The Bernardine Monastery Complex () is a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland. Founded by King Casimir Jagiellon, the monastery has attracted the support of townspeople and nobility for centuries.

History

Saint Catherine of Alexandria church in Radom 1899

In 1467, after exchanges between King Casimir Jagiellon and

Pope Paul II Pope Paul II (; ; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched fr ...

, Bishop Jan Rzeszowski was directed to establish a monastery. Monks came to Radom in 1468.Janicka, A. (2010). Kościół i klasztor bernardynów w Radomiu od XV do XVIII w. Miejsce działalności społecznej i stały element krajobrazu miejskiego. ''Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica'', ''85'', 7–20. The position of the monastery originally sat next to Lublin Gate, a component of the Radom city walls. The king provided land, and other support came from a general collection. In 1602, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

was reconstructed. In January 1698, King

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

stayed at the monastery after his coronation. After the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, Radom fell to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. In 1863, the monastery was turned into a prison. In 1864, a tsarist

ukase In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz ( ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leadership (e.g., Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' or the Most Holy Synod) that had the force of law. " Edict" and " decree" are adequate trans ...

ordered the closure of all monasteries in Poland.Prejs, R. (2021). Zanik obecności zakonników franciszkańskich w diecezji sandomierskiej po 1864 roku. ''Archiwa Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne'', ''115''(115), 337–358.KANTOR, R. (2018). Postanowienia ukazu carskiego z 27.X.1864 r. dotyczące utrzymania i zarządu klasztorów w Królestwie Polskim. ''Prawo Kanoniczne'', 60(4), 131–148. This action was due to perceptions that the Polish clergy had participated in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

, with the ukase itself even accusing the clergy of promoting bloodshed. The Bernardine monks from Radom were deported to Paradyż. By 1911, the Radom monastery was being used as barracks. Monks returned to the Radom monastery in the 1930s. In 1942, during

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, two Radom monks were sent by a German court to

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

.''W nieustajacej trosce o polską diasporę: tom studiów historycznych i politologicznych dedykowany Księdzu Arcybiskupowi Szczepanowi Wesołowskiemu''. (2012). Poland: Stowarzyszenie Naukowe "Polska w Świecie". p. 137. .

Architecture

The complex features the gothic church of St. Catherine of Alexandria and the neighboring monastery. The

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

edLuboński, J. (1907). ''Monografja historyczna miasta Radomia''. Poland: Grodzicki. church has a single nave with two adjacent chapels. The chapel of St. Anne features a late-Renaissance

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

. The chapel of St. Agnes features neo-gothic gables. The church and outbuildings form a small quadrangle.

References

{{coord, 51.4014, 21.1475, type:landmark_region:PL, display=title Cistercian monasteries in Poland 15th-century religious buildings and structures in Europe 15th-century establishments in Poland Buildings and structures in Radom Religious buildings and structures in Masovian Voivodeship Christian monasteries established in the 1460s Gothic architecture in Poland Objects of cultural heritage in Poland

History

Architecture

See also

References