Ruins of the Franciscan Reformati Monastery in Łąki Bratiańskie

General Information

Łąki Bratiańskie, formerly known simply as Łąki (German: "Lonk"), was once an independent village situated between Nowe Miasto Lubawskie and Bratian, on the Drwęca River. Today, the locality forms part of the Mszanowo administrative village unit.

Location

The monastery was erected in Łąki Bratiańskie within the territory of the Chełmno Diocese. The remains of the monastery are located on Grunwaldzka Street in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie (Łąki Miejskie), within the Municipality of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, in Nowe Miasto County. The monument is situated directly adjacent to National Road No. 15.

History

The area on which the Reformati monastic complex was later established had already been considered sacred in pagan times, as it contained a holy grove of linden trees where ceremonies were held, among others, in honour of Perkun and the spring goddess Majuma. The place of worship was enclosed by a fence.

Around 1257, Jan of Sandomierz, a wealthy Polish knight who had joined the Order of the Hospital of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the German House in Jerusalem and resided in the castle at Bratian, erected a wooden chapel at a site that, according to tradition, had been indicated by the Virgin Mary through apparitions to children and later to two beggars. From the outset, the place was venerated due to reported healings attributed to the intercession of Mary. The chapel housed a miraculous figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Around 1400, the vogt Philipp von Kleeberg, residing at Bratian Castle, built a masonry chapel with a small tower in Łąki, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The construction was financed from the treasury of the Teutonic Order.

In 1624, Paweł Jan Działyński, the starost of Bratian and Voivode of Pomerania, brought the Franciscan Reformati order to Nowe Miasto. The following year, the monastery was plundered by a Lisowczycy unit that attacked the town, and in 1629 the suburbs and the abbey were looted by the Swedes. The monks were relocated to Łąki (2 km from Nowe Miasto), where the starost financed the construction of a wooden monastery. When it soon burned down, Paweł Działyński, together with his wife Jadwiga of the Czarnkowski family, founded a masonry church dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a monastery. The foundation was approved on 16 February 1639. The complex was enclosed by a wooden fence, later replaced with a wall. The monastery consisted of four single-storey buildings and had two courtyards (including a large one with cloisters). The eastern part housed the refectory and sacristies, while the western part contained guest rooms. The church was located to the north of the monastery.

In the years 1683–1693, the Bishop of Chełmno, Kazimierz Jan Opaliński, funded a chapel at the church and endowed it with a relic of Saint Casimir and a burial crypt, expressing the wish to be interred there. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Voivode of Chełmno, Tomasz Działyński, together with his wife Teresa of the Bieliński family, funded another small funerary chapel dedicated to Saint Peter of Alcantara, where they were buried. In the years 1785–1790, the church was rebuilt in the Baroque style and the monastery expanded. The church had several entrances, the main one located in the western portal, which took the form of a circular annex. The building consisted of a rectangular nave and a chancel, with an organ gallery above the vestibule.

After the Reformati settled in Łąki, the fame of the Bratian sanctuary spread widely. The cult of Our Lady of Łąki attracted pilgrims not only from the Lubawa and Warmia regions but also from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Numerous testamentary donations were made in favour of the church and monastery. On 4 June 1752, with the consent of Pope Benedict XIV, the Bishop of Chełmno Wojciech Leski, accompanied by the auxiliary bishop Fabian Pląskowski, crowned the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Łąki with papal crowns. From 1752 onwards, annual indulgence celebrations were held in Łąki on the second Sunday after Pentecost, lasting a week and attracting large pilgrimages. In the 19th century, it was estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 pilgrims visited the site. The sanctuary was referred to at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries as the “Częstochowa of the North” or the “Prussian Częstochowa.”

After the First Partition of Poland (1772), the Łąki convent found itself within the Kingdom of Prussia. It managed to survive the year 1810, when a decree was issued across Prussia dissolving all monasteries. The monastery and church in Łąki were finally closed on 27 September 1875 under a subsequent law abolishing religious orders (31 May 1875). The buildings became the property of the Prussian state. On the night of 5–6 May 1882, lightning struck the church tower during a storm and caused a fire. The tower, roof, and part of the interior burned down. The miraculous statue of Our Lady of Łąki was saved and transferred to the church in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, where it can be seen today in the main altar of the Basilica of St Thomas the Apostle. In 1884, the monastery building burned down. The remaining structures were dismantled, and the materials reused. Today, only a reconstructed gate and fragments of walls have survived. The site was entered into the register of immovable monuments on 3 August 1968 and 19 September 2000.

Monuments

• “Economic” gate restored in 2003 – raised, plastered, and fitted with wooden gates.
• Fragments of the monastery walls.
• Fully preserved lower sections of the church walls.

Bibliography

• Andrzejewski Aleksander, Kajzer Leszek, "The Post-Monastic Complex in Łąki Bratiańskie near Nowe Miasto Lubawskie in Light of Verification Field Research", “Łódź Archaeological Reports”, 2002/2003, vol. 8, pp. 265–274.
• Bączek Konrad, "Rural Cultural Landscape of Nowe Miasto County", “Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie”, 2018, no. 2, pp. 288–330.
• Betlejewski Antoni, "Łąki Bratjańskie. A Historical Sketch…", Toruń 1903.
• "The Chełmno Diocese. Historical and Statistical Outline", Pelplin 1928.
• Fankidejski [Jakub], "Lost Churches and Chapels…", Pelplin 1880.
• Korecki Andrzej, "Marian Sanctuary in Łąki Bratiańskie", Pelplin 2002.
• "Łąki", in: "Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland", Warsaw 1884.
• "Nowe Miasto. From the History of the Town and County", Olsztyn 1963.
• Piszcz Edmund, "Łąki Bratiańskie – the Oldest Marian Cult Site…", “Nasza Przeszłość”, 1971.
• Wardzyński Michał, "Movable Furnishings of Churches of the Former Lubawa Land…", Warsaw 2020.