Monastery of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFMCap)

The first Capuchin to arrive in Wałcz was Fr. Ernest Łanucha. He assisted the Wałcz parish priest of St. Nicholas Parish—at that time the only parish in the town—in his pastoral work. In 1945, he received permission from the provincial superior of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Father Kazimierz Niczyński, to establish a Capuchin mission in Wałcz. There was an abandoned Evangelical church in the town, along with a parsonage next to it. On April 29, 1946, the former Evangelical property was transferred for the use of the newly established Capuchin mission. Renovation work began, and in the spring of 1947, Fr. Gabriel Banaś, Ph.D., a preacher and retreat leader, arrived in Wałcz; on July 1, 1947, he became the superior of the mission. On October 6, 1949, an independent pastoral mission with the rights of a parish was established at St. Anthony’s Church, and Father Gabriel Banaś, Ph.D., became its administrator with all the powers vested in
parish priests. Soon after, more Capuchin friars arrived in Wałcz, and they have been working there continuously ever since, leading the St. Anthony Parish. They organize and lead communities such as: the Secular Franciscan Order, the Living Rosary, the TAU Franciscan Youth, Parish Caritas, the Light-Life Movement, the Domestic Church Circles, the Neocatechumenate, the Renewal in the Holy Spirit, Catholic Action, the Bible Circle, the Liturgical Altar Service, and many others.