The essence of religious life in the industrial region of Zagłębie under Russian rule in the late 19th and early 20th century is encapsulated in the history of the construction of two Catholic churches in Dąbrowa: St. Alexander's and Our Lady of the Angels. The rapid growth of coal and iron industry after 1815 depended not only on skilled personnel from Upper Silesia and the German lands but also on a workforce recruited from the Polish countryside. The Russian authorities showed little enthusiasm for the idea of building churches alongside the emerging workers' colonies. Permission to build a chapel in Dąbrowa (subordinate in status to the parish church in Będzin) came as late as 1875. Its dedication to St. Alexander, the patron saint of the Tzar, had indeed an ulterior motive: the feast of St. Alexander coincided with the banned anniversary of the 3 May 1791 Constitution. The chapel was designed by Julian Polcer, an architect with connections to the local mining officials. The first mass was celebrated there on 4 December 1877, the feast of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners. After the creation of a separate parish of St. Alexander’s (1871) and the appointment of Father Grzegorz Augustynik (1897), plans to build a new, bigger church were set in motion. It was to be an impressive neo-Gothic church, one of the largest in Poland. However, to avoid provoking the Russians, the true scope of the project was concealed; the official designation of the ongoing construction work was the "Expansion of St. Alexander’s Chapel." The new church was designed by Józef Stefan Pomian-Pomianowski, Clerk of the Works in the powiat of Będzin. The project was financed from donations made by both the local community (the Dąbrowa workers pledged themselves to contribute regularly 1% of their wages) and local big businesses such as the Bank Steel Mill, the Franco-Italian Society, Fitzner-Gamper Ltd. By dedicating the church to Our Lady of the Angels, Father Augustynek wanted to make it a spiritual center of the Zagłębie region and a Marian sanctuary. From a visit to the Vatican in 1901, he brought for his church the Portiuncula pardons and the status of a conbasilica of St. Peter’s. Ambitious and indefatigable, he went for the high patriotic note in his sermons and opened the church to all kinds of national symbols and celebrations. The authorities responded by demanding his removal. He was forced to leave in 1902, but returned four years later, in a different political situation. The events of 1905 effected something of a sea change; for the first time, Father Augustynek discovered he could no longer count on the workers' ready support for his causes. Undismayed, he rushed into battle for the souls against the rising tides of socialism. The old St. Alexander chapel was rededicated to Our Lady of Częstochowa (1909); the Icon of the Black Madonna became the goal of workers’ pilgrimages. It was in 1916 that Father Augustynek had to leave his Dąbrowa parish for the last time. "It was reported," he wrote in his diary, "that the parish priest ... was a sympathizer of the Polish Legions."