Sisters of St. Mary of Namur have left their educational mark on Texas and Fort Worth

Richard J. Gonzales
·3 min read

In Sister St. John Begnaud’s book “A Little Good,” she wrote about Father Pierre De Smet’s appeal in 1861 to Mother Claire, superior general of the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, to send sisters to evangelize Native Americans. Leaving their motherhouse in Namur, Belgium, several sisters reached New York in 1863 but decided not to travel farther in the midst of the Civil War.

After requests by Texas bishops, Mother Delphine sent three sisters who in 1873 opened a school in Waco “to do a little good.” Waco was a stop on the Chisholm Trail and also known as “Six Shooter Junction.” Anti-Catholic sentiments and the lack of students prompted them to consider returning to New York. When yellow and dengue fevers struck the region, Waco residents were forced to quarantine. Mother Emilie, the lead sister in Waco, saw it as a sign that God intended for them to stay.

Father Jean Marie Guyot asked the sisters to open a school close to Fort Worth’s first Catholic Church, St. Stanislaus, on Throckmorton Street. To accommodate a growing Catholic population, Father Guyot oversaw the construction in 1888 of St. Patrick Cathedral, a block away from Hell’s Half Acre. As student enrollment increased, the sisters raised funds for the construction of St. Ignatius Academy adjacent to St. Patrick in 1889.

As the sisters’ reputation for providing excellent education spread, St. Ignatius drew students from local families and throughout the state. The school offered boarding and accepted boys and girls. Aware of the need to educate children of poor families, they opened an annex school at Kentucky Avenue and Hattie Street. The sisters expanded their educational reach with school openings in Denison, Dallas, Corsicana, Sherman, Wichita Falls, Ennis, and Denton.

Resilient, resourceful, and clear-sighted, the sisters negotiated loans, land purchases, project management, and building construction. Sister Mary Bernard Reilly, who oversaw the construction of the Wichita Falls academy, discovered inferior bricks. Taking one, she showed the brick to the bank president who held the contract. He quickly had the defective construction torn down and rebuilt to the sister’s expectation.

In 1905, the sisters expanded again to south Fort Worth on Shaw Avenue with the construction of Our Lady of Victory Academy. Offering kindergarten to junior college level classes, the sisters clarified their mission: “The education imparted in this institution is thorough, practical and refined, aimed at forming noble Christian women who will grace society with their accomplishments and edify it by their virtues.”

Living up to their Christian standards, Sister Teresa Webber, Provincial of OLV, integrated the academy, making it the first Fort Worth school (public or private) on September 16, 1953, to open its doors to all. Some demurring white students left.

The sisters continue to teach at University of Dallas, Nolan High School and diocesan elementary schools. However, a decline in women entering the order and funding woes have called for the closing of OLV Elementary School this year, the last remaining school opened by the sisters in North Texas.

Over 100 years, the educational pioneer Sisters of St. Mary of Namur have faced plagues, rowdy neighbors, discrimination, and debt to instruct thousands of North Texas and Fort Worth children and young women. OLV Elementary may close, but the sisters’ devotion to do a little good blossoms in the hearts and minds of former students.

Author Richard J. Gonzales writes and speaks about Fort Worth, national and international Latino history.

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Bernadette Peters belting “I ain’t got cash, I ain’t got cash, but I got you baby...” I’ve never been more delighted.It is an iconic moment of television and I will not rest until every human being alive is talking about it. (Watch it here.)Whoopi, ForeverSome decorating news: I have decided to have this photo of Whoopi Goldberg from her recent Variety cover story—in which, based on that regal facial expression, I imagine she is wordlessly saying, “Kevin, think about your choices...”—wallpapered across my wall. I need the reminder. Handout What to watch this week:A Black Lady Sketch Show: A serotonin blast of comedy when we could really use it. (Friday on HBO)The Big Shot With Bethenny Frankel: That I will follow Bethenny to the ends of the earth is my own personal cross to bear. (Sunday on HBO Max)Romeo and Juliet: Sexy Prince Charles from The Crown (Josh O’Connor) stars in a shortened, present-day take on the Shakespeare play, a Mad Libs that is most pleasing to me. 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    Screenshot/NBCBefore a white Virginia sheriff’s deputy shot a Black man 10 times late Wednesday night, he told the man to drop his gun. Body-camera footage and the recording of the man’s initial call to 911, however, show he was never holding one. He had his phone in his hand, and he had told authorities so.The Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy had dropped Isaiah Brown, 32, home earlier on Wednesday night after Brown’s car had broken down miles away.But, moments later, Brown dialed 911 over a dispute with his brother that was apparently preventing him from getting back to his car. He described a heated argument in which he had asked his brother for a gun, but he notified the dispatcher that he did not have a weapon. His brother had refused his request.Brown said, “I’m about to kill my brother.”The dispatcher replied, “Don’t kill your brother.”“Alright,” said Brown.“Why would you say something like that?” asked the dispatcher.“Somebody needs to come here real quick,” said Brown.The same deputy who had dropped him home arrived back at the scene and found Brown standing on the road outside the home.The recording of Brown’s 911 call captured the confrontation, indicating that Brown was walking down the road, on a house phone, at the time. “You need to hold your hands up,” the dispatcher tell him as a siren can be heard in the background.The deputy is then captured in the 911 call and in body-cam footage shouting at Brown, “Show me your hands. Show me your hands, now. Show me your hands. Drop the gun. He’s got a gun to his head. Drop the gun now. Stop walking towards me. Stop walking towards me. Stop. Stop.” The deputy then shot Brown and continued yelling at him to put his hands up and “drop the gun.” The Spotsylvania sheriff’s office and Virginia State Police confirmed Brown was unarmed. ‘Tragic Day Here’: Deputy Fatally Shoots North Carolina Black Man While Serving Search WarrantThe officer, whose name has not been released, has been put on administrative leave, the Spotsylvania sheriff said. The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation is reviewing the shooting.Brown is now in intensive care being treated for 10 bullet wounds.His family’s attorney said in a statement, “It is evident that the tragic shooting of Isaiah Brown was completely avoidable. Isaiah clearly told dispatch that he did not have a weapon more than 90 seconds before the deputy arrived. He told dispatch that he was walking away from the house and away from anyone else and was on the roadway by himself. Isaiah was on the phone with 911 at the time of the shooting and the officer mistook a cordless house phone for a gun.”Brown’s brother, Tazmon, told NBC Washington that he thought Brown called the cops because he wanted a ride back to his car so it wouldn’t be towed.“The officer just started shooting at him for no reason. I didn’t hear a warning shot. All I heard was ‘Hands up!’ one time. And all he had was his phone, so I know he put his hands up,” Tazmon said.Protesters gathered Friday at the Spotsylvania sheriff’s office, shouting “No justice, no peace!” NBC reported.The shooting and demonstrations come on the heels of a tense week in American policing. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder Wednesday for the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in May 2020. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. The same day as the verdict, a Columbus police officer shot and killed Black 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant while she lunged at a woman with a knife.In the 24 hours after the Chauvin verdict, six people were killed by the police.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.