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Diocese of Corpus Christi
609 East Gramman Beeville, Texas 78102
361-358-3239
Mon, September 06, 2010
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EARLY MISSIONS
The history of the Catholic Church in Texas began with the arrival of Spanish explorers and missionaries in the 16th Century. Missions throughout Texas and the southwest were established by Franciscan friars for the care of souls. The Catholic Church has always been a part of the local scene as far back as the days when the shipwrecked explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza deVaca traversed this area in 1528. The explorers were followed by the zealous Franciscan Friars who dedicated themselves, even to the shedding of their blood, to the conversion of the Indians and to establish a chain of Missions throughout Texas a hundred years before Junipero Serra arrived in California.
There were three Missions established within thirty miles radius of modern day Beeville to evangelize the fierce, tall, cannibalistic Karankawas. Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga and close by Mission del Rosario were protected by the powerful La Bahia fortress. Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio was moved from the coast to the present site of Refugio in 1794, the same year when the Missions were secularized and the friars recalled to Mexico.
COLONIZATION AND THE IRISH SETTLERS
Mexico's independence from Spain in 1802 soon brought the new government face to face with the problem of settling the vast prairie lands north of the Rio Grande. In 1824 the province of Texas was joined to Coahuila to form the State of Texas and Coahuila and the Federal government that same year on August 18, passed the colonization law giving the States of the Federation authority to bring in colonists. It was stipulated that the colonists should be Catholic and the arrival of colonists from the United States was to be discouraged. Four Irishmen, James Power, James Hewetson, and the brothers-in-law John McMullen and James McGloin were successful in bringing a number of Irish families to Refugio and San Patricio. The two colonies at Refugio and San Patricio were all Catholics and they were the first settlers in Refugio, Goliad, San Patricio and what later became Bee County. Priests came from Ireland almost from the beginning to serve the new arrivals in their strange and often hostile environment. Fathers Malloy, Mulldoon, and Doyle served at San Patricio before 1840 and Father Fitzgerald and Father Bernard O'Reilly, builder of churches in Refugio, San Patricio and Corpus Christi brought the comforts of their much loved catholic religion to the colonists.
THE FIRST BISHOP
Following the Texas War of Independence in 1836, Catholics found themselves cut off from Church authorities in Mexico and appealed to Rome for assistance. In response to these appeals, Pope Gregory XVI designated Texas as an Apostolic Prefecture in 1839 with Father John Timon, C.M. as Prefect Apostolic. Father Jean Marie Odin, C.M., was named the Vice Prefect. When Father Odin arrived in Texas in 1840, there were five parishes for the entire state serving 12,000 Catholics. Soon settlers from the United States, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and all other parts of Europe came to Texas. In 1842, Pope Gregory XVI raised the Prefecture of Texas to the level of a Vicariate Apostolic and Father Odin was ordained a bishop to care for the Vicariate.
Five years later in 1847, Pope Pius IX created the Diocese of Galveston with The Right Reverend Jean Marie Odin, C.M. as the first bishop. He had only four priests to minister to a population of more than 200,000, but he repaired the old church of San Antonio and several others, built new ones at various places, and established several schools with the help of the government.
A marked feature in the administration of Bishop Odin was his annual visitations, His course often lay through the country of the Comanche and other hostile tribes, and sometimes no intelligence of his movements was received for months. He traveled usually on horseback, over bad roads, and frequently with hardly food enough to support life. In the visitation of 1858 he traveled 2,000 miles, confirmed nearly 4,000 persons, preached in French, Spanish, and English, and visited every town of any importance on the Rio Grande and in the interior of the republic. The Roman Catholic Church in Texas is to a great extent his creation. When he left it there were in it eighty-two priests and fifty churches.
FIRST CHURCHES THE HOMES OF IRISH SETTLERS
Since the earliest settlers in the territory now known as Bee County were Irish Catholics, the first clergymen to administer spiritual guidance to the people were Catholic priests. The earliest records of Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Beeville are dated 1876, signed by the Rev. A. M. Chozelle who made his headquarters at the Aransas settlement.
