After the formal dedication, a luncheon was held at the Plaza Hotel Deck at Broadway and Leopard for dignitaries. That evening, the Cathedral Women’s League hosted a reception for the general public in the new cathedral’s auditorium. Sadly, within months of the dedication, one of the principal benefactors of the diocese and the new cathedral was dead; Marie Stella Kenedy died in early September 1940. She had donated the site of her home on the northwest corner of Broadway and Lipan for the cathedral, as well as the old house, which was originally moved across the street to the southwest corner for the use as a hall and kindergarten and was later moved and used to make Nuestra Señora de Pilar Church in the Molina District of Corpus Christi. (Editor’s note: In the July 2012 edition of the South Texas Catholic we incorrectly reported that the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral was used to make Nuestra Señora de Pilar when in reality it was the old Kenedy home that was used for that purpose. The old St. Patrick’s was used to build Our Lady Star of the Sea church.) The following year, grief touched the entire United States as another world war reached America and south Texas. On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 families were shocked to learn of a surprise attack by Japanese forces on the American naval port of Pearl Harbor.
Many mothers lamented the death of their beloved children during the years of conflict that followed. In the main entrance of the cathedral was placed the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, most commonl y referred to as the “pieta.” This image of Our Lady and the Marie Stella Kenedy, one of the prinStations of the Sorcipal benefactors of the diocese and rowful Mother on the new cathedral. the walls of the caArchived Photo thedral were a focus of prayer for many mothers who sought consolation from the first sorrowful mother at the sacrifice made by her son. The Novena to the Sorrowful Mother was inaugurated in the cathedral on Jan. 24, 1941 with the church packed to hear Father Thomas A. Calkins, O.S.M. from the Shrine of Our Sorrowful Mother in Chicago who led the services in the presence of high ecclesiastics and laymen from the area. During the war, and for many years subsequently, the novena of Our Lady of Sorrows was a popular devotion attended by many throughout the diocese while a nation mourned its sons and daughters who had paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Over the next years, grieving families and friends carried many loved one for a final commendation by their church family; many of which had previously been carried into the Cathedral and parish churches throughout the Diocese of Corpus Christi for their baptism. The end of the war precipitated an explosive growth for the community and Catholic Church in south Texas as young men returned to find jobs, marry and father the children who became known as the “baby boomers” because of their numbers. It also meant the growth in the parochial school system in south Texas. The end of the war also marked the end of Bishop Ledvina’s almost three decades of service as the Ordinary in Corpus Christi. The bishop announced his retirement on March 15, 1949. Our Lady of Sorrows, was focus of prayer for mothers that lost sons and daughters during World War II. It is located in the foyer of Corpus Christi Cathedral. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic
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SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2012
www.SouthTexasCatholic.com