Dominikanie Gidle

A.D. 1516, just before the first Sunday of May, Jan Czeczek, a farmer from Gidle, ploughed up a small /9 cm/ stone statue of the Blessed Mother with the Child. At first it was kept in the parish church and then in a small chapel built on the place where it was found. This spot became famous for many graces and miraculous signs.

In the year 1615 the landlady Anna Dabrowska of Rusocice invited the Dominikan Friars to Gidle to take care of the new shrine of the Blessed Mother. Under the direction of Jan Buszt from Lowicz, the Dominicans began the construction of the large baroque church in the shape of a cross with three aisles and two towers. It was consecrated on 21th May 1656. The miraculous statue of the Blessed Mother was placed in a specially made and amply sculptured altar in a lateral chapel on the right side of the main aisle.

The present shape of the church is the result of a gradual construction that was fi¬nished at end of the 18th century. On the main altar there is a picture of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, painted by the well-known painter, Michal Stachowicz /1768-1825/. On the left side of the main aisle there is a chapel of St. Hyacinth who was the founder of the Dominican Order in Poland. In front of the pillars of the church you can find the altars of the Holy Name of Jesus, of the Passion of Christ, of the Sorrowful Holy Virgin and of the Dominican Saints – St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The shrine of Our Lady of Gidle has been visited by numerous pilgrims since the beginning of its existence. Many pilgrims come here to pray and seek help in their troubles and pains. They often experience miraculous graces and healing here. The proofs of that are old votive tables /17th century/ that hang on the walls of the chapel. There are also the testimonies of witnesses.

The official confirmation of the devotion to Our Lady of Gidle was issued by the Holy See on 12th November 1922 by a Coronation Decree. The statue was solemnly crowned by Bishop Stanislaw Zdzitowiecki on 19th August 1923, in the field near the church by the road to Niesulów /a chapel commemorates the spot/.

Our Lady of Gidle is a patron of hard-working people: farmers and miners.

Main feast-days:
The first Sunday of May
The Sunday after the feast of St. Hyacinth /17th August/
The first Sunday of October