THE EARLY HISTORY OF PANNA MARIA, TEXAS ... - Repositories

30
construction of church oriented buildings.
This construction
at times unified and at times fragmented the parish.
Whatever its results, the work played a large part in the
internal life of the community.
During the first months, when worship was not out
of doors, several different buildings housed the place of
worship at Panna Maria.
One of these buildings was a socalled
"Mexican shack" which had been built at the site
76
by unknown parties before the Poles arrived in Texas.
Another place of worship was an old wagon shed located at
77
the site.
Later, after a few months, services were held
in a partitioned-off section of a stone barn built by John
m v.- 78
Twohig.
For the construction of the first church in Panna
Maria, Father Moczygemba received a mysterious gift of
three thousand dollars.
There are several theories about
where the money may have come from.
In 1902, John Gawlik,
a stonemason who helped to build the first church,
recollected that Father Moczygemba's Franciscan superiors
79
in Bavaria donated the money.
Another theory for the
76
Kruszka, p. 368.
77
Bakanowski, p. 29.
78
Dworaczyk, The First Polish Colonies, p. 21.
This barn is still standing and is occupied by Felix
Snoga's store in Panna Maria.
79
Kruszka, pp. 368-369.