Texas is full of surprises: The painted churches of Schulenburg, a 90 minute drive west of Houston, is yet another delight. With a local club, we visited two.
TEXAS SUPRISE #1
Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, completed in 1911 by parishioners whose Czech ancestors arrived in Dubina, Texas, in 1856, appeared plain on the outside, giving no indication of the artistry of the carved wooden statuary and the triptychs which line the walls. You can see a partial photograph of the inside of this church on the website of a church (second image from the top) in nearby Weimar whose Pastor also ministers to Dubina parishioners. But that photograph does not even hint at the quality of the carving. I found the wooden triptychs that lined the wall exceptionally vibrant, with a verisimilitude to human movement within the scene portrayed, demonstrating an artisanship in wood carving and painting of the highest order. These were carved in Rome, it is said, by whom it is not currently known.
But even these evocative and, I found, moving, carvings were nothing compared to the bold representation in wood of the Christ, carved by a parishioner of the church! Rather than a romanticized suffering, which another cross in the church (that I did not photograph) exemplifies, here is a primitive, visceral, brutal, painful and cruel kind of suffering. Emaciated, exhausted, barely able to hold his head up, with an elongated, Oriental face that appears peaceful even as the body is scarred and bloodied, Christ’s legs fall from him listlessly demonstrating the weakness in his body, his feet nailed in place, even as his fists hold on for dear life to the nails that keep him pinned to the boards of last breath. And what a crown of thorns! This was the pièce de resistance of the church and I found myself shocked, in fact, moved to tears by it — the first time ever I was moved by a Christian cross in this way. And it was made by a hobbyist in his garage!
TEXAS SURPRISE #2
But I could have had no indication of the thrilling discovery in yet another country church, this time St. Mary’s Catholic Church in High Hill, built in 1906 by descendants of German immigrants to the three villages that comprised High Hill. Its red brick facade is about as unassuming as any other. Once inside, the natural light streams through stained glass of the highest artistic merit, filling the church with a beautous, replendence of color I have never experienced in so small a space.
Note the greenery of the hill in which the white lily, emblem of St. Joseph’s purity and virtue, is planted and from which it flourishes in brilliant bloom. Color combination in glass — requiring a precise knowledge of chemical coloration, the temperatures at which they admixed and change, the control of the equipment and handling employed — is exceptionally difficult. But here the verdant grass and the fertile browns of the soil are marvelously rendered, seemingly effortlessly!
Notice that the halo around the head of the dove below is clear! No color implies total clarity and purity of meaningfulness in consciousness: PERFECT PEACE. Masterful!
I took these rudimentary photos on my cellphone, not thinking I would possibly encounter anything worth bringing a camera for. In person, the effect is far more stunning than even these images can allude to. Tiffany’s finest do not surpass this quality in color control, but I think these are finer because they convey a richness of story-telling entirely absent from his commercial designs.
Made in a factory — the name of which parishioners I asked did not know — in Berlin around the years 1900-1905, they exhibit a knowledge of centuries of expertise in managing kiln temperatures, chemical admixture, glass fashioning and cutting, color control and aesthetic expressiveness second to none. The factory, it is said, was destroyed in World War II. One doubts glass expertise at this level exists today.
And there are ten more painted churches to explore between Houston and Austin.
TAKE A TOUR!
I recommend this tour, provided by the Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce at a very reasonable price. Our guide, Dennis, a fifth-generation descendant of one of the settlers of the town, enlivened our visit with a wealth of stories and detail.
TEXAS IS FULL OF SURPRISES!
[Post-script: Terri Wagner, Executive Director, Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce emailed me to add: “…the stained glass windows in High Hill that line the side walls were in the second church on the site, put in place in 1899. The two large stained glass windows in the back were put in place in 1906 and the two stained glass windows over the doors were put in around 1930.”]