The Church of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs is a catholic temple which has been elevated to the rank of a sanctuary. It houses the relics of the "Five Saint Polish Brothers". In 1984, Father Popiełuszko celebrated there his last Holy Mass before being abducted and assassinated by members of the Security Service.^[1]

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Church of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs
Polish: Kościół Świętych Polskich Braci Męczenników w Bydgoszczy
Church of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs, Bydgoszcz
Location	3 Jerzego Popiełuszki street, Bydgoszcz
Country	Poland
Denomination	Catholic Church
Website	http://www.meczennicy.bydgoszcz.pl/
History
Status	Church
Dedication	Five Saint Martyr Brothers
Dedicated	November 23, 1986
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Leopold Taraszkiewicz
Architectural type	Modernism
Completed	1982

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The church is located at 3 Jerzego Popiełuszki street, in the Wyżyny district of Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The Church of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs was the last place where Father Jerzy Popieluszko celebrated a mass before he was murdered by officers of the Security Service (SB). Invited by the Pastoral Care of the Working People (Polish: Duszpasterstwa Ludzi Pracy),^[8] he arrived in Bydgoszcz on October 19, 1984. At 18.00, he celebrated his last Holy Mass in the church. His last words during the meditation were: Let us pray that we may be free from fear and intimidation, but above all from retaliation and violence.

Around 10 p.m., he went back to Warsaw with his driver, Waldemar Chrostowski. On the road between Bydgoszcz and Toruń, three officers of the SB (Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala and Waldemar Chmielewski) stopped the car and, after an extreme beating on the road, threw the almost-dead man from the Włocławek dam into the Vistula river. The news of the murder deeply shocked public opinion in the country and around the world. On June 6, 2010, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko was beatified.

On October 19, 1985, for the first anniversary of his death, a statue of Father Popiełuszko was unveiled on the site. In 1995, the organ of the church was named after him.

From the very beginning, the place became a center of patriotic thought related to the martyrdom of the Polish nation. In the 1980s, it was a church where people, shrouded in the spirit of "Solidarność Union" prayed for Homeland.

Veterans' associations supported the set up around the church of symbolic graves and commemorative plaques for the heroes of the fight for free Poland, such as:

• Father Jerzy Popieluszko;
• Sybirak;
• Katyn victims;
• Auschwitz victims;
• Polish Scouting.

During Pope John Paul II's trip to Poland in 1999, Bydgoszcz had been named the Station of the New Martyrs. On June 7, 1999, during the Holy Mass at the airport, John Paul II referred to the symbolism represented by the invocation of the church:

"This church [of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs] commemorates all nameless Poles who, during the history of Polish Christianity, gave their lives for Christ's Gospel and Homeland, starting with St. Wojciech [Adalbert of Prague]".

He also called for the commemoration of the martyrs who gave their lives for the faith. In response to this appeal, a year after the Pope's pilgrimage, (June 7, 2000) Henryk Muszyński, then Archbishop of Gniezno, officially elevated the church to the dignity of Sanctuary of the New Martyrs, as a way to commemorate the martyrdom of Poland. Furthermore, mementoes of the presence of John Paul II in Bydgoszcz were deposited in the papal chapel.

The church design refers both to sailing elements and to the evangelical meeting of barges on the lake.^[12] The footprint consists of four circle segments with different sizes, having their separating sections above the roofs portrayed as triangular ship sails.^[6]

The foundations outlines draw the shape of a chalice, standing on a sacramental bread:^[11]

• the small church represents the base of the chalice;
• the main church is the bowl of the chalice;
• the host covers the memorial halls and utility rooms.

