St. Helena Mission (Helena)

St. Helena Mission near Karnes City, Texas, is part of the storied Panna Maria parish family — home to the oldest permanent Polish settlement in the United States, founded in 1855. The original Polish immigrant settlers celebrated their first Mass beneath an oak tree still standing beside the church, making this remote South Texas mission one of the most historically significant Catholic sites in North America, within the Archdiocese of San Antonio.