Paul Joseph Breza, Roman Catholic priest and Kashubian American activist, was born in

Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf. The city is named after legendary figure Winona, who ...

on June 23, 1937, the son of Joseph Peter and Alice Seraphine (Pehler) Breza, both of whom were descendants of Kashubian immigrants from

Bytów Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Bytó ...

, Poland. He was educated at Saint Stanislaus Kostka School, Cotter High School and

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, (SMUMN) is a private Catholic university with an undergraduate residential college in Winona, Minnesota; graduate and professional programs in Winona, the Twin Cities, and Rochester; and various course deli ...

Priestly ministry

After completing his seminary studies, Father Breza was ordained a priest on June 1, 1963 for the

Diocese of Winona In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

.''St. Stanislaus Parish 1871-1971'', Winona: privately published, 1971. During his nearly fifty years of active priestly ministry, Father Breza has served the Diocese of Winona in a number of roles: pastor, chaplain, teacher, and administrator, tending to people from across the spectrum of society. Honorowi Obywatele Miasta - Ks. Paul Breza
(www.bytow.com; in Polish) In his retirement, he continues to fill in for other priests whenever needed in addition to serving as the Diocesan archivist.

Kashubian American activism

See also Kashubians#Diaspora In 1979, Father Breza established the Polish Cultural Institute and Museum in Winona in a former lumber yard office he had purchased two years earlier. Initially intended to commemorate Winona's

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

heritage, the Cultural Institute and Museum has also developed a Kashubian element after Father Breza's visits to Bytów in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Under Father Breza's guidance, Winona and Bytów became

Sister Cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

in 2004, and Bytów celebrated its first annual ''Dzien Winony'' ("Winona Day") on September 26, 2006. Under the Polish Cultural Institute's auspices, students from both Winona and Bytów participate in an exchange program, the most recent of which took place in 2012. Father Breza has also been instrumental in highlighting Winona's longtime status, dating back to 1898, as "Kashubian Capital of America."

Honors and awards

Father Breza has received public honors for his priestly ministry and for his service to the Kashubian American community, both in Poland and in the United States. In 2007 his alma mater, Cotter High School, named him its third "Alumnus of the Year." In 2008 the city of Bytow recognized him with the title "Honorary Citizen of Bytow." In 2010, Father Breza was inducted into Winona's Polish Heritage Hall of Fame. On May 5, 2013, in a ceremony at the Polish Museum, the Polish Consul General in Chicago, Ms. Paulina Kapuscinska, presented Father Breza with the Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his contribution to Polish American relations. On June 1, 2013, with representatives from the town on Bytow in attendance, Father Breza celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood with a special Mass at the Basilica of Saint Stanislaus Kostka and a banquet at the Polish Museum."Breza honored for 50 years in priesthood, forging ties with sister city"''Winona Daily News'', June 1, 2013
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External links

* , posted by kurierbytowski on February 24, 2010 (in Polish) * , posted by naszemiastoTV on December 29, 2010 (in Polish)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breza, Paul 1937 births Living people People from Winona, Minnesota American people of Kashubian descent 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Kashubian clergy Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester Catholics from Minnesota