USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > Diamond jubilee, 1847-1922, of the diocese of Galveston and St. Mary's Cathedral > Part 11
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posuit. L. C. M. CHAMBODUT.
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The work was rushed to completion and on November 26, 1848, the Cathedral was consecrated.
Consecration of St. Mary's Cathedral, November 26, 1848.
DOCUMENT.
Anno reparatae Salutis MDCCCXLVIII, Sexto Kal. Decembris, Ego, Joannes Maria Odin, C. M., Episcopus Galvestoniensis,
Assistentibus Reverendissimis et Illustrissimis Antonio Blanc Episcopo Neo-Aureliensi et Joanne Timon, C. M., Episcopo Buffalensi; atque Reverendis Dominis N. J. Perché, capellano conventus Ursulinarum in Neo-Aurelia, officio archidaconi ; Eduardo Clarke, rectore S. Vincentii Houstoniae, et Jacobo Giraudon, missionario ad Lavaccam. et Joanne Brands, C. M., officio diaconi ; Jacobo R. Miller, missionario Brazoriae, et Carolo Padey, missionario ad Lavaccam, officio sudbiaconi fungentibus ; Josepho Anstaett cantore; Eduardo D'Hauw, pastore Ecclesiae Sancti Josephi Neo-Aureliae, et Ricardo Hennessy, C. M., magis- tris Caerimoniarum; nenon magna populorum multitudine prae- sente ; Ecclesian nostram Cathedralem consecravi et Deo Omnipo- tenti sub invocatione Beatae Virginis Mariae solemniter dedicavi ; quibus finitis, Reverendissimus et Illustrissimus Episcopus Neo- Aureliensis Missam Solemnem celebravit, infra quam Episcopus Bauffalensis, qui et eo tempore quo consecratio intra ecclesiam fiebat, foris coram populo fuerat sermocinatus, sermonem fecit.
J. M., EPUS. GALVESTONIENSIS, X ANT. EPUS. NEO-AURELIENSIS, JOANNES, EP. BUFFALENSIS,
N. J. PERCHE,
JACOBUS GIRAUDON,
E. D'HAUW, JOSEPH ANSTAETT,
JAMES A. MILLER, EDUARDUS A. CLARKE,
RICHARD HENNESSY, CAROLUS PADEY,
JACOBUS FITZGERALD, JOANNES BRANDS,
JAMES P. NASH,
In 1849 Bishop Odin attended the Seventh Provincial Coun- cil of Baltimore and took advantage of the opportunity to go into Canada and induced the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to take charge of Brownsville and the missions along the Rio Grande. He took with him Rev. P. Gaudet, O. M. I., and the
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Rev. P. Soulerin, O. M. I. After a short experience they with- drew, but eighteen months afterwards six Oblate Priests under Father Gaudet took up the work anew.
In 1852 Bishop Odin attended the First Plenary Council of Baltimore.
In 1853 Bishop Odin writes, July 23, from Galveston, that he is engaged in a very serious work. "We are trying to build an institution that will serve as a Seminary and as a college in the meantime. The Oblate Fathers will take charge. The workmen are already busy," and on May 15, 1854, he wrote to Rev. J. M. Mignard : "We are working at the construction of a college and Semniary which the Oblate Fathers will direct. The edifice will soon be finished and classes will open in October. I promised to give $8,000.00 for this work and I have paid my total contribution. The Oblates have agreed to raise the bal- ance."
In a letter written to his sister in 1855 Bishop Odin sum- marizes conditions : "The clergy of Texas is composed of forty priests and one poor bishop. All have to make long trips in order to carry the consolations of religion to the scattered peo. ple of this vast State. I have had the great sorrow of losing seven priests in the space of one year. Yellow fever has deso- lated the southern portion of the State."
"The religious women of the Incarnate Word, whom I brought from Lyons on my last trip to Europe, spent seven or eight months at Galveston to study English and Spanish. 1 have sent them to Brownsville, in the Rio Grande valley. We shall have to build additions to the two convents of the Ursu- lines at Galveston and San Antonio. The first has more than a hundred and sixty girls and the latter more than a hundred. The Brothers of Mary, whom I also obtained on my last trip, have a very well attended school at San Antonio."
On June 26, 1856, he wrote to his sister, Josephine: “Eight missionaries are in the Rio Grande valley and I propose to add four more. I propose to establish a new convent at Laredo." That letter also gives an interesting account of the colonization attempted by the Phalanges of Fourier. They were conducted to Texas by Victor Considerant. "Some of them have stopped in Galveston, and have returned to the practice of their reli- gion. I am going to send a priest to Dollar, where they are establishing their colony. I hope they will return to the true faith."
