![\"Holy](\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Holy-Cross-Church-before-1828.jpg\" "\\"Holy")
<\/a><\/p>\nHoly Cross Church before 1828<\/em><\/p>\n SOURCE:\u00a0 Holy Cross Church before 1828 (Warsaw, Warsaw Obw\u00f3d, Mazowsze Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland);\u00c2\u00a0image in the public domain.<\/p>\n In 1849, the heart of composer Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin was interred in Holy Cross Church and, in 1929, the heart of writer and Nobel Laureate W\u0142adys\u0142aw Reymont was interred there as well.<\/p>\n During the Siege of Warsaw in 1939, a field hospital was formed in the lower church .\u00a0 During this time, the church was seriously damaged by bombing and the images of the Great Altar and the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament were destroyed .\u00a0 On 03 October 1939, the Gestapo arrested the church’s missionaries .\u00a0 The missionaries were released two weeks later.<\/p>\n On 07 February 1944, the police plundered the church and arrested the missionaries .\u00a0 Most were sent to the Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp where eight of them died .\u00a0 The church continued to be under constant attack .\u00a0 On 06 September 1944, the Nazis detonated two Goliath tracked mines in the church and, in January 1945, a few days before abandoning Warsaw, the Nazis blew up the church tower in which the bells were hung .\u00a0 Some of the bells were destroyed and the rest were removed by the Nazis.<\/p>\n On 17 October 1945, the urn with Chopin’s heart, which had been removed for safekeeping, was returned to the church .\u00a0 Reconstruction of the church began in 1945 and\u00c2\u00a0the facade was completed in 1953 .\u00a0 The main altar was consecrated in 1969.<\/p>\n On 21 January 2002, Pope John Paul II elevated the status of the church to Minor Basilica.<\/p>\n Holy Cross Church in 2010<\/em><\/p>\n SOURCE:\u00a0 Holy Cross Church in 2010 (Warsaw, Warsaw Powiat, Mazowsze Voivodeship, Congress Kingdom of Poland); photographed by Marcin Bia\u0142ek on 06 June 2010; reproduced under the\u00c2\u00a0GNU Free Documentation License<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n So, what is the significance of Holy Cross Church to me and my genealogical research?<\/p>\n My third great grandparents, Wojciech Gutowski and Marianna Jedli\u0144ska, were married in the Holy Cross Church on 07 October 1832 .\u00a0 As it turns out, genealogy blogger Donna Pointkouski’s second great grandparents, Stanis\u0142aw Pi\u0105tkowski and Apolonia Konopka, were married in\u00c2\u00a0this same church\u00c2\u00a0on 10 May 1863 .\u00a0 Since they were married in the same church, did our ancestors know each other?\u00c2\u00a0 Holy Cross Parish was enormous, so I suspect it is unlikely our ancestors knew each other, but who knows?<\/p>\n Written for the 109th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, Poland has been noted for its prominence for over six centuries. Over the course of time, the church structure was demolished and rebuilt several times .\u00a0 The first mention of the church dates from 1510 … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n