The actual parish history, however, goes back a number of years beyond that date. As early as 1848, Father Pecle visited the Corrigan Ranch home, which was ''one of several homes in the neighborhood used by priests as a hospitable refuge.'' Residents of Papalote, Medio Hill, Maryville (name changed to Beeville in 1860). and the old Ryan and Clare settlements assembled at the Corrigan Ranch home for services held there about once every three months.
Bishop Odin visited the Burke and Carroll families in 1853. The Rev. Father Boris in 1860 and Rev. Father Querat in 1864 performed marriage ceremonies in this vicinity. Rev. Daniel Toomey and Rev. J. Robert served this mission in 1876 in homes. and the Rev. Charles Doherty started a project in 1882 that culminated in the building of a church in 1891 at the present location of Saint Joseph's Church.
THE CHAPEL AT ARANSAS
Jeremiah O'Toole arrived at the Port of Copano on the New Packet from New York under Captain Jonah Harris in October 1829. He had with him his wife Ellen and four children. The couple originally came from New York from County Sligo, Ireland and joined the McGloin-McMullen expedition to San Patricio. Their daughter Ellen married John Corrigan, her second husband, on October 23,1847. The couple had nine children and they built their home on the O'Toole land grant on Aransas Creek near present day Skidmore. Their home like other catholic homes in the area was used for Sunday Mass. After John Corrigan's death, Ellen Corrigan and her brother Martin O'Toole conveyed ten acres of their ranch land to Bishop Claude Dubois, bishop of Galveston on May 18, 1871 for the purpose of building a chapel there on and opening a cemetery. The chapel was built that same year, 1871 and behind the chapel were quarters for a priest and a stall for his horse. The Aransas Chapel became one of the Bee County Missions served from the Mother parish at San Patricio, and also included Papalote, Clare's Settlement, La Bahia and soon Beeville itself. The church at Aransas fell into disuse with the building of St. Joseph Parish in Beeville, and later The Immaculate Conception Church in Skidmore and it was torn down in the 1930's and the lumber was used to build the priest's house at Skidmore.
FIRST RESIDENT PRIEST IN BEEVILLE
Father Charles Doherty was the first priest to take up residence in Beeville and he was in charge of the Bee county Missions from 1882 until 1889. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and was ordained a priest by Bishop Manucy in Corpus Christi on June 19, 1882 just two years after he came here. He died in Rockport of "a lingering disease" on May 6, 1894. He built his home at a cost of $750.000 on property at the corner of East Kennedy and North Filmore where Sam's Grocery stood, but he did not get to live there for long. He went to Ireland in 1893 and returned to die at Rockport the following year. He left his home to Bishop Verdaguer and it was into this house that the Sisters of Divine Providence moved on their arrival here in the summer of 1896. He said Mass in the local public school on successive Sundays and was regarded as a good preacher and popular with Catholics and protestants according to newspaper accounts.
THE FIRST CHURCH
Father Raymond Monclus was appointed Pastor at St. Joseph's on April 17, 1893 and he arrived Friday, April 21 of the same year. When he arrived he found that the first church had been completed in 1891. The church was built by a local committee and there was a lawsuit between them and the contractor which was settled in July 1892. The Bishop had to bail them out. The first church cost $3,000.00 and was blown off its pilings in the storm of 1916. Father Monclus was young, very handsome and very ill. He had tuberculosis and was absent much of the time from the parish. He went back to Spain for a year and was also at Hotel Dieu Sanatorium in El Paso for a considerable length of time and after being a priest for sixteen years he died in California in 1907.
However, he succeeded in the task of building the priest's residence in 1904. It was a solid one story building containing a kitchen, bedroom, porch, living room and housekeeper's room. In 1927 it was enlarged by the addition of a second story and a kitchen areas and housekeepers quarters added at the north side. It was a frame building without insulation and got only a "fair" rating during an inspection survey of diocese buildings conducted by Bishop Ledvina, yet it continued to be the priest's residence and administration offices of the parish for another thirty years.
