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Vol. 82 (1994): Our Past

Miscellanea

The chapel in Niedzica. The beginnings of the cult of St Rozalia in Zamagur Spiski

  • Tadeusz M. Trajdos
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.1994.82.359-371  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2023-12-09

Abstract

On the hill at the mouth of the Niedziczanka valley to the Dunajec there is a small stone chapel dedicated to St. Rozalia, which is not a known monument and has not been the subject of scientific research. This chapel had a mass character and was renovated in 1949-1950 due to its poor condition. The only equipment in the chapel is the altar of St. Rozalia, dated 1769. Legend of Saint Rozalia dates back to the Middle Ages, and her cult was born in the era of the fight against the Reformation. It quickly gained popularity in Poland and around its borders, especially during the epidemic. In the Hungarian Zamagur region, where Lutheranism prevailed, this cult began to spread only in 1639. In 1640, after returning to Catholicism, the chapel of St. Rozalia in Niedzica. The first priest of the parish after re-Catholicization was Jan Sczechowicz, who may have been the initiator of the construction of the chapel. The altar in the chapel bears the features of a monument from the mid-17th century, and the cartouche of arms on the altar indicates that the founder may have been Stefan Palocsay or his son. Chapel of St. Rozalia was supposed to be the burial place of people who died of epidemic diseases, which is confirmed by local legend and the location of the chapel on the Mogyła hill. Altar of St. Rozalia was founded in 1769 by the priest Szymon Gorelowicz, and the tabernacle setting was added in the same year. Szymon Kawalski, the author of the altar painting, may have come from poor nobility and worked in peripheral parishes. His family disappears from later records, which suggests that he may have left Niedzica. The altar painting depicts Saint. Rosalia surrounded by a floral frame and was decorated in 1769.

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