The parish in Dąbrowa Białostocka (nowadays of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr)

The parish in Dąbrowa Białostocka (nowadays of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr) was established in 1595. Sigismund III Vasa was the founder and the parish stayed under royal collation until the last Partition of Poland. The first church was built in Dąbrowa – a part of the village of Małyszówka. The name ‘Dąbrowa’ was later moved to the jurydyka (rural estate) of the vicar, and later to a part of the settlement neighbouring Jasionówka – today a town called Dąbrowa. The next churches built on this spot were made of wood. A temple erected in 1728, placed on the plan of a cross formed by two side chapels, making up a kind of arms of a transept, did not have any towers. That church lasted until early 20^th century, which is really long for a wooden church. In 1894 Fr. Joseph Fordon, nowadays better known under his later monastic name Melchior, came to Dąbrowa. When he saw an old, wooden church and a parish of about ten thousand faithful, he decided to build a new, brick temple. His efforts to obtain permission from the tsarist authorities took nearly two years. Finally the plans made by Wacław Chróściński, an architect from Grodno, were approved, and the construction started in 1897. The costs of the venture were borne mainly by the parishioners, who not only contributed financially, but also helped with bringing materials and did the brickwork. The church was consecrated on 3^rd May 1902. During the ceremony a telegram was delivered to Fr. Anzelm Noniewicz, the dean of Sokółka, in which the tsarist governor of the county forbade the consecration of the church. Even so the ceremony was conducted as planned. On the following day, however, a rumour came to Dąbrowa that Orthodox nuns from Różanystok were planning to reclaim the church, change it into an Orthodox temple and give the parishioners their old one, from the 18^th century, in which the services were conducted at that time. The inhabitants of the parish made a sudden decision to demolish the old, wooden temple at night of 4^th to 5^th May and scatter the acquired wood around the parish. In 1905, in the place where the main altar of the old church had stood, a Neo-Gothic chapel was founded. Nowadays it is located in the cemetery near the church.
The brick Church of St. Stanislaus combines elements of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque styles. It is one of the so called village cathedrals, which were built at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries on the Taken Lands (or so called Western Krai), therefore its exterior was inspired by medieval architecture, at that time associated with Catholicism. It’s a three-aisle church, with a facade topped with two slender towers. In the centre of the facade there is a rose window – a round window with stained glass, and a Neo-Romanesque portal, in the tympanum of which we can see a relief representation of the resurrection of Piotrowin by bishop Stanislaus. The interior is covered with an ornamental polychrome, and our attention is drawn particularly by vaults with painted stars against an azure sky background.
The altars were risen in the first forty years of the 20^th century. The Neo-Gothic main altar dates back to 1903. A Crucifixion Group is located there, with an 18^th-century crucifix in its centre. One of the side altars, with the painting of St. Theresa, was founded by Servant of God, Fr. Melchior Józef Fordon, the former rector in Dąbrowa, who joined the Franciscan Order in 1910.