San Francisco Xavier Church (Creedmoor, TX)
The largest, by far, of all the Mexican missions of the Holy Cross Fathers, was San Francisco Church. The reason for this was that it included Colton, Creedmoor, Maha, Elroy, Dry Creek and Lytton Springs. Cedar Creek rightly belonged to Sacred Heart Church, Rockne, but Father Kraus had asked the Holy Cross priests to care for the Mexicans in Cedar Creek because he did not know Spanish. In this vast territory there were over 400 families; some did not come to church because they could not get into church for Mass.
In this vast area there was only one church. This was at Vasquez, so called because it was built by the Vasquez family on their own ranch. Inside the front door of the chapel one had to bypass the bell to enter the church. The bell was too heavy for the roof and one time it crashed through the roof to land on the floor. There it stayed. Once inside looking about one saw the confessional, whose curtains were so rotted that the crumbled to the touch. The altar was once white, but now could be called any color. The shelves of the altar were covered with about a half inch of burned black wax. The Claretians of San Marcos said Mass at this church.
It was from the Claretians that Archbishop Droessarts took this territory which extended south of the Colorado River in Austin to a point just north of Kyle. This territory he gave to holy Cross with the stipulation that Father Alfred Mendez be named pastor. The initial census for most of the area was made by the Rev. James W. Donahue, C.S.C., assisted by three Sisters of Victory Noll, who were "loaned" for this work for six months.
Because he could not afford an architect Father Mendez wrote to Professor Francis Kervick and asked him to have his students design some churches for him. Prof. Kervick did this, and so San Francisco, Santa Cruz in Buda, San José in Austin were designed by the architectural students at the University of Notre Dame. They were to be later featured in a Catholic architectural magazine as good examples of churches built indigenous to the soil.
San Francisco was blessed by Archbishop Robert E. Lucey on Dec. 14, 1941. The dedication was the first of three because Santa Cruz in Buda and San José were also blessed on the same day. After each ceremony the Archbishop had Confirmation. Father Culhane arrived shortly after 8:00 a.m. Mass to hear confessions and have Mass said before the ceremonies started at 11:00 a.m. Father Mendez stayed behind to say Mass at San José and escort the Archbishop with the chancellor, Msgr. Manning, to San Francisco. When they arrived Father Culhane was still hearing confessions. The Archbishop began the ceremonies, and Father Culhane was to start his Mass at 12:30 after the Archbishop had departed.
The Stations of the Cross in San Francisco should have special mention. They were not the usual type of station that one knows. Father Culhane was received copies of "The Catholic Worker," and in this paper the stations appeared as wood cuts. Father Mendez liked them as being something different and asked Father Culhane to write and ask for the 14 pictures. These were given to Sr. Cruz Lopez, an artist who burned them on pieces of pine board. The first station shows Pilate dressed in a frock coat and a top hat. It was to symbolize Capitalism condemning Christ. One station shows a character dressed as a Russian beating Christ with a whip; this was to symbolize Atheism. The fifth station shows Simon of Cyrene dressed as a modern workman helping Christ. Each station was symbolic.
© 2000 by the Congregation of Holy Cross, Southern Province