USA > Texas > Galveston County > Galveston > Diamond jubilee, 1847-1922, of the diocese of Galveston and St. Mary's Cathedral > Part 7
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Once we took over the administration of the Church, we hast- ened to call the children to catechism, to visit the sick, and to ful- fill the other duties of our sacred ministry. Little by little we gained the confidence of the people, and when the pastor returned from Austin he found everybody in our favor. Knowing that the work of God is not solid except it repose upon the cross and its tribulations, I began to fear, seeing our first steps had such happy and unhoped-for results, that we were doing too well. The storm was not long delayed. Abuses contrary to all the rules of dis- cipline had been introduced. It was permitted to ring the bells to celebrate a victory in a horse race, for the burial of those not of the faith. It was an abuse difficult to correct. I took my stand by the laws of the Church. In the meantime a celebrated Protes- tant gentleman died, known for his military exploits and the ser- vices which he had rendered to the country. Some people came to ask that the bells be tolled. On my refusal their heads went up in the air, and they cried out; they called me injurious names. I put myself in the hands of Providence. I showed myself kind, polite but firm and when finally they understood that it was duty
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and not caprice that ruled my conduct, they became calm; the most ardent persecutors became the most devoted friends. A few days after our arrival at San Antonio a ceremony took place that gave us much comfort and proved to us that there was still faith among the Mexicans. A sick person in danger of death wished to receive Viaticum. We deemed it right to carry the Blessed Sacrament publicly and with all the pomp possible. As soon as the bell announced the ceremony the people ran in crowds to the church, all accompanied our Blessed Savior in the streets and tears came to the eyes of the aged. For fourteen years they had not seen that consoling act of our religion. Many cried out that they did not fear death since heaven had sent them priests who would assist them at that dreadful moment. Truly heaven blessed our feeble efforts. Deprived for a long time of the word of God, they received it with avidity. Every day a great number assisted at , Mass and on Sundays, at the two Masses, there was considerable of a crowd. More than a hundred children came to catechism ; penitents who for twenty, thirty and forty years had neglected their Easter duty, presented themselves at the tribunal of penance, and many made it a rule to receive Holy Communion once a month. Twelve crooked marriages were straightened out and we hope soon to have no scandals of that kind. Fond of danger- ous amusements, they have promised to avoid them. I took heart to repair at once the church and to pay the expense I sold some silver ornaments that had escaped the revolution. The people, despite their extreme poverty, showed a will to contribute to the good work. We were not able to complete the work. With our feeble resources we could only repair the roof.
After a sojourn of three months in San Antonio, seeing that, thanks to God, everything was on a good footing, I commenced to visit the scattered Catholics along the San Antonio River to the number of a thousand, and finally I went to Seguin, Gonzales and Victoria. My stay in those places was very short, not being able to separate myself from my companions of the trip, on ac- count of the danger of being killed by savages. I finally went alone along the Lavaca River, the peril being less great in that section. I found more than seventy people who at one time be- longed to our Congregation at the Barrens. It was consoling to find myself among old acquaintances, and to see that they had lost none of their faith and primitive piety, although deprived for a long time, since their arrival in Texas, of the succor of their religion. All presented themselves at the sacred tribunal and had the happiness of receiving communion. I could only spend a week with them. From Lavaca I went to Austin, a small growing town designated to be the seat of the Texas government. Con- gress was then in session and I desired to obtain from the legis- lative body an act granting to the Catholic Church all the church
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buildings that had been constructed under the Spanish govern- ment. With the exception of Concepcion and San Jose, these edi- fices are almost entirely destroyed. In the meantime they can be repaired, and seeing the poverty and small number of Catholics it will be a long time until prosperity gives us the facility of build- ing them anew. Providence caused me to find at Austin Mr. de Saligny, charge d'affaires of his Majesty, the King of France. I do not know how to tell you all that he did for me. Not content with giving me hospitality during my stay in the town, he deigned to use all his influence in the interest of religion. The signal services which he has rendered to the young republic have won for him the general esteem and gained the confidence and good will of the people and he esteems it a pleasure to be able to help me in my undertaking. He has spoken to the different members of Congress of the justice of my claims and has reenforced it ky his perseverance and his efforts to secure the recognition of my rights. His great devotion to the cause of religion has given him a just title to our benevolent recognition. Father Timon arrived at Austin about the 20th of December. This unexpected visit was very agreeable and produced happy results. On Christmas Day we celebrated Holy Mass at which many members of Congress as- sisted. All were well satisfied, but the place was so small that only a few could be present. The following Sunday they offered us the Senate Chamber. The attendance was general and con- siderable and the eloquent and solid explanation that Father Ti- mon gave of the principal points of our religion was received with lively satisfaction.
