SAN LUIS OBISPO, Jul. 26 — Charles “Tex” Watson, the convicted murderer who once called himself Charles Manson’s “lieutenant for killing,” will marry a woman he met at a prison chapel where he preaches.

Watson will marry Kristine Svege, who describes herself as a “born again Christian,” sometime after September. Miss Svege said the couple is “praying for a date” for the ceremony and doesn’t want publicity.

“We know what newspapers can do, and it’s not pretty,” Miss Svege said Tuesday.

Watson, 33, was convicted of seven murder counts in 1971 for the brutal August 1969 Tate-LaBianca slayings in Los Angeles.

Watson is an associate pastor at the medium-security California Men’s Colony near San Luis Obispo. He has been preaching weekly in the prison chapel since December 1976 and teaches Bible study classes.

Watson described himself as Charles Manson’s “lieutenant for killing” during an October 1978 probation hearing at the prison. His bid for parole was turned down by the Community Release Board, whose members cited the “brutal, excessive and bizarre” nature of the killings of actress Sharon Tate and four house guests and the murders of grocery store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the next night.