Colwmbianism in Texas
423
as the Supreme Board of Directors, who exercise the executive authority of the society. 1 The new fraternal Order, a semi-secret society, having been chartered and organized, adopted, after some study, a ritual, which was submitted to Bishop Laurence T. McMahon of Hartford, Connecticut. In approving it on July 7, 1883, he said, "I am of the opinion that it will be a valuable medium for carrying sound moral principles to your members; that it will be the means of attracting many to your organization." But the Order was not out of troubled waters yet. Hardly had it been started when it encountered serious criticism from friends and foes alike, who questioned and doubted its very spirit and charged it was un-Christian. To answer Catholics and non-Catholics in the United States and the world at large, and to prove to them that the Knights of Columbus were truly a Catholic group in Faith, practice, and principle, the Supreme Council submitted the plan of the organization, its constitution, its bylaws, and its ritual to Archbishop Satolli, Apostolic Delegate in Washington. After carefully studying the documents, the representative of the Holy See in the United States officially and publicly approved them and gave his blessing to the Order. Reluctant pastors, as well as bishops and archbishops, now gave their full support to the movement. Catholic men felt encouraged to join the Knights of Columbus. A great growth throughout the country followed, aided after 1902 by the publication of an official magazine. which was called Colmnhiad until r921, when it was renamed Columbia. By 1902 when the first Council in Texas was instituted. the Society had already spread to twenty states of the Union and beyond the northern border into Canada to become international. First Cormcil in Texas at El Paso, 1902. It was the year before that Michael F. Burke of Indianapolis, a recent arrival in El Paso, Texas, regaled a group of friends with the story of the Knights of Columbus, the new Order of Catholic men, of which he was a member. He spoke with enthusiasm of its great success and high purposes and explained that it lThe facts here summarized, as well as the remainder of this chapter, is ba.~ largely on the authoritative study of Msgr. William H. Oberste, Knig/rts of Columbus in Texas, r902-r952, (Von Boeckmann-Jones Publishing Company, Austin, Texas, 195:z). Since only a very limited edition was made of this splendid resume of fifty years of fruitful endeavor, which was ordered printed by the Texas State Council, a summary of the history of the order, particularly of its work in Texas, is presented here to complete this volume. 011r Cat/roli& Herila,r:, ;,, Texas Is itself but one of the many fruits of Columblanism and would be incomplete without this sketch.
Powered by FlippingBook