The Temple of Mercy and Charity ( pl, Świątynia Miłosierdzia i Miłości) is a Mariavite

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Płock Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to th ...

in central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It is located near the

Vistula River The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

Significance

The Temple is the religious center of the

Mariavite Church The Mariavite Church is today one of two independent Christian churches collectively known as Mariavites who first emerged from the religious inspiration of Polish noblewoman and nun, Feliksa Kozłowska (1862-1921) in the late 19th-century. In ...

and contains the tomb of its founder Feliksa Kozłowska, as well as a memorial plaque commemorating its first leader Jan Maria Michał Kowalski. It is also the focus of pilgrimages by followers of the Mariavite Church. The main religious celebration occurs on August 15, the date of the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

, which also coincides with the consecration of the church.

History

The church was built on the site of a small manor with two annexes which was purchased in 1902 by the movement's founder Feliksa Kozłowska. The temple's construction took place from 1911 to 1914 and was financed chiefly from collections from the Mariavite community.

Architecture

The Temple was designed in English

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, according to instructions issued by Feliksa Kozłowska and conveyed by Bishop Maria Michał Kowalski. All technical aspects of the plans were supervised and corrected by two experienced architect and engineer Mariavite priests, Wacław Przysiecki and Feliks Szymanowski. The church itself is built on an E- shaped plan to symbolize the word

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. Perched on top of the main dome is a gigantic monstrance adorned by four angels, each measuring almost 4 feet in height. The following sentence is carved underneath: ''"Adorujmy Chrystusa Króla panującego nad narodami"'', which in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translates as "Let us adore

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where the Christ is described as seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one of ...

who reigneth over all nations". On top each of its three slim steeples are crowns, with three more on the central steeple and one on each of the side ones. The exterior is grey/blue in colour, whereas inside, it is full of natural light and dazzling white. The interior is free of any excessive

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

and has no

side altar A side-altar or bye-altar is an altar that is subordinate to the central or high altar in a church. The term is generally applied to altars that are situated in the bay or bays of the nave, transepts, etc. Side-altars may be recessed in a side-ch ...

s. The focus of the building is to direct attention solely towards the main altar in the centre of the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. A gilded

baldaquin A baldachin, or baldaquin (from it, baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over h ...

rests on top of four pillars. A papal tiara and the Keys of St. Peter are fixed to the baldaquin's front to symbolize that in the

, the highest authority is in

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

, continuously present in the church signified by the fervent adoration of the

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of the ...

. On either side of the altar are

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

stalls where Mariavite clergy sit during religious services. The doors, pews and floors of the Temple of Mercy and Charity are all carved in solid

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

. In addition to the remains of Feliksa Kozłowska, the Temple crypt also houses the tombs of several Mariavite bishops.

Gallery

file:Temple of Mercy and Charity.jpg file:Temple of Mercy and Charity1.jpg file:Temple of Mercy and Charity2.jpg file:Temple of Mercy and Charity4.jpg file:Temple of Mercy and Charity5.jpg

External links

Gallery of photos
{{coord, 52.5475, N, 19.6803, E, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Mariavite Church Churches in Poland Buildings and structures in Płock Churches in Masovian Voivodeship Independent Catholic church buildings