From Austin we went to Bastrop, a small town situated on the banks of the Colorado. There are hardly twenty Catholics, but all the inhabitants, because the sight of a priest was a novelty, wished to assist at the ceremonies, and various addresses that were made seemed to produce a sensible effect. They were pleased to learn that the Catholic religion was not the monstrous thing that had been represented to them.
From Bastrop we went to Houston, a town of three thousand, of whom five hundred at least profess the Catholic faith. We offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a private home but gave instructions in the old government house. After a short sojourn at Houston, we' departed for Galveston, a place pretty well populated and in which at present there are a few Catholic families. The lack of churches in these places is a great obstacle. It is so difficult to procure an apartment large and spacious enough. There is great good to be done in these two towns but when shall we be able to establish churches. A simple structure could be built for a thousand dollars, but where can we procure the funds? Although admirably situated for trade these two towns are in a state of financial embarrassment and lack of
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trade that can hardly be conceived without seeing it. The most opulent families can hardly procure the money necessary for liv- ing expenses and the other necessities of life. Poverty is ex- treme in all parts of Texas.
At Galveston we had the happiness of baptizing one young lady reared outside the Church. She made her first Communion and received confirmation with most lively sentiments of faith and piety.
Our sojourn in each place was short, our principal object being to administer the most needed comforts of religion to the scattered people and to gain an exact knowledge of the coun- try and its needs; and so, despite the solicitation of the people of. Galveston who desired to detain us a long time, we could only give them a week. We went on board a steamboat for Houston, where we had left our horses. We went as far as Lynchburg, where we found several Catholic families. These good people had large children who had not been baptized. Our visit was a great consolation and encouraged and fortified their good resolutions, and after some days with them, we turned to Hous- ton. A small rowboat was the only means of transportation ; we boarded it with our luggage, but the river was running full from abundant rains, and the current was so rapid and so strong that it was impossible to row and advance against it. Every moment we were in danger of being swamped. We secured a horse to carry our effects and on foot we continued the journey across the inundated prairies and roads covered with water. It was not a very agreeable trip, above all in the month of January. God however gave us strength. Covered with mud and wet to the ears, we finally arrived at Houston. The night was spent in drying our altar linens, our cassocks and our brevi- aries, and the following day we went out to visit the eastern portion of Texas. What difficulties and obstacles presented themselves in this long trip! Sometimes a creek was to be crossed by swimming, sometimes a long and treacherous swamp where we ran the danger of losing our horses. At one time hunger manifested itself and nothing to appease it, or a heavy rain against which there was no protection or cover. And so, overcoming a thousand obstacles, we visited Montgomery, Hunts- ville, Cincinnati, Crockett, Douglas, Nacogdoches and San Au- gustine. Truly we were compensated by the eagerness which the people of these different places manifested to hear our ser- mons. Neither rain nor business kept them away. The con- course was general and rarely have I heard the word of God listened to with more joy and delight. That visit, though short, contributed not a little to dissipate prejudice and to reawaken pious sentiments in the hearts of the faithful. In 1837 Nacog- doches had a pretty strong Catholic population. There were at
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least three hundred Mexican families, besides a large number of American Catholics, but in 1838 trouble arose between the Mexicans and the inhabitants, following which came a civil war and the poor Mexicans with the exception of perhaps fifty fami- lies were killed or expelled. Nacogdoches had then a wooden church, today it is entirely destroyed. I had occasion to see in that city how Mary loves to help those who place their trust in her. A lady from Maryland was given, on her departure from that state to Texas, a Miraculous Medal. Her confessor, when giving it, encouraged her to never miss the recitation of the prayer "Oh Mary! conceived without sin, etc." and said that the Blessed Mother would not let her die without receiving the last sacraments. She was faithful in following the advice given. For four years she was sick in bed and often thought it was her last moment, but her confidence in Mary made her hope that she would have before leaving the world the happiness of ce- ceiving the Sacraments. As soon as she heard of our arrival she demanded that we be called. She received Viaticum and Extreme Unction, and expired a few days later, full of gratitude to her Benefactress.
