Piotr Chowaniec was born January 17, 1856 in the area of Sanok (Austrian-held Poland). He attended secondary school in Jaslo and entered the seminary at Przemysl. At the time of his ordination (1882 in Buffalo, NY), the only Polish Catholic parish in the area was St. Stanislaus (under the direction of Ks. Jan Pitass). Because of differences with Pitass, Chowanies's stayat the parish was short-lived. He then went west and briefly served in places such as Pine Grove and Eaton in Wisconsin and Swan River, Perham and Ledoux in Minnesota. His stays in the above-mentioned places usually involved the organization of Polish parishes. Chowaniec is known as "the missionary of Minnesota" since it was he who was responsible for the founding of seven parishes and the building of the parish churches in that state.

Chowaniec's last assignment, that of pastor at the Holy Mother of the Rosary Parish in Baltimore, MD, began in 1897. It was here that the young man died a mysterious death in 1892. According to the Polish-American historical writer, Ks. Waclaw Kruszka, he was poisoned.