History

The Church of St Francis from Assisi and Franciscan monastery (former monastery of the Franciscans Reformati) was funded in 1751 by the governor of the Brodnica District Józef Pląskowski and his wife Rozalia née Czapski. Construction of the church was completed in 1761 and the building was consecrated in 1762. The original (most likely wooden) monastery buildings burned down in 1769 and the current ones were constructed in the years that followed. In 1838, the building was re-consecrated as the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From then onwards, it served the function of a cemetery church, and for some time also a prison church.

During the interwar period, it was the garrison church for the 67th Infantry Regiment stationed in Brodnica. On 2 November 1947, it was officially taken over by the Franciscans and the parish was founded on 4 October 1978. By decree of provincial superior Hipolit Lipiński, on 13 June 1996 the church attained the status of a Sanctuary of St Anthony – the first one in northern Poland. The monastery was rebuilt in the years 1950-1952 and the church in the years 1964-1965.

Description

The Franciscan monastery complex is situated north-west of the Large Market Square by the road to Grudziądz. The Baroque church is not oriented towards the east, with the two-bay chancel facing south; the nave is wider with a four-bay layout and the fourth bay is narrower from the north side and houses the choir gallery. The nave and the chancel are covered with separate gable roofs and above the chancel there is a turret for a steeple with an octagonal lantern. The church is made of brick and covered with plaster. The front (north) façade is partitioned with double Ionic pilasters supporting the entablature which simultaneously serve as the base of the triangular gable. On the axis, there is a rectangular entrance surmounted by split, semi-circular pediment with a Franciscan emblem. In the side fields, there are niches with modern sculptures of St Anthony of Padua and St Francis from Assisi. The nave and the chancel feature barrel vaults with a lowered rise and lunettes. In the middle of the nave ceiling, there is a stucco rosette. The wall partitions are accentuated with engaged pillars with rounded corners, adorned with Ionic pilasters and supporting the entablature and the cornice. Above the cornice, there are segment-headed windows in wide niches. The choir gallery is made of brick and rests on three pillars linked by arches. The interior fittings of the church are cohesive and in line with the requirements of the 18th-century programme of churches of the Franciscans Reformati.

Surviving fixtures and fittings include the main altarpiece of Christ Crucified int he Rococo style (situated in the middle of the chancel because of the choir gallery behind it) from the 18th century, with the following sculptures: a crucifix in the middle section, the Virgin Mary, St Peter, St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene on the sides and God the Father, the Dove of the Holy Spirit and two angels with the Instruments of the Passion (Arma Christi) in the top section. The side altarpieces were designed in the Rococo style. There is also a Rococo pulpit with a sculpture of an Angel with a trumpet on the canopy. The building features a neo-Baroque pipe organ from the second half of the 19th century built by Juliusz Witt from Gdańsk. The oldest element of the church décor is the granite holy water font, which likely dates back to the Middle Ages. There are two confessionals which date back to the 18th century and pews with the Leliwa coat of arms painted on them from 1796. The marble epitaph plaque of Józef Pląskowski and his wife Rozalia were funded in 1791 by the son of the Reverend Andrzej Pląskowski, canon of Chełmno and Warmia. There are also two Rococo altar crosses from c. 1770. Paintings found inside the church include a Baroque painting of the adoration of the Virgin Mary with Child by angels and a Baroque family tree of St Francis from the 18th century. From the west, the church is adjoined by brick monastery buildings on a rectangular floor plan, with an inner quadrangular garth and a narrow yard adjoining the church nave. The two-storey buildings with a single-bay layout and a corridor around the garth exhibit modest features of the Baroque style. The corridor and ground floor rooms are covered with double barrel vaults, with barrel vaults with lunettes on the upper storeys. The north façade is flush with the church façade and has nine axes. The roofs are either hipped or of the gable type with ridges of uneven height. Around the monastery, there is a parish cemetery created in the area of the former monastery garden. In the oldest part of the cemetery, there is a pietà sculpture created by sculptor Ignacy Zelek.

The monument is open to visitors.  The interiors are open to visitors during church service.

Prepared by Marzenna Stocka, National Heritage Board of Poland, Regional Branch in Toruń, 17 May 2018

Bibliography

• Diecezja toruńska. Historia i teraźniejszość, Vol. 3, Dekanat brodnicki, Toruń 1998, pp. 72-77
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Vol. XI: Województwo bydgoskie, issue 2: Powiat brodnicki, Tadeusz Chrzanowski and Marian Kornecki (eds.), Warszawa 1971, pp. 13-15
• Wultański J., Brodnickie ulice, Brodnica 2002, pp. 158-164