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The non-existent St. Margaret's Church in Netta

Both the beginning and the end of the calendar year make us reflect on life and the passing of our existence on earth. However, we do not often reflect on the fact that the space around us is changing as well. This also applies to architecture, including sacral one. For centuries, in the Bargłów parish, there hasn't been a St. Margaret's Church in Netta (now Netta Pierwsza).

Earliest references

Józef Golubiewski, an insightful chronicler of Bargłów, in the Chronicle of the royal parish of Bargłów notes out of some documents three pieces of information about the existence of a church in Netta. The first one is taken from a letter from King Zygmunt August of 1561, the second one from 1700 and the third one from the church inventory written down in 1783. Traces of the existence of the church in Netta have been preserved in very few documents and publications, and in the memory of some villagers.

In his work "The History of Settlement in Augustów County from the 15th to the end of the 18th century", a historian Jerzy Wiśniewski gives the local name of the hill "Kościółek" (little church) and supposes that a branch church of the Bargłów Temple could have stood on it. While I was looking for traces of this place in September 2006, most of the people I asked, had not heard about the existence of a church in Netta. Someone anonymous directed me to the Augustów Canal, where I met Tadeusz Połubiński who pointed me exactly to the hill where the church stood and shared his information with me.

Built by Jan Radziwiłł

While working on the sacral monuments of Bargłów Kościelny, I got acquainted with the parish documentaries copied by Józef Golubiewski. These included, among others, a copy of a letter from King Zygmunt August dated December 1561 to a Bargłów Pastor Tomasz Bohdan Szaciła (in the List of the Parish Priests and Administrators of the Bargłów parish, Józef Golubiewski mentions him as the first parson in Bargłów). In this letter, the ruler assigned Pastor Szaciła a church in Netta with the land in the amount of three voloks, three morgens and two square rods. It appears from the letter that this church, called in the document kościołek (a small church), was built by Jan Radziwill. The letter was written at the request of the vicar. It was supposed to provide the rectory with these lands as its own for eternal times. I' m quoting their location from the copy: w Wołosty naszoy Korolewskoy w obrubie wsi Netty [..] lezaszczyie w koncu wolok naszych koncom –do Rzeki Netty a bokom podle wolok Nettowskich (Our royal voloks are around the Netta village […] lie at the ends of our voloks, ends – to the Netta river and sides towards Netta’s voloks). The parish priest's only duty was to hold a service in the church every day: kromie tolko Nabożeństwa każdo dziennocho tak on sam, jako i następcy Pilnie powinni czyniti (besides this, he, as well as his successors, should diligently hold a mass every day). The year of construction of the church is unknown. Netta, formerly known as Meta, was founded around 1532 by a Mazovian, Maciej Srebrowski from Srebrov near Wizna with the authorization of Jan Radziwill, a Lithuanian cupbearer. Most probably, the private church of the Radziwiłłs was established after the founding of the Meta, and before the incorporation of the area into the royal estate and before the establishment of the parish in Bargłów in 1544. Previously, these areas belonged to the parish in Rajgród. Whether it was originally a branch church of the Parish of Rajgród is not entirely known. Józef Golubiewski in the chronicle calls it prywatny kościółek (a private little church). Later documents show that it was erected as the church of St. Margaret.

The Swedish war wreaked great havoc on the lands of the parish of Bargłów. The following churches were completely destroyed: the parish church in Bargłów and the private church in Grabów parish. The church in Netta survived the war turmoil and in 1700 was listed as the only church in the area. A historian Jerzy Wiśniewski mentions that: The branch church of St. Margaret in Netta was in a better condition. However, it is likely that the war undermined its later glory and contributed to its downfall. During the Swedish Deluge, the village of Netta was severely damaged and people were impoverished. A historian Jarosław Szlaszyński, on the basis of materials from the State Lithuanian Archive in Vilnius, reports that Netta has been completely destroyed by fire with only four empty cottages left.

