Remembering Father Keany, priest lost in 1900 storm

Father Thomas KeanyGALVESTON — Among the thousands who died in the Great Storm of 1900, one was a Catholic priest serving the faithful in Velasco, a coastal town near the mouth of the Brazos River — now known as Surfside Beach.

Father Thomas Keany, a native of Ireland, had ministered in the Diocese of Galveston for at least eight years before his death on Sept. 8, 1900. He drowned after becoming trapped in a hotel as floodwaters overwhelmed the town. To date, Father Keany remains the only priest in the history of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston known to have died in a hurricane.

He studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s of the West Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was ordained by Archbishop William H. Elder on June 21, 1893. He then traveled to his new Diocese of Galveston, where he was assigned to Annunciation Parish in Houston. Then, he served at St. Patrick Church in Galveston in 1895 and again at Annunciation in 1896.

Later that year, Father Keany became the founding pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in downtown Houston, which would see its church built and dedicated in 1897. Sacred Heart would eventually become the diocese’s second cathedral 63 years later. 

In 1898, he was assigned to Velasco, serving Catholics living amongst the town’s population of 3,000 and others all living directly on the Gulf Coast. 

After two years of dedicated service, Father Keany and many others lost their lives when the storm surged ashore. His body was recovered and laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery in Houston, where he remains today.