The text describes the history of Catholics and the Roman Catholic Church in Orenburg. The history of the Dominican Kandyda Zielonka, who arrived in Orenburg in 1833, is recalled, as well as - after the parish had expanded - the sending of another friar, Father Szczotkowski. The following text describes the numbers of parishioners in the subsequent years of the church's existence. (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1865, T:11, pp. 128-129., after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Roman Catholic Church in Orenburg.

Entering the borders of today's Orenburg province and continuing eastwards to the Ural river, located in the Orenburg province, which separates Europe from Asia with its narrow ribbon of water, and among the numerous Orthodox churches and dragon minarets, one can sometimes encounter a Catholic temple. The city of Orenburg, situated on the border of Asia and where, among the 30,000 inhabitants of various nationalities, there is also a small handful of Catholics, has one such temple.

The earliest records of the Orenburg church date back only to 1839. The first traces of Catholics living here before that time are to be found in the Zlotoński church, which was founded as a parish for various craftsmen brought from abroad to work in the government mines and factories, and which was at the same time the parish for the whole of the Orenburg province, six thousand square miles wide.

The local parish priest in Zlotonsk used the title of superintendent and was obliged to visit every corner of this vast gubernia every year, wherever he expected to find Catholics. A Dominican priest from Grodziec, who arrived in Orenburg in 1833, Father Candide Zielonka, widely known as a great lover of sciences, relieved the noble Oshoklinsky superintendent in this work, having been granted permission two years after his arrival to celebrate mass and perform religious duties in Orenburg and the surrounding areas under the authority of the Intra-bank and Orenburg guards. He has been appointed vice-curator and should perform religious duties.

However, as the number of Catholics increased, there was a growing need to completely divide the Orenburg parish between two clergymen, one of whom would extend his care to the military and the other to the workers in the factories and the foreign Catholics. As a result, the monastery of Dominican priests in Kyiv sent one of its monks, Father Szczotkowski, to Orenburg. The first of these military chaplains, equipped with all the ecclesiastical apparatuses that still exist, arrived in Orenburg in 1838. At the beginning of December of that year, Father Szczotkowski left this world, and his replacement was appointed Father Kandyda Zielonka, who in January 1839 formed the first church or parish book.

It shows that the total number of Catholics at that time was 121, of whom 20 had died. Apart from a few consistory circulars, a proclamation from the superintendent and a request from the military authorities to bury the dead or take oaths from those freshly enlisted in the army, there is nothing else to be found there. It was not until 1840 that Fr. Zielonka received the metric books from the clerical authorities, along with the right to keep them at the local chapel, and for the first time that year he visited Catholics throughout the province, finding all of them to number 2150.

The transfer to the active army of soldiers from the Orenburg battalions and the mortality, more like to haunt these parts than others, caused a constant fluctuation in the number of Catholics in the Orenburg gubernia. Thus: the year 1841 showed 1711 male heads, and 20 female; the following year 1037 heads, and in this number civil officials 50, in the Ileckie mines 5 workers and Cossack families 158. And from this date the total number of Catholics begins to decrease, and this continues until 1856, because in 1855 there were only 1080, and in this number civil officials 100 and women 60. Despite the division in 1855, by administrative way, of the Orenburg gubernia into Samara and Orenburg.

Despite the division of the Samara and Oryenburg gubernias by administration in 1855, the duties of the corps chaplain were not reduced, as the 1855 records show. In fact, his district included from the west with Siar and the new guard line, all in the Kyrgyz steppe fortresses, up to the Turgay and Irgiz rivers to the east, Syrdaria to the south, the Caspian sea coast and the Samara governorate. In 1856 the number of Catholics suddenly rises to 1416, and already gradually increasing every year, reached at the end of 1863 the number of 1975 heads, that is 1750 male, and 225 female; in the former number we see 120 civilians, Cossacks and 40, and in the ilecka mine 2.

After the death of Father Szczotkowski, a catholic chapel was established in the private house of the Frenchman Maloni, and in 1845, on 15 May, the foundation stone of a new catholic church was laid. It took two years to complete the existing church, shown here in the engraving, and 40,000 zloty was spent on it, in addition to iron, wood and bricks given free of charge by the government.

The consecration of this new tabernacle, dedicated to N. Virgin Mary of Loretto, took place on d. 20 November 1847, and the first sacrifice in honour of the God-Giver took place in 1859, during which the organ was also sounded for the first time. This organ, made by an organ-builder from Saratov, valued at two thousand zlotys, is the offering of Mr Ciechanowski. It is built in a modern style and can hold up to several hundred people, so that it is sufficient for the city of Orenburg itself.

It has a sacristy and a high altar, in which an oil painting depicting the Transfiguration of Christ, sent from St Petersburg, is placed. In the absence of a pulpit, sermons are held in front of the great altar. On one of the walls of the church, to the left of the entrance, there is a posthumous plaque with an inscription, in memory of Marshal Mikulicz of Volyn Governorate, who died in Orenburg in 1863.

As far as the church apparatus is concerned, the temple is also sufficiently provided for, as it is often asked for in-kind contributions from various people. In August 1864, the church was completely refreshed, and the tidiness and exemplary cleanliness of the church reflect the care of its present pastor, Father Antoni Januszkiewicz.

In addition to daily Mass at 8am, summals and sermons are held every Sunday and feast day, and a handful of pious people of both sexes offer devout prayers there. This is a brief outline of the history of this modest church, about which we owe many of the details given here to Mr Ignác Knoll, a keen collector of historical monuments.