Temple’s appearance

The description of the church can be found in a document issued on the occasion of the general dean's visitation of the parish of Bargłów in March 1783. It was situated half a mile from the Bargłowski church. It stood on an uphill stretch near the forest, 30 furlongs away from the village of Neta. It was described as ravaged, unrepairable and, as a result, unfit for service. It was made of wood. It had two doors and five windows. One double door, on iron hinges with the inner lock from the cemetery, the other one to the sacristy also on iron hinges with two hasps and a lock (z dwoma Proboiami y Skoblem). The windows were lead-framed. Four of them were in the church and one in the sacristy. The floor in the church was made of lumber. The church was equipped with a pulpit, two benches and an altar with a painting of St. Margaret. Above the church porch, there was a dome with a bell, topped with an iron cross. The Church, as the surveyor Father Szymon Pienczykowski writes, w cało spustoszony, tak w Dachu, Scianach iako y we Wnętrzney Ozdobie (is completely ravaged, equally in the Roof, the Walls and the Interiors). The floor in it was rotten while the windows were broken and the equipment was decayed. It was not suitable for holding masses, yet they were still held there. According to the old custom, it was used for four masses a year: on St. Margaret´s Day, the second day of Christmas, the second day of Easter and the second day of Green Week. The parish's description states that according to tradition, the church was erected under the new name of St. Margaret's. Near the church there was a cemetery, described on the occasion of a visitation: a graveyard that was once fenced.

The land belonging to the church was cultivated by the Bargłowski presbytery. The church documents from 1822 and 1832 state that the voloks in the village of Netta were handed out by the predecessors by private agreement to the landowners who lived in their own houses. The names of those living in their own cottages were also given. In 1822 these were: Maciej Dudek, Jan Drozd, Tomasz Romanowski, Piotr Szymański and Jan Gulan. Ten years later, the following names: Jan Drozd, Kalisz (without a name), Antoni Gulan, Andrzej Kościuch and Mateusz Karp were mentioned.

What happened to the church?

In the protocol of the General Visitation of 1822, signed by Pastor Jan Kanty Zawadzki and the Dean of the parish of Wąsów, Father Modzelewski, it was written that there were no public chapels in the parish. The church from Netta was also not mentioned in it. One can think that at that time the church of St. Margaret in Netta did not exist anymore. It was probably disassembled and the remains were, following tradition, burnt just as it was done with rotten crosses.

Irena Baturowa in her article about Netta-Folwark published in "Jaćwieża" also mentions a hill in Netta Pierwsza where the church of St. Margaret once stood. She reports that there was a spring at the foot of the hill whose water cured eye diseases. According to the legend she quoted, one time a rich lady washed her blind dog's eyes with the water from the spring and the water lost its healing powers.

My local guide to Kościółek (the Church Hill) told me that he remembered from the stories of his ancestors that in the 19th and early 20th century a wooden cross stood on the hill. Until recently, bones had been ploughed out of the hillside confirming the existence of a cemetery there in the past.

I believe that it is worth keeping in mind the existence of the church in Netta. We need to continue looking for more information and, thus, answers to numerous questions related to it. For instance, who canonically erected this church and why St. Margaret was chosen as its patroness?

Wzgórze Kościółek, wrzesień 2006. fot. Józefa Drozdowska
Wzgórze Kościółek (The Church Hill), September 2006, Photo by Józefa Drozdowska.
 
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Słowa niosące ukojenie

W kilku zdaniach chciałabym przedstawić antologię wierszy zatytułowaną „Pomiędzy dłonią a niebemˮ. Jest ona wyrazem hołdu dla Niezwykłego Człowieka, jakim był Jan Paweł II. Inicjatywa jej powstania zrodziła się w środowisku poetów skupionych w Nauczycielskim Klubie Literackim działającym przy Zarządzie Okręgu Podlaskiego Związku Nauczycielstwa Polskiego. Pomysłodawczyniami, a zarazem redaktorami tego wyjątkowego tomu są białostockie poetki Regina Kantarska-Koper i Joanna Pisarska. W tytule mojego tekstu przywołałam myśl autora wstępu do antologii o. Bartłomieja Józefa Kucharskiego. Zwrócił on szczególną uwagę na łagodność słów w zawartych w niej wierszach i kojący ich charakter. Tego właśnie, według niego, potrzebuje hałaśliwy i pełen zamętu świat, w którym przyszło nam żyć.

