With all of the pomp that two thousand years of history can muster, Monsignor Michael J. Boulette this afternoon was ordained as the 14th Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Guarded by the Knights of Columbus in their flowing capes, the new Bishop walked up the aisle at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Thousand Oaks past robed Priests and Bishops of all of the Dioceses of Texas to be officially ordained by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller.
The Archbishop says he may be the city's 14th Auxiliary Bishop, but his history goes far deeper than that.
"We are coming from Peter through the Apostles to this moment," he said.
Boulette is a graduate of St. Mary's University, and a long time parish priest in San Antonio and in the Hill Country.
He was presented with several symbols during the ordination, including the pectoral cross long worn by the late Archbishop Patrick Flores, who ordained Boulette a priest. He received miters crafted by the Cloistered Passionist Sisters of Mexico, and the crozier the new bishop will use was hand crafted from a Hill Country pecan tree which died during the recent drought, in honor of his long service in Kerrville and Ingram.
Bishop Boulette will fit in line with Pope Francis' teachings of humility. His episcopal ring cost $8.
The new Bishop's mother, whom he credits with instilling in him a love of Catholicism, was in attendance, along with his officials chamberlains, Monsignor Lawrence Steubben and Father David Garcia.More than twenty bishops and archbishops attended the ceremony.