First Mass

Villa de San Patricio de Hibernia, Texas

1830

LocationVilla de San Patricio de Hibernia
State/TerritoryTexas
CountySan Patricio county
Modern DioceseCorpus Christi
Historical DioceseDiocese of Linares
Date1830
PriestReverend Henry Doyle (an Irish native ordained in the diocese of Carlow, Ireland)
Religious OrderDiocesan / Secular clergy
RiteRoman (Latin) Rite
ExpeditionMcMullen-McGloin Colony
Confidenceconfirmed
Submitted by@ecofire2

Photos

Saint Patrick's Historical Marker sign
Saint Patrick's Historical Marker sign

Documentation

Notes

first recorded Catholic Mass in San Patricio County, Texas. Empersarios John McMullen and James McGloin received a decree from Mexico to settle 200 Irish Catholic families. Because they arrived ahead of a formal church structure, Father Doyle celebrated the county's first Masses in temporary mud-and-pole shelters. By 1830, they completed a rough-hewn picket chapel, making it the very first church in Texas explicitly named for Saint Patrick. A catastrophic fire in 1858 destroyed the original church frame along with all of the county's earliest sacramental records.

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