Kilka poetek: Krystyna Gudel, Regina Kantarska-Koper, Leonarda Szubzda i Józefa Drozdowska współpracuje wydawniczo z Jamińskim Zespołem Indeksacyjnym, stąd moja propozycja zaprezentowania antologii w tym miejscu. Mam nadzieję, że tą publikacją zainteresują się miejscowi bibliotekarze i sympatycy naszego Stowarzyszenia. Autorami wierszy są: Halina Alfreda Auron, Grażyna Cylwik, Anna Czartoszewska, Marek Dobrowolski, Józefa Drozdowska, Tadeusz Dudek, Jolanta Maria Dzienis, Katarzyna Grabowska, Krystyna Gudel, Janina Jakoniuk, Regina Kantarska-Koper, Urszula Krajewska-Szeligowska, Beata Kulaga, Barbara Lachowicz, Edward Lipiński, Grzegorz Nazaruk, Joanna Pisarska, Daniela Polasik, Maria Roszkowska, Agnieszka Ruczaj, Irena Słomińska, Ewa Danuta Stupkiewicz, Leonarda Szubzda i Regina Świtoń. Zgrupowane są w jedenastu ciekawie nazwanych rozdziałach. Opowiadają o wewnętrznych zmaganiach człowieka, doświadczeniu krzyża i miłości Maryi. Są poetyckim odczytaniem przesłania Ewangelii, słowami modlitw, opowieścią o spotkaniu z Bogiem oraz człowiekiem, przedstawiają świętych patronów, opowiadają o napotkanych kapliczkach i widzianych religijnych obrazach, dotykają spraw doczesnych i ostatecznych. Ostatni z rozdziałów zatytułowany „Papież z Wadowicˮ poświęcony jest osobie i świętości Jana Pawła II. Poprzedza go portret Świętego Papieża, nakreślony ręką młodej artystki (prywatnie wnuczki jednej z redaktorek antologii) Julii Magdaleny Koper. Tom liczy 206 stron, oprawiony jest w twardą okładkę ozdobioną ciekawą fotografią autorstwa Joanny Pisarskiej, symbolizującą, według mnie, furtkę prowadzącą zarówno do serca drugiego człowieka jak i do nieba. Obie, co głosił i potwierdzał własnym życiem Patron tejże antologii, są konieczne każdemu z nas do owocnego istnienia tu na ziemi i przyszłego zbawienia.

Poniżej dwa wiersze (Krystyny Gudel i mój) związane tematycznie z obszarem zainteresowania Jamińskiego Zespołu Indeksacyjnego. Mój dyptyk jest dedykowany Barbarze Salwockiej, współpracującej na polu wydawniczym z JZI.  Dodaję swoje zdjęcie krzyży z Wólki Karwowskiej.


Józefa Drozdowska

Dyptyk o krzyżach z Wólki Karwowskiej

Barbarze Salwockiej

Krzyż na początku wsi / Idąc od strony Pruski

Gdy słońce staje w zenicie, rzucasz cień swój na drogę,
zachęcając, bym uklękła na Anioł Pański i spotulniała nieco.
Twój kamienny postument z początku poprzedniego wieku,
żłobiony kroplami deszczu wypraszanego w procesjach,
smagany wiatrem przeganiającym burze stulecia,
daje mi poczucie trwania. Twoje ramiona w obłokach
i tęczy ze wstążek, a u podnóża rumiany polne
bieleją niczym dziewczęca sukienka od Pierwszej Komunii Świętej.
Wchodząc do wsi, odkrywam gościnność Słowa
wypowiadanego z ciebie i w Nim się zakorzeniam.

Krzyż na rozdrożu / Idąc w stronę cmentarza lub Bułkowizny

Gdy się zmierzcha wokół, jaśniejesz przede mną,
bym nie straciła z oczu drogi. Dziękuję za dłonie
nieznanego mi kamieniarza, bowiem kształt,
będący znakiem miłosierdzia, zachwyca wędrowców
od wieku wdziękiem i swą proporcją. Po drodze mijam
skruszałe schody kościoła spalonego podczas wojny,
na których modlą się przed nocą dzikie wino, kminek
i wiechlina. Na widok ten pokornieję i już mniej boli to,
że żegnasz mnie jak tych, których odprowadzają
do ciebie w ostatniej drodze na cmentarz.
Wychodząc ze wsi, niosę innym gościnność Słowa
rozpiętego na twoich ramionach i w Nim dojrzewam…

 

 

Krystyna Gudel

List do błogosławionej
matki Marianny z Lipska nad Biebrzą

Jak Ci tam, matko Marianno,

u dobrego Pana?

