Moye

Duane's take

The way I hear it told, this comes straight from the official marker for Moye, out in Medina County, and I'll give it to you just as it stands. Now, there are buildings in Texas that have been a good many things to a good many people. This one might take the prize.

It all starts with a man named the Reverend John Martin Moye. In 1762, he founded a religious order called the Sisters of Divine Providence. That's the seed of everything that follows.

More than a hundred years after that founding, in 1868, the Sisters opened a school in Castroville. And then, in 1873, they built the first part of the structure this marker is talking about. What they were building was no small thing.

This was to be the first mother house of the Sisters of Divine Providence in the entire United States. Let that settle in for a second. The first one.

Right here. Now, a mother house of that significance, you might think it would stay one thing, hold one purpose, keep one quiet identity down through the years. You would be wrong.

Since 1900, this structure has been, among other things, the Providence Industrial School. It has been St. Philip's Seminary.

It has been a Refuge for Persecution Victims. Several other endeavors have called it home as well, though the marker doesn't name every one, and I won't invent them. Then, in 1939, the Sisters of Divine Providence repurchased the property.

Brought it back into the fold, so to speak. And what did they do with it? They used it as a military academy for boys.

A mother house. A seminary. A refuge.

A military academy. One building. By the time this marker was recorded in 1972, the place had taken on yet another identity, a Training Center for Religious Life.

Founded by a man in 1762, built into something lasting in 1873, passed through more hands and purposes than most structures ever see, and still standing. Some places just refuse to be only one thing. Moye, out in Medina County, is proof of that.

What the marker says

Named for the Rev. John Martin Moye, founder (1762) of the Sisters of Divine Providence, religious order that opened school in Castroville in 1868, and built first part of this structure in 1873: first mother house of the order in the United States. Occupants since 1900 have been Providence Industrial School, St. Philip's Seminary, Refuge for Persecution Victims, and several other endeavors. Repurchased 1939 by Sisters of Divine Providence and used as military academy for boys. Now used as Training Center for Religious Life. 1972