Our story begins in the 1930’s, when Father Kraus asked the Holy Cross Priests to care for the Spanish speaking families in Cedar Creek because he did not know Spanish.

A vast  area was being served by only one church, this was at Vasquez, so called because it was built by the Vasquez family on their own

Archbishop Droessarts, took the territory which extended south of the Colorado River in Austin, to a point just north of Kyle from the Claretians and gave it to Holy Cross with the stipulation that then Father Alfredo Mendez, be named Pastor.

Because Father Mendez could not afford an architect, he wrote to Professor Francis Kervic of Notre Dame and asked him to have his students design some churches for him. Thus the designs by the architectural students of Notre Dame University, became the churches of San Jose in Austin, Santa Cruz in Buda and our own San Francisco Javier.

San Francisco Javier was built with limestone. The other two churches were built with flat field stone which came from a farm in Menchaca Area. The stone was transported to the church by wagon or truck wichever was available.

At the time the churches were being built, Austin had done away with their street cars, so the poles supporting the trolley wires, became the beams of these churches.

Those beams are still in place in the original part of the church and can be seen as you come into the church!

Father Mendez began to raise funds to purchase land to build our church in 1938. On December 9, 1940, one acre from the estate of Howell W. Wilhite as purchased for $100. A second deed from Sallie P. McCown, Conreys property was to be the site of San Francisco Javier where it is presently located at 9110 Hwy 183 South, Austin. San Francisco Javier was built by Mexican Aericans working under the direction of Joes Botello. (SEE PDF FOR MORE INFO.)

The first mass was held at  San Francisco on July 6, 1941.

Building the Grotto- Notes from Rev. Charles Delaney, C.S.C.
Members of San Francisco Mission on the Lockhart highway will dedicate a grotto to Our Lady of Fatima on December 21, 1952. The grotto was designed to look as close to the one in Fatima, Portugal. It took two months of hard labor to construct, About 70 truckloads of rock were brought in for the grotto. The lava rock came from the extinct volcano located at the end of what is now Lava Hill Road at the intersection of 183 and 1625. It is called Pilot Knob. the most Rev. Msgr. Matocha was present to bless the grotto which was built under the direction of the pastor, Father Charles Delaney.