The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows was the first Catholic church built in Riga after the Reformation period, which began in the 16th century.
Due to the decision of the Riga Municipality to join the Lutheran denomination, Riga’s Catholics gradually lost all their sanctuaries. The only property remaining with the Riga Catholic community was the monastic church of the Cistercian Sisters under the patronage of Saint Mary Magdalene. However, by order of the Riga City Council, priests were forbidden to conduct services in the monastery, so for 40 years, until 1582, no priest crossed the threshold of the monastery.
At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, illustrations of the city of that time show a small church of the Blessed Virgin Mary located near the Riga Castle, approximately on the site where the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows stands today. Additionally, the annals of the Jesuit Order mention the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where, during the Jesuits’ time in the city, from 1582 to 1621, Holy Mass and other services were conducted. The fate of this sanctuary during the Swedish rule from 1621 to 1710, when the practice of the Catholic faith in Vidzeme was prohibited, is unknown.
After conquering Riga in 1710, Russian Tsar Peter I applied the legislation of the Russian Empire to the conquered territories in 1721, which provided freedom of religion for Catholics and Protestants alongside the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the reign of Empress Catherine II (1762-1796), the situation of Riga’s Catholics significantly improved.
The Governor-General of Riga, George Braun, appealed to Empress Catherine II with a request to allow the construction of a Catholic church in the city, to which she, on August 13, 1764, gave written permission to proceed at his discretion.
Since the Riga City Council still refused to build a Catholic church within the city walls, the Catholic community purchased a piece of land from a well-known engineer-colonel near the Riga Castle, but outside the city walls, presumably the same spot where the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary stood until 1621.
Upon receiving the permission, in 1763, the parish priest Isido Schmidt began the construction of a small prayer house, completed in 1765. By order of the reigning Catherine II, it was declared: “the built stone Roman Catholic church for all Latvians, both locals and travelers, is the property of the parish.” The church was consecrated on November 3, and the first Holy Mass in the church was held on November 6. For 20 years, Catholics from Riga, Vidzeme, as well as visiting Catholics from other countries gathered in this small chapel.
In 1780, Archduke Joseph II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1765-1790), on his way to the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, visited Riga. Upon seeing the small and poorly decorated Catholic chapel, he felt offended in his religious feelings and promised in a conversation with Catherine II to protect and support the intentions of Catholics concerning the construction of a new stone church in Riga. Indeed, permission for this construction was soon granted. Joseph II, as well as his mother, Empress Maria Theresa (1745-1780), financially supported the construction of the church. Through their mediation, funds for the construction of the church were donated by King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski of Poland (1764-1795), and the heir to the Russian throne, Paul (the future Emperor Paul I (1796-1801)). The parishioners also collected monetary donations for the construction of the church.
Construction work began in 1783, and on July 28, 1785, the church was consecrated in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, Virgin Mary. The ceremony was led by the Bishop of Mogilev, Ioann Benislavsky. Next to the church, an early Classicism-style rectory was built, which housed a parish school.
On the exterior of the church, facing the Castle Square, a stone figure of Our Lady of Sorrows — a Pietà — was placed in a niche in the wall. This figure, a legacy from the Jesuits of Riga, was found in St. James’s Church and handed over to the new Catholic church by the Lutheran community of St. James’s Parish. The statue bore an inscription in Latin: “This Mother of God returns to us as a gift after a long time.” Alongside was the year 1786. Later, in 1789, the following words were added at the base of the Pietà: “Jesus’s Sorrowful Mother, accept here the testimony of veneration from your flock.”
To this day, the bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows lacks visual grandeur, and even after reconstruction, remains quite modest in height. It smoothly transitions from the Gothic slenderness of the old town to the massive heaviness of Riga Castle. This symbolically resonates with the qualities inherent in the Blessed Virgin Mary — humility, meekness, and modesty.
Before the reconstruction of the church in the 19th century, the dimensions of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, including the sacristy and vestibule, were: 28.4 meters in length, 14 meters in width, and 12 meters in height. The church had five altars: the Altar of Our Lady of Sorrows, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John Nepomuk, St. Vincent Ferrer, and an altar depicting the Crucifixion of Christ.
In 1854, Russian Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855) visited Riga and honored the Catholic community with his presence, recognizing that the church was insufficient in capacity. Consequently, the Department of Projects and Estimates of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs granted the parish permission in 1858 to rebuild the church to expand its size. Since expanding towards Castle Square would disrupt the symmetry of the square, the opposite side of the church was chosen for the new extension.
During the reconstruction of the church in 1859-1860, the presbytery was moved to the opposite, southwestern side of the building facing the Daugava River, and a sacristy was added. According to the design by Riga’s chief architect Johann Felsko, the facade of the church facing Castle Square, with the main entrance, acquired pseudo-Romanesque contours.
In 1895, based on the design by Wilhelm Bockslaff, an octagonal baptistery in the Neo-Renaissance style was added to the western side of the church.
Since 1897, hymns in the church have been accompanied by an organ made by the Emil Martin firm. From that time, the main features of the church have remained unchanged to this day. This building has a cylindrical ceiling and a gable roof, with a length of 48 meters and a width (excluding the baptistery) of 17 meters.
Photos: www.zudusilatvija.lv, www.ambermarks.com, www.fotolatvia.info, www.liveriga.com