Czy nie masz zbyt dużo zajęć

od samego rana, wszak pełno sierot

na niebiańskich łąkach i niejedna matka

z bagażem win się błąka?

Czy pamiętasz chwilę,

kiedy bez wahania stanęłaś za synową

wśród tych do rozstrzelania?

U nas, jak wiesz zapewne,

bardzo różnie bywa. Raz strajk biały,

raz czarny na powierzchnię wypływa.

Ty, teściowych patronko,

miej na nas baczenie, abyśmy mogły

osiągnąć wieczyste zbawienie.

Bo to nie takie proste, gdyż zagrożeń

tyle czyha na każdym kroku.

Pomóż, matko Marianno,

mieć w życiu takie chwile, by tylko

łza szczęścia drżała w naszym oku.

A gdy ziemska wędrówka

będzie ukończona, wyjdź na spotkanie,

matko Marianno, błogosławiona.

 

 
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About the Holy Place in the "Orli Lot" magazine

The presented article, entitled "The Holy Place in the Augustów Primeval Forest", appeared in 1932 in the "Orli Lot" magazine. It was a ethno-geographical monthly published by the Polish Society for Local Studies in Krakow for the purpose of Circles of Local Studies. from 1920 to 1950. The author of the text is Seweryn Udziela, born in 1857 and deceased in 1937, teacher, ethnographer, folklore researcher and folk expert. The Ethnographic Museum in Krakow bears his name. Illustrations of crosses and roadside shrines from the area of Augustów and Suwałki were made by Stefan Bykowski from Bydgoszcz, a collaborator of the Augustów regional magazine "Nasz Głos".

More information on this topic can be obtained, among others on the websites of the Seweryna Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Krakow, Benedictine Publishing House in Tyniec, PWN Encyclopedia, PTTK Central Library and Wikipedia.


The Holy Place in the Augustów Primeval Forest

Seweryn Udziela

In the spruce forest with a mix of pine trees at the mouth of the Rozpuda River to Jałowe Lake, there is the so-called "Holy Place" already in the territory of the village of Jaśki in the Raczki parish in the Suwałki poviat.

It is a group of wooden crosses and chapels placed on poles and iron crosses plugged on top of them. The most interesting is a pole carved out of one piece of stone, and showing a tree trunk 2 meters high and 4 decimeters in diameter. Imitates the pine trunk as accurately as possible; at the bottom you can see the roots coming out of the ground, the bark is forged with meticulous accuracy, on the trunk there is a hub and another mushroom with a hat; upper part is evenly cut and iron cross is stuck in it. The most important among these chapels is the one with the statue of St. John the Baptist, carved in a tree, about 6 dm high. The other one has a picture of the Mother of God set behind the glass, and the other has Jesus Crucified.

All these chapels stand close to each other in a group, you can see that they are old and they create this "Holy Place" known and worshiped by the Polish and Catholic population; in an area with a radius of several miles, it is considered a wonderful place.

Tradition maintains that the "Holy Place" is very ancient; the oldest people say that their parents have already said that it existed for a long time. Legends about its emergence are also vague and general. Everyone says that the Virgin Mary once appeared on a tree to a girl grazing a cow, so a chapel with the Virgin Mary was put on the spot. Again St. John the Baptist appeared to the shepherd boy, so another chapel is dedicated to Saint John. Then a few wooden crosses were placed there.

They were once not liked by some Moscow forester and he ordered to cut them. However, when no one dared to cut these crosses, angry he cut them off by himself and pushed them into the River Rozpuda flowing here. However, the crosses did not flow with water, but even when they were pushed further, they returned here, swimming under water. Seeing this, people saw this miracle as an indication that the crosses want to stay at the Holy Place, pulled them out of the water at night and put them again where they once stood.

People come to this wonderful Holy Place with prayers for health, and in the stream flowing at the foot of the crosses, flowing from the neighboring Jałowe Lake to Rozpuda River, sick children are washed, leaving their T-shirts and handkerchiefs with which they tie the crosses.

