St. Stanislaus Catholic Church

St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Oratory (Kościół Świętego Stanisława) - Roman Catholic parish in the historic Mitchell Street District of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was designed by Polish nobleman Leonard Kowalski, one of Milwaukee's early Polish residents, who took the name Leonard Schmidtner and spoke German.One of Milwaukee's 'Polish Cathedral's, the parish was founded in 1866 by immigrant Poles in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. St. Stanislaus parish was the third Roman Catholic Polish church in the United States and the first based in an urban area.Members started with an old frame building which was purchased in 1866 from nearby St. Stephen Lutheran Church for a sum of $4,500. The twin towered building seen today was completed in 1873 with a parochial school to follow in 1889.Today, the church is the home of the Milwaukee Latin Mass community. The church was erected as an oratory of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an order of priests dedicated to the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.DedicationSt. Stanislaus Catholic Church was dedicated to Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Polish martyr and saint of the Roman Catholic Church.