During the 1800s a wave of Czech and German immigrants arrived in Texas and established communities which they named after their home towns of Praha, Dubina, Schulenburg, and Fredericksburg.
The churches they built, while ordinary looking on the outside, were spectacular on the inside: colorfully painted and decorated to remind worshipers of the Gothic and Baroque churches of their homeland.
Adorned with colorful walls, stained glass, murals, and elaborate sculptures, twenty of these “painted churches of Texas” still stand today, and Mass is still celebrated in several of them. Here’s a glimpse of what you can see if you make the journey to central Texas. And be sure to find a Czech bakery to sample their kolaches, another wonderful gift from Texas’ 19th-century immigrants!
And today we celebrate...