At San Augustine I had to separate from Father Timon. He returned to the United States by way of Natchitoches and I returned to San Antonio by a new route, visiting on my way Alabama, Washington, Independence, Huntsville, Rutaville, La Grange, Victoria, El Ranchio de Don Carlos, Refugio and Go- liad. I arrived the IIth of March, having made more than two thousand miles of a journey. The number of Catholics in Texas is pretty close to ten thousand. Many American Protestants on arriving in this country had themselves baptized in order to secure the concession of land, but it was not agreed that they must follow the Catholic faith. (I)
(1) After the departure of the Franciscans and before the Lazar- ists came, there appeared at several places in Texas Irish priests, and the memories of Father Doyle and Father Muldoon survive. We could find nothing regarding Father Doyle, but we do know that Rev. Miguel. Muldoon was "parish curate" at Austin in 1831, and that he was given a grant of eleven leagues of land by the Supreme Government of the State of Coahuila and Texas on February 4th, 1831, from the vacant domain of the State in such locality as might best suit him and that as a portion of that concession he selected two leagues of land in Gal- veston County known in the abstract as "The Muldoon Two-League Grant," because it suited his "interest to own lands near the coast." In 1835 the Rev. Doctor Miguel Muldoon of the City of Mexico gave to Stephen F. Austin, Impressario, "his devoted friend," the power of attorney to sell his eleven leagues of land and on the 12th of December Gail Borden Jr., acting on a power of attorney given him by Austin, sold the entire eleven leagues for $5000.00 to Peter W. Grayson. There were many "Muldoon Catholics" in Texas. Like the term "Maverick"
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This manner of acting was not the result of conviction; it was only to conform to the law and the greater part received baptism without knowing Catholic doctrine, so I would not dare to include them in the number of our Catholics. Prejudice against our religion is quite strong in some parts of Texas, in others there is very much indifference. I hope that when the country shall possess a greater number of laborers (priests) there will be many conversions. In this country as in the United States there will be much need of instruction and then little by little prejudice will disappear. There are also in Texas a great number of savage tribes with whom it will be necessary to labor. The Comanches are at least twenty thousand in number, then come the Tona- kanies, the Lipans, the Tankanies, the Bidais, the Caronkaways, the Nacoes and many other tribes.
The greater part of these savages are cannibals; they love to eat human flesh. The feet and the hands above all are their favorite dish. I have already made some attempts among the Caronkoways to reunite them in a Mission. Mr. Estany has gone to visit them and they desire very much to have a priest. It was for them that the Mission of Refugio was first founded. As they have no land and live by fishing on the shore of the Gulf, it will be necessary to get a league of land and construct houses and a chapel and they may come later to settle there. But what can be done without money? The Comanches will be very diffi- cult to win. From the origin of Texas they have always been at war with the civilized inhabitants, and the other tribes. Ready horsemen, adroit thieves, they throw the arrow, the lance with the greatest dexterity. In small bands of ten, twenty, thirty or fifty they run through the country incessantly. They hold them- selves on the highest places and when they discover a party of travelers too weak to resist them they fall upon them with the rapidity of lightning and scalp them unpityingly. It would be impossible to say how many unfortunate people have succumbed
they took their name from Miguel Muldoon, who had no qualms of conscience in either baptizing them or giving them baptismal certifi- cates even though he had not conferred the sacrament. To hold land, under the colonist arrangement made with Stephen Austin, Impres- sario, the State of Coahuila and Texas demanded a certificate of Cath- olic baptism. Father Muldoon is credited by tradition with having baptized Stephen F. Austin and most of his colonists. Personally I have known Captain J. C. Borden of Galveston, who was that type of Catholic. Father Muldoon seems to have been fortified with quasi- pastoral authority by the Bishop of Linares, and he was the devoted friend of the colonists who came from the United States with Stephen Austin. He seems to have viewed the civil requirements of baptism as uncalled for, and where there was question of securing the posses- sions of his friends, when a mere technicality would void their titles, he furnished the certificates.
ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL Corner stone laid March 14, 1847
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under this treatment and how many women and children have been carried away prisoners. A short time before my arrivai in Texas, a party from five to six hundred penetrated even to Lynnville. The inhabitants of the place, who did not expect this visit, were compelled to take refuge in Lavaca Bay in order to secure for themselves protection from their arrows. Seven or eight were killed and a young woman, married only ten days before, after seeing her husband fall at her side pierced with arrows, was made prisoner. The warehouse, filled with mer- chandise, was despoiled, and after searching most carefully for every kind of booty, the town was given to the flames. I lost by that affair many books and church articles. The animals even were not spared; they seized all the horses and mules and dis- emboweled the other cattle. From Lynnville they went to Vic- toria. The first house attacked was the one in which our con- frere, Mr. Estany, was stopping. He passed through the incident without being wounded, but they took all that he had, linens, books, ornaments, nothing was saved. There were some deaths, women and children were taken prisoners before the savages were forced to take their departure Soon the alarm spread through the country. Everybody took arms and pursued them vigorously ; they met near the Plumbercock and San Marcos rivers and there was a bloody combat. Eighty-four Comanches lost their lives and a great number of others of them could not long survive the wounds they received. The wicked savages attempted on the approach of the Texans to slay all the prisoners that they had taken. A poor mother who had fallen into their hands with her small child scarcely ten months old, had the sorrow of seeing her child crushed before her eyes and then she herself was pierced with arrows. Their attacks against San Antonio and the sur- rounding country are very frequent. Nothing more terrifying to the ears of women and children than their cry. I have counted in the space of two months nearly two hundred people scalped by these savages. Horses disappear every day. They have taken two of mine.
Heaven has commenced to bless our feeble labors. From the 9th of August, 1840, to the Ist of March, 1841, we have heard nine hundred and eleven confessions. There have been four hun- dred and seventy-eight communions, two hundred and eighty-one baptisms, twenty-four marriages, forty-five burials, thirty-one first communions, eight confirmations, fifteen baptisms of Protestant children and six converted adults. We have built a small chapel at the Ranchio de Don Carlos and repaired that of Victoria and in part that of San Antonio. The good of religion demands at once chapels at Galveston, Houston, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Lavaca and at the Capital of the country, Austin, but where shall we find the means? We are altogether without resources.
.
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The people are poor and the expense of travel considerable. In the course of my trip I have spent the night in the woods and in the open prairie. I have done my own cooking, and yet my expenses are heavy, and finally I have had to pay twenty-four dollars to two armed men to accompany me for three months. There ought to be schools at San Antonio and at Galveston, but how can we raise the first cost? We are often without a lodging place, and are obliged to seek hospitality from Catholics and Protestants and are often compelled to recite our office amidst the cries of children or in the shining sun in the open prairie. In Texas one learns how to be a Missionary. I believed that I had already served long as an apprentice but since my arrival here I see well that I was not even initiated.
Good-bye, dear Confrere, and sometime soon I shall give other details of our Mission.
Your ever devoted servant, J. M. ODIN, I. S. C. M.
The letter of Father Odin and the report of Father Timon had impressed the Congregation of the Propaganda with the merits of the Prefect-Apostolic of Texas, and Father Odin was named Bishop of Claudiopolis and Co-Adjutor Bishop of Detroit.
Monsieur J. Timon,
Rue de Sevres, No. 95, Paris.
Houston, 16 July, 1841.