SISTERS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
In 1894, the Sisters of Divine Providence arrived and assisted the administration of the church's needs. A one room school was established in 1896 and it eventually became the two story building known as St. Mary's Academy. Tuition was $1.00 and $1.50. The school enrollment came from both Catholic and Protestant families in the community. The first sisters to come were Sister M. Gertrude, Sister M. Paula and Sister M. Pancratius. The next year a two story building was built with classrooms, parlor, music room, dining room and kitchen. The single room they first used at the late Father Doherty's residence was moved over and joined to the main building and used for the beginners. The school was a private academy, operated and maintained exclusively by the Sisters. The Sisters lived on the second floor and there were two classrooms, a parlor, dining room and kitchen and a music room on the ground floor. The children were divided according to sex rather and grade level and boarders came in from Gussettville, and San Patricio. Fifty four grammar grade students were enrolled the first year. The academy survived the storm of 1916 and also a minor fire in 1918 but a fire in 1930 proved to be disastrous. The school faced a major crisis. The Congregation collected $4,900.00 in fire insurance and offered it to the parish to build a new school and a Sister's home. A contract was drawn up between the parish and the Sisters of Divine Providence dated March 1931 that sealed the fate of St. Mary's Academy and brought into being St. Joseph's Parochial School. The present convent was built from lumber from the old St. Mary's Academy and part of it was also used to put a picket fence around the church grounds. The convent was brickstoned and a new roof put on in 1974. The sisters served Beeville for eighty years , but on April 26, 1976, it was learned that the Sisters of Divine Providence were leaving St. Joseph's School.
THE OBLATES
Bishop Verdaguer allowed Father Monclus to retain the title of Pastor of St. Joseph's Parish until his death and that was the main reason why he refused to allow the Oblates, whom he invited in to administer the parish from 1904 to1906 to have the parish permanently. The Oblate Fathers were very popular and when the two years were over some people wanted them to stay, and to get their way the heads of five families wrote the disturbing letter to the Apostolic Delegate. Bishop Verdaguer threatened to resign if he was over-ruled and needless to say his decision was upheld.
FATHER JUAN COMA
Father Juan Coma took over the Pastorate in January 1907 after the Oblate Fathers left and he seemed not at all disturbed that some families did not want him. He was a serious man, who gardened as a hobby, and he began the present Our Lady of Victory Parish in Beeville and also built a church at Normanna and one in Pettus during the nine years he was here. Father Coma was made a diocesan consulter by Bishop Nussbaum and in 1916 he was transferred to Encinal. In 1918, Fr. Juan Coma went to Calexico, California to be with his brother. He died there in the presence of his mother, sister and brothers on March 26, 1924.
FIRST CHURCH DAMAGED
Father J.R. Purtill succeeded Father Juan Coma in 1916. He was a native of Davenport, Iowa and he stayed a year. A letter from him to the Chancellor, Father Scheid dated August 23, 1916 describes the damage done to the old church in the hurricane of 1916.
"Reverend and Dear Father....I tried to phone you the other day, but the telephone was out of order. I desire to inform you that during our severe windstorm of last Friday night, the church was blown over to one side and now it is unsafe and I am holding mass in the Academy. Some time this week, I expect the insurance adjustor from San Antonio or Austin to settle our claim of one thousand dollars or more.......Sincerely yours, Reverend J. R. Purtill
The church was torn down and rebuilt as a temporary arrangement which lasted ten years.
THE PASSIONIST FATHERS
Two Passionist priests, Father Fournier, C. P. and Father Fitzpatrick and even Bishop Nussbaum himself were in charge of the parish until the venerable Father Peter Hanley, C. P. came for five years. He was loved by the people here and is remembered for his dedication to the sick during the influenza epidemic of 1919. There were eighty-two catholic families in the parish at the time. He also helped raise $132,000.00 for the new church. He left the diocese in April 1923 as did most of the Passionist Fathers at different times after the resignation of Bishop Nussbaum.
