This Tuesday, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, we welcome our new Bishop, The Most Rev. Joe S. Vasquez. Archbishop Vasquez is the ninth bishop and third archbishop of Galveston-Houston. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of San Angelo where he served as an assistant pastor and pastor in local parishes. He was ordained to the episcopacy to serve as an auxiliary bishop in Galveston-Houston prior to being named as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Austin. Archbishop Vasquez is the first bishop of our Archdiocese who also served here as an auxiliary bishop. Archbishop Vasquez attended St. Mary’s Seminary and the University of St. Thomas here in Houston, and the Pontifical North American College and Gregorian University in Rome.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is the oldest Diocese in Texas. Catholic evangelization in Texas predates the founding of the United States and the State of Texas. Our history dates to the early Spanish missionaries who came to this region in the 16th century. Thirty-five missions were established throughout Texas beginning in 1632 with Mission San Clemente on the Concho River. In 1689, Mission San Francisco de las Tejas was founded near present-day Crockett and in 1756, Nuestra Senora de la Luz was founded on the banks of Trinity Bay, 50 miles east of present-day Houston. Like our great state, the Catholic Church in Texas has seen the flags of six nations – Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States. When Texas won its independence from Mexico after defeating the dictator Gen. Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, the Catholic Church in Texas was put in a state of limbo. The Catholics in the Republic of Texas were separated from their ecclesiastical authorities in Mexico. The Catholic population in Texas was predominantly Hispanic and Irish, but was seeing an influx of European migrants. To address this situation, civic and government leaders petitioned the Holy See to aid Texas Catholics. In 1837, a French nobleman and land speculator, Charles Comte de Farnese, convinced President Sam Houston that a Catholic archdiocese in Texas would be of benefit not only to the Catholic population but also to the Republic. Recognition by the Holy See would give the young nation political and diplomatic status and help ensure peace with Mexico.
In response to the petition, Giacomo Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the Propagation of the Faith, asked Bishop Antoine Blanc of New Orleans to investigate. The priest chosen by Bishop Blanc to go to Texas was Fr. John Timon, C.M., an Irish American serving as the rector of St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary in Missouri. He traveled to New Orleans and chose another Vincentian, Fr. Juan Llebaria, a Spaniard, to accompany him. Timon could not speak Spanish and Llebaria could not speak English, so they communicated in French! They arrived in Galveston on Dec. 26, 1838, where they were welcomed into the home of Michel B. Menard, a Catholic and the founder of the City of Galveston. It was there that on Friday, Dec. 28, 1838, Fr. Timon offered the first mass in Galveston. On Sunday, Fr. Llebaria offered mass in a warehouse and Fr. Timon preached “an eloquent forty-five-minute sermon that was well received by the large number present, both Catholics and Protestants!”
Next, the two priests traveled on a cold, rainy New Year’s Day in 1839 by steamboat to the capital of the Republic of Texas. The City of Houston was only 2 ½ years old. It consisted mostly of log cabins, a few shops, boarding houses, and several saloons on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. The “main street” was nothing but a muddy lane. The population of Houston was 2,073 – 1,620 males, 453 females! The first Mass in Houston was offered by Fr. Timon on January 3, 1838. The Mass was held in a log cabin owned by a Protestant woman who kindly offered the visiting priests lodging at the request of her Irish Catholic neighbor who met the priests on their steamboat journey. The missionaries then spent the next year traveling throughout Texas assessing the conditions of Catholics. What they saw was a land exploding with new immigrants from the United States and Europe in need of the Gospel and the Sacraments.
After receiving their report, Pope Gregory XVI established Texas as Prefecture Apostolic under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of New Orleans. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Timon as Prefect. A French missionary, Fr. Jean-Marie Odin, C.M., was selected as Vice-Prefect. Fr. Odin arrived in Texas on July 13, 1840. A year later in 1841, Pope Gregory raised the territory of Texas to a Vicariate Apostolic and appointed Fr. Odin as the first Bishop in Texas. Bishop Odin served as the Vicar Apostolic for the Republic of Texas, an area which stretched from the Rio Grande to what is now parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.
In 1845, Texas became the 28th State of the United States. Rome responded by elevating the Vicariate of Texas to the status of a Diocese. On May 4, 1847, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Galveston and named Bishop Odin as the first Bishop and designated St. Mary’s Church in Galveston as the first cathedral and “Mother Church” of Texas.
Archbishop Vasquez assumes the pastorship of an Archdiocese comprised of ten counties that today includes the 4th largest city in the nation, nearly 2 million Catholics, 428 priests, 147 parishes, 68 schools, a Catholic University, a seminary, Catholic hospitals, and a welfare network that aids hundreds of thousands each year. While the times and situations are vastly different, the mission remains the same – to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ!