DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth every mile. Nineteen families. That's all Saint Patrick's parish had to its name when the Reverend Bernard O'Reilly arrived in 1853 as the first resident pastor.
Nineteen families in a young, sun-scorched town on the Gulf, and this man looked around and said — we're building a church. And they did. An adobe building, right there on Tancahua Street, on land donated by Henry L.
Kinney. Corpus Christi's very first Catholic church. O'Reilly supervised the whole construction himself.
The man was born in 1821, and by the time he left this world in 1875, he had put something permanent into that coastal soil. Now, the years rolled on, as they do in Texas — slowly and then all at once. By 1880, the congregation had outgrown what those nineteen families started, and construction began on a second, larger building.
Same site, but this time facing Karankawa Street. The design came from a man named Charles Carroll — an architect, and notably, a parish member himself, who donated his services entirely. What Carroll drew up was a frame structure with two towers.
Two towers reaching up over Corpus Christi's skyline. The bells for those towers? Those were a gift from Mifflin Kenedy, whose wife was a parishioner.
When the church was dedicated in November of 1882, it had towers, bells, and a growing congregation holding services in both English and Spanish — year after year, for many years. By March 23, 1912, Saint Patrick's was designated a cathedral. That happened during the pastorate of the Reverend Claude Jaillet, born in 1843, who served there for thirty years.
Thirty years. That is not a man passing through — that is a man who belonged to a place. But 1938 brought trouble.
Fire damaged the old frame church — the one with Carroll's towers, the one Kenedy's bells had hung in for over fifty years. That, combined with a congregation that just kept growing, set the wheels in motion for something new. The present Corpus Christi Cathedral was erected on property donated by the John Kenedy family, built in the Spanish Colonial style, and dedicated on July 17, 1940.
As for the old frame structure — it didn't simply vanish. In 1951, it was dismantled, and the materials were used in building Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on East Causeway Boulevard. Even in pieces, that old church kept serving.
Nineteen families. Two towers. One cathedral.
And the wood from a landmark that once held Kenedy's bells ended up sheltering a congregation all over again. In Texas, things don't always end — sometimes they just change address.
What the marker says
St. Patrick's parish included only 19 families when the Rev. Bernard O'Reilly (1821-75) became first resident pastor in 1853. He supervised construction of Corpus Christi's first Catholic Church. The adobe building stood on Tancahua Street property donated by Henry L. Kinney. In 1880 construction was begun on a larger building, located at the same site but facing Karankawa Street. Designed by architect Charles Carroll, a parish member who donated his services, the second St. Patrick's was a frame structure with two towers. Bells for the church were given by Mifflin Kenedy, whose wife was a parishioner. Dedicated in November 1882, the church soon became a Corpus Christi landmark. For many years, services were held in both English and Spanish. St. Patrick's was designated a cathedral March 23, 1912, during the pastorate of the Rev. Claude Jaillet (1843-1929), who served there for 30 years. Growth of the congregation and fire damage to the frame church in 1938 prompted construction of the present Corpus Christi Cathedral. Erected on property donated by the John Kenedy family, the Spanish Colonial style edifice was dedicated July 17, 1940. The old frame structure was dismantled in 1951 and used in building Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on East Causeway Blvd. (1976)