Outreach to the Hispanic community of Oklahoma is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, the Discalced Carmelite Order was present as early as 1914 to minister to this population.
Having escaped Pancho Villa, the revolutionary figure in Mexico who despised all things Spanish and Catholic (the Carmelites were guilty of both), three priests arrived in Oklahoma City to meet with Bishop Meerschaert and seek admission to the Diocese of Oklahoma.
On Oct. 13, 1914, the bishop gave permission for the order to serve “ad experimentum” and designated Pittsburgh, Okla., as their center. This small community was the abode of several Mexican workers toiling in the coal mines of southeastern Oklahoma. Father Eduardo Soler arrived from his exile in Cuba to head the mission. Mass was offered in the towns of Gowen, Adamson, Dow and Savanna.
The winter was particularly harsh in Pittsburgh that year. Water in the sacristy continually froze and on one occasion froze in the chalice during Mass. Several more priests and brothers came from Cuba and worked in parishes in Lehigh, Hartshorne and Langston. In 1916, Bishop Meerschaert assigned a Carmelite as pastor of Hartshorne and that mining town became the center of the order’s activities for the next five years. The fathers would serve that town until 1973.
In 1920, Father Bernardo Brotons founded the Little Flower Magazine that began publication in Hartshorne, encouraging devotion to their patron, then-Blessed Therese of Lisieux. At the close of 1920, the magazine had 40,000 subscribers. Peaking at 100,000 circulation, the proceeds would help to build a new complex and the beautiful Little Flower Catholic Church.
In 1921, Bishop Meerschaert requested that their headquarters be moved from Hartshorne to Oklahoma City and designated them to oversee all ministry to the Mexican people of Oklahoma. Father Soler was named the superior. Quickly, they built a three -story building to house the priests, a chapel and classrooms by 1922. The print shop was constructed, moving the magazine publication to Oklahoma City, and published the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Home (later the Southwest Courier).
The community grew and the necessity of a church to match the growth was critical. Receiving permission from the new bishop, Francis Kelley, their initial design called for an elaborate $500,000 church, a princely sum for 1926. Fearing a threat by the Ku Klux Klan that the structure would be destroyed if it continued as planned and the desire to build something more moderate in mission territory, Kelley approved a $100,000 budget.
The high altar (still in place) was an art piece of epic proportions. Still in process, it was not installed and dedicated until a year after the church was formally dedicated on March 24, 1927, as Church of the Little Flower (Blessed Therese was canonized in 1925) and Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
The church and the Carmelites are still essential to the service of the Spanish-speaking community as five masses in Spanish are celebrated every weekend. It is as vibrant and important as anytime in its history.