NOT IMPRESSED WITH BEEVILLE
Bishop Ledvina, the secretary general of the Extension Society became bishop of the diocese of Corpus Christi in July 1921 and he appointed Father Edward Kramer whom he brought with him from Chicago as Pastor of St. Joseph's. The Bishop told Father Kramer "there are priests in the diocese who would jump at a chance to come to St. Joseph's" but Fr. Kramer was not impressed. He left after a year and retired in California. Father John Walsh came also for a year but was very unhappy at St. Joseph's. In a letter to Bishop Ledvina dated November 3, 1924, he wrote "I wish I were back with my dear Bohemians at St. Boniface in Corpus Christi. There are some good Catholics here but for the most part they are non-responsive, worldly and half protestant in their lack of religion......no hall for Society meetings is also a great drawback. Even the K of C are about flickering out. They have few meetings and hardly get enough members for a quorum....the collection on Sunday is mostly nickels." Father Walsh asked to be relieved of the parish before Lent of 1925 and he was transferred to George West.
THE NEW CHURCH
It was obvious to all that a new church was needed very badly. Father John Lannon, Ph.D. came to Beeville in the spring of 1925. Father Lannon loved Beeville and was successful in raising the $40,000.00 needed to build and furnish the new church. He also undertook the renovation of the old rectory built in 1904 by Fr. Monclus, by adding a second story and a new kitchen area at the north side, at a cost of $2,918.63. There was some controversy in the building of this church just as there was in the building of the old church in 1891. Some parishioners wanted a brick church and they refused to support the project when Bishop Ledvina insisted on a stucco on frame building. The corner stone was laid and blessed by Bishop Ledvina on Sunday May 29, 1927 at 4:00 p.m. in the presence of a number of clergy and laity. Six months later on November 27, 1927 the new church, already in use for several weeks, was dedicated in Solemn ceremony. Father Damian O'Rourke, C. P., Vicar General of the Diocese, dedicated the church to the glory of God and the service of the people, and he also preached the sermon. Celebrant of the then solemn Tridentine Mass was Rev. B. J. Donaho of Refugio, with Father Dan Lanning of Kingsville as Deacon and Rev. George Holderith C.S.C. of St Edward's University in Austin as Subdeacon. Father Francis Guber of Skidmore was master of ceremonies. Solemn Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament followed the Mass, according to the custom of that time, with Father Lannon, Pastor as celebrant assisted by Father George Holderith, C.S.C. and Father Julian Hartwig, O.F.M. of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Beeville. The choir from Our Lady of Refuge Parish in Refugio sang the liturgical chants under the direction of Mrs. Thelma Woodworth Heard with Mrs. Lillian Jecker Sitterle assisting. Father Lannon became pastor of the Cathedral Parish and Vicar General of the diocese soon after the dedication of the new church, but he often returned to visit his beloved Beeville. He was made a Domestic Prelate with the title of Monsignor on September 15, 1929. He died as Pastor of St. Peter's Church in Laredo in the spring of 1954.
LATER PRIESTS
Father Lannon was succeeded at St. Joseph by Father Dan Lanning (1923-1936.) He was a noted musician and civil leader. It was during his pastorate that St. Mary's Academy was burned down and became St. Joseph's Parochial School.
Father Raymond Stocker (1936-1950) followed and the beautiful Wick's organ was installed in the church by his uncle. He later died as a Benedictine Monk at Subiaco, Arkansas, on November 24, 1957.
ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL
It was during Father Stocker's tenure that St. Joseph's Parochial School was built. Mr. and Mrs. James Dougherty gave a gift of $12,000.00 for the school. It was built by contractor David Parchman for around $15,000.00 and at the time was lauded in the newspapers as the most modern school in South Texas. In 1956, Mr. And Mrs. James R. Dougherty, Sr. Built the cafeteria cum auditorium in memory of their son James who was killed in action in world War II, at a cost of $1000,000.00. Bishop Garriga dedicated this building on January 30, 1957. The enrollment began to increase and in 1960 during the pastorate of Father Harold Palmer the four classroom for the lower grades were added.
