The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is the parish church of Pratulin and the heart of the Sanctuary of the Blessed Martyrs of Podlachia. Since 1990, the main altar has held the relics of thirteen Uniates who died here in 1874. For this small village near the Bug River, home to only a few dozen people, it is a place where pilgrims from all over Poland gather every year.
The Town of the Sapiehas and Potockis
The village was first mentioned in 1478 as Horniv. In the 18th century, the owner Józef Franciszek Sapieha renamed it Pratulin—from the Latin pratum, “meadow”—and in 1732 obtained town rights; later the estate passed to the Potocki family. Despite the rights and fairs, the settlement remained a village. In 1861, the parish was home to 1,850 Greek Catholics and 1,251 Roman Catholics, as well as Jews, Protestants, and Muslims; the majority spoke Polish.
The 1838 Church
The current brick church in the neoclassical style was built in 1838 at the expense of Tadeusz Mostowski, the parishioners, and the parish priest Franciszek Shemyot. It was a Latin church; at that time, Pratulin also had a separate Uniate church. In 1875, the Russian authorities converted the church into an Orthodox one. After Poland’s restoration, the church was returned to the Catholics.
Relics of the Martyrs
On 24 January 1874, soldiers shot parishioners near the Uniate church who refused to hand the church over to an Orthodox priest—details can be found in the article about the Martyrium. The dead were buried in secret, and only after 1918 did locals mark the grave. On 18 May 1990, the remains were transferred to this church, and on 6 October 1996, John Paul II beatified Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 companions. They are the patrons of the Diocese of Siedlce, and their liturgical feast is on 23 January.
Interior
The main altar features an image of the apostles Peter and Paul, flanked by Saints Francis of Assisi and Stanislaus. The side altars are dedicated to Our Lady of Częstochowa and the Crucifixion. From the old Uniate church, the image of the Uniate Mother of God “Hope of Unity” has been preserved, as well as a valuable 17th-century icon of the Mother of God painted on metal. The Stations of the Cross were created by the local parishioner Parafiniuk, and the seven-voice organ from 1949 was made by the Warsaw master Zygmunt Kamiński. Nearby stand the bell tower, the martyrs’ chapel, and the pilgrims’ house.
How to Get There
Pratulin is located in the Rokytne commune, right on the Bug River — about 35 km from Biała Podlaska and 17 km from Janów Podlaski. Buses run rarely, so it’s better to use a car or bicycle (Nadbuzkyi bike trail). For Ukrainians, this is Poland, a passport is required; the Bug here is the border with Belarus, and document checks are possible. The church is open during services, the busiest time is on the martyrs’ feast day in January. Nearby are the Martyrium with a museum, the palace in Tsielesnytsia, and the bishop’s castle in Janów.
