About St. Joseph Chapel - Schertz · New Braunfels, Texas
St. Joseph's Chapel is a historic Catholic mission chapel located on FM 482 in the former Comal community, now within the city limits of Schertz, Comal County, Texas. Built in 1905 by German-Catholic farming families of the Comal settlement, it served as the religious and educational heart of a rural community that also sustained a Catholic school on the same tract. The chapel is now owned and ministered by Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels, is used weekly by St. John Paul II Catholic High School of New Braunfels/Schertz, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRIS #14000472, listed August 1, 2014) — the first structure in Schertz to receive that designation. It is part of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
- Established
- 1905
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- The chapel is overseen by SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels (pastor at the time of the 2011 historic marker ceremony: Rev. Anthony Pesek).
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of San Antonio
Why belong here
St. Joseph's Chapel is not a typical parish church — it is a 1905 mission chapel in the former Comal community, now part of Schertz, that has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and is actively shared between SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels and St. John Paul II Catholic High School, which uses it once a week during the school year. For visitors, the chapel offers a chance to step into the religious and educational life of a German Catholic farming community — Stations of the Cross titled in German, an 1905 altar carved by John Henry Sievers, and the visible foundation stones of the 1881–1885 school that once stood next to it. Anyone interested in Texas Catholic heritage, especially the German-Catholic roots of the Comal/New Braunfels area, will find this a meaningful place to visit, and parishioners of SS. Peter and Paul are its custodians and primary organizers of memorial Masses and historical observances.
Mass times at St. Joseph Chapel - Schertz
Weekly Mass schedule
History of St. Joseph's Chapel and the Comal Community
St. Joseph's Chapel is the surviving religious heart of the Comal community, a German-Catholic farming settlement that grew up along the El Camino Real de los Tejas south of New Braunfels. The settlement traces its origins to Peter Ignaz Wenzel, a German-born teacher who purchased 100 acres in the Rodriquez Survey #99 from William Bracken in 1851 and donated land for a school and chapel. By 1900 the community had its own cotton gin, corn-shelling operation, general store, and community hall; the chapel, dedicated May 25, 1905, was built to allow Comal citizens to attend Mass on the days following great Church feast days and for funerals and baptisms, and it was paid for by donations from Comal Catholic farm families. After the school closed in 1941 and the community declined following WWII, the chapel remained the only structure still in active use. It was designated a Schertz Historic Site on May 25, 2011, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 2014, the first structure in Schertz to receive that national recognition.
- Comal community settled by German immigrants mid-19th century
- Wenzel School (one-room log schoolhouse) opened December 1, 1868
- Expanded four-room school built 1885; school closed 1941
- St. Joseph's Chapel dedicated May 25, 1905
- School building demolished in the early 1950s (some sources cite 1959)
- Comal community annexed by city of Schertz around 2015
- Schertz Historic Site marker unveiled May 25, 2011
- National Register of Historic Places listing, August 1, 2014
Wenzel School and the Catholic School on the Site
The chapel sits on the same tract that once held the Wenzel School, Comal's Catholic school. Wenzel sold two acres of land to the Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio for the specific purpose of building a school, and the one-room Wenzel School opened December 1, 1868. An expanded four-room school was built in 1885 on the same site where the chapel would later be built. The school was run by nuns and gave Comal-area Catholic children their primary education, including seven men who went on to become priests — an unusually high number for a small rural community. The school closed in 1941 and the building was dismantled in the 1950s, but the foundation stones of the 1881–1885 school building can still be seen at the property next to St. Joseph's Chapel.
- Wenzel School opened December 1, 1868 (one-room log schoolhouse)
- Four-room school built in 1885
- School closed in 1941
- School building demolished in the early 1950s (some sources give 1959)
- Six men from the Comal community became priests, including Monsignor Albert Hubertus
Architecture and Interior Features
St. Joseph's Chapel is a small brick Romanesque Revival church built in 1905, characteristic of the rural German-Catholic chapels constructed across Texas at the turn of the 20th century. The interior was renovated in 2010 in preparation for the historic-marker ceremony. The elaborately carved wooden altar was crafted in 1905 by John Henry Sievers, a Comal-area craftsman whose great-grandson, Everett Fey, became the historian of SS. Peter and Paul Church in New Braunfels. The Stations of the Cross inside the chapel are titled in German, a tangible reminder of the German heritage of the founding families. The chapel has no air-conditioning, but visitors describe the pastel interior as remarkably cool.
- Architectural style: Romanesque Revival
- Construction material: brick (1905)
- Altar carved by John Henry Sievers in 1905
- Stations of the Cross are titled in German
- Interior renovation completed in 2010
Heritage, Milestones and Preservation
St. Joseph's Chapel has been the focus of sustained heritage and preservation work by the Schertz Historical Preservation Committee (led by chairman Dean Weirtz), SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels, and St. John Paul II Catholic High School. The chapel received a Schertz historical-marker designation on May 25, 2011 — exactly 106 years to the day of its original dedication — with a Mass celebrated by Monsignor Albert Hubertus and co-celebrant Rev. Anthony Pesek. In 2014, the chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRIS #14000472), the first structure in Schertz to receive that national designation. The chapel is also located along the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, and Weirtz has highlighted the unusually large number of priests and nuns that originated from Comal families as a key part of the chapel's cultural significance.
- Schertz Historic Site marker unveiled May 25, 2011 (106th anniversary)
- National Register of Historic Places listing, August 1, 2014 (NRIS #14000472)
- First structure in Schertz to receive the national historic designation
- Located along the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail
- Dean Weirtz — chairman of the Schertz Historical Preservation Committee and chief nominator
Custodians and Current Use
St. Joseph's Chapel is owned and ministered by SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels (386 N. Castell Avenue, New Braunfels, Texas 78130) and is used once a week during the school year by St. John Paul II Catholic High School, which is located at 6720 FM 482, New Braunfels — essentially adjacent to the chapel. The chapel does not have a regular weekly public Mass schedule of its own; its active liturgical life is centered on the high school's weekly school Mass and occasional memorial and historic-preservation liturgies. The chapel-festival note from the 2011 dedication speech — 'May 25, 1905 was a day that brought to fruition the prayers, preparation, and perspiration of Catholic families determined to provide a place of worship for themselves and future worshipers' — captures the spirit that continues to animate the volunteer and parish preservation work around it.
- Overseen by SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of New Braunfels
- St. John Paul II Catholic High School (6720 FM 482, New Braunfels) uses the chapel weekly during the school year
- Archdiocese of San Antonio
- No regular weekly public Mass schedule published; chapel is actively in use for worship