The Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary #223432

In the month of. March, 1852, six Oblate Fathers and one Lay Brother, accompanied by four Nuns of the Incarnate Word, two Ursuline Sisters, four Brothers of Mary, and eighteen Seminarians, bade adieu to "La Belle France" and went aboard the sailing vessel "La Belle Assise," at Havre, en route for Texas.<br><br>"My native land adieu! adieul<br>I cannot always stay with you, stay with you."<br><br>The wharf is crowded, thousands are there, in expectation of an unwonted spectacle. The saintly Bishop Odin, in his episcopal robes, blesses the band of missionaries from the pier and then goes back to Paris, in the interest of his diocese. The ship leaves its moorings, the cannon booms, the Ave Maris Stella is sung by thirty-five voices, "Adieu ma belle France." The sacrifice is made joyfully, "Hilarem datorem diligit Deus." Some sing, "Partons pour la Syrie." I saw tears trickling down the cheeks of a tender-hearted seminarian, as he cast a last glance on the coast of France disappearing on the horizon. "Adieu, mother."<br><br>Fifty-two days between the immensity of the firmament and the immensity of the ocean taught us to appreciate the fixity of mother earth.