The Church of St. Barbara, Krakow

  
POLAND, 1957, St. Barbara church is at the lower left above the KR of Krakow, Scott C43
A view from the Small Market Square showing the Jesuit residence (green) and the rear of the church (red) and its spire, with the roof of Saint Mary to the right

The 14th-century Church of St. Barbara in Krakow was transferred to the Jesuits on February 7, 1583. In the stamp above it stands to the left of the choir of Notre Dame and its well-known towers (see detail). From 1583 to 1612 they bought three neighboring Gothic burgher houses rebuilt in 1615 to make a residence for the Jesuits. It was remodeled in the Baroque style and housed a famous Jesuit college which competed with the Krakow Jagiellonian University. At the Suppression the Jesuit property was taken over by the National Education Commission and passed through several hands until full ownership was restored to the Jesuits in 1910. Among the superiors of the church and residence were Piotr Skarga, preacher of King Sigismund III, and Jakob Wujek, translator of the Bible into Polish, who is buried with 138 other Jesuits in the crypts beneath the church.

Saints Peter and Paul Church, Krakow

 
POLAND, 1982, Krakow Monuments Restoration souvenir sheet, Scott 2549
The Jesuit Church of Saints Peter and Paul is illustrated at 3 PM.

In 1597 King Sigismund III Vasa set aside substantial funds to build a new church for the Jesuits in Krakow, since St. Barbara's Church had proven too small for their mission. The new church, consecrated in 1635, was modeled after the Gesu in Rome, the mother church of the Jesuit Order. It was the first Baroque building in Krakow. Its crypt serves as the new national pantheon for Poles distinguished in the arts, science and culture, and chief among them are the remains of Fr. Piotr Skarga, a statue in whose honor is in the center of the Plaza of St. Mary Magdalene opposite the facade of the church. The statues of the twelve apostle before the facade are a striking feature of the church. More

The Jesuit Church, Lublin

   
Occupied POLAND, 1942, Scott NB15-NB18
In the old city (left) the side of the church with its towers is above the +8 and +50;
in the modern city (right) the facade of the same church in the upper right

The Jesuit church in Lublin, dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, was constructed by Bernhard Maciejowski, later Cardinal Archbishop of Gnesen, between 1582 and 1600, and remained a Jesuit church until 1722. It was rebuilt in 1757 after a fire and later became the cathedral. This is where St. John Paul II served 6:00 AM weekday Mass when he was a professor at the Catholic university.

The Castle Chapel at Malbork

  
GERMANY, 1924, Scott 339
POLAND, 2004, World Heritage (syncopated perforation), Scott 3755
POLAND, 1954, the 5th centenary of the recovery of Pommerania, Scott 642

POLAND, 1977, postal card about protection of monuments featuring the castle, Cp669

This 13th-century fortified castle of the Teutonic Order and the seat of its grand master is the largest castle in the world by surface area and the largest brick building in Europe. When the Jesuits arrived in Marlbork (in German Marienberg) in 1607 they were given charge of the chapel of St. Mary and its painting of Our Lady in the Gate. In 1756-1767 a Jesuit college was built. In 1656 the Swedes invaded Poland, captured Malbork and destroyed the chapel. The present terraced walls in front of the castle were rebuilt during the early 1990's by pupils of the nearby Technical High School, previously the Jesuit residence.

 
The castle also appears in these two cancels: one of August 30, 1973 reading "Malbork Castle,"
and one from January 26, 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the return of the Western and Northern Territories to the Motherland

The Sanctuary of Our Lady, Swieta Lipka

POLAND, 1993, Image of Our Lady of Swieta Lipka, Scott 3173

According to legend, the name Swieta Lipka (Holy Linden tree) referred to a tree with a wooden statue of Mary under which miracles took place, though it may stem from a sacred grove of the Old Prussians. A chapel at the site was first mentioned in a 1491, when Swieta Lipka was already a pilgrimage site. It was destroyed about 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, in which the region became Lutheran. The Catholic faith was again approved in the Duchy of Prussia in 1605, and the site was turned over to the Jesuits who rebuilt the church which again became a popular pilgrimage site. The Jesuit monastic complex is considered the most beautiful Baroque construction in Poland.

The Benedictine Abbey, Tyniec

 
Occupied POLAND, 1941, 1943-44, Scott N75, N101

The Benedictine Abbey at Tyniec was the residence from 1826 of the Jesuit theology students of the Province of Galicia until they were driven away by fire in 1831.

The Church of the Gracious Mother of God, Warsaw

 
POLAND, 2001, the 350th anniversary of the painting of the Gracious Mother of God, Patroness of Warsaw (see imprinted stamp)
presented to King John II Casimir Vasa (Jan Kazimierz) by the Pope in 1651

 
POLAND, 1945, Scott 375
This set also exists with privately created roulette perforations.
POLAND, 1946, Warsaw Liberation overprints, Scott 384

In the center of the left vignette above rises the facade of St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw, and to its left the Church of the Gracious Mother of God built from 1609 to 1620. It reverted to the Society in 1917, but was destroyed during World War II. It has since been rebuilt and is attended by fathers from the residence of the provincial of the North Polish Province.

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