Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Jesuit College

The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Baroque parish church in the centre of Rawa Mazowiecka, founded by the Jesuits in 1613. The present brick building was completed and consecrated in 1730, and the church is the largest in the city.

History of the foundation

The church was founded by Paweł Wołucki, Bishop of Kujawy, as a temple of the Jesuit order, who also ran a college alongside it. After the Jesuits were dissolved in 1773, the building was taken over by the Piarists, and subsequently by the Canons Regular of Lateran from Miechów. In 1820 the canons left, and management of the church passed to diocesan clergy, with whom it remains to this day. This changing monastic history explains why the church is sometimes described together with the former Jesuit college, despite the Jesuits themselves managing it only during the first century and a half of its existence.

Interior and furnishings

The church contains seven altars and a Gothic baptismal font dating from the end of the 14th century, older than the present building itself. Beneath the church, crypts have been preserved containing mummified remains of Franciscan monks, open to visitors. The bell tower serves additionally as a vantage point over the centre of Rawa Mazowiecka.

Renovation and surroundings

Between 2016 and 2019 the church underwent extensive renovation. In 2022 a Garden of Dialogue was created beside the church with fifteen chapels of the Way of the Cross, expanding the space available to visitors with an area for prayer outside the building. The entire complex is entered in the register of monuments under number 777 from 1967.

The parish today

The parish is currently led by Parish Priest Bogumił Karp together with three curates and a resident priest, within the Diocese of Łowicz. The community numbers 11,287 parishioners, and Mass is said daily, making the church a living centre of the city's religious life, alongside its function as a site to visit.

Practical information

• Address: Plac Marszałka Piłsudskiego 9, 96-200 Rawa Mazowiecka (the portal gives only "Piłsudskiego" without number and without "Plac" – correction to database reported separately)
• Access: by public transport to the centre of Rawa Mazowiecka, the church stands on the main square of the city
• What to expect: a Baroque church with a Gothic baptismal font, seven altars, accessible crypts with mummified monks and a view from the bell tower
• Exact times of Mass and visiting should be confirmed directly with the parish