Posted on 10/22/2004 4:47:58 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
The small Karnes County town of Panna Maria is expected to triple in population Sunday as it celebrates its 150th anniversary with a reception featuring former Poland President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa as a guest speaker.
Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement in Poland that led the country out of communism, asked to visit Panna Maria when he was invited to attend the annual convention of the Polish American Congress in Texas this year, said Loretta Niestroy of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.
"He's never been to Panna Maria," Niestroy said. "He has been to San Antonio, but he didn't get to come here. He wanted to come to Panna Maria so badly."
Panna Maria, 55 miles southeast of San Antonio in central Karnes County, is revered among Poles because it's the oldest permanent Polish settlement in the United States and home to the nation's oldest Polish church.
Niestroy said that because of Walesa's request, about 150 members of the Polish American Congress will car pool and take buses from Houston to Panna Maria on Sunday.
The Polish American Congress will end their annual convention in Panna Maria with speeches from Walesa and a handful of other dignitaries, including Poland Ambassador Przemyslaw Grudzinski and consul officials from Los Angeles and Houston.
Niestroy said 375 tickets to the luncheon have been sold — about three times the number of people who are members of the parish.
She said the number of tickets that could be sold were limited to the amount of people who could be served at the community hall near the church.
She said all businesses in the town are expected to close for Sunday's event.
"Everything is set, as set as can be," Niestroy said, adding the town has successfully hosted prominent Polish visitors in the past.
In 1998, Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek visited Panna Maria, where he attended Mass and planted a tree in his honor.
"When we were struggling for freedom and dignity, we felt the spiritual support from the Polish living in America," Buzek said at that time through a translator.
Walesa, the mustachioed electrician from Gdansk, is credited with triggering an end to the Cold War in Eastern Europe when communism lost its grip on Poland.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1983 and was the first democratically elected president of Poland in 1990. Walesa failed to win re-election in 1995 amid continuing economic difficulties in his country.
Panna Maria, meaning "Virgin Mary" in Polish, has been celebrating its 150th anniversary throughout the year. Other events that have taken place since January include the renaming of street signs after their original Polish landowners, a countywide parade and the repair of the church's ancient bells as part of $600,000 worth of renovations.
Niestroy said the final celebration of Panna Maria's 150th anniversary is scheduled for Dec. 11 with a citywide barbecue.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- jzarazua@express-news.net
Ping.
funny name for a city "Panna Maria", I doubt that in Poland we have something similar.
When the Polish settlers arrived: "It was Christmastime, and Father Moczygemba and the settlers celebrated a Christmas Mass of thanksgiving in their new home of tall grass, live oaks, mesquite, and rattlesnakes (The first Mass in Panna Maria was held on December 24, 1854 under the Grand Oak Tree which still stands beside the Church)."
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