The parish of St. Michael’s in San Antonio was established on 8 November 1866 when Father Vincent Barzynski, a Resurrectionist priest, arrived from Rome. It was the third Polish Catholic church in Texas and the United States (after Panna Maria and St. Hedwig). It was also the third Catholic church in San Antonio-the first being San Fernando and the second being St. Mary’s.
Since the first Polish colony to arrive in San Antonio came within the octave of St. Michael’s feast day, it was decided that St. Michael would be the patron saint of the immigrants. And so it was appropriate that the Polish church in the city be named for their patron saint.
Doris Kosub has been doing genealogical research since 1991. Her primary area of interest has been the Poles of Bexar County (especially St. Hedwig) and the Germans of Fredericksburg and San Antonio.