Father Bard, father of churches in brush country

It was a large territory that radiated from the frontier town of San Diego north to the Nueces River, to 20 miles south of Concepcion at Baluarte Creek—100 miles from north to south, and from Banquete to 40 miles west of San Diego—60 miles across.

The last Indian raid was still fresh in peoples’ minds and the railroad soon reached San Diego bringing peace and prosperity. Some 6,000 people, mostly Mexicans and mostly Catholics, populated the land.

It is to this dangerous but stimulating country that a young Frenchman came in 1876 to assume his first assignment as a priest. Bishop Dominic Manucy ordained Father Jean Pierre Bard in 1876 shortly after his arrival from France. Soon, Bishop Manucy sent Father Bard to join fellow Frenchmen Father Claude Jaillet, who had founded the first Catholic Church in the brush country of south Texas at San Diego.

It was not long that the Frenchmen became known as Padre Pedro, much like his fellow countryman who the local faithful affectionately called Padre Claudio. Father Jaillet was recalled to Corpus Christi in 1884 to take over the new St. Patrick’s Church and Father Bard remained in San Diego for almost half a century. He served his entire priestly service in San Diego.

After Father Jaillet’s departure, Father Bard continued his mentor’s practice of visiting some 200 ranches throughout the area. He visited the ranches in a buggy drawn by two horses. At first he carried a gun for protection against hostile Indians and outlaws, but after accidentally shooting one of his horses he discontinued that practice.  He usually left for the ranches on Monday and came back to San Diego on Thursday, where he rang the church bells to let people know he was home.

His ministry included all types of situations. One newspaper account said that Father Bard would go about the countryside “performing marriages, consoling afflicted and preaching the word of God.”

In 1884, for example, he accompanied convicted murderer Ruben Gomez to the gallows in San Diego. He stayed with him until the end. In 1886, after marrying Daniel Saenz and Margarita Pena at Palito Blanco Ranch, he “baptized a large number of juveniles.” In May 1887, the Corpus Christi Caller reported that Father Bard “can marry more couples and bind them together than any person and no divorce follows.” He also presided over the funerals of rich and poor alike.

In 1888, San Antonio Bishop John Claude Neraz—who was also serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Vicariate of Brownsville—joined Father Bard to perform confirmations in San Diego. Twenty-seven boys and girls also made their First Communion. In 1900, Father Bard accompanied Bishop Peter Verdaguer to Benavides where they baptized 40 children and confirmed 60.

St. Paul in Benavides was one of many churches Father Bard founded. In his career he founded a score of churches, some which are no longer active, but many which are thriving today. He is credited with establishing Immaculate Conception at Concepcion in 1879. Six years later he established a church in the new town of Collins, which later was moved to Alice where it served for many years as Sacred Heart. In 1887, he built the church in Benavides. The following year he built a church in Realitos. In 1890, Mendieta had a church.

By the turn of the century in 1900, Father Bard’s parish of St. Francis de Paula in San Diego had four missions in Alice, Benavides, Concepcion and Mendieta. It also oversaw sacraments at Agua Poquita, Alamo, Alanisco, Amargoso, Bandera, Barroeneño, Beleno, Calaveras, Cibolo, Cuatos, Gloria, Guajillo, Huerta, Javoncillos, Juan Adame, Julios, La Trinidad, La Vaca, Loma Alta, Los Nacos, Los Caballos, Los Lotos, Los Olmos, Los Prietos, Luparra, Mota de Santa Clara, Moto de los Olmos, Palo Amarillo, Palo Blanco, Reynold’s Ranch, Santa Gertrudes, La Cabra, Lagarto in Live Oak County, Lara, Las Auras, Tio Mandolla, Toro and Tramajos.

The National Catholic Directory for 1900 lists a number of churches from Duval County as stations of St. Peter’s in Laredo but most likely were founded by Father Bard. These included Clovis, Encinos, Pena, Realitos, Rosita, San Carlos, and perhaps a few others. Hebbronville does not appear in the directory but was already an established church.

Father Bard built a chapel in Falfurrias in 1903. In 1909, the current church was built in San Diego, and Father Bard used the old church to open a new chapel on the North Plaza named Sacred Heart.

By 1916, after the establishment of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, the area had grown and some of the churches he founded—such as Sacred Heart in Alice and St. Isidore in Falfurrias—took some of the load from Father Bard and his responsibilities at San Diego were not as demanding. His parish at San Diego had the following missions, St. Paul at Benavides; Immaculate Conception at Concepcion; St. Clement at Guajillo; St. Isidore at Hebbronville; St. Francis at La Gloria; St. Catherine’s at Los Reyes; Our Lady of Loreto at Mendieta; St. Joseph at Palito Blanco; Our Lady of Guadalupe at Realitos; St. John at La Rosita; and Sacred Heart at San Diego.

Father Bard died of influenza on March 4, 1920 and is buried under the floor of the vestibule at St. Francis de Paula Church in San Diego.

Writers have remembered Father Bard as frank, outspoken, of irreproachable character and indomitable will, possessed of inexhaustible energy, filled with zeal in the pursuit of souls for God, a scholar and a linguist who was respected by people of all faiths.