Pacanów ParishMinor Basilica · Sanctuary

Parish priests

Since the Middle Ages the parish of St Martin in Pacanów has been led by its parish priests. From the 17th century they were also the guardians of the devotion to the Dying Lord Jesus, and today the parish priest is also the custodian of the sanctuary. We have compiled the list after Fr Jan Wiśniewski (1929), adding other sources and the parish priests after 1929.

List of parish priests

The year beside a name is usually the year in which a source mentions the priest, not the start of his office. The list has gaps – we do not know the parish priests between 1449 and 1502 or between 1550 and 1599. The dates are still to be checked in the archive.

  • 1326 – Rudolf, parish priest1
  • 1440 – Jakub Wiślicki, canon of Kraków, still alive in 14491
  • 1502 – Maciej Ślimawa, parish priest, doctor of medicine2
  • 1540 and 1550 – Stanisław Bzowski, founder of the hospital benefice1
  • 1599 – Wojciech Kraklowicz; the parish registers survive from this year1
  • 1610 – Tomasz Bucki, doctor, official of Wiślica, canon; in 1615 he introduced a devotion at the altar of the Holy Cross1
  • Kacper Niewiarowski, canon of Kraków, died 16 September 1629; he has a monument in Wawel Cathedral1
  • 1630 – Wojciech Kruzel, dean of Książnice1
  • 1632 – Walerian Wilczogórski, archdeacon of Łuck1
  • 1650 – Rucki (Rudzki)1
  • 1659 – Jacek Mokrski, canon of Przemyśl, rebuilt the church burnt during the Deluge1
  • 1675 – Józef Zebrzydowski, canon of Kraków1
  • until 1712 – Kazimierz Sieciński, canon of Tarnów, dean of Pacanów1
  • 1712 – Piotr Tarło, canon of Kraków, later Bishop of Poznań, died 17221
  • Albert Pruszak Bieniewski, canon of Kraków and custodian of Wiślica, died 3 June 1731; he restored the school and the curate's house1
  • Antoni Kleczyński, canon of Bobowa, died 17431
  • Seweryn Michał Biedrzycki (also spelt Bierzyński by Fr Wiśniewski), doctor, scholastic of Kyiv; recorded from 1750 to 1778, he resigned the parish at the age of 701
  • 1787–1817 – Michał Sołtyk, dean of Kraków Cathedral, Crown referendary; in his time, in 1785–1790, the church was thoroughly restored1
  • 1817–1837 – Jakub Eliasz Gogulski1
  • 1837–1864 – Benedykt Nowakowski1
  • 1864–1908 – Wawrzyniec Nowakowski1
  • Adam Józef Badowski – administrator of the parish in 19083, later parish priest; he led the rebuilding of the church after the fire of 1906 and then moved to Włodowice1
  • Franciszek Rajski – commissioned the high altar and a side altar1
  • 1919–1958 – Adam Adamek, dean of Pacanów; he completed the rebuilding of the church (1935) and rebuilt it again after 194414
  • 1958–1982 – Fr Feliks Skrobisz, PhD, previously curate in Pacanów4
  • 1982–2010 – Mgr Lucjan Sito
  • 2010–2026 – Mgr Leszek Domagała
  • since 2026 – Fr Stanisław Picheta5

Since 1982 the parish priests and custodians of the sanctuary have been Fr Lucjan Sito, Fr Leszek Domagała and Fr Stanisław Picheta. For living priests we give only the years of their service in the parish.

Biographies

We add biographies when they can be based on sources. We write them only about priests who have died.

Fr Wawrzyniec Nowakowski (1831–1908)

He was born in 1831 in Wierzbnik (today Starachowice), the son of Jan and Petronela Nowakowski3. He was ordained priest in 1854. For ten years he was a professor and vice-rector of the seminary in Kielce6. He held the degree of candidate of sacred theology and was an honorary canon of Płock1.

He became parish priest of Pacanów in 1864, after Fr Benedykt Nowakowski, and remained in office until his death, for 44 years1. In 1872 he began to record the graces received before the figure of the Dying Lord Jesus. In 1874 he built a brick presbytery. He thoroughly renovated the church – he restored it in 1886, and on 8 June 1895 Bishop Tomasz Teofil Kuliński consecrated it again1.

On 14 September 1904 he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination; 26 priests came to Pacanów6. In the same year he published in Warsaw Opis kościoła Cudownego Pana Jezusa Pacanowskiego (A Description of the Church of the Miraculous Lord Jesus of Pacanów), based on documents from the parish archive – today one of the few records of what the archive held before its losses in the Second World War7.

On 20 September 1906 a fire destroyed most of the church; the Chapel of the Lord Jesus survived. The rebuilding was led by Fr Adam Józef Badowski1. Fr Wawrzyniec Nowakowski died in Pacanów on 2 July 1908, aged 77, as parish priest; the parish was then run by Fr Badowski as administrator3. His tombstone was restored in 2003.

Curates

The parish priests were helped by curates, and in the past also by prebendaries and chaplains of the churches and chapels in Pacanów. In 1759 five priests worked here1. In recent years:

  • Fr Feliks Skrobisz – curate, parish priest from 19584
  • Fr Rafał Nowiński – a former curate, he led the parish pilgrimage to Rome in 2005
  • Fr Leszek Puchała – curate since 2017
  • Fr Stanisław Kostucha – curate since 2023

Priests serving in the parish today: Clergy.

Notes

  1. Fr J. Wiśniewski, Historyczny opis kościołów, miast, zabytków i pamiątek w Stopnickiem (copy without p. 189), Marjówka 1929, pp. 182, 188–193 (in Polish); the list of parish priests begins on p. 189, which can be read in the UMCS Digital Library. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25 ↩26 ↩27 ↩28

  2. W. Semkowicz, Przyczynki dyplomatyczne z wieków średnich, Lwów 1912 (new edition ed. A. Lis, Łódź 2025), pp. 17–19, 25–28, 36, 73 (in Polish). ↩

  3. Death record of Fr Wawrzyniec Nowakowski: State Archive in Kielce, civil registers of the parish of Pacanów, deaths 1908, record no. 56 (in Russian; scan in the GenBaza service). The parish records of 1908 are signed by “Fr Józef Badowski, administrator”. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Historical outline on the former sanctuary website (sanktuariumpacanowskie.com, “Historia Sanktuarium”), based on: Fr B. M. Tarka, Sanktuarium Pana Jezusa Konającego w Pacanowie, Pacanów 2000 (in Polish). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Diocese of Kielce, “Pacanów, św. Marcina b. w.” (copy) (in Polish). ↩

  6. “Jubileusz 50-letni kapłaństwa”, Gazeta Kielecka vol. 35, no. 72 (21 September 1904), p. 3 (Świętokrzyska Digital Library, in Polish). ↩ ↩2

  7. Fr A. Kwaśniewski, “Straty archiwaliów diecezji kieleckiej w latach 1939–1945” (copy), Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne 125 (2025), pp. 337–360, here pp. 346–347 (in Polish). ↩

Parish priests · Pacanów Parish