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

When the wood did arrive. Father Moczygemba was forced by
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Gawlik's illness to enter into a third contract.
This
time the contract was with a Mr. Stark, another German
from San Antonio, to build the roof. However, Stark only
cut the wood for the roof, not finishing the job.
With
John Gawlik still ill. Father Leopold entered into a
fourth contract.
The carpenter bound in this contract, a
Polish settler named Gerwazy Gabrys, was finally able to
complete the shell of the church sometime in midsummer.
Some finishing work remained to be done on the
church before it was to be consecrated.
This work was
done by Mr. Boden from San Antonio. He made all the frames
to the doors and windows, the doors and floor in the
r
sacristy and the room of the priest, and the stairway
to
the room of the priest which was located above the
sacristy. By September 1856 the church was "completed"
although there was only linen over the windows and no
8 8
floor, benches, or choir in the sanctuary.
Even as the church was nearing completion, the
peasants at Panna Maria felt the need to express
their
religious feelings in an additional physical form.
This
took the shape of a large crucifix erected in front of
the entrance to the then uncompleted church. John Rzeppa,
one of the original settlers, had brought with him
from
Kruszka, pp. 369-371.