,.. ..
Our Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
I
I
I
and disgusting water." They arrived safely in San Antonio on July 30.:z En route Odin passed by the almost abandoned city of Goliad, where he saw the church of Loretto and the ruins of Mission Espiritu Santo; he stopped at fourteen or sixteen ranches, pretentious feudal estates with their casa grande, extensive corrals, crowded workers' huts, and brimming acequias. On July 28 he breakfasted with Don Erasmo Seguin on his ranch, eleven miles from San Antonio, and visited a Lipan vil- lage with a hundred and sixty Indians. After arriving in San Antonio early Saturday morning, he secured lodgings with the Casianos. Odin lost no time in contacting the oft discussed clergymen of the old Spanish town. He first visited Father Valdez, and later in the evening, called on Father Garza to inform him that he wished to say Mass the next morning. Garza expressed consent with a mere shrug of his shoulders. Whatever his first impression may have been, Odin postponed action. Sunday morning, August 2, a large crowd attended the services in San Fernando. Odin said the Mass and preached in English and Father Calvo preached in Spanish. The warm welcome given him by everybody and the large attendance encouraged the worried Vice-Prefect to carry out his instructions from Timon. Odin had a disagreeable task to perform and he knew it. "What an embarrassing position for me!" he exclaimed. "A stranger, unknown, the first step, the first act of my mission was to interdict two men, born and reared in the country, and related to many families of the place!" The situation, however, had to be remedied. The neglect of the church and of the people was evident on every hand. Over half of the roof of the venerable old church was gone. Swallows came in swarms by night and bats made their home in the old temple by day. A moldy stench of dampness and decay pervaded the atmosphere. The rich vestments and other appurtenances lay rotting in the sacristy closet in a heap. The people had received no instruction for years, "the sick died without the rites of the church, and the young grew up in profound ignorance." Only one Mass was said on Sunday, which was generally attended by a few old women. There was never a sermon. Weekday Masses were said only upon request and for an exorbitant fee. The aged Father Garza and his companion, Valdez, had for years disregarded their parochial duties. Worst of all, they were living publicly in concubinage. The evictwn of the two clerics. The moment that had worried Timon 21 0din to Etienne, April 11, 1841; Diary of Bis/ 10 ,p John Mar,y Odin, First Bishop of Galveston, Texas, entries for July 21-July 30, 1840, C. A. T.
I 1 I \ \ .I I I I \
I !
, l
I I
l f l
l· _____.
Powered by FlippingBook