Z dziejów parafi i unickiej pw. Protekcji Najświętszej Maryi Panny w Podhorcach w powiecie tomaszowskim w świetle XVIII-wiecznych wizytacji kościelnych

Abstract

The history of the Uniate Parish of the Protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary in Podhorce in Tomaszów Lubelski County in the light of 18th century church visitations Podhorce is a country village dating back to at least 15th century. The first written record comes from 1409 when Mikołaj from Podhorzec was one of the benefactors of church furnishings in the nearby church in Grodek. Originally the village was located in the Duchy of Belz and in 1462 the Duchy with all the villages got incorporated into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. After the first partition of Poland, Podhorce was annexed by the Habsburg empire, then it became part of the Duchy of Poland and following the joint resolutuions of the Congress of Vienna it was given to Russian Empire. At present, Podhorce belongs to Jarczów gmina (commune) in the poviat of Tomaszów in Lubelskie province. Due to the fact that at the time of the present research Podhorce was mostly inhabited by Russian people, there was an Orthodox parish, which became a Greek Catholic parish after the Union of Brest. The first written record about the Orthodox church comes from 1533, whereas the functioning of the Uniate parish is confirmed at the beginning of 17th century. Throughout its existence, the parish belonged the Deanery of Tyszowce and Tomaszów. Having analyzed post-visitation protocols, it might be deduced that it was a wooden church poorly equipped with ecclesiastical utensils. There was also a bell tower and a cemetery by the church. It has been determined a paroch (parish priest) had some arable land as well as grassland at his disposal to support himself, furthermore, he collected various ecclesiastical fees from his parishioners. For the period of time this research is focused on, personal information of 4 parochs as well as the approximate number of parishioners that varied between 25 and 100 has been established. The Uniate parish in this village functioned until the end of 18th century when it was relegated to a branch church and incorporated into the parish in Typin.