Szymanski, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph
Clergyman. Pastor of St. Michael's parish, Weimar, Texas; also diocesan dean and member of diocesan School Board. Address: Box 36, Weimar, Texas.

From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943

[Church Picture]

.... [Sanctuary Picture]

(above) St. Michael's Church Interior

(left) St. Michael's Catholic Church
in Weimar, Texas

photos courtesy of Barclay Gibson

.... [Depot Picture]

Passengers at Weimar Train Station c. 1900s

courtesy of editor at texasescapes.com

SZYMANSKI, RT. REV. MSGR. JOSEPH

Exactly when the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Joseph Szymanski decided to work in the Catholic parishes of Texas is uncertain. After going to schools in Tuszewo, in the province of Olsztyn, where he was born August 7, 1873, and other places in Poland, he studied for the priesthood in Louvain, Belgium, and three seminaries after coming to the United States in the early 1890s. He spent two years in the Polish seminary at Detroit, Michigan, then studied in St. Meinrads Seminary, Spencer County, Indiana, and in 1896 entered the Catholic seminary at Victoria, Texas. After he was ordained on March 13, 1897, by the Rt. Rev. John Forest, the bishop of the San Antonio diocese (now archdiocese), he studied the Czech language, and when he could speak it, Bishop Forest sent him, one after the other, to Moulton, Saint John, Ammansville, and Bluff, all essentially Czech colonies, to perform pastoral duties. During that time he brought his parents, Adalbert and Catherine (nee Lamparski) Szymanski, and siblings from Poland, and they settled in Bluff. Odd as it seems, when census takers asked them, including a sibling who moved to Detroit, they said they spoke German at home before they came to Texas. Father Szymanski's answer was Polish.

The parishes assigned to him received little attention prior to his arrival. The first cotton growers, who had to free their slaves in the 1860s, sold their lands to predominately German and Czech settlers, and, in his time, Father Szymanski found them on many small farms, growing cabbages, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, and other crops. The number of farms in Fayette County jumped from 1,483 in 1870 to 5,189 in 1900. The smaller the farms, the more families became farmers. In 1890, it had 3,667 persons from Germany and 3,224 from Austria-Hungary. At last count, 18 percent of the population of Fayette County was of Czech ancestry and two percent was Polish. In addition to his language skills, to attract worshippers, Father Szymanski did what he could to improve and paint the churches in his care. Within nine years he gained a reputation as an improver of church property.

Not all churches could be redeemed. When he was transferred to the town of Weimar, 97 miles west of Houston in western Colorado County, in May, 1906, St. Michael's Catholic Church, built there in 1889 after a storm ripped a six-month-old school apart, was in no condition to deal with the steady growth in population. Another storm on December 27, 1909, toppled the steeple. Then most of the immigrants from central Europe and their children, who had moved to Weimar because of its Catholic school, looked down upon the old frame church with few, if any, accommodations. When Father Szymanski asked them to build a new edifice, they favored it and wanted it to reflect European architecture. It took him eight years to raise the money and draw up plans for a church in the Gothic Revival style. The church with a 144-foot spire, consecrated May 27, 1914, was visible for miles around Weimar. It measured 100 feet in length and 45 feet in width. There were eight stained glass windows on each side. Everything, including three altars, a pulpit, confession boxes, a baptismal font, and oak pews, cost $44,000.

The parochial school, built at a time when the county had 36 public schools for white and 24 for black students, is now the only two-story wooden schoolhouse still open in Texas. The population of Weimar hovered over and under 2,000. In addition to his duties in Weimar, Father Szymanski, eventually to be called Monsignor, took care of a mission in Dubina, a Czech settlement in Fayette County, about five miles from Weimar. He died in Weimar on June 11, 1948.

Author: Edward Pinkowski (2006)