History:

In October of 1824, St. Mary's Church and the City of Victoria, Texas began when Don Martin De Leon brought 41 Mexican families to a point on the lower Guadalupe River to found the colony of "Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Jesus Victoria." One of his first acts was to erect a Catholic Church. Standing on the Main and Church Street site of the present Post Office, the first church, was built from log and native timber.

Hard times came upon the church of "Our Lady of Guadalupe" following the defeat of Santa Ana in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Most of the original families abandoned their homes and land and fled to Mexico for safety. For the next four years, the small log church was used as a place of refuge, a courthouse, an auction house and a Presbyterian Church. On July 12, 1840, Father John Odin and three Vincentian companions landed on Lavaca Bay with a mandate to reorganize the Church in the new Republic of Texas. Father Odin quickly reclaimed our church and installed Father Eudaldus Estany, C.M. as the fist resident pastor. Parish records show that Father Estany officiated at his first wedding on July 28, 1840 and his first baptism on July 30, 1840.