About Stella Maris · Lamar, Texas
Stella Maris Chapel is a historic Roman Catholic chapel in the small coastal community of Lamar, Texas, in Aransas County, belonging to the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The name 'Stella Maris' — Latin for 'Star of the Sea' — is an ancient Marian title honoring the Virgin Mary as guide and protector of seafarers, fitting for a chapel on Aransas Bay. Today the chapel offers Mass seven days a week, including a Saturday Vigil and two Sunday Masses, with Saturday confessions. It is pastored by Very Rev. Raynaldo Yrlas, Jr., with Gloria Scott as office manager.
- Established
- 1858
- Patron
- Our Lady, Star of the Sea (Stella Maris)
- Rector
- Very Rev. Raynaldo Yrlas, Jr.
- Diocese
- Diocese of Corpus Christi
Why belong here
Stella Maris Chapel offers a rare combination: a daily-Mass chapel steeped in 19th-century Texas Catholic heritage, set on the quiet Aransas Bay coast in historic Lamar. With Mass offered every weekday plus two Sunday Masses and a Saturday Vigil, plus weekly confessions, it serves both year-round coastal parishioners and visitors drawn to its story as one of the oldest surviving Catholic sites on the Gulf Coast. It is a place to pray where Texas Revolution-era Catholics first prayed, in a shellcrete chapel moved and restored for a new generation.
Mass times at Stella Maris
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM
History of Stella Maris Chapel
Stella Maris Chapel was built in the late 1850s on Aransas Bay through the patronage of James W. Byrne, an Irish immigrant who founded the port town of Lamar in 1839 after fighting in the Texas Revolution. With his wife Harriet, Byrne sold the land for the chapel and hired a French architect (sometimes named as John Deberdes or 'Dubadie') to design it. Completed around 1858 and originally called St. Joseph's Chapel, it became the spiritual and social center of the Lamar community — and remarkably, one of the only Lamar buildings to survive the Civil War bombardment of the town by Union forces. The chapel was moved to its current location beside the Lamar Cemetery in 1986 and marked that same year by the Texas Historical Commission as a key link to the area's early Roman Catholic heritage.
- Founded through the patronage of James W. Byrne (1787–1865), Irish immigrant and Texas Revolution veteran
- Construction completed 1857–1858
- Originally dedicated as St. Joseph's Chapel
- Built of shellcrete (burned oyster shell, sand, and lime masonry)
- Survived Union bombardment of Lamar during the Civil War
- Relocated to current site beside Lamar Cemetery in 1986
- Texas Historical Commission marker No. 5103 erected 1986
The Stella Maris Name — Star of the Sea
The chapel's dedication, Stella Maris, is Latin for 'Star of the Sea,' an ancient and beloved title for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catholics have long invoked Mary under this name as a guide and protector of those who travel by sea — a fitting patron for a chapel built on Aransas Bay beside a 19th-century port town whose livelihood depended on the Gulf of Mexico.
- Latin: Stella Maris ('Star of the Sea')
- Ancient Marian title, traditionally invoked by seafarers
- Especially appropriate for a chapel on Aransas Bay
Shellcrete Architecture
Stella Maris Chapel is built of shellcrete, a remarkable local building material made from burned oyster shells, sand, and lime. Shellcrete was the signature construction technique of the 19th-century Aransas–Copano Bay community and is what allowed the chapel (along with a handful of old Lamar homes) to survive long after the rest of the port town was destroyed in the Civil War. The technique and the chapel itself are central to the scholarly history 'A Shellcrete Society: The Aransas-Copano Bay Community, 1830–1880.'
- Material: shellcrete — burned oyster shells, sand, and lime
- Designed by a French architect engaged by James W. Byrne
- Same construction tradition as Lamar's surviving 19th-century homes
- Relocated in 1986 to its present site beside Lamar Cemetery
Leadership & Staff
Stella Maris Chapel is pastored by Very Rev. Raynaldo Yrlas, Jr., who also serves the wider coastal Catholic community in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. The office manager is Gloria Scott.
- Pastor: Very Rev. Raynaldo Yrlas, Jr.
- Office Manager: Gloria Scott
Visit, Contact & Location
The chapel sits on Hagy Street in Lamar, Aransas County, immediately north of the historic Lamar Cemetery. From Rockport, take State Highway 35 north toward Goose Island State Park, then follow Park Road 13 east/northeast to Lamar. Phone and the Diocese of Corpus Christi's Parish Finder are the recommended ways to confirm current Mass and confession times.
- Address: 222 Hagy Street, Lamar, TX 78382
- Phone: (361) 790-5277
- Diocese website: diocesecc.org/parishfinder
- Facebook: facebook.com/StellaMarisCatholicChurch
- Adjacent to Lamar Cemetery and the 1986 Texas Historical Commission marker
The Diocese of Corpus Christi
Stella Maris Chapel is a parish within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi, which covers the coastal bend of South Texas. Its sacramental and pastoral life is overseen through the diocesan chancery and listed in the Diocese's official Parish Finder directory.
- Diocese: Corpus Christi
- Listed in the Diocese of Corpus Christi Parish Finder
- Roman Rite, Latin Church