Also older patients go to the care of the Mother of God and Saint John and make pilgrimages to this place. They wash themselves with water, dip in handkerchiefs and cover sick areas. Such wraps are effective when a rash covers the body, when ulcers form, sores, when the head hurts. I saw a mother leading a lame girl into the water, maybe nine years old with one crutch.

On a day of St. John the Baptist, June 24, there is a kind of church fair, I say kind of, because there is no church in the place, there is not even a chapel in which there would be even a small altar, used to celebrate mass. Priests also do not take part in any folk festival. Only a vicar from Raczki has been sending a church servant with a iron can to collect contributions from some time. He stands under the statue of St. John, puts the can in an accessible and visible place, and next to it - a church crucifix.

People from all around come on foot and arrive in carts. All cars full of older and smaller children and babies, because today is a children's festival; after all, the Virgin Mary and Saint John appeared to the children.

The church fair is crowded, there are several thousand people there. They leave the carts in the woods, and the path leading through the woods to the Holy Place is crammed with stallholders on both sides. In the stalls I saw the most candy, some cakes; there are stalls with rolls, puppets, and sausages; there were only two stalls with devotions, beer, soda water and ice cream in others; a couple of stalls with children's toys, but these were factory products, not local folk products.

A bunch of beggars wailed songs about the Mother of God and Saint John and asked for alms.

Everyone who came knelt in front of the shrines, prayed and tossed a penny to the can. Who was sick he went to the water. The priests do not want to take care of the Holy Place and organize this folk fair and sanctify it somehow. Yes, it is really a folk festival.

This day is also a pastoral holiday.

When rushing the cattle home from the morning feed, each shepherd dresses them with field flowers, hanging wreaths made of them on the horns and on the neck of each cattle. Today each shepherd also receives from the landlady in the gift 50 groszy for each cattle grazed.

 
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Bargłowskie cmentarze parafialne

Parafia bargłowska została utworzona przywilejem fundacyjnym wystawionym przez króla Zygmunta II Augusta w 1544 roku. Pierwszy cmentarz grzebalny w Bargłowie Kościelnym znajdował się zapewne, jak to bywało w zwyczaju, przy świątyni. W inwentarzach kościelnych z 1775, 1783 i 1804 roku znajdują się jedynie informacje o stanie ogrodzenia cmentarza. Inwentarz z 1775 roku mówi, że chociaż jest ono dawne, poza znacznie zniszczonym wierzchem bramki, nie wymaga reperacji. W sporządzonym osiem lat później przez ks. Szymona Pieńczykowskiego, autora Opisania Kościoła y Probostwa Bargłowskiego z 1783 roku czytamy, że reperacji potrzebuje, zaś w 1804 roku owy parkan bardzo już podupadł, słupy w nim pogniły i kołkami są tylko podpierane. W inwentarzu z 1819 roku księża Jan Kanty Zawadzki i Jan Nepomucen Dąbkowski podają, że cmentarz przy kościele nowego erygowania potrzebuje. Parkan stary upadł, na nic się zda jego reperacja i potrzebne jest nowe ogrodzenie. Mowa jest w nim też o nowym cmentarzu założonym w niewielkiej odległości od kościoła ku wschodowi południowemu w kwadrat zabudowanym, ale jest on dla parafii znacznie za szczupły.

W The Chronicle of the Royal Bargłów Parish, sporządzonej przez Józefa Golubiewskiego, czytamy, że drugi cmentarz grzebalny koło kościoła ma powierzchnię około 60 arów. Nowy cmentarz w polu, będący częścią obecnego, określanego potocznym mianem starego, powstaje zaś w drugim dziesięcioleciu XIX wieku. Po raz pierwszy wymieniany jest on w dokumencie z wizytacji generalnej z 1822 roku. Jest on oparkaniony tarcicami, a brama do niego zamkiem zamykana bywa. Nie ma w nim, co podaje owy dokument, oddzielnego miejsca na grzebanie dzieci zmarłych bez chrztu. Może to nastąpić w czasie, ponieważ planowane jest jego powiększenie.

