History

     Polish immigrants in Adams from the mid-1890s to 1902 attended the Irish parish of St. Thomas Aquinas, where English was spoken.  Adams had a second Catholic parish, Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs (Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows), but it was founded by French Canadians and services were conducted in French.  As the numbers of Polish parishioners grew, they petitioned the Bishop of Springfield to create a new parish where they could worship in their native language.

     The Bishop responded favorably, establishing St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in 1902.  Fr. Mieczysław Kopytkiewicz arrived in May of that year to serve as its first pastor.  He rented St. Joseph's Chapel on Columbia Street from the French-Canadian parish, and arranged for his newly formed parish to hold services there for the time being.

       Fr. Kopytkiewicz's first project was to build an impressive church to serve his parish.  The congregation had already purchased a plot of land on Crotteau Street for that purpose, but Fr. Kopytkiewicz determined the plot was too small and too out-of-the-way.  He sold the Crotteau Street lot and purchased grounds at the corner of Summer and Hoosac Streets in August of 1902 at a cost of $15,000, the equivalent of about $515,000 in 2023.  This was a significant expense, ten times what the Crotteau Street property had cost.

     Despite the high price of the new Summer Street site, the young parish managed to retire the $15,000 debt in less than a year.  Ambitious plans were then drawn up for the construction of an impressive church to be built with distinctive yellow brick and framed by two steeples, in contrast to the red-brick single-steeple Catholic churches already in town. The blueprints were designed by Erhard Breilmaier, an experienced architect who built over a thousand churches, schools, andhospitals across the US over his career.

     His designs for St. Stan's had been used earlier for a twin church, St. Hedwig's in Wilmington, DE, whose pastor Monsignor John S. Gulcz offered the homily at the dedication of St. Stan's. in 1905.

     Newspaper reports of the era indicate the cost of the church construction (excluding any interior furnishings) amounted to $70,000, equivalent to almost $2.5 million in 2023. 

  
   Work on St. Stanislaus Kostka Church commenced in early 1904. When enough of the the substructure and temporary flooring were in place later that year, the parish scheduled the ceremonial laying of the church cornerstone for Sunday October 2, 1904.  Bishop Beaven of the Diocese of Springfield officiated, assisted by priests from the three Catholic parishes of Adams, with an estimated 5,000 persons in attendance.  As the procession marched across the church floor, disaster struck.  The floor collapsed, suddenly dropping 150 people twelve feet down into the basement.  Eighteen suffered broken bones, gashes, serious bruising, or other injuries, while many others suffered minor hurts.  Thankfully, there were no deaths.

     On the following Friday, September 25, 1905, a suspicious fire broke out in the basement of St. Stan's, burning through the floor and setting some of the church walls aflame before it was discovered and extinguished.  A broken basement window suggested this was an arson attempt.

    The dedication of the church and laying of the cornerstone (still inscribed with the original 1904 dedication date) was rescheduled for a month later, Sunday October 22, 1905.  Bishop Beaven officiated at the ceremony, blessing St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, and committing it to sacred use.  The parish at last had its own church, and vacated the rented St. Joseph Chapel. 

     The enormous expense of the new church led to a serious rupture among the congregation, with some parishioners objecting to such a costly structure and deferring their parish dues to a holding account.  Dissatisfied with the state of the parish, they organized a meeting in 1905 and voted to transfer their allegiance to the Polish National Catholic Church, a branch of the Old Catholic Church not in union with Rome.  They set up an altar in Mijal Hall at the corner of Crotteau and Staples Streets, and held services there for a time.  In 1907, they bought a new lot on Murray Street, where they built a church under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  The congregation survived into the 1930s, but eventually disbanded and sold the church in 1939.

