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Breathing New Life into a Legacy
By MICHELLE GERLACH
When I began serving as chancellor for the Diocese in the fall of 2023, I had never visited a diocesan archives. Learning that moving our archives safely from the Pastoral Center in Winona to the new Chancery in Rochester would be one of the primary responsibilities of my first year, I decided to visit some other diocesan archives and speak with a few archivists to learn what I could about the art of preserving diocesan heritage. I toured the archives of the Diocese of LaCrosse, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and the Archdiocese of Boston. And I began to wonder: where was all our “stuff”? From what I had seen, our archives consisted of what appeared to me to be about 90% or more paper; the archives I had visited contained paintings and vestments and relics and many other items of historical and liturgical import.
And then I learned about Fr. Breza and visited the Polish Museum in Winona. And I found our “stuff.”
Paul Joseph Breza was born in Winona on June 23, 1937, the son of descendants of Kashubian immigrants from Bytów, Poland. He was educated at Saint Stanislaus Kostka School, Cotter High School, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota before completing his seminary training at Saint Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese June 1, 1963. Father Paul’s love of his Polish heritage came to life in the Polish Cultural Institute and Museum, now the Kashubian Cultural Institute and Polish Museum, he founded in Winona in 1979.
Anyone who has visited the Museum has seen firsthand its impressive quality and history. Those who have ventured upstairs know that the Museum housed much more than its name implies. What began, according to Father Breza, as dumpster rescues initially stored in barns and other storage spaces donated by people of the Diocese, evolved into an enormous collection of Catholic patrimony from Winona and the surrounding area, that occupied the entire second floor of the Polish Museum, including all of the available wall space and much of the floor and out-of-sight storage areas.
Anyone who has visited the Museum also knows there is no climate control on the second floor - it can be a sweltering sauna in the summer and an ice-cold freezer in the winter, unpleasant to visit during those times, and almost the worst conditions imaginable for storing a priceless collection of historical items. It became evident that something had to be done to protect the collection. Father Breza had himself acknowledged in a letter addressed to “the Board and Staff of the Polish Cultural Institute and Museum and any interested parties, Clergy or Lay, of the Diocese of Winona/Rochester … [that] a more accessible space would be desirable.”
About the time I learned about our collection at the Polish Museum, I had also started attending building committee meetings for the then-under construction Chancery building in Rochester. As Fr. Breza had made clear in the letter mentioned above that “ideally, the collection should be in the hands of the Diocese and its people,” it became a priority to ensure the new diocesan archives would have both the space and the climate control necessary to house and protect both the items we were moving from the Winona Pastoral Center and those of greatest historical value from the Polish Museum.
With the approval of the director of the Polish Museum in consultation with its Board, under the leadership of Judy Herdina, a long-time diocesan employee (without whose direction this project would have been impossible), and with the help of a team of seminarian volunteers and interns, we began the overwhelming process of inventorying the items at the Museum and preparing them to be moved. We anticipated this project would take approximately five years.
During this inventorying phase of the project, the new Chancery building opened, the Polish Museum got a new director, Fr. Breza passed away, and St. Casimir parish on Winona’s west end closed its doors as a place of worship. With unmistakable historical links - St. Casimir Church was build by Kashubian immigrants - the decision was made to relocate the Polish Museum Catholic collection to St. Casimir as soon as possible for safekeeping and further processing. As of this writing, approximately 80 percent of the collection has been safely moved; of that, about 60 percent has been tagged and inventoried. And it has only been a year and a half since identifying the need.
Fr. Breza expressed his desire that “the dual purpose of historical exhibit and resource … continue.”
And I am happy to report his desire is being fulfilled. Items of the greatest historical significance are being moved to the archives in the Chancery building in Rochester. Many of these items will make an appearance at some point in one of the two display cases that flank the chapel entrance in the Chancery lobby. And, as parishes and clergy have become aware of the collection’s purpose, requests have been made for various articles to return to the parishes from whence they came, to be restored to their original use - these include older vestments and other liturgical items. Likewise, parishes that are renovating or adding on have requested items for repurposing, such as stained glass windows and statues, that were rescued from church buildings that have since closed.
Father Breza wrote, “I am living proof that the two collections [at the Polish Museum] are very related. The Catholic Religion is central to our Polish members and the Diocese is our home. These collections have lived together and mutually benefitted from each other these last 50 years. I hope their futures are defined by cooperation and respect among all involved parties.” He wanted to make sure if the Catholic collection were transferred to the Diocese that we would “in some way credit [the Polish Museum] for its care through these 50 years.”
On behalf of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and its people, I would like to publicly express profound gratitude to the Polish Museum staff for keeping our “stuff” safe all these years and for accommodating the many visitors to the "Diocese of Winona Exhibit.”
The new Archives at the Chancery was designed to grow with us. To this end, the installation of a high density mobile shelving system has been planned that would maximize our space and enable us to grow and easily access our collection for the appreciation and enjoyment of generations to come. This need is all the more relevant as we add the items from the Polish Museum. If you or anyone you know might be interested in contributing to the preservation of our diocesan patrimony, please contact me at mgerlach@dowr.org for more information on how you can help with this project.
Michelle Gerlach is the chancellor of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.