Inwentarz kościoła bargłowskiego z 1825 roku podaje, że obydwa cmentarze, zarówno przy kościele, jak i w polu, mają ogrodzenie w dobrym stanie. O ich stan zatroszczył się ks. Józef Szumowicz, co imiennie podaje ks. Jan Nepomucen Dąbkowski sporządzający inwentarz kościoła bargłowskiego roku 1832. Sześć lat później nadwyrężył je czas i uległy dewastacji. W inwentarzu podawczym funduszu kościoła bargłowskiego z 1838 roku, sporządzonym po śmierci plebana, ks. Klemensa Ratokle, stwierdza się, że cmentarze nie mają prawie żadnego parkanu, co potwierdza rok później dokument z wizytacji generalnej. Zmieniło się to w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Inwentarz 1872 roku podaje, że cmentarz grzebalny jest dostatecznie oparkaniony drewnianymi słupami i półtoracalowymi deskami. Posiada dwuskrzydłową bramę na żelaznych zawiasach opatrzoną zamkiem i podobną furtkę. W 1842 roku pobudowana zostaje na nim klasycystyczna kaplica rodziny Karwowskich. W pierwszej połowie XX wieku zostaje założony drugi cmentarz grzebalny, w potocznym nazewnictwie określany nowym cmentarzem. Położony jest na terenie Bargłowa Dwornego. W 1920 roku ówczesny zastępca proboszcza, ks. Wincenty Astasiewicz, zwrócił się do ministra wyznań religijnych i oświecenia publicznego o wytyczenie miejsca na nowy cmentarz, sugerując jego miejsce po prawej stronie szosy w kierunku Augustowa w wielkości od 6 do 7 morgów. Siedem lat później, w 1927 roku, Kuria Diecezjalna w Łomży wyznaczyła dziekana augustowskiego do poświęcenia nowego cmentarza na dzień 5 maja tegoż roku. Pierwszym pochowanym na nim zmarłym prawdopodobnie jest Adam Zedelo, który odszedł z tego świata w wieku 72 lat 2 września 1927 roku, o czym świadczy tabliczka na krzyżu stojącym dotąd na jego grobie. Zapewne do czasu poświęcenia cmentarnej ziemi nikt nie chciał w niej grzebać swoich bliskich. W lipcu 1931 roku w protokole zdawczo-odbiorczym stwierdza się, że kościół posiada dwa cmentarze i oba wymagają uporządkowania. Jeden z nich ogrodzony jest drutem kolczastym, drugi — obłożony został kamieniami. Powiększenia i obudowania kamiennym murem starego cmentarza dokonano za czasów proboszcza Józefa Perkowskiego. W Kronice parafialnej kościoła bargłowskiego wspomina on sam: Prawda, z nabyciem gruntu trzeba było nieraz forteli i dowcipów Zagłoby, ale sam mur wyrósł jak spod ziemi.

Po zniszczeniach wojennych oba cmentarze pozostawały bez ogrodzenia. Ich uporządkowania dokonano za czasów probostwa ks. Adolfa Romańczuka. W latach 1984-85 suwalski historyk Zygmunt Filipowicz obu miejscom pochówków założył karty dokumentalne. Według niego cmentarz stary liczy 2,1 ha powierzchni, położony jest około 250 m na południe od wsi, na wzniesieniu, po zachodniej stronie drogi biegnącej do Brzozówki i Tajna Starego. Rozplanowanie jego autor uznaje za regularne, wytyczone na planie sześcioboku, z orientowanymi grobami. Ogrodzony jest siatką. Najstarszy nagrobek ma pochodzić z 1885 roku. Cmentarz nowy liczy 1,8 ha powierzchni, jego charakter określa jako regularny. Wytyczony zestal na planie zbliżonym do pięcioboku, a kwatery na nim są przejrzyste. Muru ogrodzeniowego na nim brak. Autor zauważa także rosnący starodrzew na obu cmentarzach.

W 1986 roku stary cmentarz parafialny w Bargłowie Kościelnym został wpisany do rejestru zabytków nieruchomych. Trzeba dodać, że znajdują się na nim poza dziewiętnastowieczną kaplicą Karwowskich również inne cenne obiekty zabytkowe: płyty, krzyże i pomniki nagrobne. Niektóre z nich pochodzące ze słynnej huty sztabińskiej Karola hr. Brzostowskiego. Jest też kwatera żołnierzy poległych w latach 1919-1920 w wojnie polsko-bolszewickiej. Kwaterą opiekuje się tutejsza szkoła. Leży ona po prawej stronie alei prowadzącej od bramy głównej do kaplicy Dalsze losy bargłowskich cmentarzy to już czasy współczesne.

