Mariavite Church

The Old Catholic Mariavite Church refers to one of two independent Christian churches, both of which can be dated from 1906 but which became distinct after 1935 as a result of doctrinal differences, and are collectively known as ''Mariavites''. Mariavitism first emerged from the religious inspiration of Polish noblewoman and nun Feliksa Kozłowska (1862–1921) living in the Russian Partition of Poland in the late 19th-century. A young Catholic priest from a modest background, Jan Maria Michał Kowalski (1871–1942), became convinced by Kozłowska's revelations and adopted her vision as his own project by her side.

The movement represented an ideology whose aim was to imitate the simplicity of the life of Mary, in Latin, ', ("Let them imitate the Life of Mary"), thus ''vita Mariae'', the Life of Mary, gave the movement its name. The movement became the subject of two Papal bulls in 1906 which resulted in the mass excommunication from the Catholic Church of both clergy and lay adherents to the movement.

The leaders of the movement sought theological sanctuary with the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands which, after negotiations welcomed them and in 1909 granted both recognition and Apostolic succession to what by default had become a new catholic church, the "Mariavite Church", with the power to confer holy orders. It therefore became a separate and independent religious denomination in Poland. It continued as a unitary church until 1935 when a faction led by bishop Filip Feldman challenged the church leader, Michał Kowalski, and successfully expelled him and his loyalists from the headquarters in the Polish city of Płock, thereby creating two Mariavite churches.

History

Polish Roman Catholic Church under Russian rule

From 1795 the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been partitioned between the three neighbouring powers, the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire. Under the Russian Empire (that annexed former eastern territories) the Russian Orthodox Church became the established church, but in the "confederated" Congress Kingdom of Poland the Polish Catholic religion continued to be the official Church.

After the 1863 January Uprising, the tsarist authorities forbade the establishment of any new Polish organisations. Religious orders were often banned or exiled. Catholic clergy in the Russian Partition could not be locally educated, in contrast to the priests in the Austrian and Prussian Partitions. The only authorized Roman Catholic theological training in the Russian Empire was at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy.

Kozłowska's revelations

In 1893 Kozłowska had her first religious vision. In it she understood she was to found a new religious movement expressing "Mariavitism". Further visions continued until 1918. Their content was gathered in a volume entitled ''Dzieło Wielkiego Miłosierdzia'' (''The Work of Great Mercy''), published by the Marinate Press in 1922.

Excommunication

Observing the spread of "Mariavitism" across their ecclesiastical territory, Polish Catholic bishops were alarmed by the threat the movement posed to their apostolic authority and teachings and reported it to the Vatican probably in the late 1890s. After the election of a new pope, a final papal decision on the fate of the movement was made in September 1904. In April 1906, Pope Pius X promulgated the encyclical ''.'' In December 1906, the Catholic Church excommunicated Kozłowska, Kowalski and their followers.

Mariavite Church, 1906–1921

From 1906 the newly independent denomination continued its development, in no small measure due to donations and support from the faithful. Kozlowska's own acquisition of 400 hectares of land in Płock, enabled not only the construction of a cathedral, completed "in-house" by two professionally qualified architects and engineers ( and ) who brought into the church considerable personal 'dowries' for the construction in Płock, of the Sanctuary of Mercy and Charity(1914) with adjoining monastic buildings, but the development of revenue raising enterprises, such as educational facilities, a printing press, bakery and animal breeding.

Apostolic succession

Kowalski was consecrated in St. Gertrude's Cathedral, Utrecht, on 5 October 1909, by Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (OKKN) Archbishop Gerardus Gul of Utrecht, assisted by two OKKN bishops, J. J. van Thiel of Haarlem and N. B. P. Spit of Deventer, one Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany bishop, J. Demmel of Bonn, and Arnold Harris Mathew of London.

In turn, Kowalski went on to consecrate: Fatôme (France), Feldman, Gołębiowski, Próchniewiski, Rostoworowski, Siedlecki, and his own wife, Maria Izabela Wiłucka-Kowalska.

Kowalski reforms (1921–1935)

Following the death in 1921 of the foundress of the movement, Kozlowska, there was no effective inhibition on Kowalski's reforms and innovations which included:
* 1922–1924 - Marriage available for priests
* 1922: Communion under the two species
* 1929: the Ordination of women, introduced in the Catholic Mariavite Church (with possibility of marriage)
* 1929–1935: ordination of women, abolished in Old Catholic Mariavite Church (one reason for the schism in the church)
* 1930: Priesthood of the people of God similar to Protestant concept
* 1930: Eucharist for new-born baptized infants
* 1930: Removal of ecclesiastical titles