Rychvavt [Ru] Rychwald / Owczary [Polish]
Gorlice District, present day SE Poland
Lemko Surnames cited by Krasovs'kyj from 1787 Austrian Cadastral Records
Parish Data: [from Blazejowskyj and Iwanusiw]
The church was "Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary" [1635] [still standing]
The wooden church was renovated in 1911. The church, with 3 banjas and belltower has been recently restored but stands unused [not accurate - see additional info below]. Rychwald was founded by German immigrants in the 13th century and the name is of Germanic origin.
In 1785 the village lands comprised 21.28 sq km. There were 510 Greek Catholics 40 Roman Catholics and 7 Jews
1840 - 935 Greek Catholics
1859 - 736 Greek Catholics
1879 - 790 Greek Catholics
1899 - 1056 Greek Catholics
1926 - 1150 Greek Catholics
1936 - 1050 Greek Catholics
In 1936 there were 33 Roman Catholics and 3 Jews
The village was incorporated in to the Lemko Apostolic Administration in 1934
LDS microfilm #0766047 contains B 1784-1840 D 1784-1847
This church may be the oldest wooden Greek Catholic church in Poland. It has been the subject of a Polish stamp, and there is a book published in Poland about the icon collection in the church. It has a superb interior... The church is used as a Roman Catholic chapel now, but the Lemkos in the village also use it. The original bells disappeared during World War II. The story goes that there were two bells, and one of the villagers associated with the church buried one to protect it from the Germans. They left one hanging to satisfy the Germans, who indeed took it. Unfortunately, the man who buried the first bell died during the war, so up until 1987, there was no bell. When the story about the Rychwald bell tower was relayed by cousins still residing in the village to a Lemko-American, he decided to donate the money for a new bell, and the cousins undertook the very laborious process of obtaining the necessary permits. First, the village priest (a Roman Catholic, resident in another town) had to agree. Then the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nowy Sacz Province. Then the Communist authorities. When all these permits were obtained, the cousins went to the bell foundry in Rzeszow to get a date for the casting and to find out what materials were needed. Then they went from pillar to post (including all the way to the north of Poland for some of the metals)to obtain the materials to bring to the foundry... Nothing was easy in the old Poland. The materials were presented to the foundry, the bell was cast, and it was installed at a high mass in 1987. The bell is named "St. Michael", and is engraved "to the memory of Harry and Alexandra Metrinko".