MANUCY, DOMINIC (1823-1885). Dominic Manucy, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville,qv was born on December 30, 1823, in St. Augustine, Florida, son of Pedro and Maria (Lorenzo) Manucy. Having completed his theological studies at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, he was ordained on August 15, 1850. After twenty-four years service in the Mobile Diocese, he was appointed first vicar apostolic of Brownsville, a new vicariate covering the territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Manucy and his cousin Anthony D. A. Pellicer,qv who had been appointed first bishop of San Antonio, were consecrated as bishops on December 8, 1874. Bishop Manucy was installed in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Brownsville, by Bishop Claude Marie Dubuisqv on February 11, 1875. Some sources estimate the number of Catholics in the Brownsville vicariate at 42,000 by this time. Respecting the priority of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,qv a missionary society working in the area since 1852, Manucy moved his offices to Corpus Christi, where he built St. Patrick's Church. By 1884 nine churches had been built, and the construction of three more was in progress. All debts were paid, three convents for nuns had been established, and the plans for a boys' high school in Corpus Christi were being completed. On his transfer to the Diocese of Mobile in 1884 Manucy retained jurisdiction over Brownsville as administrator. Because of illness, the debt and worries of the Mobile diocese, and the distance from Brownsville, he sent in his resignation and asked to return to Brownsville. His request was granted in 1885, but before he could make the move, he died, on December 4, 1885. He was buried in the crypt of the Mobile cathedral.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (7 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1936-1958; rpt., New York: Arno, 1976). Gilberto Rafael and Martha Oppert Cruz, A Century of Service: The History of the Catholic Church in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen, Texas: United, 1979). Francis Alfred Messing, Dominic Manucy (M.A. thesis, Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans, 1964). Jane Quinn, Minorcans in Florida: Their History and Heritage (San Augustine, Florida: Mission, 1975).
Sister M. Claude Lane, O.P.
