History

The Church of St James the Apostle in Błażejewo was erected in the years 1675-1676. It was founded by Rev. Stanisław Grudowicz, Professor of the Lubrański Academy in Poznań and the founder of the first Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Poland, located in Gostyń. The church underwent restoration works in 1778.. After the war, it was renovated in c. 1950 according to a design by the architect Franciszek Morawski. During the 1970s, the sacristy was extended and in 1980, a porch was added.

Description

The parish church is situated on the north side of a road leading from Dolsko to Książ Wielkopolski. The wooden log structure was built on brick foundations and covered with weatherboards both inside and outside. The church is oriented towards the east. It has one nave and an elevated chancel terminating in a semi-hexagon, as well as two chapels by the nave, which together form a type of transept. The sacristy can be reached from the chancel; the new porch, built on a square floor plan, adjoins the western side of the church. Inside, there is a flat board ceiling covered with paintings, which were made only recently. The nave, the chancel, and the chapels are covered with roofs of the same height, covered with sheet metal. At the junction of the nave and the transept, there is a square tower topped with a Baroque, copper-sheeted tented roof featuring an octagonal openwork lantern with an onion-shaped dome crowned with a cross. The westfaçade and the chapels have scrolled gables framed with strips of wood. The west gable features a trefoil-ended cross surrounded by a wooden circle and a Latin cross on the very top.

The folk fittings and furnishings of the church are particularly notable. The Late-Renaissance main altar, dating back to the late 16th/early 17th century, comes from an old church on the Holy Mountain. It incorporates a painting of Mary with Child known as the Spiritual Rose of the Holy Mountain, being a copy of a painting from the Holy Mountain sanctuary. The altars in the chapels come from the 4th quarterof the17th century. On the left altar, there is a new copy of the Gostyń Mother of God painting in a Renaissance frame and on the right altar — there is a painting of St Joseph from the 17th century. The church walls feature the fourteen Stations of the Cross, painted on glass, made in the modern times to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the dedication of the church. The walls and the ceiling are decorated with paintings by Anna and Zofia Pawłowskie from Tarnów.

The church can be visited from the outside. Holy Masses: Sundays at 8:00 and 11:00; weekdays at 18:00; holidays on weekdays — at 18.00.

compiled by Beata Marzęta, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Poznan, 17-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Drewniane kościoły Wielkopolski, Poznań 2004, s. 19.