RENOVATION OF THE 1917 CHURCH
Msgr. Harold Palmer (1950-71) renovated the church, built the new parish hall and added four classrooms to the school. In 1972 the exterior stucco of the church was refinished and a new roof put on. The interior was decorated and the beautiful stained glass windows, donated by various families, were installed. They have been described by The Corpus Christi Caller (November 28, 1976) as "amoung the handsomest I have seen anywhere."
A NEW RECTORY
Father Charles McNaboe followed Msgr. Palmer to St. Joseph's in 1971 and was the pastor here until 1979. Father McNaboe was later transferred to Laredo where he was the the founder of Bethany Housein 1982. The school and convent were renovated in 1973 through bequests of the late Rosie Fadden and Emily Frazier. In 1976 (November 9) the new rectory was dedicated, the result of a successful fund raising campaign among the parishioners. This campaign began with a meeting of interested men in the parish on September 29, 1974. Thirty four men attended. There was unanimous agreement that a new rectory should be constructed. A drive for funds was launched on Sunday, October 19, 1975 and parishioners were asked to make pledges to be paid off over a period of thirty months. The drive was a big success and the project was paid for on schedule. Ground was broken for the building on Thursday, Aril 8, 1976 and the old rectory was moved away. The new rectory was completed and an Open House was held in the new rectory on October 24, 1976.
GOLDEN JUBILEE
St. Joseph Church Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 1977 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the new church built in 1927. At that time, Father McNaboe noted in his letter to commemorate the occasion that the parish community had grown from sixteen families in 1896 to eighty in the 1930's to six hundred families at the time of the jubilee.
THE DOMINICAN SISTERS
On September 21, 1977 a formal request was made to the newly elected Mother General Catalina Civit, O.P. of the Missionary Sisters of St. Dominic headquartered in Rome to send Sisters to our parish. The order was meeting n General Chapter in Rome at the time and our request was also brought personally by Sister Eugene, O.P. superior of the convent in Santa Paula, California and a delegate to the general chapter. An affirmative reply was received on October 27, 1977 and the Mother General herself visited the parish during her world visitation of houses on January 19, 1978. Two sisters to engage in pastoral work, namely Sister Eugene, O.P., and Sister Esperanza, O.P. arrived on February 19, 1978 and three others Sister Reginald, O. P., Sister Julie, O.P. and Sister Rose, O.P. arrived in June 1978 to teach in St. Joseph's School. The Convent chapel was renovated and a new altar was installed to the memory of Miss Marie Huser. After twenty five years of service to the parish, the Sisters left Beeville in July, 2004. The last three sisters to serve here were Sister Experanza, Sister Perla and Sister Amore.
JUST HERE FOR A WHILE
Msgr. Robert Clark (1979-1981) was greatly loved during the short time he was with us, as was Father William Gough (1981-1982) and Msgr. William Kelly (1982-82).
TODAY'S CHURCH
Father John Killeen arrived as pastor of St. Joseph's Church in 1983. He later moved to George West where he was pastor of St George Parish.
In 1989, the new church built in 1927 was deemed unusable for parish use and Bishop Gracida authorized demolition of the building on January 23, 1989. The parish hall and the small Queen of Peace Chapel were utilized for regularly scheduled masses. A fundraising campaign for the construction of a new church building through Catholic Sharing Appeal began February, 1991. Construction began August, 1991 and formal dedication of the new church building was October 3, 1992. Bishop Rene H. Gracida concelebrated the dedication service to the seven hundred and sixty nine registered parish families.
ADORATION CHAPEL
The three community churches, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Victory, St. James and Immaculate Conception of Skidmore participate in Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Eucharist at Queen of Peace Chapel and have since March 29, 1992
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