OBLATE FATHERS TRAIL. The Oblate Fathers Trail, designated by road markers in 1949 by the Brownsville Historical Association, was the route traveled in 1849 and through the 1850s by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate^qv in their parish and missionary work. Bishop Jean Marie Odin^qv of the Diocese of Galveston had called upon this priestly order to assist him in the organization of the Catholic Church^qv in the Rio Grande valley. The trail began at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church at Port Isabel, proceeded to Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Brownsville and to Villa Maria Chapel, and angled up the river to San Pedro, Encantada, Las Rusias, San Benito, Santa Maria, Mercedes, Hidalgo, McAllen, La Lomita, Mission, Habana, Grulla, Rio Grande City, Roma, Zapata, San Ignacio, and Laredo. The octagonal bronze plaques were placed on the property of each early church.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brownsville Historical Association, Minutes, 1949. Bernard Doyon, The Cavalry of Christ on the Rio Grande, 1849-1883 (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1956).

Grace Edman