Page 13 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 55 Summer 2025

conducted at the Polish National parishioners belong to St. Peter and
Alliance Hall on Prince Street un- Paul.
til the church was built. Land was
purchased on North Orchard Street In 2017, the Hartford Archdiocese
where the church stands and the began to execute on its plan to con-
house next to the property was pur- solidate its two hundred twelve par-
chased to serve as the rectory. Ar- ishes to one hundred twenty-seven.
chitect Henry Ludroph designed the This consolidation was necessitated
church, and Peter Zima was hired to to ensure financial stability due to de-
lead its construction. Of note, the creasing church enrollments over the
church’s ceiling over the altar was past half century. As part of this plan,
shaped like a ship’s bottom, to rep- in 2017, the St. Peter and Paul Parish
resent the parishioners would some- and St. Stanislaus Parish in Meriden
day sail to meet with God in heaven. merged and became the St. Fausti-
na Parish. Both churches maintained
The Polish male parishioners carried their buildings but shared clergy and
out most of the site preparation and finances.
excavation work by hand. The orig-
inal altar was carved and donated The Ladies Guild & Rosary Society,
by a parishioner. To say the church and the Men’s Club to this day have
was built by the blood, sweat, and helped sustain events like cookie bak-
tears of the Polish community is no the countryside featured homes and ing/sales and parish maintenance ac-
exaggeration. Non-Polish Wallingford dwellings on the brink of collapse, ex- tivity to actively support St. Peter and
farmers also lent their time, horses, cept when a Roman Catholic church Paul.
and scoops to haul large stones to the appeared. It stood out like a giant
site. It did take a village. beacon, bright, beautiful, and well-

To raise the needed funds, the Polish kept, visible for anyone to grasp what
Roman Catholicism meant to Poland.
families made donations through their These beautiful churches served as a
meager savings and collected month- constant visible reminder to the Com-
ly donations. They conducted raffles munist government that it could not
and bazaars and secured a mortgage muzzle Roman Catholicism in Poland.
to be paid by the parishioners. The The Polish people would spend what-
Eckert family even donated property ever time and money they could do
they owned adjacent to the rectory without ensuring their church was
that would years later become the St well-kept, regardless of their own
Peter and Paul Rosary and Medication plight.
Garden.
Seeing this, it was easy for me to un-
Just before its completion, Father Al- derstand why the Wallingford Polish
exander Tanski succeeded Father Iciek community was so passionate about
as pastor. The parish was completed their desire to have their own parish
and dedicated in just three years on in the 1920’s.
May 25, 1925. It was a remarkable
achievement; to fund, acquire land, With the dedication of St. Peter
clear and excavate by hand, and build and Paul in 1925, the parish’s focus Despite this consolidation, another
the church that stands today. The Pol- turned to manifesting Polish cultural Polish tradition continues at St. Peter
ish community wanted and valued its traditions and hands-on parish main- and Paul, the making and selling of
own church, and nothing would stop tenance support. The parish mem- Polish pierogi at Christmas and Lent.
them. bership grew as more Polish families This year, just like the past 50 years
since it was established, women, and
In 1986, I visited my family in Poland settled in Wallingford and soon to- more recently men, come together
taled over 350 families.
for the first time. This was a period at St. Peter and Paul to prepare for
when Poland was under Communist In 1939, the $50,000 church’s mort- the sale of up to 9,600 pierogi every
control, and over 90 % of its popula- gage was burned to celebrate the Advent and up to 22,000 pierogi ev-
tion was Roman Catholic. What struck commitment fulfilled by parishioners ery Lent. The demand is such that all
me was the paucity of everything: in 1925. In 1943, land for a cemetery pierogis are sold out; purchasers are
food, furniture, and items from cloth- was purchased on Durham Road. By limited to two dozen pierogis per pur-
ing to tools. I saw farmers were still 1964, the parish population totaled chase, with customers waiting in line
tilling their farmland by holding onto over 525 families. In 1987, a new or- for the doors to open to make their
a plow being pulled by a horse. gan was acquired, and in 1997, a new limited purchase.
While the topography was beautiful, altar was dedicated. Today, over 700 For Lent sales, the “St. Peter and Paul

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