In the Odessa region, in the Bereziv district, there is the dilapidated church of St. Severin. Before 1917, the church was located on the grounds of the extensive Potocki estate, whose first owner was Count Severin (1762 -1829).

Seweryn Potocki was an extraordinary figure. Well-educated, with extensive family and social connections, he frequented the best salons. It is to him that Kharkiv owes the establishment of its university, one of the "most important city-forming factors" of the city.

Potocki the guardian angel
From 1802, the Pole served as superintendent of the Kharkiv Scientific District and was the head of schools of all grades in an area of 11 gubernias and 7 oblasts. The count received his appointment to this post from Alexander I, with whom he was linked by friendship and reformist inclinations. Potocki was an advocate of establishing universities in smaller towns - at the beginning of the 19th century, Kharkov had about 10,000 inhabitants.

Potocki's most important task was to assemble the teaching staff - "to him first and foremost the University of Kharkiv owed the fortuitous selection of teaching forces drawn to Kharkiv [...]" . For the Pole believed that the university he was creating deserved to be taught there by the most eminent. The Count embarked on the impossible, inviting Goethe himself to take up the chair of literature! He set up a printing works at the university, which printed books and other teaching materials for the entire academic district. He acquired a plot of land and established the University Garden on it, which - to the delight of Kharkiv residents - soon became public. In addition, he bequeathed to the university his own mineralogical collections and collections of paintings and drawings. He donated 1,695 books to the university library.

No praise was spared for the count's erudition. " All branches of knowledge were available to this magnate, an education standing tall, which animated the young University, committed to his care" . Potocki's devotion to the university was so great that residents called him the university's 'guardian angel'.

Sewerynowka or Great Pot ocki
In 1792, Catherine II granted 6,000 tithes of arable land to a Pole, making the Potockis the largest landowners in southern Russia. They were second only to the governor of Novorossiya, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, and the princes of Kochuba. The Potocki estate was "a well-kept and well-managed estate complex, and its centre was Severinovka, which, due to its location and infrastructure, was an important stop on the way to Odessa and was called a town ( a palace, two temples, a town hall, production workshops, etc.)" .

A description of the town was left by Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski: "The buildings of Severinovka are beautifully white among the greenery of poplars, acacias and tamarisks. The town is very carefully and tastefully built up, has a nice palace with a courtyard and a gate, on whose pillars lie two lions or sphinxes, and is surrounded by tamarisks and acacias. [...] everywhere one can see the effort and earnestness to elevate the town" . The clearest indication of our countryman's role in the consciousness of local residents is the fact that Severinovka was colloquially called 'Great Potocki'.

The Count founded the St. Severin Catholic Church. He located it on the site of the local cemetery. In 1800, its construction was completed. A year later, the consecration of the church took place. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Michał Sierakowski of Kamieniecko-Podolski. The pastoral service in Severinovka was provided by Jesuits, who were brought to Odessa and its environs by Armand Emmanuel de Richelieu, one of the founders of Odessa and governor of the Novorossiysk Krai.

At different periods of the church's existence, the number of its believers was between 2,000 and 2,500 people. The parishioners included mainly Poles who had moved to the south of the Russian Empire in search of a better life. The temple was open throughout the day, but services were held there in the evenings and on Sundays. Women sat on one side of the nave, men on the other.

It was in St Seweryn's church that a funeral mass was held for the soul of its founder. Seweryn Potocki died in St Petersburg in November 1829. According to his wishes, he was to be laid to rest at his estate of Severinovka, near Kherson. When, in January 1830, the coffin with the count's body was heading towards the burial place, more than 60 people from the district nobility assembly came out to meet it. The following day representatives of the local gentry carried the coffin "in thanks for the care of the area" . The count was laid to rest in the cemetery next to the temple.

Soviet and post-Soviet times
Seweryn Potocki's heirs took care of the town and the church, which - depending on administrative changes - was located in successive dioceses: Kamieniec-Podol, Mogilev and Tiraspol. After 1917, the owners left Severinovka. The condition of the estate quickly deteriorated. St. Severin's church was successively turned into a hospital for tuberculosis patients and a warehouse.

Today - as the official website of the Ukrainian Catholic Church reads - the building is "in a deplorable state". Before the Russian invasion, intentions were expressed to rebuild the church. For the time being, these plans have been put on hold