Leopold Moczygemba
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Father Leopold Moczygemba (October 18, 1824-February 23, 1891) was a Polish-born Catholic priest and pioneer active primarily in the United States. He is remembered today for founding the towns of Panna Maria and Bandera, Texas; during his career he also ministered to the ethnic Polish populations of the north-central United States.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Early years
Moczygemba was a native of Upper Silesia, born in Pluznica on October 18, 1824; his parents were Leopold and Ewa Moczygemba. He spent his childhood in Pluznica and in the nearby village of Ligota Toszeca; he first attended the local Catholic schools before moving to those in Opole and Gliwice. In 1843 Moczygemba decided to become a priest, spending four years in northern Italy before being ordained by the Order of Friars Minor Conventual in 1847. The following year he was moved by his superiors to Bavaria, where he spent five years studying.
[edit] Life in Texas
In 1852 the Bishop of Galveston, French native Jean Marie Odin, returned to Europe to recruit money and missionaries for his diocese, which at the time encompassed the entire state of Texas. From the Friars Minor Conventual, he recruited five priests and a lay brother to serve local German immigrant communities; among these was Moczygemba, who landed with the others in Galveston on September 1, 1852. Almost immediately he became the first permanent Catholic pastor for New Braunfels, serving in this capacity until early in 1854, when he moved to Castroville.
Moczygemba was impressed by the advancement, both economic and social, that immigrants were able to achieve in Texas, and soon began writing letters to family and friends in Upper Silesia in which he encouraged their immigration to the American frontier. In the winter of 1854-55, nearly 200 peasants from the region took up his suggestion and sailed for Texas. Moczygemba prepared a site for them to settle, near the confluence of the San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek in then-new Karnes County. The priest himself chose the name for the settlement, naming it "Panna Maria", Polish for "Virgin Mary". Other Silesians settled in already existing communities at Bandera and San Antonio. Over the next three years more Poles came to Texas, settling mainly in the same region already occupied by others from Poland. The influx of immigrants ended by 1856-57; an improved economy in Upper Silesia, coupled with the beginning of a terrible drought in Texas, led to the movement's end. Conditions became so bad that Moczygemba was forced out of Panna Maria entirely. He spent a few months in Castroville before leaving Texas entirely in late 1857.
[edit] Later years and death
Moczygemba spent most of the rest of his life serving in various capacities in the northern United States. He had been made superior of Franciscan Minor Conventual Missions in America while in Texas, and remained in that capacity until 1866, during which time he lived primarily in Syracuse, New York. For the next quarter-century he worked among Poles and Germans in New York, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan; during this time he took several brief interruptions both for travel and service in Europe. He founded several parishes and created a number of schools. He also aided in the founding of the Polish Roman Catholic Union, the largest organization in the United States dedicated to Polish Catholics. Moczygemba also co-founded the Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. He continued working in the area until his death in Dearborn, Michigan on February 23, 1891.
[edit] Legacy
Moczygemba is chiefly recognized today as the founder of the first permanent Polish settlement in the United States; he also established the first Polish Catholic parishes and the first Polish school in the country, the latter located in Panna Maria and called St. Joseph's School. Posthumous recognition from the Polish community in Texas was slow; eventually, however, Moczygemba's contributions to the state were recognized and celebrated.
On October 13, 1974, the remains of Leopold Moczygemba were returned to Panna Maria from Detroit, where they had originally been buried, and reinterred under an oak tree in town; it was beneath this oak that the priest had first offered Mass to the first Polish immigrants who arrived in Texas at around Christmas of 1854.
[edit] Reference
- Leopold Moczygemba at the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