On July 12, 1858, he wrote to Mr. Duplay, superior of the Seminary at Lyons: "June 20th, the close of retreat for the priests, was followed by a diocesan Synod. Mr. Dubuis has con- structed a beautiful church at San Antonio and I will consecrate
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it August 15th. The Oblate Fathers have built an elegant church at Brownsville. Pentecost I gave confirmation at Gal- veston to sixty, of whom eight had been recently baptized. Our educational institutions are rendering the most signal services, they are more flourishing than ever, despite the efforts of preju- dice and bad faith, launched against them. My financial diffi- culties are great. We have to do so much to respond to the wants of our population, constantly increasing."
On June 20, 1860, Monsignor Blanc, Archbishop of New Or- leans, died. At this time Bishop Odin was engrossed in his la- bors in Texas. A letter tells the story. "Texas is filling up so rapidly that I shall have to secure more priests. I have only forty-six and I need sixty. It is difficult to get away and so I must try and attract new helpers by letter. The diocese pos- sesses forty-five churches. A new convent has been opened at Liberty on the Trinity River. The Ursulines took possession the first of January and the house is filled. I have been prom- ised the Christian Brothers for next year. In a short time we shall commence a hospital at Galveston. The Sisters of Charity will take charge. The railroads, which are being constructed in Texas, have drawn many strangers. Last year the Benedictine Fathers came to establish a monastery of their order in the dio- cese. I have confided many missions to them, and I have given them the old property of San Jose. Fifteen days ago I intro- duced Franciscan Recollects. There are only two as yet, but more will come."
On the 19th of April, 1861, the Bishop of Texas was called by the Sovereign Pontiff to the Archbishopric of New Orleans. He wrote to the Superior General: "This sad news has afflicted me greatly so that for many weeks I have not been able to de- cide to accept so heavy a burden." On the 19th of May, 1861, he arrived in New Orleans and on Trinity Sunday, May 26th, he was enthroned. His love for Texas was voiced in his first pastoral letter." For the more than twenty years that we have lived in Texas, we have received from all the people the evidence of good will and affection. How difficult it has been for us to leave Texas, to which we had vowed our life-work with the hope that there our ashes would find repose. It was a deep sorrow to separate ourselves from the venerable priests, religious and secular, who were associated in our labors and who made such generous sacrifices, and who submitted to so much privation, fatigue and suffering to help us plant the Cross of Jesus Christ in a land where it was little known. Loving them with all the tenderness of our heart we cherish the conviction that death alone can separate us."
CHAPTER XI.
BISHOP JOHN TIMON.
One of the remarkable priests connected with the history of Texas after the withdrawal of the Franciscan Monks is Father John Timon, first Prefect-Apostolic of Texas, afterwards first Bishop of Buffalo, New York, and the choice of most of the Bishops of the country for the Archiepiscopal See of Baltimore after the death of Archbishop Eggleston.
This great priest and orator was born at Conewago, Pennsyl- vania, February 12, 1797, of Irish parents. Conewago had been a Catholic settlement since 1740. When he made up his mind to be a priest, he cast his lot with the Vincentian Fathers, and came to the Barrens in Perry County, Missouri, to finish his studies. In June, 1825, he was ordained at St. Louis by Bishop Rosati. Ten years later the Vincentians of the United States were formed into a separate province, and Father Timon became the first Visitor.
Before his appointment to this office, as well as while Visitor, he was devoted to missionary work, and made with Father Odin, at least one visit to Texas during the time of its struggle for independence. In 1838 Bishop Blanc of New Orleans wrote Bishop Rosati of St. Louis and also Father Timon that the Holy See wanted a report on the condition of religion in Texas. Father Timon at the request of Bishop Blanc undertook the work. Late in December, 1838, he reached Galveston, and there on the feast of the Holy Innocents said the first Mass, perhaps, ever offered on the island. The same day he started for Houston, then the capital of the new Republic. After some difficulty, he succeeded in finding lodging for himself-the town was crowded because of a meeting of the legislature-and many were chary of the strangers. But so well did he manage his opportunity, and so good an impression did he make, that on December 3Ist, he was invited to speak before the law-makers of the new Republic, and won their sympathy, as well as the friendship of General Sam Houston.
On January 9th, 1839, he returned to Galveston, and arranged for the purchase of the ground on which the present Cathedral stands.
Father Timon now returned to New Orleans and made his
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report to Bishop Blanc, and then made his way back to St. Louis again.
