St. Stanislaus Parish (Meriden, Connecticut)

The Mother Church of Meriden is St. Rose of Lima, built in 1848, whose congregation was predominantly Irish. From this parish developed the French parish of St. Laurents in 1880. In 1888, the German members of St. Laurents formed the parish of St. Mary. In 1894, the Italian parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel also developed from St. Laurents.

Early Polish immigrants were drawn to Meriden by the possibility of jobs in the silver manufacturing industry.[2] People such as Franciszek Szumny and Michał Kloc, who like in the old country, went to Mass every Sunday, attended Saint Rose of Lima, but did not understand the language nor the hymns.

On September 8, 1924, Father Stanislaus Iciek was designated as temporary administrator of the newly created Saints Peter and Paul Parish, designated for Polish immigrants settling in Wallingford, CT. Under his direction, the immigrants bought land on North Orchard St. and set about the task of building a church. SS. Peter and Paul Church was opened for the first Mass on May 25, 1925. On June 22, 1925 the finished mission-style church was solemnly dedicated by Thomas S. Duggan acting on behalf of Bishop John Joseph Nilan. The architect was Henry F. Ludorf of Hartford Ct.

Effective June 29, 2017, St. Stanislaus Church merged with Ss. Peter & Paul in Wallingford to form St. Faustina Parish. Ss. Peter & Paul was founded in 1924 to serve the Polish community of Wallingford. Parish records are held with the new parish of St. Faustina, with two church buildings. Parish administration is handled from the St. Stanislaus premises.[7]

In July 2018, St. Faustina's sponsored a trip to Washington D.C.

The main entrance to St. Stanislaus School

The school was originally housed in the classroom wing of the earlier church on Jefferson Street, and served area youth from 1892 to 1915, when the modern school building opened. St. Stanislaus's Parochial School enrolled students from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Starting in 1990, the Sisters of St. Joseph taught a pre-school program in the Convent, which existed for well-over a decade. Saint Stanislaus school closed in 2015.[8]

Badge of the Society of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr

• The Society of Saint Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr -was instrumental in founding the parish; it later disbanded.
• The Ladies' Rosary Society
• The Holy Name Society
• St. Theresa Society
• The Sunshine Club -Seniors' group that meets during the week in the school's cafeteria
• The Ladies Guild
• Knights of Columbus

Pierogi making

Polish Pierogi ruskie, or potato and cheese pierogi.

As an ongoing, year-round fundraiser for the Parish, with proceeds going towards the school or church, Tom Wronski, a dedicated Parishioner, has for many years organized pierogi making. A group of dough-makers get there early on a Saturday morning to prepare the dough; which is then given to the rollers, who roll the dough thin and cut it into circles; which then are given on trays to the stuffers, who fill the pierogi with Farmer's cheese, potato-and-cheese, or sauerkraut filling; which was made the day earlier by the filling-makers; next involved are the boilers, who parboil the raw pierogi; which is then laid out on tables to dry and begin to cool, are then put in the freezers to chill, and finally are put in bags of a dozen based on the filling by the baggers. All of the work is done by volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, who enjoy making pierogi, helping the Parish, and spending time on a Saturday morning with fellow parishioners.

The pierogi are made on many Saturdays throughout the year in preparation for holidays, Parish gatherings, and the Polish Festival, formerly the June Festival, where they are quickly sold-out.

Ceppa Field, named for early St. Stanislaus pastor John L. Ceppa, is located on Gale Avenue, in Meriden, not far from the church; it is currently used by Platt and Maloney high schools.

The Meriden diaspora is Connecticut's oldest Polonia, having been started well over 120 years ago. With the modern Polish language largely the result of the turbulence of World War II, there is a recognizable difference between the Polish spoken in Meriden by older immigrants together with their children, and today's Polish speakers in the Ojczyzna, or Fatherland. Some of the earliest Poles to Meriden came in the 1870s, and all of the Polish immigrants which started Saint Stanislaus Parish emigrated during the age of the partition of Poland, meaning many of Meriden's Poles left from the Austro-Hungarian, German, or Russian empires; and not from Poland. And in the early Parish, perhaps the majority of those immigrants came from the Kingdom of Galicia.

Many of these early immigrants left before World War I from Galicia during the Great Economic Emigration, beginning in the 1880s with the mass emigration of Galician peasantry and temporarially ending with the outbreak of the Great World War. The war separated many families on opposite sides of the Atlantic, so to this day many St. Stanislaus Parishioners maintain Christmas and Easter card contact with distant cousins and families in the old country.

Many of Saint Stanislaus' Polish parishioners returned to fight for Poland's cause in the Blue Army, or Haller's Army, which was formed in France by Poles from diasporas from all over the United States, Canada, and Brazil, as well as by former prisoners of war from the imperial armies of Germany and Russia; they were organized under Gen. Józef Haller.

After the First World War, 1914–1918, many more Poles left the Second Polish Republic for a new start in America. With a thriving economy and industry in Meriden, many of these Poles made their way to Meriden and into the Parish.

The immigration of Poles slowed tremendously after World War II, but continues to this day with new Polish parishioners often finding their way to St. Stanislaus in Meriden.

As a Parish with a very long history in Polonia, the language spoken in Meriden is a lively and enjoyable one, but not particularly correct. Meriden's Polish is the result of the mixing of the dialects and gwaras spoken before World War II, of the entrance of new words from a developing culture, and from the simple passage of time as language changes or is forgotten. A number of minor features of Polish vocabulary spoken in the first half of the 20th century have been retained in gwara merydeńska, which now sound archaic to modern Poles.

Additionally, gwara merydeńska is largely half-na-pół, that is, a part Polish and a part English. Perhaps, the best example of this interesting and endearing form of Polish may be:

"A policeman gave me a ticket on the highway."

Which in modern Polish would appear as:

"Policjant dał mi mandat na autostradzie."

However, in a Polish typical of older Polonias in the United States, this may appear as:

"Kap dał mi tiketa na hajłeju."

Indeed, many Poles which come to an older Polish diaspora may at first find this half-na-pół language to just be an abomination of the beautiful and very complex Polish language, but many will find themselves slowly slipping into this almost unstoppable form of Polish; close contact with both languages makes this form of language often unpreventable. It has a certain history and character to it, which makes its existence somewhat pleasant, however, using this form of dialect with either visiting Poles or in the Fatherland sometimes leads to confusion. It may also be worth mentioning here that some words developed in Polonia before being sent back to Poland, where they are now commonplace and a true part of the Polish language.

• Blejwas, Stanislaus A. (1991). St. Stanislaus B. & M. Parish, Meriden, Connecticut. Central Connecticut State University Polish Studies Program monographs. ISBN 0-910179-01-8.
• The 150th Anniversary of Polish-American Pastoral Ministry. Webster, Massachusetts: St. Joseph Basilica. September 11, 2005.
• The Official Catholic Directory in USA

• St. Stanislaus - ParishesOnline.com