     With the church building completed, the parish soon added a parochial school (1912), a cemetery (1916), and a rectory (1922).  Teaching Sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix (the Felician Sisters) lived in the top floor of the school building until 1962, when a convent was built for their use.  A nearby wooden pavilion and sports field were loaned to St. Stan's parish in 1930 by the Berkshire Fine Spinning Company for sporting events, picnics, and social gatherings; the loan was then converted to an outright donation in 1954 as the Polanka Grounds.

     At its dedication in 1905, St. Stan's Church was a bare shell, with little interior furnishing or sacred artwork. The congregation quickly set to work supplying these wants.  By the parish's 25th anniversary in 1927, the church interior had been graced with magnificent stained-glass windows, ceiling and wall murals by J. Mazur of Buffalo, altars of hand-carved oak imported from Tyrolean ecclesiastical workshops, an ornate pulpit and altar railing, electrical lighting, three steeple bells, and other improvements. 

     For the church's 50th anniversary, the slate roof was replaced, the opulent chandeliers hung, and the property expanded by the purchase of adjoining land.  The interior underwent a thorough renovation.  The ceiling and wall murals were replaced with entirely new paintings by Vincenzo Mondo in 1955; they were refreshed for the 75th anniversary by William Twarog and remain on display to this day.  The basement was renovated into a parish community center and christened Kolbe Hall.

     Services at St. Stan's were originally in Polish and Latin.  Over the years, as the native-born parishioners began to outnumber the immigrant population, the language transitioned to a blend of Polish and English, and finally to all English, but many of the traditional Polish devotions and religious customs continued in the new language.

 
        In the first half of the 20th century, Adams was a bustling town.  Enterprising parishioners of St. Stan's opened their own groceries, butchers, and bakeries, or advertised their services as tailors, lawyers, or teamsters.  They founded stores offering shoes, clothing, furniture, housewares, religious articles, and anything else needed by their fellow parishioners.  Most however worked as laborers in several nationally prominent industries located in the town.

Textile Mills

•     The Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Co., later Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates, then Berkshire Hathaway (1889-1958)

The largest employer in Adams in the early 20th century, by the eve of WWI it was one of the largest cotton textile companies in the world, with four mills running 6,500 looms.  Most of the Polish immigrants to Adams found employment in the textile mills.

•     Renfrew Manufacturing. Co. (1866-1928)

Operated two mills in Adams manufacturing printed cotton gingham cloth, damasks, and cloth for housewares.

•     L.L. Brown Paper Company (1849-1973)

A globally prominent producer of top-quality durable paper for currency, bank notes, ledger books, and important business and government documents. In 1870 it revived the laborious craft of hand-made paper, and by the early 20th century was the only large manufacturer in the country still offering the product.

•     Arnold Print Works (1927 -1984)

Headquartered in North Adams, the company purchased the defunct Renfrew Manufacturing Company mill in Adams in 1927 and retooled it for producing printed cloth.

•     L.J. Follett & Sons, later New England Lime Co, later Pfizer Inc, then Specialty Minerals (1848-current)

Still in operation, the business quarries lime from deposits at the north end of Mt. Greylock and processes it for medical, agricultural, and industrial use.

 
    In 2003, the pastorate of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish was assigned to Fr. Daniel Boyle, who was also the pastor of the recently merged Parish of Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs and St. Thomas Aquinas (formerly two separate parishes in Adams). This yoked arrangement lasted for five years, after which a turbulent period visited the church. 

     On August 9, 2008, the Diocese of Springfield announced that as of January 1, 2009, the parishes in Adams would be suppressed, and merged into a single new parish under the patronage of Blessed (now Saint) John Paul II, with Notre Dame Church as the parish church.  Both St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Stanislaus Kostka Churches were ordered closed. 

     St. Stan's parishioners were stunned by the announcement.  Some members of the parish objected to both the parish and church closures.  They organized a committee and filed an appeal to Rome on September 8, 2008, contending that the parish had been financially solvent and the church in good repair, with a sufficient active congregation to maintain both, and that the closure decision had been made without proper consultation with the congregation.

