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preface i n the narrative of the growth of the Roman Catholic religion in the United States many personages who played unique roles through their inspiration in building the faith among the people have emerged as heroes or heroines. Nowhere is this more true than in Texas and Louisiana. In these two lands that matured from the colonial era to become states of the United States, no name stands out more honored and respected than that of the Frenchborn Vincentian missionary priest, bishop, and archbishop, Jean-Marie Odin. Born in Hauteville in the western reaches of the ancient Archdiocese of Lyon, France, just at the turn of the nineteenth century, when that nation was experiencing the post-revolutionary, early Napoleonic eras that had devastated the land’s centuries-old Catholic heritage, Odin as a young man entered the seminary system of the archdiocese. Eventually matriculating to the grand seminaire of St. Irenaeus located in the city of Lyon, he ventured from there in 1822 to the US mission field to commence his life’s work as a Catholic missionary. Having absorbed the spirit of the Sulpicians at the grand seminaire, upon his arrival on the American continent he joined the Congregation of the Mission while at their seminary of St. Mary’s the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri. Thus, it would be the formation of Saint Vincent de Paul that was to guide him for the remainder of his life. After almost a half century of missioning in areas that grew as parts of the United States, Jean-Marie Odin returned to France and died in the same farmhouse in Hauteville where he was born more than seventy years earlier, in 1870. His story must now be told. Historians who attempt to narrate the life story of a personage in history must confess that the time spent with that life is like a journey. One gets to know well the figure of his or her study. That person, in a sense, becomes part of the author carrying out the research and writing. In such a project, especially one that consumed more than twenty years as this one did, many people are due credit for their help to the author of the biography. p r e f a c e| xvi | The original suggestion to me to write a biography of the life of Jean-Marie Odin came from the dedicated Sister Dolores Kasner, who in the early 1980s was archivist of the Catholic Archives of Texas. Her encouragement and support were inspirational. My wife, Linda Sandoval Foley, who had to put up with me spending years laboring on the project, must also be lovingly thanked. The patience that our daughter, Elizabeth Maureen, and son, Sean Patrick, offered needs also to be mentioned. Several members of the Texas Catholic Historical Society offered their continued help. Among these scholars were Félix D. Almaráz Jr.; Gilbert Ralph Cruz; Thomas W. Jodziewicz (and his wife, Janet); Timothy Matovina; Jesús F. de la Teja; Rev. James Talmadge Moore; L. Tuffly Ellis; Roy R. Barkley; Hubert Miller; Rev. Robert E. Wright, O.M.I.; Gilberto Miguel Hinojosa; Robert M. Senkewicz (and his wife, Rose Marie); José Roberto Juarez; the late Susan Anderson Kerr; and Anne Butler. Among others of the Texas Catholic Historical Society, special thank yous should go out to the former president of that group, Susan Eason, archivist of the Catholic Archives of Texas, and the late Kinga Perzynska, former archivist of the Catholic Archives of Texas. Brother Richard Daly, for years with the Texas Catholic Conference, consistently offered his support. Other historians, professors, archivists, staff members, and more who steadily encouraged this project and need to be mentioned would be Marina Ochoa of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Rev. Thomas J. Steele, S.J., of the Jesuit Fathers, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Gerard Wegemer of the University of Dallas; Frank Nickell of Southeast Missouri State University; Michal Glazier and his wife, Joan, noted Catholic editor and publisher; the late Donald J. D’Elia, former emeritus professor of the State University of New York, New Paltz; and Andy and Fran Kozusko. Finally, my sincere appreciation also must be extended to Becky and Chris Wade as well as Brendan Loughran, all of Azle, Texas, for their great help in getting the manuscript into the computer software as needed for publication. To all of these people, and any others who should have been mentioned, I offer my sincere gratitude. [3.142.197.198...

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