Brooks County's Catholic Heritage

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The Catholic faith came to what is now Brooks County before the year 1800. You can still read that history right there in the land itself, written into the local geographic names like a kind of scripture nobody ever erased.

Long before there were formal parishes or bishops, the faith was already here. This corner of Texas belonged to the Diocese of Monterrey until 1847, when the Diocese of Texas was formed. After that, the area fell under the Brownsville Parish, and then in 1866 it was transferred over to San Diego.

That's San Diego, Texas, mind you. And out of that San Diego parish came two men who would quietly become the backbone of Catholic life across this whole scattered stretch of ranching country. Father Claude Jaillet, born in 1843, and Father Peter Bard, born in 1846, rode and traveled this land for about forty years, ministering to the ranches spread out across the brush.

Think about that. Forty years of riding out to wherever the people were. No grand cathedral, no fixed congregation waiting in pews.

Just the ranches, the distances, and those two priests. Then came a turning point. In 1904 and 1905, the Mission of San Ysidro was built in Falfurrias.

San Ysidro, that's Saint Isidore, and that name matters because it keeps coming up. In 1914, the Rt. Rev.

Paul Joseph Nussbaum, the first Bishop of the Corpus Christi Diocese, erected the Parish of Saint Isidore right there in the same community. A year or two later, in 1916, a Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul was built nearby, specifically for English-speaking communicants. Two congregations, side by side, both tending the same soil.

Then in 1925 the mission merged with Saint Isidore to form Sacred Heart Church. That church eventually found its home on Garza Street and was renamed Our Lady of Guadalupe. Elsewhere in Brooks County, the Church of Saint Anne stood at Encino, and other Catholic facilities and organizations took root across the county too.

The school of the Ursuline Sisters prospered for thirty-eight years before it closed its doors in 1965. And through all of it, certain names kept showing up, year after year, as mainstays of the church. Lino Trevino, born 1857.

Charles Premont, born 1867. J.J. Allan, born 1871.

Mrs. J.T. Maupin, born 1875.

Mrs. R.E. McBryde, born 1879.

Different generations, different names, but all of them holding something up that had been planted in this land before 1800 and never let go. That's Brooks County's Catholic heritage, and that's a long time to keep the faith.

What the marker says

Local geographic names show that the Catholic faith arrived here before 1800. This area was in the Diocese of Monterrey until the Diocese of Texas was formed in 1847. In the new Diocese it was in the Brownsville Parish until transferred to San Diego in 1866. Fathers Claude Jaillet (1843-1929) and Peter Bard (1846-1920) of San Diego traveled this area for about 40 years, ministering on the scattered ranches. In 1904-05 the Mission of San Ysidro (Saint Isidore) was built in Falfurrias. The Rt. Rev. Paul Joseph Nussbaum, first Bishop of Corpus Christi Diocese, erected the Parish of Saint Isidore in 1914. The Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul was built nearby in 1916 for English-speaking communicants. In 1925 the mission was merged with Saint Isidore to form Sacred Heart Church, which is now on Garza Street and renamed Our Lady of Guadalupe. In Brooks County there are also the Church of Saint Anne at Encino and other Catholic facilities and organizations. The school of the Ursuline Sisters prospered for 38 years before closing its doors in 1965. Some mainstays of the church have been Lino Trevino (1857-1935), Charles Premont (1867-1941), J.J. Allan (1871-1943), Mrs. J.T. Maupin (1875-1967), and Mrs. R.E. McBryde (1879-1966). (1976)