A Contribution to the History of St Adalbert and St Mary Madeleine Churches in Wąwolnica

Abstract

Wąwolnica is numbered among the oldest centres of Christian religious cult in the Lublin region, although no documents (charters of foundation) concerning the parish churches that could confirm these propositions have survived. However, it is analysis of the very invocations of the two churches in Wąwolnica – St Adalbert and St Mary Madeleine – that may point to a very old origin of the parish. The question of which of the two churches should be considered older is another subject of research, besides finding out about the origins of the Wąwolnica parish centre. From Jan Długosz's Liber Beneficiorum dioecesis Cracoviensis we learn that St Mary Madeleine Church was a mother church (matrix) for the St Adalbert one. In the other written sources we do not find any mentions on this subject. Recently archaeologists have joined historians' studies. In 1999 on the Wąwolnica Church Hill, during construction works, archaeological control works were carried out. On the basis of the archaeologists' studies of the revealed foundations and cultural strata it was established that the defensive circumferential wall on the Hill was built in the 15^th century, simultaneously with the two-story brick St Adalbert Church that has been preserved till today as a sanctuary to Our Lady of Kębło. According to the archaeologist Irena Kutyłowska, it is this church that should be considered the older one. Hence, archaeologists' and historians' opinions on the Wąwolnica churches differ and today it is hard to tell who is right. These discrepancies can only be removed after systematic archaeological studies are conducted in Wąwolnica.