Medical & Science
Prominent Clergy From Two States and Mayor Amerman Present at Opening of Hospital Building. Every Improvement Makes Hospital One of Finest in South; Father Kirwin Pays Tribute to Founders.
Clergy and others dedicated a St. Joseph’s hospital wing in 1919.
The Bishop of Galveston, Catholic clergy from the entire city and from many parts of the state and Louisiana, the mayor of Houston, leading doctors and many other citizens gathered at St. Joseph’s Infirmary Tuesday to assist in the dedication of the new $350,000 wing to the hospital and to pay tribute to the labors of the sisters who have been associated in hospital work for 32 years in Houston.
These labors have become glorious in the annals of the city. Recorded in the minute books the city council is a tribute to the work of the sisters in the ravaging smallpox epidemic of 1890 and 1891. The present generation remembers the heroism of two of the sisters, when the old infirmary at Caroline and Franklin burned, who lost their lives in their effort to see that every patient left the building. For 24 years the sisters have been expanding their buildings and increasing their service at their present location on Crawford Street, between Calhoun and Pierce, and the annex which was dedicated Tuesday was the crowning achievement of their work and gives to Houston one of the finest hospitals in the South.
The history of the establishment and its power for good, were traced by the Very Rev. Father James M. Kirwin, vicar general of the diocese and director of St. Mary’s School at LaPorte, who made the principal address.
Bishop Byrne Dedicated Annex.
The dedicatory services were conducted by Bishop Byrne in person. Every corridor in the massive structure was visited by the bishop and his procession which included many of the most representative members of the clergy in this section.
Sister Theresa, mother general of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who has been closely associated with the life of the hospital, directed by that congregation, was also present.
Acting as a deacon and subdeacon to the bishop where the Very Rev. Dean E. A. Kelly of Beaumont and the Rev. Father J.C. Creamers of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Rev. Father Morgan J. Crowe, pastor of the Sacred Heart Church and chaplain of the infirmary, was the master of ceremonies.
Among the out of town priests present for the ceremonies were: Rev. Father J.C. Fuller, C.M., of Dallas; Very Rev. Father H.A. Constantineau of San Antonio, Rev. Father George Willheim of Palestine, Rev. Father L.J. Reicher of Galveston, and many others.
Description of Building.
The addition of the hospital runs the length of a city block on Calhoun Avenue and is five stories in height. It contains 116 private rooms, which increases the capacity of the hospital to 300 patients, has four main operating rooms, two emergency operating rooms and three rooms for operations of specialists.
Furnishings for most of the rooms were given by friends of the hospital and nearly every door bears a brass plate naming the donor. One of the rooms is given by the present bishop in honor of the memory of Bishop N.A. Gallagher who died last year.
“You have set the dedication of this magnificent building and consecrated it to the service of the mercy on the ministry of pain upon the feats of St. John and to those who knew the strenuous labor and farseeing vision of Mother St. John it is an act of remembrance and a sign of recognition of the days of old,” said Father Kirwin in beginning his address.
“Today we gather round holy memories of pure and virginal and heroic women. We might turn our vision to the dawning of the sixteenth century and dwell upon the mysticism and illumination of the life of Jeanne de Matel, the saintly soul who founded the order of the Incarnate Word. Later the order walked in the land of desolation and exile while the French revolution spent itself in its own excesses. At Limoges the vows were once again pronounced and the Incarnate Word began anew its glorious work, the education of poor children, the care of the sick and the service of the poor. Eventually it found its way to Lyons and in 1852 with the formal consent of the holy see at the request of Monseigneur Odin the first bishop of Texas, it sent its spiritual children across the seas and began its labors in Texas.
“In 1866 Monsignor Dubuis, the second bishop of Galveston, besought Mother Anguelique at Lyons to train subjects who would be able to care for the sick and the orphans of his vast diocese. Their labors began in Galveston and the three young French women bearing the names of Sister Mary Blandine, Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Mary Ange and through the humble cottage at Eighth and Market. From this small beginning in scarcely half a century they have developed materially so that great institutions like unto this bless Beaumont, Lake Charles, Shreveport, Texarkana, Alexandria and Temple, who render allegiance to the mother house of God was done. A branch founded from Galveston, with headquarters at San Antonio and pursuing the same blessed work, has flourished even more abundantly.
Founded in Houston in 1887.
“In 1887, at the request of the Rev. Thomas Hennessey, and with the approval of the late lamented bishop, they opened a small hospital in Houston. At the northwest corner of Caroline and Franklin streets a twostory wooden structure was entered into and here Mother St. Louis and Mother Theresa, now mother general of the congregation and whose presence here today adds interest and sympathy to these ceremonies, started St. Joseph’s Infirmary.
“If this were a little community isolated in history and locality it would still be worthy of study and sympathy because wherever pure hearts and loving souls and gentle minds unite them selves for any human and worthy purpose there is interest; there is power, there is charm. But this is not an isolated phenomenon. It’s a worldwide fact. Not a few gatherings of concentrated women like vestal virgins here and there, but great armies
organized into regimens and battalions and companies with a thousand uniforms and many leaders looking toward one invisible captain and working in the service of man as Christ himself worked.
“Texas owes a debt of gratitude to France for the foundation of this community, but the daughters of Erin form the legions of today. They heard the Macedonian cry of Mother Benedict, the youthful and saintly daughter of Erin, and they came in numbers and they have labored earnestly with generous Celtic souls for this growth and development which we see today.”
Mayor Speaks for City.
The bishop spoke briefly, declaring that the nature of the work called for the blessing of the church ritual on the building.
Mayor Amerman asserted that Houston owed a vast debt to the sisters at St. Josephs and that the city appreciates the assistance, which both in the past and in the present have been given it by the hospital.
Dr. S.C. Red spoke in behalf of the staff of physicians and surgeons of the hospital.
The morning services were closed by the “Star Spangled Banner,” and were followed by a luncheon given in the new building in honor of the bishop and the visiting clergy.
The hospital will be thrown open to the public for a reception from 4 to 9 o’clock today.
The sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who own and operate the hospital, number 26 in Houston. There are more than 40 young nurses, graduates of this school who assist in the work for the hospital.
Equipment Inferior to None.
No modern appliance in any hospital in the United States exceeds those adopted for the infirmary, it is said. Everything that human skill has been able to devise for the aid of the sick has been installed in this new building.
There is a new building, a drug store, enormous store rooms, a laboratory, sterilizing plants for mattresses and instruments, lounging rooms for doctors, with big quarters, where they can make their changes for operations.
Every room has connection with a bathroom. There is elevator service in the building. In the basement there are big kitchens for the special preparation of food for the sick, as well as dining rooms for the sisters and nurses. The building also contains its own refrigerating plant. The boiler room and power plant are contained in a separate structure erected to the rear of the hospital.
One of the features of the hospital in the electric signaling system. At the head of every bed, within reach of the patient, is a system of push buttons for signaling the nurses on the floor. Electric lights flash the words to the nurse and the bell ringing system is eliminated.
Sister Michael is in direct charge of the hospital.