Pope Pius X established the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 1912 and designated Paul Nussbaum to be its first bishop. He was consecrated and installed on June 8, 1913. It was during his brief administration that religious persecution in Mexico drove hundreds of priests and nuns to the Diocese to flee the sentence of death that befell many others He extended the hospitality of the Diocese to them until it was safe for them to return. The Duns Scoots College was established by the Franciscan Fathers in Hebbronville as a seminary for the training of seminarians for the priesthood, so that when the persecution was over, the Franciscans would have the priests to return to Mexico and work once again with the people.