Very Rev. and Dear Sir :
I arrived last night at this place, and found the people in pretty low spirits. Everything looks dull. No money in the country, people move back to the States much faster than they came in. Every steamboat going to New Orleans carries a great many passengers. My intention was to spend the summer and fall at Galveston and Houston, but until churches are built in both places, little can be effected. I have then thought that my best plan would be to go about through the country and visit the few scattered families that are to be found mostly in every place. Next Tuesday I will start out to go to Fort Bend County. I per- ceive also that we are very unwelcome guests in every house, if our stay is beyond a few days. To speak to you candidly. I think that it will never do for us to pretend to leave our priests to the charity of lay people. At Galveston and Houston, Nacogdoches and at every other point where clergmen will have to be stationed a house must be provided for the priest, and some means furnished for his maintenance. The spirit of our vocation will soon be lost if we have to be amongst seculars all the time, if we have not a
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little room where we can retire to make a spiritual reading, &c. The cold reception you meet with, the small piece of bread they seem to regret to give you, all this is enough to discourage any man.
Mr. Stehle started last Monday for the States. I did my best to make him stay until my return from my little tour, but could not prevail on him.
The church here is not begun, and there is no prospect of its being soon undertaken. I am informed that the best among them have scarcely money to go to market. Still a church is indis- pensable. What shall we do?
As I informed you, Dr. Labadie was going to give up the Church at Galveston, when I arrived; out of my little means, I gave him $100.00. Yesterday morning he came to me again and told me that he was still without any hope of pushing on the church, because he could hardly get enough out of his daily sales for the support of his family. He has had a great many debts to pay, his stock of goods is quite small, and it is impossible for him to advance much. When I saw that I wrote to Mr. Moni to send me the window glass and the nails, and to Mr. Manhaut, the oil and white lead, promising them to say Masses for the cost. Perhaps they will assist me in that way and the church will in that case be more speedily completed. I am really out of heart. In the States a log church may at least be put up, but here in Texas there is nothing to be done without money, and money can be had nowhere.
The crops on the Colorado and in many of the northern places have failed in a great measure; sickness has been quite fatal on the Brazos, Colorado and Trinity, great many have died especially at. . . . and in Fort Bend County.
The Church of the Lavaca is going on slowly.
Judge Webb, who was sent to Mexico to treat with the gov- ernment, could get no admission. The people here seem to be very much offended; they speak a great deal of going to war, but I think that all the fighting will be done in their meetings.
Pray Almighty God to give me the necessary courage and zeal. My health is not very good. The heat and water do not agree very well with me at this season of the year. My respects to all.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient and humble servant,
J. M. ODIN. I. S. C. M.
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Upon receipt of the following letter, Bishop Blanc wrote to Father Ofdin to come to New Orleans at once.
Illme at Revme Dne.
His literis Amp. Tua adiectum reperiet literarum fasciculum, quem Sacra haec Cong. dat ad R. P. D. Ioannem Mariam Odin, modo Vicarium Apostolicum Ditionis Texas designatum. Te itaque rogo ut eumdem fasciculum ei mittas quamprimum ubi- cumque eum morari reperiveris, ac deinde de eiusdem receptione et ad R. P. D. Odin transmissione Cong. certiorem facerc dedigneris.
Romae ex aed. S. Cong. de Prop. Fide die 31 Julii, 1841.
J. Ph. Card. Fransonius, Praef. Uti, etc.
R. P. D. Antonio Blanc,
Epo Novae Aureliae. .
Illustrious Sir :
To these letters your Lordship will find annexed a bundle of letters which this Sacred Congregation gives to the Reverend Father John Mary Odin, designated sometime ago Vicar-Apos- tolic of the Dominion of Texas. I ask that you send this packet to him as soon as possible, wherever you shall have found him to be staying and that you shall not fail to inform this Congre- gation of its reception and transmission to Rev. Father Odin.
Rome, The Cong. de Prop. Fide, 31st July, 1841.
J. PH. CARDINAL FRANSONIUS, Prefect. To Anthony Blanc.
Bishop of New Orleans.
Father Odin tells this story in the following letter to Father J. B. Etienne, Proc. Genl. C. M. (Annales de la Congregation de la Mission, Tome VIII, pp. 213-231.)
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