Order of Friars Minor and the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Order of Friars Minor and the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus |
||||
| BACK | ADRESS | LOCATION | ||
Location A true historical picture of today's village of Dzwono-Sierbowice can be viewed from the prehistory and history of Pilica. Man's live on this territory can be traced back to a distant past. Lime stone areas have always attracted prehistoric man. Caves and rock recesses provided a save shelter and lime stone inclusions (flint) provided a precious source of tool heads and weapons. Stratagraphic examinations carried out in years 1947-50 by Ludwik Sawicki enabled us to take a closer look at this phenomenon. The following caves have been examined: Jasna, Lisia Jama, Wschodnia, Zaciszna, and Pod oknem. Examining the sequence of the soil layers, loessic clay, sand, silt and limestones enabled to reproduce history of this region against the background of the climatic changes of the ice age. The surface of the silt is humus- covered and contains traces of man from as far back as 4000 years. It appears that local people at that time cultivated cereals, kept cattle, wove textiles, and fire pottery. During scientific research scientists found axes made of ground flint, stone needles, various flints and shards of pottery. The first information about Pilica and its castle dates back to the years 1297-1300 and was recorded by M. Stryjkowski in his description of a fight for a Polish throne between king Waclaw of the Czechs and a Polish king Ladislaus the Short. In a king's Ladislaus the Short document of 1327, in which the king confers to his brothers, Wolfram and Hilary, the landlords of the Dłużec village, a forest belonging to that village for the purposes of further colonization. In written documents from that period, we come across an expression that the village extended as far as the borders of Pilica.  Just as late as around a year 1300, the name of Pilica started to appear in documents written by the owners: Jan and Otto of Pilica. During the reign of Ladislaus the Short and Casimir the Great the latter had a strong status in the political life of the country. This apparently confirms the fact, that Pilica was early conferred to a noble Topór-Pilecki's family. During its long history Pilica was a village then a private borough which was promoted to the voivodship town in 1808. In 1842 Pilica was demoted to the rank of a local town. On June 1st 1869 by a Czar's decree, the municipal rights were taken away, leaving the town merely a village.
Pilica came under the occupation of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Germany. The administrative status of Pilica has been changed 18 times.
After the World War II Pilica returned to its previous status. It became depopulated and more ethnically and religiously uniformed. As a village it became an area of greenery and a centre of agricultural production, as well as a source of unskilled labourforce in the coal region of Silesia. In the 90- ties Pilica with the help of local authorities regained its municipal rights. The town is situated in a picturesque region of Jura Krakowsko-Wieluńska, on a tourist trail of "Eagles' nests". The town has always been poor as was the soil it was founded on. Surrounded by the ranges of hills, it was somehow hidden and consequently moved away from the chances of economical development and social promotion. The majority of soil here is of the 5th or 6th category and there are practically no chances for the town to be supported only by agricultural production.  The village of Dzwono-Sierbowice is located only about 5 kilometers from Pilica and administratively it belongs to gmina (administrative unit) of Pilica. That is why all that has been said so far about Pilica itself, in a way, refers to this young village which may however become an evangelical "white mustard seed" for the whole region.The village is populated by 163 inhabitants, who live in the area of 164.02 hectares, 124.60 of which are private arable grounds. The village is developed on both sides. There is a parish church, grammar school and a fire station in the village. Dzwono-Sierbowice village was founded in 1995, but the history of its foundation goes back to earlier times and is associated with religious activities of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) in Pilica. When in December 1946 father Feliks Wójcik was nominated a vicar with the rights of a rector and father Anioł Sroczyński was designated to a position of a supporting vicar, the parish, beside a monastery church, had only had Chapels of the Sacred Family in Dzwono-Sierbowice, Chapel of St.Izydor in Sierbowice and a Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Szyce. The parish spread over a territory of 8 kilometers. The unheated chapels could only offer place for 20-30 people. The parish soon faced a serious problem, as it desperately needed a new church. This was a wish clearly expressed by the diocese supervisor, Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek.  In February, local parishioners started to accumulate building materials. A decision concerning the location of the building proved to be difficult as each village wanted the church to be built on its site.Finally a compromise was reached, and the church was located on the hill between the two villages: Dzwonowice and Sierbowice, this place has been initially called "a Hill" and then referred to as Dzwono-Sierbowice. Thus the name and history of Dzwono- Sierbowice has been closely connected with the church, the building of which was finished in 1948. The author of the project was an architect Mieczysław Śliwiński. Father Feliks Wójcik, a builder of the church in Dzwono-Sierbowice, after the World War II has become an initiator of numerous valuable projects, which contributed to a better living conditions of the local community. He constructed a deep well and a water supply system for the village. In 70- ties he also founded a youth wind orchestra, which has been actively performing until today .In the end of his hard working live he started building a grammar school, which was completed only after his death. He was the initiator of various project of social character. |
© tomsco
. 915
