In 1891 the Discalced Carmelites from the monastery in Czerna near Krzeszowice chose Wadowice as a site for their new foundation. The most important criterion for choosing a location was the presence of a Gymnasium in the town. In 1892 the candidacy of Wadowice was announced in Rome, and on 1st August, the first friars settled in the town. Initially, they rented the printer Franciszek Foltyn’s house which was situated at the Zatorski Highway (today Wojska Polskiego Street). The Carmelites purchased land for the construction of a temple and the monastic buildings on top of the so-called Górka. It offered a view of the whole Galician town, dominated by the Parish Church, the barracks of the 56th Infantry Regiment, the military hospital, the synagogue and the newly constructed courthouse and adjacent prison. In 1898 the cornerstone was consecrated and laid. The author of the architectural design was Richard Jordan from Vienna; and the site supervisor was Adam Kozłowski, an engineer. A year later, the monastic church was ceremonially consecrated by the then Bishop of Cracow, Jan Kniaź Puzyna. His visit to the town was a momentous event for the inhabitants of Wadowice at that time. One of the initiators of the construction of the Carmelite Monastery was Father Józef Rybka (1854-1919) associated with the monastery in Czerna. It was most probably through his mediation that Wadowice was selected as the new seat of the monastery. In 1914 he delivered an impassioned patriotic speech in Wadowice for several hundred members of the Sokół (‘Falcon’) Gymnastic Society who set off from Bochnia to join the Polish Legions. The Prior of the Wadowice Carmelite Monastery was St Rafał Kalinowski (1835-1907). He was born in Vilnius and graduated from the Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy. At the rather late age of 42, he joined the Order of Discalced Carmelites and later became its reformer. He died at the Wadowice Monastery at the age of 82. In 1983 Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed, and then Saint in 1991.
