Pohorela church

Church of Our Lady of Sorrows Pohorelá

Settlement

Side view of the church in moonlight.

Coordinates: 48°51′42″N 20°00′59″E / 48.86167°N 20.01639°E / 48.86167; 20.01639 Our Lady of Sorrows is a Catholic church in the village of Pohorelá in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia.

Translated from the History of Pohorela Parish on the parish website.

In the early years of the village there was no church in Pohorela, only a cemetery with a small wooden chapel next to it. The village was considered part of the parish of Sumiac, about 8 km to the east of the village. Records from 1643 and 1653 show that the villagers were Catholic and that they were continuously petitioning for their own parish.

A wooden church was built in Pohorela around 1660. It was built by local craftsmen under direction of Count Ferenc Wesselényi. Wesselenyi was the local governor (Palatine) for Hungary and resident of nearby Muran Castle. The church was dedicated to Saint Stephen I of Hungary.

An attempt by the villagers in 1669 to join the parish of the village of Polomka some 15 km to the west of Pohorela forced the issue of an independent parish for Pohorela. With the help of contributions from the nearby village of Helpa a separate parish was declared on 26 January 1669 and the first parish priest appointed. This is also the time when the first parish registers were recorded.

There has been a simple wooden parish school built next to the rectory from the time of the first wooden church in 1669. Records from 1697 show that a schoolmaster (one individual serving as both director and teacher) would be paid out of the parish income.