Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Shiner began as a wood-frame structure in 1891. A year later, a tornado moved it 11 feet off its foundation. The church was rebuilt, then replaced for the growing congregation in 1921 with a Romanesque Revival-style building constructed of red brick and cut stone. Volunteers helped build the new church, led by Father F.X. Wolf.
Designed by architect James Wahrenburger, it features stained-glass windows from Germany, a rich array of colors and patterns, and a glorious, painted interior, including a mural of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane overlooking the altar.
The church, an active place of worship, is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Saints Cyril and Methodius were a pair of missionary brothers who forged paths in the field of Bible translation. They worked among the ninth-century Danubian Slavs (indigenous Europeans living in the Danube River basin) and developed a written language for them. Saints Cyril and Methodius were so influential in this mission field that some people call them the “Apostles to the Slavs.”
They translated the Bible into a language that was later known as Old Church Slavonic or Old Bulgarian. They also invented the Glagolitic alphabet—based on Greek letters—which is still used as the basis for modern Russian and several other Slavic languages.
If you are curious, refer to Got Questions: Who were Saints Cyril and Methodius? for more information.
For more truly beautiful pictures of the church, see Jason Merlo, Images from Across the State of Texas.