July 13, 1956
Crusading San Antonio Priest Carmelo Antonio Tranchese, known as “El Padrecito,” died on this day. On July 7, 1932, Tranchese began his duties as the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on the West Side of San Antonio, which was home for the majority of the city’s 82,000 Mexican Americans. Tranchese helped establish the Guadalupe Community Center, which, in cooperation with the Bexar County Tuberculosis Association, sponsored a health clinic that offered workshops in disease prevention and provided free vaccinations and other medical care. He encouraged efforts to improve working conditions and wages, supported local strikes and was particularly active in soliciting provisions and establishing breadlines for pecan workers who struck in 1935 and 1938. In October 1938, when the city’s pecan companies mechanized in response to the Fair Labor Standards Act (Wage-Hour Act), throwing approximately 8,000 shellers out of work, Tranchese helped organize the Catholic Relief Association, which solicited and distributed food, clothing, and shelter. Tranchese’s most noted accomplishment was his role in bringing a federal housing project to San Antonio. Opponents of public housing threatened Tranchese’s life and slandered his character. Tranchese’s determination contributed to the removal of some of the worst slums on the West Side and their replacement by the Alazan-Apache Courts for Mexican Americans. He also played a role in securing USHA loans and annual subsidies for courts built in other areas of the city, including Victoria Courts for Anglo families and Lincoln and Wheatley courts for blacks. The projects were completed in 1942. You can see Father Tranchese peeking over the shoulder of Patricia Castillo in Seeds of Solidarity, a 2005 mural on Guadalupe Street by Mary Agnes Rodriguez & Jose Cosme, which has since been destroyed.
July 13 in Peace & Justice History
