Many tourists visit the architectural and cultural wonders that are Krakow's churches. But many are unaware that at some churches they can attend masses in their own languages.

 

Those who speak English can attend masses at St. Gilles Church on ul. Grodzka near Wawel Hill and at the Sacred Heart Church at ul. Kopernika 26. The English service at St. Gilles is at 10:30 on Sundays. Dominican Father Zbigniew Krysiewicz celebrates the mass. Believers can confess their sins in English between 18:00 and 19:00 on Fridays. The English-speaking priest is available to help visitors with other spiritual matters as well. Jesuit Father Jacek Siepsiak celebrates Sacred Heart's English-language mass at 19:30 on Mondays. Believers can arrange confessional sessions with him by calling the church in English. Information about the mass, confessional sessions and other programs can be found on the web site www.waj.krakow.pl.

 

Another English-language program is discussion sessions on spiritual matters at 18:30 on Thursdays. The young Jesuit priest Karol Zagrodzki leads the sessions. The sessions, which have been running for two years, can be as simple as conversations about a spiritual topic that has been in the news. Or they can include participants reading excerpts from books or watching English-languages movies.

 

Sacred Heart also has something for Italian speakers. Its mass at 07:00 on Fridays is in Latin but the Liturgy of the Word is in Italian. Italian speakers can hear a full mass in their language at 15:30 on Sundays at the Franciscan Church at pl. Wszystkich Swietych 5. The church also offers a mass in Spanish at 14:30 the second Sunday of each month. There is a tradition that after the mass participants drink coffee together.

 

German speakers can attend a mass in their language at 19:00 on Sundays at St. Barbara's Church at Maly Rynek 8. French speakers can attend mass at 11:45 on the first and third Sundays of the month at St. John's Church at ul. St. John 7.

 

Armenian speakers can go to mass at 12:10 on the first and third Sundays of the month at the Church of the Divine Mercy on ul. Smolensk. Slovak speakers will find a mass at 16:30 on the last Tuesday of each month at the Church of the Holy Cross at pl. sw. Ducha near the Slowacki Theater. For those who understand Latin, Krakow has masses in this traditional church language as well. The Latin masses at the St. Wencelas and St. Stanislas Cathedral at Wawel Hill are at 07:30 and 09:00 every Sunday and on holidays. The Basilica of the Virgin Mary at Rynek Glowny has masses in Latin at 10:00 every Sunday and on holidays. Latin masses are celebrated at St. Michael's Church at ul. Skaleczna 15 at 09:00 every Sunday. The Rakowicki Cemetery chapel offers Latin masses at noon on Sundays.

 

A unique form of Latin service known as a Tridentate Mass is available in a few churches in Krakow. The St. Wencelas and St. Stanislas Cathedral at Wawel Hill offers a Tridentate Mass at 08:00 on Sundays. St. Adalbert's Church on Rynek Glowny offers a Tridentate service at 09:00 on Sundays and the Church of the Healing Brothers at ul. Krakowska 48 offers one at 13:15 on Sundays.