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Already in the
second decade of the 1800s, there were isolated immigrant Polanders
living in Detroit. With increasing frequency, by the late I 850s,
they began to arrive in groups and families. By 1872, some three
hundred Polish families had organized St. Albertus Parish and had
built a frame church near the outer eastern extremities of the city
on St. Aubin and Canfield Avenue (then called Fremont Avenue).
Dominic Hippolytus Kolasiñski
For better or
for worse, the history of the Pioneer Detroit Polanders is emblazoned
with the name of Dominic Hippolytus Kolasiñski. In 1882,
he became the fifth pastor of St. Albertus Parish. A very charming
and capable man, he proved to be both a very charismatic priest
and a very controversial leader. He rallied his people to build
the present beautiful Gothic Church of St. Albertus which was dedicated
on July 4, 1885.
Unfortunately, late in November of 1885, trouble and dissension
polarized the parish into two factions. Father Kolasiñski
was the center of contention. He was removed from his pastorate
and suspended from the priesthood on November 30, 1885, for a variety
of alleged reasons. Riots and disturbances and mayhem followed.
Young John Lewicki, 24, was killed in one such riot on Christmas
Day of 1885.
Father Kolasiñski’s adherents would not allow him to
leave. Moreover, after consulting a competent canonist, he wrote
a letter to Bishop Casper Henry Borgess on December 30, 1885, in
which he lamented the latter’s lack of canonical procedure.
First, he had not been presented with a document of detailed specific
charges made against him. Second, he had not at any time previously
received the two requisite warnings concerning any of his alleged
irregularities. And third, he was denied due process to protect
his person with proper legal representation. That is why he felt
his suspension was issued illicitly and invalidly. He felt no man
is above the law and that his bishop must follow Canon Law. He rationalized
that if bishops fail to observe rules
and regulations, then priests and laity are not required to accept
disciplines which contradict the general laws of the Church. That
is why he initially refused to leave his pastorate. It was only
in early April of 1886, after a judgment of the civil court on March
19, 1886, rendered a verdict in his disfavor, that the priest left
Detroit for the Dakota Territory. Here he became pastor of a rural
Polish parish of Poznanian and Kashubian farmers near Minto.
The Unofficial and Official Beginnings of Sweetest Heart of Mary
Church
In the meantime, Father Kolasiñski’s followers in Detroit,
who consistently claimed that he had been unfairly removed and without
due process,
formed their own parochial community. Already in August of 1886,
they had established a school for their children. This was realty
the unofficial genesis of Sweetest Heart of Mary Parish.
This was the beginning of a community known affectionately in the
heyday of the Detroit Polonia as “Sercowo” (The
Heart’s Area).
When John Samuel Foley was installed as the new bishop of Detroit
on November 24, 1888, Father Kolasiñski returned to the city
on December 8, 1888. It was his hope that his case would be reviewed
by the new bishop and that a judgment favorable to his person would
be rendered. This did not happen. That is why he officially began
the Parish of the Sweetest Heart of Mary outside the jurisdiction
of the Catholic Church of Detroit. On February 11, 1889, he incorporated
it under the title of the Sacred Heart of Mary Parish. Shortly
afterwards he began the construction of a church-school building
on Canfield Avenue which still stands today behind the church edifice.
A Magnificent New Church
Father Kolasinski’s new parish grew so rapidly that already
on July 28, 1890, he began the construction of the present cathedral-like
church. Tensions between his followers who were called “Kolachy”
(the Kolasinskians) and the “Dombruchy” (the Dombrovites)
who were the followers of Father Joseph Dombrowski, the founder
of the Polish Seminary who had succeeded Father Kolasinski at St.
Albertus, continued in their fervid intensity. In fact, on Christmas
Eve of 1891, young Joseph Bolda, 19, a Dombrovite, was killed in
an altercation between Kolasinskians and Dombrovites.
On June 5, 1892, a cornerstone-laying ceremony presided over by
a “bishop” of dubious antecedents took place. On December
24, 1893, Christmas Eve, the church was officially dedicated with
great pomp and circumstance by a socalled Old Catholic bishop,
Joseph Rene Vilatte, with more than 10,000 people in attendance.
Though there was no parade, 1,800 men and women belonging to the
parish’s twelve societies and to the two paramilitary companies
(organized by Father Kolasiñski), in full uniform and regalia,
formed a line around the church. The weather was splendid and the
sun shone brightly. The great church, designed by the architectural
firm of Spier and Rohns, was hailed as one of the most beautiful
Gothic structures in the State of Michigan and as the largest and
grandest Polish church in the United States.
Reconciliation with the Church of Detroit
During the years when the church was being built (1890-1893), Father
Kolasinski made overtures to have his irregular status rectified.
