St Vincent de Paul Seminary - Vanguard Yearbook (Beaumont, TX)

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In 1803 our young American republic purchased the Louisiana Territory. Wave after wave of settlers soon moved into this vast wilderness. Within twelve years the number of Catholics in the area increased to such an extent, that the great Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore sent an urgent plea to Rome for more priests to administer to the needs of the faithful . Thus it was that in 1818 Felix De Andreis, CM., led a small band of Vincentians to the New World . These sons of Vincent de Paul became the vanguard of the Catholic Church in the Louisiana Terri- tory, traveling throughout the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and, later, Texas. Father Joseph Rosati, CM. , later to become the first bishop of St. Louis, founded a seminary and a college. Father John Timon, CM. , who was ap- pointed in 1835 as the first provincial of the Vincentians in the United States, founded a second seminary in Louisiana and another college. In 1838 Father Timon and seven other Vincentians, on orders from Rome, entered Texas to care for the several thousand Catholics living there. From that time onward till 1851 Vincentians labored throughout the state under the direction of Father John Mary Odin, CM. , setting up Mass stations and establishing parishes. Other sons of Vincent de Paul, meanwhile, continued to spread the Faith in Louisiana. Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed feU by the wayside and the birds came and ate it up. . . And other seed fell upon good ground, and yielded fruit that grew up, made increase and produced, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred fold. Mark 4: 3,4,8.

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The Vanguard 1965 Saint Vincent de Paul Seminary Beaumont, Texas

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These men- -De Andries, Timon, Rosati, Odin- -sowed their times with the seed of future harvests. They were the hope of the Church in the South and they fulfilled that hope . They planted the seed of the Church and of their community in this area. Yet the they also left behind another treasured gift: the spirit of Vincent de Paul who once said, If love is a fire, zeal is its flame. There is a new vanguard taking shape to- day. Its members are part of the fruit still being reaped from the labors of the first vanguard and they, like that battalion of old, are the hope of the Church. They are now training themselves here in the semi- nary so that one day they, too, might be- come priestly followers of Vincent de Paul and fulfill the hope of the Church. God willing, may we- -the seminarians of Saint Vincent de Paul Seminary- -be part of the new vanguard of the Vice -Province of New Orleans, for the glory of Holy Mother the Church and the Congregation of the Mission.