The Nizhny Novgorod Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has an unusual appearance for Catholic churches. The fact is that it is located in a small building, where once there were stables, in the territory of the former Shchelokov estates. However, its interior is decorated with beautiful sculptures and stained-glass windows, and an organ plays during the services.
The emergence of Catholic settlements
Starting from the 17th century, Pansky Sloboda began to form in Nizhny Novgorod - a part of the city where the Germans, Poles and Lithuanians, who had once been captured during numerous wars and left to live in Russia, had long settled. Given its national composition, it is safe to say that among them were people professing Catholicism, although there is no information on the conduct of such religious services in archival documents of that era.
After the war of 1812, for four years, a large number of Poles, French and Germans were forced to accept Russian citizenship in order to find work in Russia, in particular, in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Often, only the heads of families changed their religion, while wives and children remained Catholics.
Since 1833, the first elite educational institutions, such as the Mariinsky and Alexander institutes, began to appear in the city. Representatives of many nationalities gathered here who preferred to maintain their religion, whether Muslim, Lutheran or Catholic. for this reason, a mandatory presence in the educational institutions of spiritual mentors was introduced for each of the religious groups. From time to time, visiting priests visited the city, conducting services either in rented premises or in private houses. But, as it turned out, this was not enough.
First temple
In 1857, Catholics merchants decided to file a collective petition for the construction of a chapel on the city's fairground. Not without effort, but they still managed to achieve their goal. By the time of construction, other local parishioners had added their donations to the amount collected by the merchants, so instead of the chapel it was decided to erect a small, but stone church without a bell tower. It was consecrated in 1861.
It was the first Catholic church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nizhny Novgorod. Then his rector was Father S. Budrevich, who also performed the duties of chaplain. In addition to the main church building, a house was built nearby, where the priest lived, and for the organist, an outbuilding. A wonderful garden was also set up behind the temple.
Increase in income
After the uprising in Poland in 1861-1863, an influx of settlers of the Catholic faith again began in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The fact is that the most active rebels were usually sent to Russia, so the parish was growing rapidly. Before the start of World War I, the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was visited by about 5.5 thousand Catholics.
By that time, in addition to the church, several more chapels had been erected in the city. According to documents from those times, they were listed as separate Catholic parishes, and their priests sometimes went to county towns for worship. Through the efforts of the rector of the father, Peter Bitna-Schlachto, Lithuanian and Polish charity committees dealing with refugee issues, as well as prisoners of war and officers, were organized at the church. In addition, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary had its own public library, Sunday school and choir.
Second temple
In 1914, the parish was replenished again with a large number of people. On May 16 of the same year, the Novgorod Catholic community received as a gift a piece of land with a house and a garden from the priest P.V. Bitny-Shlyakhto, who bought it at his own expense from the noblewoman A. Mikhailova. This estate was located on Studenoi Street (now it is house number 8). It was planned to build a new church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Nizhny Novgorod could then be decorated with a huge pseudo-Gothic church with high spire-shaped towers. The design of this magnificent building was already ready. Its developer was the architect M.I. Kuntsevich. But these plans were not implemented, as the First World War began. As a result, it was decided to build the simplest and lowest church without towers, with an ordinary ceiling instead of numerous arches. In this building, services were performed until 1929, when the majority of parishioners were not repressed, and priest A. Dzemeshkevich was shot at all. Almost all the Catholic churches of Nizhny Novgorod suffered the same fate . Repressions in the country were only just beginning.
At the end of 1940, the second church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was almost completely rebuilt as a hostel. A little later, a radio center was also located here. In the 1960s, the building again changed its owners, this time it housed a technical scientific center. As for the first temple, located on Zelensky Descent, it was first closed, and then completely demolished during the years of Stalin's repressions.
The revival of the parish
In the spring of 1993, five believers gathered for a joint prayer for the first time - future parishioners of the new Catholic church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was then that the decision was made to restore it. It turned out that about 300 Lithuanians, more than 600 Poles, as well as representatives of other nationalities, most of whom professed Catholicism, lived in Nizhny Novgorod at that time.
The first Mass in the city was celebrated in a private apartment in November 1993 by Father Ralph Philippe Schönenberg, who came from Switzerland and brought with him the first statue for the future temple - the Mother of God of Fitima. Soon, a new parish was officially registered.
Third temple
Since the previous church building was not possible to convey to believers, the city administration allocated them another room located on a neighboring site. It turned out to be the building of the former stables of the Shchelokovs estate. A little later, a dilapidated building belonging to the organist passed into the possession of the parish. Now it is repaired and the priest lives there now.
The building where the stables were once located has since been fundamentally rebuilt. Now there is located directly the temple, the office of the parish and the premises of “Caritas”. On the second floor are Sunday school classes and a library.
Reconstruction
Since the outwardly new building of the temple did not resemble a religious building, much attention was paid to the interior decoration. The altar in the temple is set in the center in the same way as the first Christians did when they left the catacombs. Behind is a semicircular aspect, decorated with stained glass windows.
A little later, an openwork cross was installed on the temple, a tower clock, a bell was hung in the dormer window, and a color image of the Holy Family appeared above the main entrance to the church. All these attributes clearly showed the purpose of this building.
It is worth noting that almost all construction work was carried out by local craftsmen, with the exception of the cross and the bell, which were made in Voronezh. In 2004, the city administration gave permission to expand the temple. Huge work was done, which allowed us to make the church more convenient and spacious for parishioners.
Currently, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary officially belongs to the Archdiocese of Mother of God, headed by Archbishop Paolo Pezzi. Address: Studenaya street, 10 b.