Today, I'm continuing to share images and history of the Painted Churches of Schulenburg, Texas. So far, we've toured Praha and Dubina. For Part 3 in the series, we're moving on to the community of Ammannsville, and Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church.
The community of Ammannsville had its beginning in 1870, when Andrew Ammann and his family settled there. The village grew as more farmers settled there, bringing supplies purchased in Houston. Soon, the community boasted the services of a physician and a Justice of the Peace, and such amenities as blacksmith shop, a bank, a cotton gin, and a meeting hall. The village even had a band, and a baseball team!
For two decades, the settlers of Ammannsville traveled to neighboring parishes in order to attend mass. A visiting priest who performed a mass in Ammannsville encouraged the settlers to build a church and, in 1890, the cornerstone was laid for Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church.
If you read Part 2, about Dubina, you can guess what happened next. The same 1909, hurricane that wrecked the church in Dubina destroyed the Ammannsville church, along with the school and some businesses. Work on a new church was begun immediately.
Eight years later, disaster struck again. The second church was burned to the foundation. The fire even melted the church bell. Luckily, parishioners raced to the burning church and recovered some of the statues.
The present church was built on the same site, with work commencing in 1917. For years, there was a rumor that the beautiful painting in this Painted Church was done by an unknown, itinerant painter. However, analysis of the painting techniques by a decorative painting scholar, Buie Harwood, attributed the work to Fred Donecker, who also painted the church in Moravia, which is one of the two Schulenburg churches that are closed except to guided tours. Well, enough history. Let's take a look at the beautiful painting...
"Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum"
"My delights were to be with the children of men" - Proverbs 8:31
Veronica hands Jesus a veil
I wanted to focus on the clips on the backs of the pews when I took this photo, but in retrospect I should have shown both sides of the aisle. The pews on the left side of the church don't have clips. Why the difference? Well, Catholic women traditionally wore a veil in church, while men remove their hats. In this church, women and children would sit to the left, and men would sit to the right, with their hats secured by the clips.
Bonus Material: Veils are no longer worn much, except in traditional parishes. My wife and I attend a traditional latin mass, where 99% of the women wear veils.
This is my church, Saint Timothy's Catholic Church in San Antonio,
Texas. The man in the foreground is UFC champion Bas Rutten. I borrowed this clip from Mass of the Ages: Episode 1, a moving video that introduces you to the traditional Latin mass.
These are my wife's veils, or mantillas as she calls them:
I hope that you enjoyed this third installation in my series about Schulenburg's Painted Churches. Three down, one to go. Did I save the best for last? Check back to see!