In this effort he was successful. After an investigation by the
first Apostolic Delegate to the United States, Archbishop Francesco
Satolli, Rome ordered Bishop Foley to make peace with Father Kolasiñski
and his gigantic parish of some 4,000 families. On February 18,
1894, in a memorable ceremony, he and his congregation were officially
received into the Diocese of Detroit. Interestingly enough, however,
the parish properties uniquely remained under the control of its
own Board of Trustees.
The 1890s were difficult years. A ruinous depression ravaged the
nation. The new church which cost $125,000 — a very considerable
sum of money in those days — was heavily in debt. In 1891,
it was sold at auction for $30,000. After protesting this injustice
to the courts and after securing a loan through the Montreal branch
of the Bank of England for $65,000, the parish “repurchased”
its own church for $45,000. To do this, many families mortgaged
their simple neat homes which they built in the very shadow of this
tremendous edifice. Such was their devotion to their parish!
Father Kolasinski
‘s Demise
All this turmoil
took its toll. As it must to all men, death came to Dominic Hippolytus
Kolasinski on Easter Monday, April 11, 1898. At 59, he went away
to give an account of his stewardship to his God. His was a great
funeral. The papers said 35,000 Detroiters came to pay their respects
as he lay in state in the great church which became known as “The
Kolasinski Church.” Over 10,000 of them participated in his
funeral. The great affection which the Pioneer Detroit Polanders
had for him can be gleaned from an article found in a Detroit Polish
publication of that day (Swoboda — April 15, 1898).
“When
his friend, Rev. Romuald Byzewski (pastor of St. Francis Church),
appeared on the pulpit, the people wept so audibly that the preacher
himself could not be heard. . . . He reminded them of the days
of triumph and tragedy they had traversed with their pastor. He
urged them to continue to nurture in their hearts, to their dying
day, the love which they so sincerely were manifesting toward
their pastor on this day of his funeral. . . . At the closing
of the casket, the weeping and wailing of the people became so
general that tears were observed in the eyes of even those clergymen
who, while the lamented pastor was still among the living, could
hardly have been called his friends.”
The Detroit
daily German newspaper, Die Detroiter Abendpost, made some pertinent
comments about Father Kolasiñski’s funeral. They give
an insight to the character of this charismatic priest and controversial
personality whose absolutely fascinating story has yet to be told
in its entirety. Here is the last paragraph, translated from the
German, of that newspaper’s account of Father Kolasiñski’s
funeral on April 13, 1898.
“It
must not be thought that only Polanders participated in the funeral
and burial, or that only Polish people visited the church in the
course of these last days in order to have a last glance at the
well-known features of Dominic Kolasiñski as he lay in
death. People came from all parts of the city; rich and poor,
people of all nationalities, Detroiters all, they came by train
or in carriages or on foot to Canfield Avenue and Russell Street.
Some came out of curiosity; others came out of sympathy for a
man who played such a great role in this city for more than sixteen
years. Yesterday and today, they made many demonstrations in honor
of the memory of this famous priest whom today we have consigned
to the earth and whose memory will never fade. His story will
be told even to coming generations."
Until most recent
times, Father Kolasiñski has often been presented as a rogue
and a rebel and a renegade. Time, however, heals all wounds, and
the passage of time makes it easier for researchers to evaluate
such controversial figures as Dominic Hippotytus Kolasinski more
dispassionately and objectively. New research, now accessible, may
well render a more balanced
evaluation of this remarkable personality with such a controversial
career. It may reveal the Kolasiñski crisis to have been
one of many grays, and not simply one of clear-cut blacks and whites.
He may well emerge a vindicated priest and prophet and patriot.
He may well have been a victim of the traumatic times of massive
immigration and of a hectic period of uncontrolled growth of the
Church.
Father
Peter A. Baart, a respected church canonist and one of Father Kolasinski’s
contemporaries, fittingly remarked in The Evening News of December
30, 1893: “Unfortunately, too much personality and too little
charity and regard for the mission of the Church began to be mixed
in the case.” Perhaps this best sums up ‘‘the Kolasinski
crisis.” May he rest in peace! “Wieczny odpoczynek
racz mu dact 0 Panie!”
The text
above was written by Eduard Adam Skendzel on the event of the Centennial
Anniversary of the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church.
**Webmaster
Note** You can continue reading about the history of Sweetest
Heart of Mary in the Pastors' section
of this web site. If you'd like more detailed information about
the events involved in the early history of Sweetest Heart of
Mary Church and the life of Father Dominic Kolasinski, including
the names of early church members who were involved in the events
mentioned above, I urge you to read Orton's book
Polish Detroit and the Kolasinski Affair. He
not only names names, but also gives a very good description of
the daily lives of the early Polish Pioneers in Detroit. The book
is now out of print but you may be able to purchase it from an out-of-print
book dealer through Barnes & Noble. |
