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Tlze Kniglits of Columbus Historical Commission
may I not with propriety refer to the sources of inspiration which instigated and encouraged the carrying on of the work to the point where the State Council of the Knights of Columbus of Texas assumed the responsibility of creating and fostering a Historical Commission, to assemble the facts for and in preparation of such a History; I refer to the stupendous labors of the late lamented Very Rev. J. M. Kirwin, Vicar General of the Diocese of Galveston, whose tireless energies to discover and reveal the truth about the history of Texas and its Chris- tian civilization, and the great work accomplished by the Catholic pioneers, both religious and laymen. ever impelled progress; to the life-work and reminiscences of the revered missionary, Father P. F. Parisot, O.M.I., and his associates in their gathering of facts to form in part a History of Texas; and to the serious and earnest efforts of Father Joseph P. Lynch, now the Metropolitan of the Dallas Diocese of Texas, culminating in that powerful plea made before an assemblage of the Knights of Columbus in Houston a number of years ago, asking that the great monuments of civilization erected by the pioneer Catholic missionaries be preserved in fact, and in history, for the dissemination of truth, to the present and future generations. (This address was delivered shortly after the destruction of the mission church at Ysleta, erected about the year 1662. near El Paso, on soil which is now a part of Texas.) Following along the way blazed by these earnest and illustrious men and others, your respondent became deeply interested and improved opportunities to impress our Catholic teachers, students and laity of the necessity for, and the importance of a Catholic history of Texas. One of these occasions was before the Newman Club of the University of Texas, a report of which is to be found in the annals of the Club. afterward given publicity in the Soutlzern Messenger, from which extracts are appended: "An Address on Texas history and the part played in it by Catholics delivered by Judge Wm. Blakeslee of Austin, who also presented to the Newman Club a plan for the compilation of historical material whereby with the co-operation of hi1-tory students such information could be made available. It was the sentiment of the executive committee that the plan of preparing material for their immediate use should be supplemented by n definitely developed course of study tending to show in all detail the influence of the Catholic Church in the early history of Texas. tracing the development from the earliest explorers to the present time. The great collection of very valuable historical material bearing on enrlY Texas history found in the Bexar Archives, Garcia Library. and the main libraries of the State and of the Universitv of Texas and the material in the library of the Paulist Fathers at the Newman Club would be a rich source of historical matter, and the research through these libraries would doubtless bring to light many events in Texas history, which as seen through the eyes of an intelligent Catholic
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