Aizpute Catholic Church
+371 26578580, +371 63449990
The first Catholic church in Aizpute was built in 1254. In the 80s of the 16th century, it became a Lutheran church due to historical events. In 1732, the parish priest of Jelgava, J. Genners, bought a house in Aizpute, where he built a chapel for Catholics. About a hundred years later, this building was in danger of collapsing, so in 1853, the rector of Vecpils, Jázeps Sandovičs, concluded a contract with the innkeeper Antonevičs, which later turned out to be unprofitable for the church - the church leased its land to the innkeeper for 53 years, for which the owner of the inn built a new chapel for the church. In 1935, dean J. Dauģis regained the plots of land previously leased on the basis of the contract and the buildings located on them and began to think about the construction of a new church. After the Second World War, the Soviet government nationalized the church property, leaving the church with only one old wooden house, which was located on the side of the street and was not suitable for building a church. In 1955, with the bishop's permission, the old wooden church in Gudenieki was demolished and moved to Aizputi. With the transferred materials, dean J. Šnepst rebuilt the old building at Kuldīgas street 3 in 1956 into a church, which was consecrated as a church in the same year by the then apostolic administrator of the Liepāja diocese, Julian Vaivods, dedicating it to the honor of Christ the King. It turned out to be the only church in Latvia built during the Soviet period. On November 15, 2002, the foundation stone of the church was consecrated and a special capsule was built, which contained the testimony of the dedication of the foundation stone, coins, a medallion of St. Benedict and a rosary. On April 18, 2009, the consecration of the new Aizpute church took place, which was performed by Bishop Vilhelms Lapelis of Liepāja Diocese together with Bishop Ārvaldas Andrejas Brumanis and priests, dedicating it to the honor of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
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