Artykuł ukazał się w czasopiśmie Martyria 11/2015
 
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Graves in Uścianki

Sometimes we go to the cemetery. Standing at the graves of our loved ones or friends, we pray, pride ourselves on their lives and deaths. It happens that our ancestors or their relatives rest outside the cemeteries. When wandering around, we meet lonely graves of insurgents, partisans or even suicides. We also come across forest war cemeteries and rural graves. Each of these places makes us reflect, teaches life and history. Interesting and usually little known to us are places called village graves. Often they arose as a result of the plague prevailing in this area or were so-called village burial grounds where our ancestors, living some distance from the parish cemeteries, buried their relatives.

Looking for information about the graves of my native village of Jeziorki, I also came across the graves in Uścianki. Uścianki were once very closely associated with Augustów, in the 16th century as one of its four suburbs were part of the Augustów parish. In the Geographic Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries we read that in the 19th century the village was located in the Augustów poviat, in the Bargłów commune. It is currently the area of ​​the Augustów commune and the Żarnowo Drugie parish. My interlocutors from Jeziorki and Uścianki mentioned that the graves in Uścianki were the result of the plague. Most of them described it as cholera, but I also came across the statement that it was typhus. Or perhaps their roots date back to the early eighteenth century, when plague reigned in our area, as described in the monograph of the Augustów commune, entitled In The Splendor And Shadow of Augustów , Jarosław Szlaszyński. In the historical monograph of Augustów, the same historian mentions an epidemic of cholera, which visited our area several times in the nineteenth, and the typhus epidemic took place in 1912. It is possible that the inhabitants of Uścianki and Jeziorki pass on to next generations the news about these misfortunes and the graves in Uścianki come from that period.

The mounds are located on a low hill in the fork of the road, both branches of which lead from Uścianki to Jeziorki. Just abroad with my native village. They are overgrown with grass and a shrubby tree grows at the foot of the hill. The outlines of individual graves are no longer visible. There are three crosses in the grave. In the middle stands a tall cross made of wood. A talented carpenter had to make it, as evidenced by the remains of ornaments on the shoulders and the top. From the remainder of the chamfer it can be concluded that they could be in the shape of a heart or a rounded leaf. From the bottom, the cross was profiled. It must have been rotting and therefore has been secured with a concrete platform. It is not known exactly when and by whom it was made. Earlier he stood at the Grochowski estate. It was moved to the graves in the 1970s by Józef Grochowski and his son Stanisław and placed in the place of the previous cross. The remains of his predecessor were buried in the graves. The old cross was once tall, but it decayed over the years, so the rotting part of the pole was cut off one by one so that at the end of his standing he was very small. It was hewn from a tree and his arms - says Edward Grochowski, who was a child at the time - had wooden knobs . The villagers recall that during its burying, human skulls were found. Jaws preserved in the ground pointed to the young age of those resting there. The buried cross, they said, could have been 250 years ago.

On both sides of the wooden cross are currently two modern small metal crosses. Over ten years ago, Stanisław Prawdzik from Uścianki, who lived nearby, put them in this place. He remembers that formerly, just before St. Antony, people came here to pray and sing religious songs. This custom ceased after the church in Żarnowo was built. People still give glory to the cross, as evidenced by the flowers that decorate it. In the Inventory of Monuments of the Augustów Commune located in the Commune Culture Center in Żarnowo I found the message that the cemetery is dated to 1800, and the wooden cross on it, known as a memorial, is to be from 1911.

How many secrets are hidden in this grave hill and wooden cross guarding the mortal remains of people once buried here.

Artykuł ukazał się w czasopiśmie Martyria 2/2015
 
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From the history of the Bargłów church

