Jean

NERAZ, JEAN CLAUDE (18281894). Jean Claude Neraz, second bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Antonio, son of Jean and Marie Anne (Bottet) Neraz, was born at Anse, Rhône, France, on January 12, 1828. He studied at the Petit Seminary of St. Jodard, Anse, at Alix, and at the Grande Seminary of St. Irenée, Lyons. In 1852 he responded to the appeal of Bishop Jean Marie Odin of Galveston, who needed missionaries to work in Texas. On March 23 Neraz sailed for the United States on the Belle Assise as one of about twelve seminarians who became the first to study for the priesthood in the newly established Diocese of Texas. Neraz was ordained on February 19, 1853, in Galveston, and was assigned a position in Nacogdoches, with charge of missions in the vicinity. He worked there until 1864, when he was sent to Liberty County. Two years later he went to San Antonio to assist Father Claude M. Dubuis , but was again transferred in 1868, this time to Laredo, where he and Father Martin Souchon built St. Augustine's Church.