Texas Catholic Historical Society

06/25/2025

A friendly reminder for the Catholic Southwest submission deadline on Wednesday, July 2.

Call for Papers on Slavic Catholic communities in the southwest.

05/13/2025

Perhaps one of the most well-known Texas priests, Msgr. James M. Kirwin began his career in Texas in 1896 as rector for St. Mary’s Cathedral in Galveston. Today, Kirwin is remembered for his assistance during the aftermath of Galveston’s Great Storm of 1900 and his ecumenical relationships with religious leaders of other faiths in the Galveston area.

The devastating hurricane of 1900 remains the worst natural disaster nationwide, resulting in thousands of casualties and millions of dollars’ worth of damage. During the storm's aftermath, leaders across the city, including Kirwin, formed committees to address issues such as clearing destroyed buildings, providing food and other essential supplies, and arranging for co**se removal. With his good friend Rabbi Henry Cohen, Kirwin oversaw public safety efforts, including martial law and the disposal of bodies that threatened the health of the storm’s survivors.

Initial relief efforts to dispose of the dead involved individual burial and mass burial in the immediate area where a body was found. As the number of casualties was too high to support individual burials in a timely fashion, hundreds of bodies were stacked on barges in an attempt at a mass burial at sea. However, due to the Gulf’s tides, the bodies were swept back into Galveston. The ultimate solution was cremation.

After the storm, Kirwin became involved in social justice efforts, taught at St. Mary’s Seminary, served as vicar general for the Diocese of Galveston, and was a military chaplain, while remaining an active member of the Knights of Columbus. A year after his death, the Texas State Council established a bursary to support priestly vocations in his honor, stating there was "no better way to perpetuate the memory of a great priest than to have another priest to live and serve in his place when God has summoned him on."

Photo credit:
Fr. James Martin Kirwin photograph, 1897, Box: 23, Folder: 8. Catholic Dioceses of Texas collection, catx-00075. Catholic Archives of Texas.

04/22/2025

Call for Papers on Slavic Catholic communities in the southwest.

03/19/2025

Recap of last week's Painted Churches Tour.

Video credit: Gabby Perez

02/25/2025

Due in large part to a high tax burden and little economic opportunities, Austrians struck their luck in Texas. After emigrating in the 1840s to Galveston, they settled into farming communities of southeastern Texas. Outside of Schulenburg, High Hill began as three separate Austrian settlements originally called “Blum Hill.” The farmers mostly grew cotton and organized a local cotton gin co-op. Mostly speaking German or Czech, Austrian families engaged in a rudimentary one-year exchange program, swapping their German and Bohemian sons to learn each other’s native tongue. High Hill continued to expand until the 1870s, when the expanded Fayette County railroad was routed through nearby Schluenberg rather than High Hill.

Without a parish of their own, High Hill Catholics traveled to Frelsburg for Sunday Mass. Eventually, a log cabin was erected in High Hill, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for traveling priests to celebrate Mass. Shortly after, nearby schools, St. Anthony and St. Mary, were founded with teachers from the Congregation of Divine Providence in Castroville. After the community petitioned for a permanent priest, Msgr. Henry Gerlach was assigned.

Msgr. Gerlach, originally from Westphalia, Germany, began his American missionary work in Kansas, ministering to German and French-speaking Catholics. Unfortunately, Msgr. Gerlach was stuck in a Kansas blizzard, resulting in lifelong health consequences from the harsh exposure. After being advised to move to a warmer climate permanently, Msgr. Gerlach was sent to Texas. Traveling around the Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Honey Creek, and Bourne areas, Msgr. Gerlach ministered as a saddleback priest throughout the German-speaking Hill Country.

However, due to continued poor health, Msgr. Gerlach was then assigned to the small farming communities of High Hill and Dubina (Czech for “oak grove” and the first Czech settlement in Texas). In High Hill, Msgr. Gerlach oversaw the construction of a new sanctuary and priest residence. Beyond the physical expansion of the High Hill parish, Msgr. Gerlach fostered several new vocations—nine priests and thirty religious women throughout his 65-year priestly career.

Join the Texas Catholic Historical Society as we tour St. Mary’s in High Hill, along with other Czech and German “Painted Churches” of the Schluenberg area on Friday, March 14. Register here: https://bit.ly/TxCHS2025

Photos:
1. Msgr. Gerlach blessing the cornerstone of the sanctuary designed by Leo M. J. Dielmann, April 16, 1906
2. Bishop John Shaw of San Antonio and Msgr. Gerlach with a confirmation class, 1910
3. Msgr. Gerlach with the St. Anne’s Society, 1906

Credit:
“High Hill, Mother of Schulenburg, 1860-1960,” St. Mary’s, High Hill parish file, Catholic Archives of Texas, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops

02/06/2025

Nathan Ellstrand's presentation, "The Establishment of the Unión Nacional Sinarquista in the United States and Texas, 1940-1941," with comments from Yves Solis.

02/05/2025

The Unión Nacional Sinarquista (UNS) party, led by Salvador Abascal, was established to resist anticlerical laws in Mexico and encouraged supporters to return to Mexican traditions. By the early 1940s, the movement spread to areas settled by refugees of the Mexican Revolution in the United States, and in Texas, particularly the McAllen and El Paso areas. Despite the right-leaning UNS’ links to fascism in Spain and Germany, Sinarquistas used the movement to reject anti-communist laws in the Mexican government.

Join us this afternoon as Nathan Ellstrand discusses this transnational movement.

Photo credits:

"Gráficas del Movimiento," El Sinarquista, November 7, 1945, Biblioteca de la Universidad Iberoamericana.

“Mexico Fears Sinarquista Leader Is Being Used As ‘Front’ By Fascist Groups.”
El Paso Herald-Post, January 19, 1942.

01/31/2025

Read our latest newsletter:

Texas Catholic Historian Dublin Core Title Texas Catholic Historian Date Summer 2024/ Winter 2025 FacebookTwitterEmail Collection Texas Historical Society Newsletter Citation “Texas Catholic Historian,” Texas Catholic Historical Society, accessed January 31, 2025, https://txcatholic.omeka.net/it...

01/14/2025

Our Spring 2025 events at a glance:

1. We begin with our first Brown Bag of the year at 5:00 PM on February 5th, featuring Nathan Ellstrand (San Diego State University) giving a talk on "The Establishment of the Unión Nacional Sinarquista in Texas and the United States, 1940-1941."

2. Then, at 2:00 PM on March 13, there will be a Book Launch of Karl Kuykendall with Karen Kelly Kuykendall, Faith and Perseverance: the History of the Catholic Church in Central Texas.

This event will be both in-person (at the Diocese of Austin Pastoral Center) and virtual, by Zoom. TCHS annual business meeting (members only) will precede the talk. Registration required for in-person.

3. The following day, March 14, there will be a guided tour of four the Central Texas Painted Churches. Free transportation provided. Registration required.

4. Our final event of the spring is the second Brown Bag at 5:00 PM on May 7, featuring Frank de la Teja (Texas State University) giving a talk on "Bachiller Pedro Fuentes: A Young Priest on a Wild Frontier, 1771-1790."

Registration link for both book talk in-person and painted churches tour is on attached flyer. Zoom links for virtual events also on flyer.

We hope to see many of you at these events.