    On December 26, 2008, aware that the appeal would work its way slowly through the Vatican judicial system, the group organized a round-the-clock vigil inside the church, garnering attention from local and regional media. For the next three years, at least two people would be on vigil in the locked church at all times, day and night.  Vigilers kept watch in two-hour shifts during the day, and in eight-hour shifts overnight, spending the night hours in cots and sleeping bags amid the pews and aisles (the Blessed Sacrament had been removed from the tabernacle).  During the long winter months, the church temperature was left at 55 degrees, the minimum recommended setting for vacant buildings.  The Diocese and the parish chose not to interfere with this arrangement.

     Vigilers maintained the church as a house of prayer, offering opportunities for the public to gather for praying the rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Stations of the Cross, and other devotions.  At Christmas and Easter, parishioners gathered to sing traditional Polish and English carols and hymns as the organ was played to keep it in working condition.

     During the closure, when a long-time member of the former St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish died but could not be buried from the now-closed church, the family requested that the hearse pause for a few moments in front of St. Stan's in tribute to the deceased's life-long commitment to the church.  On the day of the funeral, when the hearse reached St. Stan's, the family was astonished to see a large crowd of vigilers standing on the church steps, bearing the processional cross and candles and holding up a large banner with the name of the deceased and a final farewell from their beloved church.  Behind the vigilers, the wide-open entrance doors revealed the interior brightly illuminated by all the chandeliers and lights.  This quickly became customary for the funerals of former St. Stan's parishioners, and grieving families were deeply moved by this last touching recognition of their loved one's devotion to St. Stan's.

     On January 25, 2011, the Vatican issued its first ruling on the group's appeal; this ruling was made public on February 15.  The closure of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish was upheld, but the closure of the church building was overruled, as a church building can be closed only for grave reasons, and such reasons were not presented in this case. 

     The Diocese exercised its option to appeal the ruling.  The Vatican responded with its final decree on October 21, 2011, sustaining the earlier finding.  The closure of the parish was upheld, but the closure of the church building was overruled.  This ruling was made public on November 10.

     After careful review of the decree and consultation with advisors, the Diocese and the parish agreed that St. Stanislaus Kostka Church should reopen for the celebration of Mass and the sacraments.  A letter from Fr. Daniel Boyle, the pastor of the new St. John Paul II Parish, was released on February 18, 2012, announcing the decision.  The news spread quickly among the Adams community.  The steeple bells rang, and a large crowd gathered at St. Stan's to rejoice and give thanks.  The vigil, which had lasted 1,150 days, was ended.

     The Blessed Sacrament was returned to St. Stanislaus Kostka Church the following week, on February 27, 2012, and the Church celebrated its reopening Mass on Palm Sunday, April 1.
 

     Today St. Stanislaus Kostka Church serves as a mission church in St. John Paul II Parish, hosting Masses, weddings, funerals, and devotions:

Weekly Sunday Mass	Sunday 8:00 am
Weekly Monday Mass for school children	Monday 9:00 am when school is in session
Chaplet of Divine Mercy and Rosary	Monday through Friday from 3:00 to 3:30 pm, church remains open until 4:00 pm
Novena to Divine Mercy	Daily at 3:00 pm from Good Friday to the Sunday of Divine Mercy
Bitter Lamentations (Gorzkie Żale, a Polish Lenten devotion, in English)	Holy Week
Stations of the Cross	Fridays during Lent
Blessing of Easter Baskets	Church parking lot, Holy Saturday morning
Veneration of Our Lord's tomb	Left side altar, Holy Saturday
Hymns in Polish and English	Christmas Midnight Mass and Easter Morning Mass

      St. Stan's also fulfills the spiritual needs of the children of the now-diocesan St. Stanislaus Kostka School next door, offering a weekly 9:00 am Monday Mass when school is in session, and providing a suitable venue for sacramental and catechetical teaching as well as school plays, concerts, and other performances.