Wesley Brethren Church

The Wesley Brethren Church is the first building to house a Unity of the Brethren congregation in Texas and displays a valuable example of vernacular Interior embellishment. The origins of the Brethren can be traced back to the province of Bohemia, present day Czechoslovakia, during the mid-fifteenth century. In the first two decades of that century, Jan Hus had openly questioned practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and thereby became a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. From the Reformation grew the first of the international Protestant churches, the Brethren of Bohemia, now called Moravians. The beliefs of the Brethren held that the individual had the ability to read the Bible and interpret its message without clerical intercession, as well as the right to receive communion from a chalice along with church officials. For this reason, the chalice has been an important image in the religious symbolism of the Brethren. The Catholic church persecuted the flourishing Protestants, forcing them to eliminate any public activities and pass on their beliefs by word of mouth. In 1722, Count Zinzendorf of Austria, an aristocrat deeply concerned with both religious and state matters, invited a group of Moravians to move to his estate and establish a settlement based on the protestant beliefs of the Unity of the Brethren. The settlement, Herrnhut, grew and prospered. Count Zinzendorf, a religious and economic expansionist, began to send out missionaries to other parts of the world. During this time, missions in the U. S. were first established near present Savannah, Georgia, and later moved to Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Settlers began to fan out from these early colonies as well as continue to emigrate from Austria and Czechoslovakia. During the 1840's, Czech families began immigrating to Texas. The flow increased dramatically in the next decade, following the unsuccessful revolution in 1848 against the Hapsburg monarchy. The influx of Czechs grew steadily until the Civil War, and immigration was resumed again following the war. By the late 1800's, south central Texas was dotted with many towns and communities largely populated by these European imigrants: Dubina, Fayetteville, Hostyn, and Praha. One of the Brethren groups from still predominantly Catholic Czechoslovakia settled in 1841 in an area they called Veseli, now known as Wesley, in southwestern Washington County. Under the direction of the Reverend Joseph Opocensky, a veteran of the Civil War and former resident of Mexico, the Wesley Brethren Church was officially organized on September 25, 1864. In 1866, the congregation erected the simple frame structure, at a total cost see continuation sheet of $938.00, by some accounts the first building of the Czech Brethren to be built in North America, and certainly the first in Texas. The building, across the county line in Austin County, also served as a schoolhouse until about 1900, and the resident minister usually as the teacher. Many of the sixteen charter member families are still represented on the church rolls. During the years 1889-1891, in his spare time from his pastoral duties, the Reverend Bohuslav C. Laciak (also written as Lacjak) painted the interior surfaces with religious symbols, geometrical and architectural forms. Laciak's intended meanings for the designs can only be conjectured, but many possibilities have been posited. Examples are the interlace pattern conveying the unbroken chain of brotherhood and the brickwork standing for the strength of the walls of Jerusalem. The richness of the primitive, yet intricate and detailed hand painting remains today as the church is virtually unchanged since its founding. The church is an outstanding example of provincial interior decor, designed by a lay artist to express a community's interpretation of grandeur and its pride in an enduring and democratic faith. A new sanctuary was built in 1963 near the old one. As a museum and setting for special events, the original Wesley Brethren Church continues to serve the Czech community.