The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a wood and brick Catholic church, located on the southern heights of Bydgoszcz in northern Poland, at 16 Ugory street.
History
Prussian period
The desire to erect a catholic church in Szwederowo district dates back to the end of the 19th century, as this village housed the main concentration of Polish Catholics in and around Bromberg. The Prussian authorities only authorized the construction of a Lutheran temple in 1906, the Martin Luther Church in Bydgoszcz, fearing that new catholic parishes fostered Polish identity and resistance movements. The latter temple was burned down in September 1939, and demolished in 1945, shortly after the end of WWII.
Edmund Dalbor, Primate of Poland, made up his mind in favor of the construction of a church in this suburb, after a visit to Bydgoszcz he made in 1917. To this purpose, he designated Jan Konopczyński, then vicar of St. Martin and St. Nicholas parish -only catholic parish, as responsible for the project, via the setting up of an association for the construction of churches in Bydgoszcz and the surroundings (). In August 1917, this association purchased plots of land in Father Ignacy Skorupki street (Nr.2/4 and 8/10) and asked local engineer Edmund Pitak to develop an initial design. However, the outbreak of World War I ground the scheme to a halt.
Projects and construction
The establishment of the Second Polish Republic in 1920 brought opportune conditions for the expected construction of the church: Szwederowo village had been integrated into Bydgoszcz city territory and Szwederowo parish of 6700 residents was one of the four newly created pastoral districts (St. Martin and St. Nicholas parish, Parish of the Holy Trinity, Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Szwederowo). At the beginning, the lack of a church led to celebrate Sundays and holidays services in the open, whereas weekdays masses were held in the soup kitchen establishment at 66 Orla street.
Father Konopczyński proposed the Metropolitan Curia in Gniezno two choices: either building a temporary church at the plot at the intersection of Orla and Skorupkiego streets or acquiring from the city the former Conitzer dance hall at 2 Dąbrowskiego street and adapt it to a makeshift church. The latter solution was chosen and the temporary temple was set up with the help of parishioners, comprising a main altar adorned with a painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help which came from downtown's St. Martin and St. Nicholas parish. This make-do church was consecrated on October 10, 1920. From this time on, many individuals, craftsmen and merchants made donations, offered paintings or craft works to the church-to-be.
In 1923, Bydgoszcz city council transferred the land at Orla and Dąbrowskiego streets for private construction, in exchange of which it passed a resolution giving perpetua lease for a plot where to build a church. Meanwhile, on April 10, 1924, cardinal Edmund Dalbor erected officially the Szwederowo's parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Finally in January 1926, Father Konopczyński acquired, on behalf of the Metropolitan Curia, a property at 8/9 Ugory street (present day 16 Ugory street) for the construction of the parish church.