Kościół pw. Matki Boskiej Fatimskiej
Churches of Kraków
Parish church (Roman Catholic), Dębniki district. A parish is a community of believers tied to a particular church.
History
The church was built for the new Podwawelskie estate in Dębniki. The parish started out here as a rectorate, and the earlier church of St Bartholomew proved too small for the growing number of faithful. In 1968 Fr Adam Gacek, with the consent of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, began efforts to build a new church. Permission came after more than a dozen years, in May 1982. That month, on 21 May, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski blessed the building site, and a year later Pope John Paul II blessed the foundation stone on Kraków's Błonia Park; it was later set into the church. The lower church was blessed on 23 December 1984, and the founding act was placed in the foundations on 11 June 1986. The church is a votive offering of thanks for saving the life of John Paul II.
The first Mass was celebrated on 20 December 1987 by Cardinal Macharski, who that day also blessed three bells: "John Paul II", "St Bartholomew the Apostle" and "Our Lady of Fatima". The parish church was consecrated on 7 October 1998.
At the south-west corner of the building rises a 35-metre cross, with a bell tower holding three bells beside it. There are three entrances: two from Komandosów Street and one from Słomiana Street. The building has a hipped roof with four slopes, and the interior is divided into an upper and a lower church. In the upper church, in the middle of the altarpiece, stands a figure of Our Lady of Fatima, with the tabernacle beneath it. In the north-west part of the hall is a small Chapel of the Merciful Jesus, and next to it hang paintings of saints, including Adalbert, Stanislaus and Brother Albert Chmielowski. In the lower church you will find images of Our Lady of Częstochowa and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Did you know?
The white marble of the high altar table is laid out in the shape of an oak leaf, and an oak leaf is the emblem of the parish.