerstone of Newman Hall dormitory was duly blessed on March 7, 1918, by Very Reverend J. M. Kirwin, who returned on June 10, to bless the building. At its opening, President Vinson of the University of Texas welcomed the Sisters in the name of the Faculty and the student body. This foundation was of great solicitude to Mother M. Pauline, who realized the great need c,f such an institution as a safeguard for Catholic women students at the University. Dominican Nov-itiate and iv/otlierlwuse iJt/oved to Hou-stun. In 1921, a few months before her death, Mother M. Pauline purchased a tract of land in Houston with a view of erecting a new plant for the Motherhouse of the Congregation. Under the supervision of Mother Catherine, her suc- cessor, the Motherhouse was moved to its present modern quarters from Galveston, to Houston in 1926. The Most Reverend C. E. Byrne, Bishop of Galveston, dedicated the Sacred Heart Novitiate and Convent of the Dominican Sisters on September 22, 1926." Sisters Servants of tlee Holy Glwst and iltfary Immaculate, I893. This congregation was founded in San Antonio by Margaret Healey Murphy, a widow, who came to Texas in 1887. Moved by an irresistible desire to help bring a knowledge of our faith to the Negro in the South, she decided, after two years of personal endeavor, to found a community of women dedicated to teaching among Negroes. Today it is active throughout the South and has extended its work even to New York City, teaching both \Vhite and Negro children. With the blessing of Bishop John C. Neraz, Mother Mary set herself to the task. In 1888 she financed a church which was dedicated to St. Peter Claver, "the slave of slaves," the first to be named after him following his canonization in 1885. This church was dedicated by Bishop Neraz on September 16, and is the first parish church built in Texas exclusively for Negroes. A small school adjoined the church. Strange irony of human inconsistency, the work was not looked upon with kindness by neighbor- ing Whites and she experienced difficulty in finding workers. It was then that Margaret Healy Murphy decided to found a congregation of women who would live by Rule and give themselves as nuns to work among the Negroes. She and two devoted friends took formal vows in 1893 as Sisters of the Holy Ghost. For six years, Mother Mary Margaret tried to secure volunteers. The response was negligible. In 1899 she went to her home- "Diocese of Galveston, C ,,,t,nnial, 18 47-1947, p. 16:a; Sister M. Veronica, 80-81.
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