Summary Page:  Former House

Name: Nowy Sacz, S. Spirit and B.M.V.

Circary at the Time: Polonia

Years of Activity: 1409-1784

Gallery: Click Here

Map:  Click Here (Source:  © MapQuest  http://www.mapquest.com)

Monasticon Praemonstratense (I, 342)

Approximate modern location: In the city of the same name, in the mountains of the central Krakow region, Poland

Elm-Number [See below]: 371*

Other Comments: We are grateful to Dr. Joanna Szczesna of the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, for the following comments regarding Nowy Sacz.  

"A citizen of Krakow, by the name of Langseydel, founded the Gothic church of The Holy Spirit and Eleven Thousand Virgins was in 1400, near an already existing hospital and poorhouse.  Nine years later, the king of Poland , Wladyslaus Jagiello, founded a cloister for Norbertine Canons next to this church.

In 1611 there was a fire, and the church was partly destroyed - among other damages the vaulting of the nave collapsed.  After about 10 years these damages were removed and the nave received a new cradle dome.  The cloister walk became an aisle and the original sacristy was changed into St. Anne’s chapel.  In 1747 church was renovated and in 1755 the western tower was built.

After the first partition of Poland in 1784, this Norbertine house was secularized and the church was changed into a magazine.

In 1831 the church was taken over by the Jesuits, and its sacred function was restored. Since that time its history is closely tied to the Jesuit community – not only its religious role, but also its educational and cultural activities.

Now the church performs the function of a parochial church and the sanctuary of BV Mary of Consolation, but the parish staff remain Jesuits.

The present church is of mixed gothic and baroque style.  At the north and west remain some cloister buildings.  Fragments of them are added to the church as an aisle and two side chapels.  The church is single aisled, having a chancel with gothic, ogive shaped windows. The façade has a tower with a vestibule at ground level. The walls of the nave and chancel are supported by buttresses.  The nave and chancel are of the same height and are covered with a common roof.  On the roof there is a tower for an ave-bell.

Inside of the chancel there is late gothic vaulting from the end of 15th century.  In the nave there is baroque cradle vaulting with lunettes from the 17th century. Three bays are marked with straps.  In the nave there are also three baroque portals (1620, 1731 and 1750).

Most of the elements of the interior equipment of the church date to 19th and 20th centuries (side altars (1928-32), pulpit (1891), organ (1933), baptismal font (1958).  There are extremely few pieces which can be connected with Norbertine times:


* This listing (and the numbers, with a few adjustments after 1995) is based on the map contained in Kaspar Elm's Norbert von Xanten: Adliger, Ordensstifter, Kirchenfuerst, Wienand Verlag, Koeln, 1984, page 284-285.