It was built between 1702 and 1723. It is an example of Baroque sacral architecture. Its original shape has been retained intact. The richly decorated interiors include gilded altars and numerous epitaph plaques.

History

The first wooden chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony was built in Łagiewniki in 1676. This date should be regarded as the beginning of the Franciscans’ presence in this place. In 1683, a wooden church was built in Łagiewniki. It was consecrated on August 29 under the invocation of: the Holy Trinity, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, St. Anthony of Padua and St. John the Baptist. In the years 1702-1723, a brick temple was built in place of the wooden church. It was consecrated by Primate Teodor Potocki, the Archbishop of Gniezno, on 16 May 1723.

Łagiewniki was one of the most famous shrines of St. Anthony in the Kingdom of Poland. Pilgrims came here from Pomerania, Silesia and even from Bohemia and Moravia. After the January Uprising, the monastery was dissolved (8 November 1864). The Franciscans returned to Łagiewniki after the First World War, in 1918. The monastery building housed a municipal office, a police station and a school then and it took a long time to recover the building. The confiscated land, on the other hand, was never returned to the Franciscans. Instead, they bought several hectares of land in the immediate vicinity from the owner of the Łagiewniki estate, Mr. Heinzl. There, they set up a garden and an orchard.

During the Second World War, the Franciscans had to leave the monastery. In February 1940, the Germans turned the church into a warehouse. Some time later, they set up a military equipment repair workshop. In 1941, three wooden chapels were demolished: of St. Valentine, of Our Lady of the Angels and the house of Blessed Father Rafał. In 1943, the Chapel of the Transfiguration was pulled down too. When the war ended, the Franciscans, who were in hiding in the area, returned to the monastery. Apart from St. Anthony, the Łagiewniki Sanctuary has another patron - Father Rafał Chyliński (1694-1741), who stayed at the monastery in the years 1728-1736 and 1738-1741. He was buried in the church crypt.

Description

The church follows the floor plan of the Latin cross. It has a three-bay nave and rectangular side chapels forming the arms of the cross. At the intersection of the nave with the transept, there is a small, slender ridge turret. From the east, there is a short chancel terminated with an apse. The roofs are supported by a wooden rafter-collar beam truss assembled using queen posts and brackets. It is clad with rectangular pieces of copper sheet. The plastered elevations are modest and lack any stucco decorations. On the ground level, there is a low plinth and the whole edifice is crowned with a stepped crowning cornice. Only the main façade is articulated by double pilasters with profiled capitals and a centrally positioned entrance to the church. The door opening is flanked by double pilasters with stepped capitals, which support a triangular tympanum with stepped edges. In the central part of the tympanum, there is a coat of arms. The edges are adorned with volutes and a round medallion featuring the crossed hands of Christ and St. Francis. Above them, there is a cross. The door opening is situated between two small square, barred windows. Above the windows, there are metal lanterns, hung on decoratively bent arms. Above the entrance to the temple, at the height of the gallery carrying the organ, there is a high rectangular window and a shallow, narrow balcony with a decorative balustrade from gilded metal, supported on tall, narrow and grooved corbels. The front elevation has with a decorative Baroque top with a triangular pediment with profiled edges. The pediment rests on double, smoothly plastered pilasters with stepped capitals. The surface between them is accentuated with a blende with a segmental arch. It is topped by a triangular, profiled jerkin head supported by a pair of pilasters and half-columns, positioned in front of the pilasters, with capitals similar to the other ones. On the sides of the blende, there are small, rectangular window openings. The top below the tympanum is flanked by volutes with stepped edges.

The church has a cross-barrel vault. The barrel vault in the chancel was pierced with lunettes. In the western part, there is a choir gallery with a pipe organ, supported by a triple arcade resting on two massive pillars with a square cross-section. The rich Baroque décor inside the temple includes the altars, epitaph plaques and a checkerboard marble floor.

The church is open to visitors except during services.

Compiled by Patrycja Podgarbi 25 September 2019

Bibliography

• Maćkowiak T., Łódzkie Łagiewniki, Łódź, 1986
• Grabowski G., Pamiątka z Łagiewniki i nowenny do św. Antoniego, Warszawa 1913
• Mielczarek P., Sanktuarium św. Antoniego w Łagiewnikach, Niepokalanów 1996
• Mielczarek P., Łagiewniki kościół i klasztor franciszkanów, Niepokalanów 1995
• Piasecki J., Opisanie kościołów i klasztorów księży franciszkanów prowincji polskiej, in: Pamiętnik religijno- moralny, Warszawa 1844, Vol. VII
• Gliński I., Z Łagiewnik, Przegląd Katolicki, 1895, No. 8
• Rowiński W., Łagiewniki, Tygodnik Ilustrowany, 1896, No. 8 
• Kłosy 1872 No. 368 Vol. XV
• Kaplice w Łagiewnickim lesie, dzieje, badania i prace konserwatorskie, Łódź 2007
• Stefański K., Record sheet of the architecture and construction of historical monuments, the church of the Franciscan Fathers under the invocation of St. Anthony of Padua, Łódź 1998