Various versions of the history of the brick church in Bargłów are given. I quote the one I traced, reading into the documentation available to me on this topic. In The Chronicle of the Royal Bargłów Parish written by the late Józef Golubiewski, we read in 1838 that the then priest was building a stone church. The chronicler also gives the church dimensions: length 30.5 m, width 12.5 m. It has a burnt brick floor, a wooden ceiling and a roof covered with tiles. This information is confirmed in The Inventory made on September 7, 1838 after the death of priest Klemens Ratokle, builder of that church. It also says that the temple is unplastered and unfinished inside, so it is not possible to hold any services in it. Still, although in very poor condition, the wooden church is open. A detailed description of the newly built brick church can be found in the documentation of the general visit to the parish from 1839. We read in it that the church has twelve windows, six doors, including one double (in the front from the road side, entering Babiniec with an iron lock). The windows in the sacristy and treasury are fitted with iron bars. There are two domes on the church. One of them, containing a bell, is above the high altar, it is finished with an iron cross three cubits high. The second, from the front, is crowned with an iron cross with a brass knob one cubit higher than the previous one. The length of the church is fifty-one Warsaw cubits, and twenty-one cubits width. There is a pulpit inside the temple made of carpentry lumber.

Post-visit documentation also informs that the church is built at the expense of the Government and the Parish. The Inventory from May 5, 1840, signed, among others by the dean of Augustów, father Paweł Makowski and father Aleksander Grudziński, the new Bargłów parish priest, states that the services are still held in the old church, which is eligible for demolition, because the new church in internal order is not finished yet. There is only the pulpit and three menzas without altars. Prepared due to the transfer of the former head of the Bargłów parish Fr. Jerzy Maciukiewicz to another parish, the Inventory of January 10, 1872, states that the brick church built thirty years ago is in poor condition. It threatens a sad accident. His current condition is the result of constant infiltration, from which rafters, beams and soffit inside the church have come to an end. The brick floor in the presbytery and nave was also partially damaged. In place of it, a floor of 1.5-inch boards was laid. This inventory accurately describes the altars found. There are three of them, just like in the previous wooden church. The great altar made of wood last year (by carpentry and woodcarving work), reworked and enlarged. It was painted white varnish and partly gilded. There is also a similar tabernacle on which a lamb with an apocalyptic book is placed, partly gold-plated and silver-plated. This altar has a stone menza and canvas antepedium and one cornice made of sawn timber. It houses a new painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa, oil-painted on a wooden board and framed in gilded frames.

Side altars, like the great one, are set on stone menzas with one step and made of the same material and enlarged by one floor. The first of them has a frontal with flowers. There are three paintings in it: St. John, St. Anna and the Lord Jesus Nazarene. Saint Anna's was painted on paper, while the other two were painted on canvas. All three paintings are framed in gilded frames. Previously hanging image of the Virgin in this altar is placed above the sacristy. The second side altar houses a painting of St. Antoni with gilded frames, decorated with a silver dress and a silver crown. It was moved to this place from the great altar. Placed above it there is also a painting of St. Of Archangel Michael in gilded frames, oil-painted on canvas. On all three altars, instead of old wooden and black polished, there are factory-made crosses with gilded figures of the Lord Jesus and canons under the glass. The church includes the newly varnished pulpit, three confessionals and eight benches. The Inventory also informs that in the frames on the front of the church were placed large, woodcarving work figures of saints Peter and Paul. I could not find anywhere the name of the building architect or builder.

The aforementioned chronicler and copyist of documents Józef Golubiewski, states in the chronicle he has prepared and here cited that Fr. Tadeusz Skarżyński built a stone church in 1883 on the site of the previous temple. Apparently, the previous one fell into further ruin, so it was decided to build a new one in its place. In published in 1880 Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries in the description of the town of Bargłów Kościelny we can read: A new brick church is being built here, built from parishioners' contributions valued at 50,000 rubles. Prepared by the church builder, Fr. Tadeusz Skarżyński, a report sent in August 1888 to the head of the Augustów poviat says that for the construction of the temple 34,714 rubles and 78 kopecks were received.

Some historians say that the current stone church is the same church that was built in the 1830s. In the conservation documentation, I met with both information, such that the existing church was built in 1833, and other, that it was built in 1883. This second date is confirmed by the Inventory of the Parish Church in Bargłów from 1929. I quote: The church in Bargłów is parish, vernacular, brick, built in 1883, thanks to the efforts of priest Tadeusz Skarżyński, then the administrator of the parish [...]. It is also shared by released in 1975 The Jubilee Schema of The Łomza Diocese.

I think they were two different buildings, which I tried to show by citing the above documents. However, the case is open. Studies of historians may confirm this thesis in the future, or refute it. The history of the current temple is a material for another text.

The article appeared in the journal Martyria No. 5/2016