Times Past: Fr Muldoon - ‘The Hero of Texas’
This week's Times Past historical column by Jonathan Smyth looks at Fr Michael Muldoon, a priest from Cavan who famously oversaw the mass conversion of Protestants to Catholicism in Texas during the early 19th century...
I have often watched re-runs of the famous preacher Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who broadcasted both on radio and television across the USA from 1926 to 1979, presenting programmes such as ‘Life is Worth Living’ and ‘The Hour of Power’, in which he demonstrated his abilities as an exemplary theologian and speaker who could eloquently put forward the merits of Christianity and ecumenism, in the bringing together of the Christian family of churches under one umbrella in a mutually respectful fashion. However, in Texas, during the early 19th century, a different form of ecumenical activity was taking place under Fr Michael Muldoon, sometimes referred to as Fr Miguel Muldoon, a priest who famously oversaw the mass conversion of Protestants to Catholicism for reasons that were less to do with religion, and more to do with a means to an end, hence earning themselves the nickname, ‘Muldoon’s Catholics’.
Cavan
All early accounts of Michael Muldoon, state that he was born in the ‘Diocese of Kilmore, Co Cavan’, in 1780 and according to Opraem Fr Killian Mitchell in his book ‘The Missionary Priests and Bishops of the Diocese of Kilmore’, Muldoon was from the parish of Kilmainhamwood which partially stretches from Meath into Co Cavan and is not too far from Kingscourt.
There is a tradition, that Michael’s father had a serious fight with a British soldier and as a result, the family had to re-locate for their own safety to Seville, Spain. Apart from enjoying the sunny climate, the younger Muldoon through his parents encouragement decided on studying for the priesthood.When he was ordained, Fr Muldoon travelled to Monterrey, Mexico, in 1812, where he was appointed as chaplain to the Irish-born Juan O’Donoju who was at the time Mexico’s last Spanish Viceroy. Being a popular priest with the viceroy, Fr Muldoon was then promoted as chaplain to President Antonio de Lopez Santa Anna, (he was made president of Mexico eleven times between 1833 and 1855). Dr Joe Early Jnr, wrote that Muldoon saw himself as the President’s ‘almost inseparable companion’ and soon Muldoon began to establish friendships with people in positions like the military such as General Teran and others in political circles such as Lucas Alaman Escalada, Mexico’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Texas
In 1821, the legendary frontiersman Stephen F. Austin obtained a land grant in Texas from the Mexicans (who then ruled Texas) for the settlement of 300 settlers. But, he ran into an unexpected problem; the Mexicans stipulated that the religion of the settlers had to be Catholic because this was Mexico’s established religion. Unfortunately, for Austin almost all of the families who arrived were Protestants. Another caveat of the Mexican law was that all children, if born Protestant, had to be re-baptised, otherwise they were treated as illegitimate. Without having any proof of their adherence to the state church, these people were refused land. Another difficulty for Austin, was that there were no Catholic priests at hand who were interested in coming to the colony and for ten years the settlement struggled.
Then in 1831, while Stephen Austin was attending a meeting in Leona Vicario he met an old friend Fr Muldoon. In the early 1820s, they had struck up a friendship when Austin had been petitioning the government for a claim connected to his father’s land grant. He had run out of finance on that occasion, but luckily for him, Fr Muldoon offered him a loan and he was able to complete the transaction and as a result they became friends. The priest also taught Austin to speak Spanish. Having met the priest all these years later, Austin invited him to Texas.
Muldoon’s Catholics
Fr Muldoon was in fact no stranger to Texas, having previously served there in 1829 with the ‘San Patricio Irish Colony’. In Dr Joe Early’s research paper, ‘Michael Muldoon: Stephen F. Austin’s Priest’, he wrote that General Manuel Y Teran was to warn that Muldoon may have grown ‘accustomed’ to the high life, living in Mexico’s fancy royal courts and that a return to the ‘rough frontier life’ might be too much for the middle-aged man. But Muldoon himself was actually keen to take up the invitation and was delighted when the Archbishop of Monterrey approved the appointment.
In her column for ‘Texas Escapes’, Wanda Orton wrote that one of Muldoon’s duties was to convert the Protestant settlers to the Catholic religion to allow them to claim their plot of land in the colony. Fr Muldoon did not take the task very seriously and he was happy to hold ‘mass conversions’ of Protestant families to permit them to fulfil the legal requirements, thereby earning themselves the name ‘Muldoon’s Catholics’. Each largescale ceremony conducted by Fr Muldoon could often be completed in about thirty seconds with minimal preparation and little if any instruction given to the people. The newly arrived settlers were happy to discover that Fr Muldoon was a liberal-minded priest who was not inclined to rigidly enforce the rules of the church.
Wharton’s break
Famously, Fr Muldoon spoke his mind and often had no hesitation, it appeared, in telling the Mexican government to loosen its control in Texas. On his arrival to Austin’s colony in August 1832, the priest openly supported the demands for freedom; four years later, the settlers having rebelled, Texas became an independent republic.
On May 5, 2010, Bartee Haile wrote in the Hays Free Press, that Fr Muldoon’s part in helping a Republic of Texas diplomat William H. Wharton to escape from jail was his ‘most audacious act of Christian Charity’. Wharton had been arrested in what was described as a ‘high-seas kidnapping’ and brought to Matamoros City in North Eastern MexiCo Fr Muldoon arrived at the jail secretly carrying an extra robe which he handed to Wharton who was able to walk out of the prison disguised as a priest.
In the years which followed, little is known for certain as regards Fr Michael Muldoon’s later life. Folklore suggests that he may have set sail for Spain and that the ship sank in a storm. Whatever, the truth may be, what we do know, is that the Cavan-born priest’s memory continues to live on in Austin, Texas, to this day.
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