DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight from the stone. Now, you have to understand something about San Antonio in 1926 — the Italian Catholic community there had a need, and they made their voices heard. They went to diocesan officials and said, in so many words, we want something of our own.
So the officials listened, and they invited the Reverend Saverio Vecchio to come and preach a mission. And out of that mission, something took root. The congregation of San Francesco Di Paola was organized.
Just like that, a community had a spiritual home — it just needed four walls and a roof to match. For the building itself, they brought in Richard Vander Stratten to handle the design, and then Luigi L. Guido and Vincenzo Falbo to do the building.
What those men put up was a Romanesque structure — and friend, that's not a word you throw around lightly. We're talking decorative stone detailing, round-arched stained glass windows catching the Texas light just so, and a spire reaching up like it had somewhere important to be. On May 1, 1927, Archbishop A.
J. Drossaerts himself came and dedicated that church. Less than a year from mission to dedication.
Sometimes a community knows exactly what it wants, and it doesn't waste any time getting there.
What the marker says
In 1926, at the request of the city's Italian Catholics, Dioscesan officials invited the Rev. Saverio Vecchio to preach a mission. A s a result, the congregation of San Francesco DI Paola was organized. Designed by Richard Vander Stratten and built by Luigi L. Guido and Vincenzo Falbo, this Romanesque structure with decorative stone detailing, round-arched stained glass windows, and spire was dedicated on May 1, 1927, by arch-bishop A. J. Drossaerts. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1992