TEXAS
548
TEXAS
dral church of the Diocese of San Antonio. The
spiritual jurisdiction of the Diocese of Guadalajara
extended over Texas until the erection, in Mexico, of
the Diocese of Nuevo Lt>6n, now Monterey, under the
title of Linares, in 1777, and Texas formed part of its
territorj-. The Franciscan missions were immediately
under a president of missions. One of these at this
date (1777), by an Indult of Pope Clement XIV, was
empowered to administer confirmation in all parts of
Texas. Don Pedro de Nava, commandant-general of
Chihuahua, whose jurisdiction included part of Texas,
issued a decree in 179-1 by which the temporalities of
all the missions of his two provinces "were placed in
the hands of the civil authorities". It also "directed
the division of their lands in severalty among the
inhabitants of these estabhshments". In Texas, how-
ever, the process of secularization went on very
slowly. In 1813 the missions in some parts of Texas
were still flourishing when the Spanish Cortes secular-
ized all the missions in Texas. Not until 1823 did the
last of the missions at San Antonio become extinct,
when the Government of Mexico put into execution
the decree of the Cortes. It was not until 1827 that
the last of the mission lands were distributed among
the individual Indios reducidos, who formerh' had
possessed them in common. Diocesan priests took
the places of the Franciscan friars as they departed,
when the population required it. The archives of
the missions went with their keepers to Queretaro and
Zacatecas. These with the various reports sent from
time to time, during the century and a quarter of mis-
sionarj- activity, would be a most interesting field for
the historian, while furnishing imboimded pathos for
the poet.
The experiment of 1728 proved too expensive to be repeated and so the population of European extraction remained small, as we have seen. Later, however (1805), when the boundary dispute with the Ignited States seemed likely to assiune a warlike aspect, besides troops to occujiy military posts Spain hurried hundreds of famihes of settlers to take possession of the country. These were of course provided with priests and in 1805-1806 we find Don Primo Fehciano Marin, Bishop of Nuevo Le6n, making a visitation in the province, setting chiu-ch affairs in order, and mak- ing a circumstantial report of the spiritual condition of the people.
When Capt. Zebulon M. Pike visited Texas on his famous expedition (180.5-06), he remarked the holy lives and refinement of the priests he had met, their blessed influence upon their flocks, and the genera! happiness and morality of the people. The European population of course remained small (7000 in 1806), and the revolutionary period beginning in 1810 and lasting fully a decade lowered the general standard both of morals and religion. After settlements from the United States began to be made (1820), we find in the correspondence of the settlers occasional men- tion of priests stiU serv'ing some of the old mission churches and in the towns. In the official documents regulating the laying-out of colonial towns provision is always made for the site of a church and priest's house on one of the public squares, though of course most of these colonists were Protestant. The Irish settlements, largely Cathohc, made near Refugio and on the Nueces River, San Patricio, were served by priests, one of whom. Father Henry Doyle (1830), is mentioned by non-Catholic historians. A Father Michael Muldoon was an especialfavouriteof the old settlers from the United States, non-Catholic as well as C'atholic. His visits and those of his colleagues were events in the settlements, his ministrations longed for. He is mentioned as participating in some of the stirring events immediately preceding the Texas Revolution. When not from ^lexico these priests were from Kentucky, the Diocese of St. Louis, or that of New Orleans. Even in the accounts of the
Texas Revolution there is mention of the intervention
of priests between the contending parties, to arrange
for the burial of the dead after a battle or otherwise
provide for human needs, corporal as well as spiritual.
Yet when the Republic of Texas was established(1836)
very few priests were in Texas: Father J. M. Odin and
Father John Timon, of the Congregation of the Mis-
sion, from their seminary at theBarrens, Perry County,
Missouri, in the Diocese of St. Louis, had visited in
Texas territory previous to its independence, and con-
tinued to visit there with other priests of their congre-
gation. In June, 1838, Archbishop Blanc of New Or-
leans ^Tote to Bishop Rosati (q. v.) of St. Louis and to
Father John Timon, then visitor of the Congregation
of the Mission in the United States, declaring that
it was the wish of the Holy See that a trustworthy
person be sent to examine into the condition of reli-
gion in Texas and to report to Rome. The Bishop of
New Orleans wished Father Timon to undertake this
work. Father Timon accordingly went to Texas,
landing at Galveston in December, 1838, accompanied
by M. L'Eberia. On the feast of the Holy Innocents
the visitor celebrated in Galveston what was probably
the first Mass ever said in the city. Many ministra-
tions to Catholics were required of him, both there and
in Houston, then the capital of the RepubUc, whither
he went on 31 December, where he preached in the
hall of Congress in the presence of many legislators.
On his return to Galveston (9 Januan,-, 1839) after his
tour through the Republic, a committee whom he had
appointed to pro\-ide ways and means for acquiring
a lot whereon to build a church, met him and reported
favourably. On his visit through the countrj- he had
found the care of religion in anything but a good state,
although there were not a few Cathohcs. He made
an official report of his findings to Bishop Blanc, who
forwarded it to Rome. Although Father Timon had
previously refused to be made Coadjutor Bishop of
St. Louis with the right of succession (7 September,
1839), he was prevailed upon to accept the honour
of Prefect Apostolic of Texas with power to administer
confirmation (12 April, 1840). He immediately dis-
patched Mgr Odin (q. v.) to Texas as vice-prefect and
Father Douterlounge as assistant, and a httle later
obtained for the vice-prefect the power of conferring
the Sacrament of Confirmation. On 5 December,
1840, Father Timon reached Galveston for the second
time. He at once urged forward the efforts of the
people to build a church there and provide means to
support a priest, disi)laying the same energ\- at Hous-
ton. Pushing on to Austin, now the capital, he pre-
sented letters from Cardinal Fransoni of Propaganda,
addressed to President Mirabeau G. Lamar, which
letters were virtually a recognition by the papal gov-
ernment of the independence of the RepubUc. The
Texas executive, Vice-President David G. Burnet,
acting for President Lamar, then absent, was greatly
pleased to receive these letters. On 23 December,
1840, the first Mass was celebrated in Austin. Mgr
Timon was well received by the legislators as well as
by the executive. He preached in the capitol more
than once, and in conversation with acting- President
Burnet and a few prominent members of Congress
created a very favourable estimate of the Catholic
Faith. With the diplomatic aid of M. de SaUgny,
minister from France to the Republic of Texas, Mgr
Odin's bill for the restoration of church property was
spontaneously endorsed by the legislators to whom
it was first read in private, was then introduced to
Congress, and pass(Ki. Thus by Act of Congress
were restored to "the Chief Pastor of the Catholic
Church in the Republic of Texas", the churches of
San Fernando, the "Alamo" (San Antonio de Valero),
La Purissima Concejicion, San Josf, San Juan Capis-
trano, San Francisco de la Espada, Goliad, \'ictoria
and Refugio, with their lots, tlie latter not to exceed
fifteen acres. Returning to Galveston Father Timon
