Kościół pw. Świętego Józefa (ul. Poselska)
Churches of Kraków
Church (Roman Catholic), Stare Miasto district. A listed monument (heritage register). Run by: Mniszki Trzeciego Zakonu Regularnego św. Franciszka z Asyżu (Bernardynki).
History
St Joseph's Church on Poselska Street belongs to the Bernardine nuns and is a Baroque church. The community dates back to 1644, when Teresa Zadzikówna founded a convent here using money inherited from her brother, Bishop Jakub Zadzik. The nuns moved into Poselska Street on 11 August 1646, installed by Bishop Piotr Gembicki. The Swedish Deluge destroyed the buildings, which were later rebuilt and extended. Kacper Bażanka and Franciszek Placidi contributed to their present compact form.
The church itself was built in 1694-1703 on the site of the demolished Tęczyński Palace, which Stanisław Opaliński had given to the nuns. Construction was funded by Michał Warszycki, Voivode of Sandomierz, and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Kraków, Kazimierz Łubieński. During the city fire of 1850 the church partly burned down, but the interior was saved. Inside there is a single nave with a barrel vault. The high altar, four side altars and the pulpit were made in 1697-1699 by the Kraków woodcarver Jerzy Hankis, and the walls were decorated with paintings by Jan Bukowski in 1913.
The most important object of devotion is the painting in the high altar: St Joseph holding the boy Jesus, painted in Italy in the first half of the 17th century. Convent tradition says that Bishop Jakub Zadzik received it in 1627 from Pope Urban VIII, brought it from Rome and gave it to his sister Teresa. Since 1879 the patronal feast has been celebrated before this image, and since 1884 perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has been held in the church. On 19 March 2016 the church was raised to the rank of diocesan shrine of St Joseph. The courtyard is separated from the street by a neo-Renaissance rusticated wall with three gates, designed in 1840 by Tomasz Majewski.
Did you know?
In the left side altar stands a figure of the tiny Jesus dressed in colourful robes, known as the Coletan Infant. It came here from the Chapel of St Colette in Stradom, which belonged to the Bernardine nuns and was demolished in 1823.