Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Val Verde County. Before there were stone walls or stained glass, there was just the Word, and a congregation willing to gather wherever it could find a roof. Mass was celebrated in private homes here in Del Rio, and in a wooden house standing right at this site, before anyone laid a single block of native limestone.

Then, in 1891 and into 1892, that limestone church rose up. Not borrowed space anymore. Something built to last.

Under the direction of the Oblate Fathers, the mission of Del Rio became Sacred Heart parish in 1895. A proper parish now, with a gothic revival structure to call its own. But a building that matters tends to grow with the people inside it, and in 1929 this one was enlarged and remodeled.

And those stained glass windows, installed right there during that 1929 work, they caught the light of Del Rio for decades. When a new church building was dedicated in 1969, those windows made the journey with the congregation. Carried forward, not left behind.

That right there tells you something about what this community held onto, and what it built, one generation at a time.

What the marker says

Mass was celebrated in private homes and in a wooden house at this site before construction of this native Limestone church in 1891-92. Under the direction of the oblate fathers, the mission of Del Rio became Sacred Heart parish in 1895. This gothic revival structure was enlarged and remodeled in 1929. The stained glass windows installed at that time were moved to a new church building, dedicated in 1969. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1978.