Beneath the masts rests the base of the bell tower, topped with a Greek cross. Ceramic bas-reliefs were used to adorn the facade and its interiors.^[13]

The surface of the edifice is 3,260 square metres (0.81 acres) and the main church nave area, (1,454 square metres (0.359 acres)), equals Bydgoszcz Basilica's. The bell tower is 29.5 metres (97 ft) high, limited to 30m due to the proximity of the airport approach path. The church can accommodate up to 4,000 people.^[4]

In its shape, the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs church shows similitudes with another Taraszkiewicz's work, "Our Lady Queen of the Rosary Church" in Przymorze district of Gdańsk, built in 1971.^[13]

• Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs main church (i.e. the main circle). It hosts the main altar, where some of the relics of the Saints are embedded. Bas-reliefs decorate the side walls, they represent:^[3]
  • Saint Stanislaus the Martyr;
  • Saint Maximilian Kolbe;
  • Father Jakubowski, a Bydgoszcz priest murdered in September 1939 in a northern forest of the city;^[5]
  • Saint Adalbert of Prague;
  • Saint Andrew Bobola;
  • Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko.

On the outer walls, bas-reliefs depict national heroes and scenes from the construction of the church. Stained glass windows in the eastern wall quote the eight blessings on which Pope John Paul II based his teaching during his pilgrimage to his homeland in 1999.

• Chapel of the Visitation of Our Lady (Small church). It serves as a chapel for daily services. The oak-paneled walls and the floor sloping down towards the altar render the impression of being inside a boat.^[11] The altar carries the replica of "Our Lady of Czestochowa", by Maria Torwirt, surrounded by numerous votive offerings. On the north side is the chapel of Saint Urszula Ledóchowska with her relics, facing the figure and relics of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. The chapel decor is complemented by stained glass windows with Marian elements.^[11]

• Chapel of Remembrance (North Circle). It consists of:^[11]
  • Chapel of the Martyrdom of Bydgoszcz, which commemorates the suffering of the city from 1939 to 1945. The floor is made of cobblestones from the Bydgoszcz Stary Rynek covered by the blood of the murdered in September 1939. On the walls are paintings referring to the martyrdom of the inhabitants of Bydgoszcz and a hand mark from the wall of the ex-Jesuit church on Stary Rynek. In the corner stands a triptych: "Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn", "Merciful Jesus" and "December Madonna", by Jerzy Puciata, a local artist. One can also find memorial plaques.
  • Chapel of Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. It keeps the spirit of the then-martial law. The display cases contain photographs, souvenirs, memorabilia, replicas and drawings from that period. The blessed martyr is represented on photographs from his last service and the liturgical vestments he used are on display.
  • Chapel of the New Martyrs, dedicated to the 108 martyrs who were beatified by John Paul II in Warsaw in 1999. The front wall bears a picture of the Resurrected Christ defeating Satan, under which one can find an urn with soil from the places of execution of Poles during World War II. The list of the 108 martyrs are inscribed on the left wall, while on the right are portraits of the blessed from the Archdiocese of Gniezno. The interiors are decorated with religious sculptures.
  • Papal Chapel, gathering liturgical equipment from the Holy Mass celebrated by John Paul II at the airport of Bydgoszcz on June 7, 1999: the altar, two papal thrones, the chasubles of the Pope and Stanisław Dziwisz, photographs, a copy of the act of granting Honorary Citizenship of Bydgoszcz to John Paul II and a certificate of the planting of the papal oak in 2006.
  • The Chapel of the Martyrs of Our Times, arranged by the visual artist Janusz Karnisza. In the center stands a large cross piercing the ceiling: from it hangs a small portrait of Jerzy Popieluszko. Under the latter are placed relics donated by his mother and the relics of the eleven Sisters of Nazareth, murdered by the Nazis on August 1, 1943, in Novogrudok, Belarus (offered on November 13, 2003, by Archbishop Henryk Muszyński). On the altar stands a replica of the monument from Saint. Brigid Church in Gdańsk, while the main wall bear an image of the Face of Christ and a painting depicting Pilate's judgment over Christ, by the artist Jan Kaja. A map of the world pinpoints the places of modern persecution of Christians.
  • The Memorial Chamber of Primate Stefan Wyszyński
  • An exhibition area retracing the building the church and souvenirs from John Paul II's stay in Bydgoszcz.
• Utility and social rooms make the Southern circle.

