Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Burleson County. In 1884, Catholic settlers made the crossing from Czechoslovakia and put down roots in this corner of Texas. They named their new settlement Frenstat, after the community they had left behind: Frenstat Rod Radhost, in Moravia.

Think about that for a moment. You travel an ocean and a continent, and the first thing you do is give your new home the name of the old one. That's not forgetting where you came from.

That's carrying it with you. By 1887, a priest named Reverend Joseph Chromcik was making regular visits out to Frenstat. That same year, a man named Adolf Polansky sold land to the Galveston Diocese, and the deed was written for three purposes: school, church, and cemetery.

The whole arc of a community, right there in a single transaction. For a time, the congregation gathered in the schoolhouse, worshiping under the same roof where their children learned to read. Then in 1889 they raised a sanctuary of their own.

In the decades that followed, the people of Frenstat organized, building out men's and women's service organizations that held the community together. The congregation eventually became part of the Austin Diocese, and it has kept on growing, in membership and in the structures that serve it, including a grotto of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes. A settlement named for a place left behind, now home to something that has taken deep root.

That's the story of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.

What the marker says

In 1884, Catholic settlers from Czechoslavakia first arrived in this area. They named their settlement Frenstat for the community they had left, Frenstat Rod Radhost, Moravia. By 1887, the Rev. Joseph Chromcik regularly visited Frenstat. That year, Adolf Polansky sold land to the Galveston Diocese for school, church and cemetery purposes. Members met in the schoolhouse until building a sanctuary in 1889. During the next few decades they formed men's and women's service organizations. Since that time, the congregation, now part of the Austin Diocese, has grown in membership and facilities, which include a grotto of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes. (2005)