How about we journey back to 1901 when Bishop Nicholas A. Gallagher founded St. Mary’s Seminary? This plaque commemorates a remarkable institution. It is an institution that has shaped countless lives.
St. Mary’s Seminary began its story in La Porte. The seminary occupied the old Sylvan Beach Hotel. This five-story wooden structure had survived the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900.
Initially, St. Mary’s served multiple roles. It was a seminary, a boarding high school and a college. The Basilian Fathers guided its early years. Enrollment steadily grew so a cement building was added in 1908. This new space housed lay students, freeing the original hotel for seminarians and faculty.
In 1911, diocesan priests took over the administration. Father James M. Kirwin became president. Under Kirwin’s leadership, St. Mary’s Seminary gained prominence. Other dioceses started sending their students here for their final theological studies. The seminary even had its own farm. It provided food and dairy products for the students. Even a non-Catholic family gifted the Adoue Memorial Gymnasium in 1914.
During World War I, seminarians received military training right here at St. Mary’s. Their instructor was Andrew Jackson Houston. He was the son of Texas legend Sam Houston.
Bishop Christopher E. Byrne succeeded Bishop Gallagher in 1918. Byrne modernized the seminary. In 1920, they moved the original wooden building. Mules dragged it a few hundred feet inland. Concrete galleries and modern facilities were then added.
St. Mary’s Seminary officially became a university in 1926. It inherited the 1856 charter of St. Mary’s University of Galveston. This university had closed in 1922. The Kirwin Memorial Chapel was built in 1927. Louis J. Reicher raised the funds for the chapel. Reicher later became bishop of Austin.
The high school program ended in 1940. The building became a dormitory. A storm damaged the gymnasium in 1943. The main building’s wooden structure deteriorated over time.
Bishop Wendelin J. Nold took over in 1950. He was the first native Texan and St. Mary’s alumnus to lead the diocese. Nold planned to transfer the seminary to the Vincentian Fathers. He wanted to construct a new seminary in Houston. The chapel then became a parish church. The remaining buildings were sold to Harris County and transformed into Sylvan Beach Park.
St. Mary’s Seminary opened its new Houston campus in 1954. The facilities were Romanesque-style. They included an administration building, chapel, dining hall, convent, residence halls, and a classroom and recreation building. A library and gymnasium-auditorium were added in 1966.
In 1968, St. Mary’s hosted a conference of the ecumenical Inter-Seminary Movement of the Southwest. A Presbyterian theologian even joined the faculty in 1969.
The Vincentians withdrew in 1982. Diocesan priests have managed the seminary ever since. In 1986, St. Mary’s became solely a seminary theologate. Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving became a college seminary.
St. Mary’s Seminary has a rich history. It has produced numerous bishops, priests, scholars, and civic leaders. This plaque stands as a testament to their enduring legacy.