‘A dwelling among the flock’

The bishop’s house currently under renovation is one in a long line of homes that the bishops of Corpus Christi have used both as a home and office over the years.

In the years of the Republic of Texas and the initial decades after statehood, the Catholic bishop residing in Galveston had responsibility for all the flock of Christ in the state and spent much of his time traveling to the far corners of a vast expanse. However, by 1874 the Catholic population of Texas had grown sufficiently to justify the erection of what were then the Diocese of San Antonio in the western section of the state and the Vicariate of Brownsville in the south portion of the state.

Two cousins who had been raised together, studied in the same seminary, and been ordained for the Diocese of Mobile were appointed to assume leadership in those newly designated areas. While Bishop Anthony Pellicer settled in San Antonio to serve as shepherd to the vast central and western areas of the state, his cousin Bishop Dominic Manucy spent a brief time in Brownsville before choosing to reside further up the coast in Corpus Christi.

Bishop Manucy’s residence

Bishop Manucy had several reasons for his decision. Among the factors that precipitated his move was trouble he had encountered with members of the Masonic Order in Brownsville. However, the other reason he chose to move north was the fact that there was already a large representation of the Catholic Church in the far southern city of Brownsville.

The presence of the Oblate Fathers, who restricted their missionary work primarily to the cities and ranches along the Rio Grande River, and the presence of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament who had a Motherhouse in Brownsville provided a firm foundation for the faith in the Rio Grande Valley.

When Bishop Manucy moved to Corpus Christi, he was welcomed by the Catholic religious and lay leadership and given a place for his residence and office in the rectory that had been originally built to serve the pastors of the only Catholic church in Corpus Christi–St. Patrick’s, which became the first cathedral when the Diocese of Corpus Christi was established in 1912.

Father John McGee built this residence sometime between 1861 and 1862, according to the memories of the early pioneers of the city. Subsequent pastors such as Father Peter Berthet and Father Pierre Claude de la St. Jean had also lived in the one and a half story wooden structure that had a few rooms on the bottom floor as well as a room above.

Bishop Manucy wrote to the Propagation of the Faith for funds to also make further improvements to the building so that he could accommodate priests visiting from the missions. The building continued to serve the pastors of the parish as well as the bishop whenever they were not away visiting other Catholic communities in the area for Mass or on Confirmation tours.

Father Claude Jaillet who served as delegated administrator of the Vicariate of Brownsville from 1884 to 1890–between the administrations of Bishop Manucy and his successor Bishop Peter Verdaguer–continued to use the home both for a residence and parish offices. It was a building whose first floor had also served the local Catholic community as a boys’ school during the pastorate of Father St. Jean.

Much later–in 1912–another smaller building was added to this structure to serve as St. Joseph’s School where the Sisters of Incarnate Word taught. In 1915, this house was next to the Spanish-speaking parish (diagonally across the street from the “Catholic” block bounded by North Carancahua, Antelope, North Tancahua and Leopard). This church while located on N. Tancahua Street was originally named Our Lady of Guadalupe, then Corpus Christi, Blessed Sacrament and later Sacred Heart.

In that location Bishop Manucy’s old home became a school for the children who spoke only Spanish and was staffed by Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament. After that, the parish church that had served as Blessed Sacrament was moved to serve Holy Cross and the old former bishop’s house was again moved and renovated as the Carmelite Day Nursery.

By 1967, the Carmelites built a new nursery in another part of town and the historic structure was razed in 1969. By that time, the old building had undergone multiple renovations and modifications, but it had served the Catholic community of Corpus Christi in some capacity for more than 100 years.

Bishop Verdaguer home

On May 1, 1891 when Bishop Peter Verdaguer–who had been consecrated for the Vicariate of Brownsville–arrived and took formal possession of the Vicariate at Corpus Christi, there was no bishop’s residence other than the one that had been used by Bishop Manucy and upon the new bishop’s arrival housed the clergy and offices of old St. Patrick’s parish.

Bishop Verdaguer consequently chose to reside in one of the small houses on a lot that had been purchased by Father Jaillet, the pastor of the parish. This small house was located between the residence of Father Jaillet and a home owned by Mrs. M. Campion whose family had served in the parish as well as Catholic education programs.

Father Jaillet commented that at the time of Bishop Verdaguer’s coming, “We had here only three little houses, one with two little rooms, one for the priest and another used for dining room and kitchen.” The house chosen by the bishop had the kitchen and dining room in the lower floor and a bedroom upstairs with separate access by an outside stairway.

The house sat behind the Blessed Sacrament church that served the Spanish-speaking Catholics of Corpus Christi and fronted on N. Tancahua, just north of Antelope Street. Diocesan archivist Sister Mary Xavier, IWBS, recorded that Father Jaillet remembered that Bishop Verdaguer only remained there for a few months before transferring his residence to Laredo where there was a larger population and his native Spanish was needed more.

Sister Xavier notes in her thesis on the history of the Diocese of Corpus Christi that Bishop Verdaguer left Corpus Christi on Aug. 31, 1892, but that whenever he returned to Corpus Christi for confirmations or a visit, he would occupy the old house. This lasted until about 1906 when Father Jaillet insisted that the bishop stay with him in a new house he had built to serve as home and offices for both the bishop and the clergy of St. Patrick’s church.

Like Bishop Manucy’s residence, this house would serve the Catholic population under many different forms. Originally located on the northwest corner of Antelope and N. Tancahua, this building was a larger two-story structure with multiple rooms.

As the residence and offices of the original Catholic parish of Corpus Christi, it was also used by the Catholic community for such functions as the wake of Father F. J. Goebbels who died in a rectory fire at his parish of St. Boniface (later to become Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church). The rectory built by Father Jaillet also received guests who came to pay respect to the remains of Bishop Verdaguer after his death on a confirmation tour in Mercedes.

Subsequent to the arrival of Bishop Paul Nussbaum, C. P., this house was moved in June 1915 across the street to the “Catholic Church Block” so that Bishop Nussbaum could build his new residence and offices on the location formerly occupied by the residence built by Father Jaillet. In its new site this building became the hall of the now St. Patrick’s Cathedral community. It was modified and assumed the title “Charity Hall” where it hosted classes, social activities of the parishioners and special events like breakfasts for the Catholic military stationed at Camp Scurry during the period around World War I after their Communion Sundays.

However, the principal residence of Bishop Verdaguer during his administration was one he built in Laredo–next to St. Augustine Church–with the help of local Catholics and funds solicited from the Propagation of the Faith in France. Bishop Verdaguer utilized St. Augustine as his “proto-cathedral.”

After Bishop Verdaguer’s death, this building continued to house the clergy of St. Augustine and the bishops of the Diocese of Corpus Christi when they visited the Catholics of Laredo. The building was modified over the years with temporary walls to create multiple small rooms on the two floors. After it suffered a fire in the late mid-1990s, it was restored more to its original condition.

The rooms are large, with high ceilings and large window-doors that allow for ample ventilation during the hot Laredo summers. To honor Bishop Verdaguer’s memory a large stain glass window graces what was the original baptismal cove in the church. The window contains a full length image of the bishop along with places and dates associated with his life. After his death arrangements were also made to bury his remains in a small chapel located at what was then the center of the Catholic cemetery in Laredo.

With his passing in 1911, the Vicariate of Brownsville became the Diocese of Corpus Christi with the wooden St. Patrick’s Church built by Bishop Manucy as the designated cathedral. This development demanded a new residence to house the first bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on the homes occupied by the bishops of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.)