Medieval beginnings
Records from as early as 1443 name the parish priest Jakob Stiemke; the parish included Jatki, Grębowo, Borucin and Świniec. The church was built in the mid-15th century on the initiative of Heinrich von Witten – Wikipedia gives both 1446 and 1466 here. Three priests served in it, and a high altar and two side altars were endowed for them: one of the Brüsewitz family and one of the von Plotz family of Świniec. Estates were set aside for the church's upkeep, among them a manor in Grębowo sold to the council of Kamień and Brüsewitz holdings in Trzebieszewo and Borucin, sold for 800 florins with the confirmation of Duke Bogislaw X.
From the Reformation to the 19th century
The first Lutheran pastor, Christian Woestenius, took office in 1550; a visitation in 1570 ordered the side altars to be removed. In 1596 the tower collapsed – it was rebuilt with oak boarding, and the churchyard was enclosed with a fieldstone wall. In 1643 imperial troops plundered the church, and in 1650 the interior was restored and the ceiling painted. After the Peace of Westphalia the parish was split between Swedish Kamień and Brandenburg, so that when the pastor died in 1666 no successor could be agreed for five years.
In 1690 the von Witten family of Trzebieszewo and the Brüsewitz family of Będziszewo fitted out patrons' boxes in the chapels and funded a new altar. A large bell was hung in 1719 (melted down for the war effort in 1917), and a tower clock was installed in 1739. The organ was built in 1854 by master Frohreich of Kamień for 300 thalers, paid for by the congregation's donations. In 1897 a renovation lasted a whole year – services were held meanwhile in the park behind the manor house, or in the school when the weather was bad.
The 20th century
In 1909 lightning struck the tower without causing serious damage. In 1937 the church painter Hoffman redecorated the interior, and in 1942 the windows beside the altar received stained glass showing the Supper at Emmaus and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. On 12 October 1945 the church was consecrated for Catholic worship, and on Christmas Eve that year a transport of Polish resettlers from Brzozdowce arrived with Father Michał Kaspruk.
Architecture
The church stands at the western edge of the village, in a plot enclosed by a low stone wall with gates and planted with old trees, which serves as a cemetery. It is a brick building on a stone foundation with a polygonal chancel. Two side chapels from the 15th century, enlarged in the 19th century, now form a kind of transept. The two-storey tower has a stone-and-brick base with a stepped, pointed-arch west portal, and a boarded timber belfry with a slate-covered pyramid spire. A Neoclassical tomb stands west of the church.
Gallery
