St. Stanislaus Kostka Mission Church

A large wave of Polish immigrants came to work in the Adams textile mills at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. At first they attended St. Thomas Aquinas parish, but petitioned the Bishop of Springfield to create a new parish where they could worship in their native language.

The Bishop responded favorably, and established St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in 1902. Fr. Mieczysław
Kopytkiewicz arrived in May of that year to serve as its first pastor. In the beginning, the new parish
held services in St. Joseph's Chapel, rented from Notre Dame parish. Fr. Kopytkiewicz quickly launched a project to build an impressive church to serve his congregation. Grounds were purchased at the corner of Summer and Hoosac Streets, and construction commenced in 1903. On October 22, 1905, the Bishop of Springfield blessed the new church and committed it to sacred use.

The interior of the church was still sparsely furnished or decorated at the time. The three altars and the Stations of the Cross were installed in 1906, while confessionals, an organ, the three steeple bells,
electrical wiring, and stained-glass windows followed in 1914. Subsequent years saw the addition of an
ornate pulpit and the hanging chandeliers. Many of these furnishings were imported from Austria and
Italy.

In the 1940s, then-pastor Rev. Edmund Kempinski learned of the Divine Mercy devotion, and
commissioned a painting of the Divine Mercy image to hang in the church. This was the first such image publicly displayed in the Western Hemisphere, and the painting hangs in the church to this day.

For the parish's 50th anniversary, the church underwent significant renovations, including the
installation of a new slate roof and other exterior repairs, and a complete redesign of the artwork on the walls and ceilings. This artwork survived the 1960s-70s trend towards emptying churches of their
ornamentation, and can be seen in its original beauty in the church today.

New stained-glass windows were also installed then, most notable among them the great rose window above the choir loft, which features Our Lady of Czestochowa accompanied by St. Jadwiga Queen of Poland, St. Maximillian Kolbe, and Archbishop Jan Cieplak, who is portrayed as he is tried symbolically by Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky in the shadow of the Soviet hammer and sickle. Archbishop Cieplak had been imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Soviet regime in 1923; international pressure led to his release and exile in 1924. He toured the US and spoke at St. Stanislaus church in January of 1926, thanking the parishioners for their prayers and support that secured his release. This window is likely the only church window in the world portraying the Communist trio.

In the 1970s, the church basement was renovated into a parish meeting center and dedicated as Kolbe Hall, and the framed portrait of Our Lady of Czestochowa was unveiled.

The church has artistic connections to the church of Sant Andrea Al Quirinale in Rome, where St.
Stanislaus Kostka is interred:

1. The wood-carved Stations of the Cross are three-dimensional renderings of portraits of the
Stations in Sant Andrea.
2. The painting of St. Stanislaus receiving Communion to the upper left of the main altar is a
copy of a painting hanging in the St. Stanislaus Chapel in Sant Andrea.
3. The large painting of St. Stanislaus on his deathbed depicts a life-sized sculpture in St.
Stanislaus Chapel in Sant Andrea. Curiously, this painting vanished from parish memory for several decades. A screen and bank of votive candles were temporarily moved in front of the painting during a renovation, hiding it from view. After the renovation, the screen and votive candles remained in place and the painting was forgotten, until subsequent renovations decades later required the votive candles and screen be moved again, revealing the hidden painting.

Masses at St. Stanislaus were originally in Polish. Over the years, as the immigrant population began to be outnumbered by native-born population, the language transitioned to a blend of Polish and English, and finally to all English, but many of the traditional Polish devotions and religious customs continued, albeit in a new language.

In 2003, the pastorate of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish was assigned to Fr. Daniel Boyle, who was also the pastor of the merged Parish of Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs and St. Thomas Aquinas. A turbulent period then visited the church in 2009. On January 1 of that year, the Springfield Diocese
suppressed the parish, merging the three Adams parishes into a new one under the patronage of
Blessed (now Saint) John Paul II. The church was ordered closed, but former parishioners appealed to
Rome and began a three-year round-the-clock vigil in the church. In a historic ruling in 2012, the Vatican upheld the suppression of the parish but overruled the closure of the church, clarifying the criteria required for such an action.

The church was reopened, and today serves as a Mission Church of St. John Paul II Parish, hosting
Masses, weddings, funerals, and devotions, and fulfilling the spiritual needs of the children of St.
Stanislaus Kostka School next door.

A large wave of Polish immigrants came to work in the Adams textile mills at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. At first they attended St. Thomas Aquinas parish, but petitioned the Bishop of Springfield to create a parish where they could worship in their native language.

The Bishop responded favorably, and established St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in 1902. Fr. Mieczysław Kopytkiewicz arrived in May of that year to serve as its first pastor. In the beginning, the new parish held services in St. Joseph's Chapel, rented from Notre Dame church, until their new parish church was completed and blessed in October of 1904.

Over the ensuing 107 years, the parish established a grade school, rectory, cemetery, convent, and picnic/recreation site (Polanka grounds). The church's exterior and interior were improved with new furnishings and ornate artistry reflecting the religious and cultural heritage of the congregation.  These artworks survived the trend of the 1960s-70s towards emptying churches of their ornamentation, and can be seen in their original beauty in the church today.

As the immigrant population began to be outnumbered by native-born population, the language of the parish transitioned from Polish, to a blend of Polish and English, and finally to English, but many of the traditional Polish devotions and customs continued, albeit in a new language.

In January of 2009, the Springfield Diocese suppressed the parish, merging the three Adams parishes into a new one under the patronage of Blessed (now Saint) John Paul II. The church was ordered closed, but former parishioners appealed to Rome and began a three-year vigil. In a historic ruling in 2012, the Vatican upheld the suppression of the parish but overruled the closure of the church, clarifying the criteria required for such an action. The church was reopened, and today serves as a Mission Church of St. John Paul II Parish.

Today the former parish properties have undergone different fates. The school continues in operation, now as a Diocesan school; the convent is used by the school children and by parish committees for meetings; the cemetery remains in active use as an independent entity; and the Polanka grounds hosts the annual parish summer picnic.

History of Pastors of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish:

1902-1908       Fr. Mieczysław Kopytkiewicz
1908-1929       Fr. Franciszek Kołodziej
1929-1947       Fr. Edmund Kempiński
1947-1970       Fr. John Langów
1970-2002       Fr. John Chwałek
2002-2003       Fr. Eugene Suszek
2003-2008       Fr. Daniel Boyle

January 1, 2009:  Suppression of parish and merger with other Adams parishes into Blessed (now Saint) John Paul II Parish

The history of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish is quite remarkable. As written in the Diamond Jubilee Book, the text of which was reproduced online by the Polish American Liturgical Center in Orchard Lake, Michigan, you will see the significance of the construction of the church building. Reverend Mieczysław Kopytkiewicz, the first Polish Pastor of the Parish, wrote in a book issued on September 18, 1903 "Let us rejoice together, my good parishioners, that with God's help we will welcome the spring sun and then the walls of our church will rise and here will stand a temple, the likes of which there will be no other though we look far and wide about us." Rev. Kopytkiewicz was speaking to the parishioners who had given so much of the little money they had to build a church whose splendor could not be rivaled with. 
Read more from the Diamond Jubilee Book