41
him by the Cardinals on whom he called and the audiences granted him by Gregory XVI himself. The Holy Father and the Cardinals had shown a warm and deep interest in all things concerning the Church in America. "Every moment has been employed," he wrote Bishop Ro- sati, "in drawing up reports on the Church in America for the Holy See and the Propaganda." Moved by the simplicity and affability of the venerable Pontiff, he added, "I have seen the Pope three times; he had a long conversation with me on our America, and he is very anxious that we undertake a mission among the savages.... You can speak to him with all the ease of a child with his father." 13 His sojourn in Europe for almost a .year proved most fruitful and beneficial to the Vincentian mission of the Barrens. From Rome he went to Naples, where he obtained donations totaling 7,000 francs and enlisted six volunteer missionaries. He next visited Florence, Perugia, Pisa, Genoa, and Turin. In the latter city he organized an American Missions Society. By the time he was ready to set sail, he had re- cruited about fifteen missionaries and had collected sufficient funds to defray their expenses to America. It was as the result of his efforts that Superior General Nozo decided to reorganize the Congregation of the Mission Vincentians in the United States as a province and named John Timon Visitor. 14 Back in the United States, he had been sent to the missions in Mis- souri, where he founded the parish of Cape Girardeau and worked most successfully until he returned to the college at the Barrens as professor of Belles-Lettres. 15 Odin's voyage to New Orleans. The ardent desire to spread the Faith into new lands burned unabated in the heart of the veteran pioneer. He no sooner received his appointment as Vice-Prefect than he made ready to leave. By May 2, 1840, he set out on the great venture that was to occupy another twenty years of his life. Two days later he was at Cape Girardeau, where he bade good-bye to many of his old friends before sailing down the river on the Meteor, together with his new as- sistants, Fathers Eudald Estany and Michael Calvo and Brother Ray- mond Sala, three of the Spanish recruits who had come in 1838.
13 0din to Rosati, Rome, April 23, 1834, Notre Dame Archives. 14 Deuther, Life and Times of John Timon, 55.
15 For a more detailed but uncritical biography, see Abbe Bony, Vie de Algr. Jea,r Marie Odin. A much better summary is found in Sister Mary Benignus Sheridan, Bishop Odin and the New Era of the Catholic Church in Texas, 1840-1860 (Doc- torate of Philosophy dissertation, St. Louis University, 1938), 7-:18.
Powered by FlippingBook