150th Anniversary of the Vicariate of Brownsville
Oblate Legacy
By Fr. Pablo Hughes, OMI
On the 18th of September this year the Catholic community of Brownsville will celebrate its 150th Anniversary of being established as a Vicariate in Texas. This landmark ecclesial event will be fested with liturgical and social festivities and without question, be well hi-tech documented for its rich and abundant historical value. As for the first celebration in 1874, there are few resources with the one exception of our own Oblate brother, P. F. Parisot, OMI, who, in his journal notations, entitled THE REMINISCENCES OF A TEXAS MISSIONARY, gives us some graphic insights into this first memorial occurrence. More than a simple mundane event, it seems to have been marked not only with ‘bendiciones, y bailles’ but also bullets…or at least the threat of them!
Having arrived in 1853, the whole then-Diocese of Texas had only nine priests for pastoral ministry yet as a result of the great influx of refugees due to the Mexican revolution, the Holy See was obliged to erect a Vicariate Apostolic in the southern region naming Rt. Rev. Dominic Manucy as Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville. As he mentions in his journal….
“He was consecrated on the 8th of December, 1874, took possession on the 14 of February,1875. The feast of installation was truly grand. The people of Brownsville contributed $1,470 for the occasion.” (p.115)
A gala procession was planned passing under triumphal arches and through the streets with a throne erected in the Church for the forthcoming Prince of the Church. Things however turned ominous with the arrival of an anonymous letter addressed to Padre Parisot stating…
“Sir: I am delegated by the W.L. of W.M.G.R.O. of & c. (What these initials mean I am unable to say) to announce that if you attempt to have a procession through the public thoroughfares of our city there is a bullet ready for your worthless carcass and another for your Dominic Bishop. And if you erect a throne for your Dominic Prince of the Church, remember, sir, that in this grand Republic there is no room for such trash as a Prince sitting on a throne. Bullets are in readiness… (I pass over the rest through respect of my readers.”) (P.116)
As Padre Parisot calmly concludes that there was nothing to mar the universal enthusiasm and and so low key uttered… “No bullets so far.”
No doubt few today in 2024 y would believe that such startling things happened on the first celebration of the Vicariate in 1874. The present day’s festivities will calmly and joyfully go on without the drama and intrigue of past years, Gracias adios. Yet it underscores the fact that no matter the present troubles here on the border, the Church still continues after 150 years its mission as P. F. Parisot OMI and his conferees so dedicatedly worked to achieve!