O,w Catholic Heritage in Texas
vastness of this undertaking and felt convinced that the advice and direction of a trained historian was needed. At the suggestion of Monsignor Kirwin the help of Dr. Peter Guilday of the Catholic University of America was enlisted. With his character- istic willingness to help, this dean of Catholic historians not only showed himself interested but personally travelled to the Shennan convention in order to give in person the benefits of his experience and learning. Dr. Guilday was presented to the convention by State Deputy Driscoll, and the eminent scholar and historian expressed himself as deeply impressed by the work undertaken by the Texas Knights of Columbus. · Dr. Guilday then addressed the commission upon the far-reaching effects of the undertaking to write the history of the Catholic Church in the State. He was particularly interested in the origin of the idea that the Knights of Columbus of the State should sponsor such an under- taking. The report of this meeting states that Reverend M. S. Garriga (now the Bishop of Corpus Christi) volunteered the information that it might have originated in an argument which was had back and forth in ·1916 between Galveston and San Antonio Councils over the 200th anni- versary of the founding of San Antonio, which at that time was to be celebrated in a civic manner by all the clubs and organizations of the Alamo City, among others, the Knights of Columbus. On his return to Washington, Dr. Guilday prepared for study a pre- liminary survey of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commis- sion. This survey defined the purpose of the commission to prepare for publication in 1936 a centennial History of the Catholic Church in Texas, and that this history was to contain the story of Catholicism within the borders of the present State of Texas from the earliest known records to the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Texas Independence in 1936. Guilday observed that Monsignor Kirwin had already outlined the introduction of this centennial history in his history of the diocese of Galveston, but observed that "this brochure can but indicate the sources that 'fragments may not be lost' and here and there give a flash of the extraordinary incidents in the march of the cowl and the carbine along the ways of colonization and civilization in Texas." Dr. Guilday recommended that the Historical Commission should be made up of priests and laymen. A Central Bureau could be set up for the purpose of affording all the information requested. He also suggested the formation of diocesan historical councils, in each of five dioceses, headed by the priest chosen by the bishop to write the history of the
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