|
Yvo Tymen Portrait Unveiled |
|||||||||||||||||
|
During the reception after the Mass celebrating the end of the centennial year of Oblate School of Theology, OST President, Fr. William Morell, OMI, presided over the unveiling of a painting of Padre Yvo Tymen, OMI (1879-1977), an Oblate missionary after whom a large lecture hall is named.
This painting by G.E. Mullan was commissioned for the centennial celebration of the Oblate School of Theology to hang in the hall that bears the name, Yvo Tymen.
Today is the exact 110th anniversary of the perpetual vows of one of this school’s first graduates. Let us use his story to help represent what his alma mater, OST, stand for and celebrates this centennial year.
Father Yvo Tymen was born in France. He joined the Oblates as a young high school student and completed his studies of philosophy in 1904 in Liege, Belgium. He volunteered for Texas and arrived in San Antonio in 1904. He completed his theology studies in the birthplace of Oblate School of Theology on McCullough Avenue and was ordained in 1907. He was among the very first graduates of Oblate School of Theology.
Pastoral work carried Father Yvo immediately to the borderland of Roma, TX, and throughout the Rio Grande Valley to serve as a member of the famed “Cavalry of Christ.” He rode horseback along the river to the little ranchitos and the faithful communities who so desperately needed priests and only saw a traveling missionary once in a great while.
Sickness forced a health leave in 1914, and he returned to France just in time to be drafted into the French army to fight in World War I. After a harrowing wartime career, Father Yvo returned to Texas in 1919 to take up pastoral duties further up the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass. From then until 1977, Father Yvo worked tirelessly along the Rio Grande marrying hundreds, baptizing thousands, and performing the work of a missionary in a growing area of the Church. Father Yvo’s deep faith and pastoral concern always animated his tireless missionary work.
Two awards in his later life were significant. He receive the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” medal from Pope Paul VI in 1964, as well as the highest civilian award by France, the Knight’s Cross, for distinguished service in World War I.
Finally, on February 5, 1977, Father Yvo succumbed, marking the end of a long chapter of Church history in the Rio Grande Valle and giving birth to a new era of Church life.
It is to this man and his spirit that this Lecture Hall is dedicated. His life and spirit serve as the impetus for the last official act of our centennial year, the unveiling of G.E. Mullen’s latest work.
CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