Although Father Timon had refused the appointment as Co- Adjutor Bishop of St. Louis in September, 1839, he was per- suaded to accept the Prefecture Apostolic of Texas April 12th, 1840. He appointed Father Odin Vice-Prefect-Apostolic and sent him at once to Texas.
On December 5th, 1840, he came a second time to Galveston, pushed the building of a church, and went on to Austin, now the capital, to meet Father Odin. He presented letters from Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, to President Mira- beau G. Lamar, which were virtually the recognition, by the Pope, of the Republic of Texas. On December 23rd, 1840, he said Mass in Austin, and on the same day preached at the Capitol With the assistance of Mr. de Saligny, minister of France to Texas, he succeeded in having presented to the legislature a bill, prepared by Father Odin, for the return to the Church Authority all the old Franciscan missions and churches.
Early in January he returned to Galveston, and gave on Janu- ary 18th, 1841, confirmation for the first time on the island to one of his own converts. After this he went back again to his duties as Visitor of the Vincentians. But zeal, learning and piety such as his was not to be given ease; in a few years he was selected as the first Bishop of Buffalo. A wonderful record of conversions to the faith, and development of the Church mark his labors there. He made two trips to Galveston as Bishop of Buffalo, to preach at the cornerstone laying, and again at the consecration of the Cathedral.
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CHAPTER XII.
BISHOP CLAUDE MARIE DUBUIS, D. D. SECOND BISHOP OF GALVESTON.
(The facts in the life of Bishop Dubuis have been gleaned largely from the "Vie de Monseigneur Dubuis, L'Apotre du Texas, Par l'Abbe J. P." It is rather singular that excellent lives of both Archbishop Odin and Bishop Dubuis have been published in France, and have had extensive circulation, while nothing of permanent form has seen the light of day in Texas, which they both served long and well.)
Claude Marie Dubuis was born at Teche, a short distance fron Roanne, France, March 8, 1817. He was named after his uncle, who was the Vicar of Violay. His parents were small farmers. From childhood he loved the open spaces and was the only youth of his native village who was an expert swimmer.
His early education was given by his mother, and in his after life as a bishop he boasted that his mother's advice and counsel had been and was ever his best guidance. It was not easy to acquire an education then in France. The revolution had spent itself, but its views prevailed. France had no need of savants. The universities remained open under difficulties, but there were no schools for the poor.
On May 12, 1827, he made his first holy communion, and his discerning uncle, Abbe Dubost, seeing the evidence of a priestly vocation, took him to his home and for five years taught him Latin and other secondary requirements.
In 1832 he entered the secondary ecclesiastical institute l'Argentiere, conducted by the priests of the Society of St. Irenaeus, diocesan missionaries of Lyons. He knew no Greek and they thrust him back into the third-year class, and to the chagrin of his parents he returned home and for two years helped to farm. Attaining his eighteenth year he renewed his studies under a private instructor, and in 1836 entered the Petit Seminaire of Saint-Jodard. In 1840 he entered the Grand Semi- naire of Lyons, was ordained priest June 1, 1844, and was as- signed to St. Martin de Fontaine near Lyons.
When Bishop Odin, Vicar-Apostolic of Texas, visited Lyons and made an appeal for priests, Father Dubuis volunteered to go to Texas. The Archbishop of Lyons readily consented, but his parents were reluctant to grant their consent. Bishop Odin appealed personally to his father, and in February, 1846, Father
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Dubuis and eight clerical companions and three future Ursuline Sisters left Lyons for Paris. They embarked at Havre, March 20, 1846, and reached New Orleans May 25th. They went up to St. Louis and Father Dubuis entered the college at the Bar- rens to learn English. After six months he set out for Galves- ton, where he arrived January 4, 1847. He was immediately assigned to Castroville. Belgians, Hollanders, Hanoverians, Prussians, Westphalians, Huns and Austrians composed the pop- ulation of 1,300 souls. In three weeks he preached in the native tongue, which he declared to be a combination of German, Spanish and French. There was no bigotry and many were eager for religious instruction. Within a short period five hundred had gone to communion.
His own description of his capture in June of that year by the Comanche Indians, their regard and respect for "The Cap- tain of the Church" suddenly terminated by their securing some whisky, is told with considerable naivete.
