Bishop Verdaguer built up church in South Texas

“The vicariate is poor, very poor, so much so that in Laredo the best parish, the priest cannot have a regular monthly salary,” wrote Bishop Peter Verdaguer Y Prat to a priest who asked to come into his jurisdiction. 

Written a few years after the bishop returned to the United States in 1891, following his episcopal consecration in Spain, the complete letter relates a time of beginnings, of poverty and of the heroism that was needed to embrace both.  Because of this heroism, the dry, rocky soil of South Texas, unlike that of the parable, yielded in God’s time a rich harvest.

If indeed it was not the poorest diocese in the United States, it was the largest, Bishop Verdaguer told a Los Angeles newspaper. The vicariate covered the vast area between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Still, the bishop was determined to be close to the people and often made trips into every corner of the diocese; visiting the ranches, more often than not on horseback. The bishop made visitations to the entire Vicariate in 1892, 1896 and in 1907.

Pope Leo XIII appointed Verdaguer Vicar Apostolic of Brownsville on July 3, 1890, while he was in route back to California from his native Spain. At the time he was the pastor of Our Lady of the Angels Church in Los Angeles.  He returned to Spain to be consecrated in Barcelona on Nov. 9 1890. Bishop Verdaguer was installed in Brownsville, Texas, on May 21, 1891.

Like his predecessor, Bishop Verdaguer did not find Brownsville to be suitable as the see for the Vicariate. After visiting Corpus Christi he also found it wanting and made his residence in Laredo, which was one of the more populated cities in his charge.

Despite the immense challenge of the large geographic area, the extensive poverty, the unbridled anti-Catholic bigotry and the open prejudice against Mexican Americans—which amounted to the vast majority of the 42,500 Catholics, Bishop Verdaguer set out to build-up the Church in South Texas and to spread the faith. In spite of the area’s poverty, he was able to build churches throughout the Vicariate, thanks to the generous aid from the Propagation of the Faith. 

He also had the help of a small cadre of priests. When he arrived in Corpus Christi six Spanish students accompanied him; he later ordained them priests. They included Fathers Luis Plana, Ramon Monclus, Emilio Ylla, Fernando Caballero, Benito Donado and Miguel Puig. Some seasoned pastors were already tilling the spiritual fields, including Father Claude Jaillet, P. T. Parisot, A. Berthoin, A. Antoine, Thomas John Flynn, F.J. Goebbels, J. P. Bard and Father A. Denizot. He also secured the help of Claretian priests from Mexico City to help with his Spanish-speaking Catholics along the Rio Grande.

In addition to his new priests, Bishop Verdaguer quickly set out to bolster his forces by recruiting other religious communities including the Ursuline Sisters, the Sisters of Mercy who established Mercy Hospital in Laredo and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who opened Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi.

The Sisters of Mercy built a school in Peñitas in 1897, and a later one in Laredo. The sisters went on to become part of the public school faculty in Roma for more than 25 years, and taught in Catholic schools and in Christian doctrine programs in Mission, McAllen, Edinburg and Harlingen.

Bishop Verdaguer also established parochial schools, including St. Peter’s parochial school in 1899 and the Academy of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Ghost.  The new St. Mary’s Academy in Beeville was under the supervision of the Sisters of Divine Providence. The Brothers of Mary Immaculate opened St. Joseph’s College for Boys in Brownsville.

These improvements were important, but the bishop did not stop there; he set out to build new churches. In Laredo he built St. Peter’s Church in 1896 for English-speaking Catholics and Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1899 for Spanish speakers. On Feb. 2, 1908, St. Anthony of Padua Church was dedicated in Raymondville; the Oblates of Mary Immaculate built Our Lady of Mercy in 1909 in Mercedes; and on Oct. 16, 1910, Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate was dedicated in Harlingen. Our Lady of Mercy in Mercedes oversaw churches in Harlingen, La Feria, Lyford, La Jarita, Raymondville, San Benito, Weslaco, Donna, Alamo and Edcouch as missions and stations.

As Bishop Verdaguer traveled through Spain after his Ad Limina visit to Rome in 1905, he was able to find a number of young priests willing to join him and return with him to the Vicariate.

Catholics in the Corpus Christi area also saw the creation of new parishes with their own resident priests. Churches were built in Alice, Kingsville, Goliad, Riviera, Rockport, San Benito and Skidmore.  Many missions and chapels were opened as well.

Although struggling with an illness, Bishop Verdaguer insisted on a confirmation tour throughout the Vicariate and died in route from Santa Maria to Mercedes on Oct. 26, 1911.

In spite of the many obstacles Bishop Verdaguer faced, the faith grew under his leadership. At the time of his death, the number of Catholic had nearly doubled to 82,000. The Vicariate counted on many more churches, schools, hospitals, convents, priests and religious. There were 15 parishes with resident pastors, and 60 chapels and stations. Nine parishes had parochial schools with more than 1,200 students. When Bishop Verdaguer arrived from Spain there were 10 priests in the Vicariate; at the time of his death there were 32 priests, including 16 diocesan and 16 religious order priests.

After his death, Bishop Verdaguer’s body was taken to Corpus Christi where a requiem high Mass was celebrated for him at St. Patrick’s Church on Sunday, Nov. 1, 1911. He was buried at St. Augustine Cemetery in Laredo. Less than six months later the Vicariate of Brownsville was elevated to the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi on March 23, 1912.