Kościół pw. Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa (ul. Garncarska)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Zgromadzenie Służebnic Najświętszego Serca Jezusowego (Sercanki).
History
The church at Garncarska Street 24, in the Nowy Świat area, has two roles: it is a parish church and at the same time the convent church of the Sercanki, that is, the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The plans were drawn up by Władysław Kaczmarski, who combined eclectic styles with a predominance of Neo-Romanesque motifs. Construction took place at the end of the 19th century, and the consecration in 1900. The land for the convent buildings was donated to the sisters by Princess Wanda Jabłonowska, and the cost of building the church was covered by a generous benefactress.
The congregation's beginnings go back to 1891, when Father Józef Sebastian Pelczar, a professor at the Jagiellonian University, set up a confraternity in Kraków to help village girls who came to the city looking for work as servants and labourers. The order was founded on 15 April 1894. Pelczar created it together with Sister Klara Ludwika Szczęsna, the first superior general. The sisters were to look after the material and moral well-being of servants and women workers, and also to nurse the sick in their homes. In time the house on Świętego Krzyża Street became too small for the growing number of candidates, so a house was built on land on Garncarska Street, consecrated in July 1896.
The facade of the church and convent is decorated with sculptures by Jan Tombiński. The main altar was made in 1899 by Kazimierz Wakulski, and the side altars by Wit Wisz. In one of the side chapels stands an altar with a portrait and relics of Bishop Pelczar, and in another, since 1995, rest the remains of Klara Ludwika Szczęsna, brought here from Rakowicki Cemetery. In 2011 a small altar of John Paul II with relics was placed next to the altar of St Joseph. The convent house next to the church is home to the Bishop Pelczar museum.
Did you know?
For almost thirty years, from 1978 to 2005, the Sercanki sisters ran John Paul II's household in the Vatican. One of the sisters, Eufrozyna, that is Teresa Rumian, was the pope's personal secretary throughout his pontificate.