The town of Nazareth first started out as a Irish settlement called Shamrock in 1892. In 1902 Father Reisdorff renamed it Nazareth and brought over some German families. In order to get to Nazareth in the 1900's you had to take a train to Amarillo, Texas. From there one would take the Pecos Valley Train to Hereford, Texas, where W.H. Panzor would take you for a small cost to Nazareth. It would take about five to six hours in a wagon or four hours in a buggy.

In the fall of 1903 a small church and school were built, but the school was not put into use until 1909 when Rev. P. Bonaventure Binzegger became the first residential priest. Sisters from Arkansas came to employ it.

The city of Nazareth was originally 125,440 acres, of which 15,000 were given to the Catholics. The soil here is dark and rich in humus base. The area is prairie land and has no trees other than what man has planted. The water here is clean and abundant and the air is clear in the summer, but  very cold in the winter. On average there is more rain here than in central and south Texas and Oklahoma.

The “nucleus of Nazareth” is the faith community known as Holy Family Catholic Parish. This soul of Nazareth was envisioned by its pioneering priest-colonizer 110 years ago when he centrally located its church home, but it has been experienced, expanded and energized throughout the history of this rural German-American community in the Panhandle of Texas. “Nucleus” was defined as a word 250 years ago meaning “central part about which others cluster”. That word has defined Holy Family’s relationship to Nazareth since church members have consistently made up the core of the village and, for the most part, the hands of the community -- from its weekly news bulletin to its hospitality in community events, from its life-celebrations of baptisms, weddings, and funerals to its openness in caring outreach to all the community, from the founding and support of the school to the creation of civic government, clubs, and services.

However, what is the core energy that has consistently motivated this more than century old Holy Family faith community? It is faith founded and nourished in a Benedictine tradition of prayer, work, hospitality, and learning. For seventy-five years Benedictine Sisters, and for 50 years Benedictine priests or Benedictine-trained pastors, served, nourished, and guided Holy Family parish within the Nazareth community. The pages of this book attempt to reveal this faith energy as it shares the years of service given by these pioneer pastors and these dedicated women religious. This history, those whose lives are outlined within, and the community they fashioned follow St. Benedict’s motto: “that in all things God may be glorified”.

Father P. Anselmus Kaelin brought the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Holy Angels Convent to Nazareth from Jonesboro, Arkansas to teach. They taught from 1909 to spring of 1915.

In September of 1915 two Benedictine Sisters from St. Scholastica Monastery, Fort Smith, Arkansas, took charge of the school. Records at the Castro County Courthouse show October 12, 1917 was the first time the Sisters received their salaries from state funds. These nuns only got a vacation of two weeks every third year. These sisters from St. Scholastica taught until 1990. The sisters were qualified teachers and worked to make the Nazareth school a state supported institution.

A total of 70 sisters were assigned to Nazareth over a 81-year period.

Three Nazareth vocations went to Olivetan Benedictine Sisters in Jonesboro, Arkansas

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