page_title: Mariavite Church
section_title: Mariavite Church – first period (1906–1921)
hierarchical_section_title: Mariavite Church / History / Mariavite Church – first period (1906–1921)
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Catholic Mariavite Temple of Mercy and Charity in Plock Polski: Fasada Świątyni Miłosierdzia i Miłości w Płocku
context_page_description: The Mariavite Church is today one of two independent Christian churches collectively known as Mariavites who first emerged from the religious inspiration of a devout Polish noblewoman, Feliksa Kozłowska in the late 19th-century. Initially, it was a renewal movement seeking reform in Polish Catholicism which in the estimation of sympathisers had become estranged from the original Gospel message, especially the clergy, seen at the time, as often corrupt in its life-style. The movement was an attempt to replicate the simplicity of the life of Mary, in Latin, qui Mariae vitam imitantur, thus vita Mariae, the Life of Mary, gave the movement its name.
  After a growing conflict with Polish Catholic bishops, the movement was eventually reported to the Vatican as an attack on the ecclesiastical status quo and became the object of two Papal bulls that resulted in the wholesale excommunication of both clergy and lay adherents of the movement.
context_section_description: In a move calculated to snub the Polish Catholic authorities, the Russian government recognized the Mariavite movement as a "tolerated sect" in November 1906, and recognized it as a separate and independent church in 1912. By 1906 there were about 50,000–60,000 adherents organized into 16 parishes. Five years later, historical sources report 160,000 adherents.
  The organization of the Mariavite community somewhat resembled Protestant communities, in that each member of the congregation had a right to speak out on issues. Mariavites were not only active in the religious sphere, but they became active in social, educational and cultural projects. They were soon organizing kindergartens, schools, Literacy classes, libraries, kitchens for the poor, shops, printing houses, poorhouses, orphanages factories and animal husbandry. Their parishes soon built new churches and community centres causing dismay in the Roman Catholic Church.
  In 1914 they finished their main church in Płock, the Sanctuary of Mercy and Charity. They bought an estate of 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi) near Płock which they named Felicjanów after Kozłowska. Another controversial innovation was that from 1906, they celebrated the liturgy in the Polish vernacular, rather than in Latin. Excommunicated by the Catholic Church, they desired reintegration with the historic apostolic succession and recognition of their bishop.
  They contacted the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands through the good offices of Russian General Alexander Kireyev. In 1909 the first Mariavite bishop was consecrated to the episcopate in Utrecht, by the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands Archbishop Gerardus Gul. In 1919 they officially changed the group's name to the Old Catholic Church of the Mariavites.
  The first period of the Mariavite movement ended with the death of Kozłowska in 1921. A reform movement changed had transformed into the development of a new denomination. This period was the most successful for the Mariavites. They developed many activities for the adherents. Gradually the number of adherents decreased. In 1921 there were officially 43,000 adherents. They created numerous social institutions, built facilities, founded magazines, and published books relating to their mission.
caption: Temple of Mercy and Charity in Płock, Poland
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