Father Chazelle was assigned to help him, but soon was taken down by typhoid and died. Then Father Domeneck came as assistant, and with the help of a few carpenters they built a church which cost three thousand francs, and on Easter Sunday, 1850, the first mass was celebrated in the new structure. In 1852 he went to France to obtain students and priests for the rapidly growing diocese of Galveston. He succeeded in obtain- ing fourteen, but the Propagation of the Faith, in the lack of credentials from Bishop Odin, refused to pay the passage. He conducted his charges to Havre, engaged fourteen first-class places and then assumed the duties of a physician on board "The Queen of the Sea" to help pay their way.
On his return to Galveston he was named Vicar-General and sent to San Antonio. He built St. Mary's Church, doing much of the manual labor himself, and refused to give up his charge when his health failed because his conscience would not permit his leaving eight thousand Catholics without a priest in the city.
He experienced the bigotry of Know-Nothing days, but was fearless in the face of danger and persecution.
When Bishop Odin was transferred to New Orleans Father Dubuis was appointed Bishop of Galveston to succeed him. October 21, 1862. He was consecrated in the chapel of the theological seminary at Lyons by Archbishop Odin on the 23rd of November, 1862.
Bishop Dubuis immediately started for Texas. When ready to sail he had sixty all told, seminarians, priests and religious women, in his party, among whom was John Anthony Forest. afterwards Bishop of San Antonio, and Thomas Heslin, des- tined to be Bishop of Natchez. . They had spiritual exercises
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daily and a lesson in theology, and the voyage lasted sixty days. They reached New Orleans April 4, 1863. The Civil War was at its height and the city had been taken the previous April by the fleet of Farragut, and they were all forced to take the oath of allegiance and promise not to take up arms against the United States. Bishop Dubuis left his seminarians at New Orleans and took a boat to Matamoras. Galveston had been taken in January, but the Federals were repulsed after three days and obliged to give up the city. The South was far from despairing. It was determined to conquer or die.
In the midst of all these trials Bishop Dubuis arrived in his diocese. The Ursuline Convent had been turned into a military hospital.
At the end of the year, finding the need of priests importu- nate, he determined to bring back from New Orleans the semin- arians whom he had left there to complete their studies. Under date of April 3, 1864, Archbishop Odin writes: "We have the consolation of having Bishop Dubuis at New Orleans. He arrived Easter Sunday, after a long and trying journey across Texas and Louisiana." He started back to Texas in May, leading his band of priests and students, and had to pass through both the armies. One little wagon conveyed all their effects and they footed the bad roads and waded the swamps ..
The war ended, Bishop Dubuis attended the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, October 7 to 21, 1866. He was late in arriving because he had been in France.
In 1852 Bishop Odin had brought the first Sisters of the Incarnate Word to Texas, and they had later established schools at Brownsville, Victoria and Houston. He had made frequent requests for the Sisters of Charity in vain, but Bishop Dubuis, seeing the necessity of hospitals, asked Mother Angelique of Lyons to train subjects who would be able to care for the sick and aged in his diocese. "Jesus Christ suffering in a multi- tude of poor, sick and infirm of every kind appeals to you for aid." On September 23, 1866, in the chapel of the Incarnate Word at Lyons three young women-Sister Mary Blandine, Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Mary Ange-received the habit of the "Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word" at the hands of Bishop Dubuis. Two days later they left with the Bishop for America, and from this humble foundation has grown the mighty army of devoted souls who march under the banners of the Incarnate Word and spread from Galveston and San Antonio, by the ministry of service, the gospel of gentle mercy.
On his return from the Council he was compelled to go immediately to the Rio Grande territory that had been ravaged by storm and flood.
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In 1869 he held the Priests' Retreat and Diocesan Synod. Twenty-three priests were present. He attended the Vatican Council the same year. He was a strong advocate of Papa! Infallibility. He arrived in Galveston March 17, 1870. He had completed a visit of the North and East of the diocese on horseback on his way home, and he was, as a Texan, charac- teristically proud of his horse. In fifteen days he commenced a visit of the West, and confirmed more than fifteen thousand children and adults on both trips.
In 1874 Rome consented on his petition to the division of the diocese. San Antonio and the Vicariate-Apostolic of Brownsville were established. Bishop Dubuis chose to remain in Galveston, and as the change resultant from the division ren- dered more priests necessary, he started for France. On the boat he met with an accident and broke his arm. He believed that Our Lady of Lourdes restored the use of his arm. On his return to Galveston he was able to travel by rail from New York. A new era of prosperity had set in. There had been a marvelous growth of religious women and convent schools. His confirmation tours demanded great effort on his part, for his health was failing, and in 1877, while on a visit to Rome, he asked for a Co-Adjutor. Rt. Rev. P. Dufal, C. S. C., Bishop of Delcon and Vicar-Apostolic of Bengal, was appointed, with the right of succession, in May, 1878.
