In the Southern port city of Taganrog from the moment of its foundation in 1698 there lived people of different nationalities and confessions. Among numerous guests of the city - merchants, sailors and military men there were quite a few Catholics. In February 1806 the mayor of Taganrog baron B. Kampengauzen asked the minister of the home affairs count V.Kochubey to plea the tsar's permission for building a Catholic church in Taganrog at the expense of the state treasury. The suggestion was made that the parishioners and guests will be in charge of decorating the interior of the church and building the priests' house and supporting the clergymen and the choir. On May,15 1806 the Imperor Alexander I known for his tolerance to different confessions gave the his highest permission for building a temple.
  Architect Rossinsky designed a project submitting the plan and the estimate for 18,310 roubles. The piece of land for the church was situated in 3rd Prodol'naya Street, later renamed into Katolicheskaya (now Frunze Street, 58). The 17,000 rouble contract for construction was signed with merchant Ivan Tambala in 1807 and then passed to sotnik S.Nikolaev for 16,500 roubles. The completed building was inspected by the construction committee on July 11, 1810. The first prior from Lithuanian province of Carmelite order father Seraphim Golffield was appointed. The following year the interior decoration of the temple was finished and the services started. The parish was called the Holy Trinity parish and was on of the oldest parishes of Berdyansk deannery.
  On the outside the temple almost didn't differ from the neighbouring buildings. Only on the roof it had a turret with a cross. Under the pediment above the central entrance there was a Latin inscription "Ex tuis bonis tibi offerimus" - "From your bounties we give to you". The inside of the building with the total area of 330 sq.meters was devided by the columnes into three naves. The temple could seat 250-300 people. There were the chapels of Assumption of the Holy Mother of God (with the icon of the Mother of God of Chenstock) and of St.Anthony of Paduya on the right and left sides of the main altar with the image of the Holy Trinity behind.
  In 1848 the new church plate including a beautiful marble altar was brought from Italy. Interiour decoration became much more fancy. In 1886 the temple was remodelled and a bell tower on two brick pillars was built.
  At different times next to the temple there were built: a priests' house, an organist's house and a two-storied Catholic Sunday School. All those building still exist.

 

Parishioners and Priests

  In the XIX century the number of Catholics living in the city was between 250 - 300 people, but by the end of the century it started rapidly growing. At the beginning of the XX century there were about 2000 Catholics of different nationalities (Italians, Germans, Belgians, Polish, Lithuanian) in Taganrog. Most of the parishioners were local citizens, not visitors. In May, 1907 the parish solemnly celebrated a 100 anniversary of the sanctification of the laying of the temple. The bishop from Tiraspol and 14 priests of the diocese took part in the celebration. The charity society operated in the parish. Many parishioners were famous and respectable people in the city, such as musician G.Molla, doctor M.Bartsinsky, the Leshinskys, the Glinskys, the Dantsingers.
  Different sources contain the lastnames of some priests who served in Taganrog: fathers S.Golffield (1810-1820), T.Gregozhevsky (1860), F.fon Corman (1890), V.Kubik (end of 1890's - beginning of 1900's), A.Mitskevich, R.Shaffer (1900-1910), U.Narkevich (1920). In 1923 the temple was closed and the building was given to a cotton workshop. The Sunday School was given to the ministry of education, the priests' house and the organist's house became private property.
  According to some data Catholics were allowed to have services in the temple from 1925 to 1933 but later on the clergymen were persecuted and children's library was placed in the building where it sill is.

 

The present of the parish

 The Holy Trinity parish was restored in the summer of 1993. Father Yaroslav Vishnevsky became its prior. The services had been held in the concert hall of P.I.Chaikovsky's house memorial for four years until a private house (Alexandrovskaya, 135) was bought for the needs of the community in 1997. Now there constantly live the Carmelite priests. The first of them was father Kassian Ezhi Dezor OCD. At preset the prior of the parish is father Pavel Badzinsky OCD, who is also the dean of Rostov deannery. Father Julian Ilvitskyy OCD is a vicar. All the priest belong to Warsaw Province of Carmelite Order.
  At present the parish consists of 60 believers of different nationalities. The Lord's prayer is pronounced in Russian, Armenian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Italian and quite often in other languages at Sunday Mass. In spite of it the parishioners are one friendly family. There are a few "Karitas" volunteers closely connected with the "Priazovie Karitas" who help the parishioners and the citizens of the city to overcome the difficulties of the present life.
  On Sundays before the Mass children and youth get together in the parish house. A school of chatechism for chidren where the Church and God's law are introduced to them is organized. They also watch videos about the life of Jesus and Saints and learn to think and discuss life in Christ. During this time young people learn psalms, hymns, and socialize.

 

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