Heritage, 2008, Volume 1 Page: 11
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"The soil was precious to
those peasants who passed
it from family to family
and wouldn't sell it to
strangers."
Facing page, top: Missionary priest Father Leopold
Moczygemba. Courtesy of Father Wojciech
Riesch. Bottom: The Immaculate Conception
Catholic Church, the oldest Polish Roman Catholic
Church in America, built in 1877. This page:
The townspeople of Panna Maria, some of whom
are dressed like early colonists. Courtesy of
Father Wojciech Riesch.It had a sand floor, no pews, and linen for
window coverings. When lightning damaged
the structure in 1877, the Pannamarians
chipped in and built a new one, which still
stands. In addition, Father Leopold wrote to
Rome several times, pleading for funds and
more priests. "I am so desolate and oppressed
that I cannot express myself," he once confessed
to the minister general in Rome. "On
my knees I beg you to send a Polish father
as soon as possible, for I cannot visit all our
missions."15 Shortly afterwards, he was appointed
the first Commissary General of the
Conventual Franciscans in the United States.
He later co-founded the Polish Seminary of
Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Detroit, helped
establish the Polish Roman Catholic Union,
and became confessor at the First Vatican
Council in Rome in 1869. The priest ended
a distinguished career in the diocese of Detriot.16More setbacks flared during the Civil War
for the Pannamarians. Some Poles couldn't
understand why brother fought against
brother or why anyone condoned slavery.
As a result, most males didn't register for the
war-one reason they left Prussia in the first
place. A few joined the Union army, which
Texans resented. In addition, the war left
frontier areas open to bandits and renegades,
especially between the Rio Grande and San
Antonio Rivers. Fortunately, hostile Indians
never attacked the immigrants, although it
happened in other colonies.
During most of the Civil War, the Poles
also lacked a resident priest and tried to conduct services themselves, singing, saying the
rosary, and chanting the mass together. But,
they were unable to give final sacraments
to those who died. Finally, in 1866, Father
Adolf Bakanowski arrived with another cleric
and opened St. Joseph's School, the country's
oldest parochial Polish school. Parishioners
supplied lumber, sand, and stone from a quarry
for the building and carried water two miles
from the river. The two-story structure housed
classrooms on the lower level and quarters for
priests above. Priests and laymen taught the
children and later on nuns from several orders
took over those responsibilities.
The lawless Reconstruction period hampered
growth because the Confederacy collapsed.
Robbers and "the scum of the local
society"17 as one Pole put it, harassed the
community, scaring children, shooting at the
church bell, and even wounding several people.
Father Adolf wrote in his memoirs: "My
people began to lose heart" and they feared
"that the Americans would attack from ambush."18
He went to San Antonio and, with
the help of the bishop, persuaded a general
to send soldiers to the area. Crooked judges
and sheriffs were removed, and bandits who
resisted arrest were shot.
Finally, it started to settle down, and conditions
slowly improved for the Silesians.
Several held political posts. Most, however,
continued to grow crops and raise livestock.
Fathers and sons worked together during
harvest or haying, and neighbors helped
one another. When mechanization changed
farming in the 20th century, one Pole wouldbuy a hay baler and another a corn picker,
enabling groups to survive with limited
funds. A few became successful businessmen
such as Edward Kotula, known as a "wool
king of Texas." Most preferred living a quiet
life. One Pole remarked that "the uproar of
a big town would only be a desecration of
this secluded nook, drenched with sweat and
tears of the exiles who sought shelter from
poverty and oppression and wanted no more
than freedom and a piece of bread."19
Though Panna Maria remained the center
of Polish settlements in Texas, the town's
population failed to grow. (By 1910 around
25,000 Poles lived in Texas and 3,063,000
in the United States, according to the Polish
National Alliance Calendar.)20 Around a
hundred Polish families remain in Panna Maria
today. Parish priest Father Reisch says that
"the soil was precious to these peasants who
passed it from family to family and wouldn't
sell it to strangers. Some married and left or
took jobs elsewhere. So there wasn't much
growth."21 As town historian, Loretta Niestroy,
muses: "It's the history that's long in
Panna Maria, not the traffic jams."22
Even so, several events in recent years have
put Panna Maria back in the news.
In 1966 thousands celebrated the millennium
of Polish Christianity at Panna
Maria. Events included the dedication of a
12,000-piece mosaic of the Virgin of Czestochowa
donated to the church by President
Lyndon B. Johnson. Governor John Connally
made the town's church and general store
Texas historical landmarks.HERITAGE I Volume 1 2008
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, 2008, Volume 1, periodical, 2008; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45359/m1/11/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.