• Monument to Father Jerzy Popiełuszko by Jacek Marek Krzyżyński from Otłoczyn, unveiled on October 19, 1985.
• Figure of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, unveiled on May 3, 1986, in the very place where Father Popiełuszko set off on his last journey.^[5]
• Symbolic stones commemorating places of execution of Poles (e.g. Katyn, Siberia).
• Earthwork with names of places commemorating the struggle and martyrdom of Poles during the German occupation. Initially (September 5, 1969) placed nearby the "Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom" (Polish: Pomnik Walki i Męczeństwa Ziemi Bydgoskiej) on Stary Rynek in Bydgoszcz, it was moved to the vicinity of the church in September 2007.
• A boulder, with the inscription "2000 years of Christianity". It comes from the ornamentation of John Paul II's altar at Bydgoszcz airport (June 5, 1999).^[5]
• Three oaks planted on November 11, 2000. The first celebrates 2000 years of Christianity, the second is dedicated to John Paul II, the third commemorates the Primate of the Millennium, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.^[5]
• Bas-reliefs on the church commemorating the struggle of Poles for freedom during the period between the Bar Confederation and the Warsaw Uprising.
• A burnt oak stump together with a shrine stand for the destructive wars, thoughtlessness and vandalism of modern times.

• Bells^[2]

Three bells stand in the church tower, they have been made in 1980 by bell founder Antoni Kruszyński, from the foundry of the Kruszewski Brothers in Węgrów. They were lifted up to the tower in March 1981.

• • The largest, with an E note, weights 1,700 kilograms (270 st) and bears the inscription: Bell funded by the inhabitants of Bydgoszcz to commemorate the martyrdom of 40,000 inhabitants murdered in 1939-1945 - on the other side, it reads: I am calling you and also have love.
  • The second bell, G-noted, with a mass of 900 kilograms (140 st), has been named "Mary". Under the name an inscription reads: Bell funded by the faithful of the parish of St. Polish Brothers Martyrs in Bydgoszcz to commemorate the Visitation of the Parish by "Our Lady of Czestochowa" on June 10, 1978 - the opposite side bears: Here is the Mother of our trust.
  • The third bell, with an H note and a mass of 550 kilograms (87 st) is named "Romuald". Inscriptions read Bell funded by the first parish priest of St. Polish Brothers Martyrs in Bydgoszcz Father Romuald Biniak and Preach the glory of the goodness of working people who built this temple.

• Bronze doors

In the middle of the church stands a large two-sided commemorative bronze door, realized by sculptor Jacek Kucaba. It has been consecrated on October 19, 2009, by Cardinal Józef Glemp. On the inside, the carved scenes commemorate the life and mission of Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko (ordination, preachings, last Holy Mass in Bydgoszcz, kidnapping, torture and funeral). On the outside are paintings entitled "Roads to Freedom 1945-1989", depicting the uprisings and the church-led road that guided Poles to freedom.^[7]

The four remaining entrance doors, forged by the artist Marek Rona, display Polish eagles from various periods of history: Henryk IV Probus's tombstone, Casimir III the Great's rule, Władysław II Jagiełło and Sigismund I the Old era, Stephen Báthory and John III Sobieski time, Stanisław August Poniatowski reign and the emblem of the Second Polish Republic (1919-1927).^[7]

• Pipe organ

The church organ was built by Bronisław Cepka from Wronki. Originally, the instrument was intended for a church in Warsaw.^[14] However, these plans did not come to fruition and eventually the pieces were transferred to the church of St. Polish Brothers Martyrs. The organ features 3,500 pipes, 43 voices, including Spanish bells and trumpets. The instrument was blessed on December 2, 1995, by Cardinal Józef Glemp. The organ is adorned with a statue of "Our Lady of Ludźmierz". The upper balustrade is decorated with several coats of arms and the Piast Eagle.^[5]

• Baptismal font

The baptismal font, set outside the presbytery, is made of a uniform granite block flanked by three doors referring to the Trinity. Its author is the artist Michał Kubiak.^[5]

• Panoramic view
• Entrance with the burnt oak stump
• Interiors - Main altar
• Monument to Father Jerzy Popiełuszko
• Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
• "2000 years of Christianity" Stone
• Symbolic stones

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Five Saints Brothers church in Bydgoszcz.

• Bydgoszcz
• The five Brothers Martyrs
• Stefan Wyszyński
• Katyn massacre
• Jerzy Popiełuszko