Bishop Dubuis returned to France in 1880, and shortly after his departure Bishop Dufal resigned. In June, 1881, Bishop Dubuis resigned and Very Rev. John Mayer of New York was appointed to the See of Galveston, but sent back the bulls, and on April 30, 1882, Bishop Gallagher was consecrated as Bishop of Canopus and Administrator of Galveston. Bishop Dubuis was finally appointed Archbishop in partibus infidelium and spent the remainder of his days in France.
In 1894 he celebrated his golden jubilee and the memories of the fine, zealous apostolic work of the past was evidenced by the gratitude and praise of his old friends in Texas.
He died May 21, 1895, at Vernaison, France. His remains were interred at Coutouvre.
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CHAPTER XIII.
BISHOP NICHOLAS ALOYSIUS GALLAGHER.
THIRD BISHOP OF GALVESTON.
Nicholas Aloysius Gallagher was born in Temperanceville, Belmont County, Ohio, on the ninth of February, 1846.
The Gallaghers were natives of the County Meath, Ireland. Edward Gallagher, the grandfather, was one of the aides of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Robert Emmett during the stormy days of 1798. Compelled to flee from his native land to escape the vengeance that England inflicted on the brave, patriotic and liberty-loving sons of Ireland, he emigrated to America and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. A few years later the family removed to Belmont County, Ohio.
John Gallagher and Mary Brinton, the parents of Nicholas, were Godfearing, Christian souls, as appears from the following appreciation in the Catholic Telegraph from the pen of Father Jacquet upon the death of John Gallagher in 1859: "John Gallagher was a worthy man and true Christian. He frequently spent two or three hours a day in prayer ; attended mass regu- larly at Washington, five miles distant ; and received Holy Com- munion every month. His house was the home of the priest. It was like a church where the Catholics of the neighborhood fulfilled their Christian duties. It was always open-free of charge-to the orphan, the poor and the afflicted. Many will miss him, I the most."
With parents of such solid Catholic piety, it was but natural that Nicholas was raised in a spirit of prayer and generous self- sacrifice. When but ten years of age he was, like another Samuel, placed by his devout parents under the charge of a priest of God-the Rev. J. M. Jacquet, of Coshocton, Ohio. With this saintly tutor as his guide he soon learned to realize the vanity of the things of the world and the lasting worth of Chris- tian virtue, and he determined to dedicate himself entirely to God.
Bidding adieu to his home, he entered Mount St. Mary's of the West in September, 1862. Here he took up, and completed, his course of philosophy and theology. So proper was he in deportment, so attentive to his studies, so conscientious in living up to the Seminary rules, that he was termed by his fellow students "the future bishop" of his class. But mindful of the injunction of the wise man: "Mens sana in corpore sano," he
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BISHOP N. A. GALLAGHER Third Bishop of Galveston
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always found time for athletic sports, and in these he was not easily excelled, though his modest demeanor never allowed the envy of anyone to be excited. He received tonsure and minor orders from the hands of Bishop Purcell on September 20, 1867; subdeaconship, on December 21, 1868; deaconship, on December 22, 1868; and, on Christmas Day of the same year, he was or- dained priest by his beloved Ordinary, the Rt. Rev. S. H. Rose- crans.
For many years Bishop Gallagher was known as a zealous and talented priest of the diocese of Columbus. From 1869 to 1871, he was assistant at St. Patrick's Church, Columbus. From 1871 to 1876, he was president of the diocesan seminary. In 1876, he was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, where his unas- suming ways, his deep piety, and his extraordinary executive powers are still held in cherished benediction.
Upon the death of Bishop Rosecrans, Father Gallagher was appointed administrator of the diocese. This arduous office he discharged with such rare prudence, energy, and ability, that he was selected by the Holy See to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Rt. Rev. P. Dufal, D. D., administrator of the diocese of Galveston. He was, accordingly, consecrated titular Bishop of Canopus and Bishop-Administrator of the Dio- cese of Galveston in St. Mary's Cathedral, Galveston, April 30, 1882, by the late Rt. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, D. D., of Little Rock. Upon the promotion of Bishop Dubuis to an arch- bishopric, in 1892, Bishop Gallagher became, what he had vir- tually been since his consecration in 1882, Bishop of Galveston.
Bishop Gallagher labored quietly but assiduously for the good of religion, and his labors bore fruit. This a comparison of the Church Directory of 1882 with the Church Directory of 1918 abundantly proves.
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