The bas-relief-covered Paul bell was one of five similarly decorated instruments cast in 1936 by Ludwik Felczyński’s bell foundry in Przemyśl for the small parish of Daromin near Sandomierz. The bell’s decoration was designed by sculptor Aleksander Borawski and alludes to the missionary work of the Church. On one side of the bell’s mantle, we see St. Paul as the Apostle to the Nations standing before the Roman Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, while on the other, Queen Jadwiga of Anjou carries a cross as the Apostle to Lithuania. This unique iconography suggests that the donor of the instruments for this impoverished parish may have been someone connected to the Eternal City – perhaps Father Dr. Michał Łagodzki, a native of Daromin and educated in Rome, or perhaps even the then-Pope Pius XI (Achilles Ratti), who knew our country well, having served as nuncio to Poland shortly after Poland regained independence. During World War II, the Daromin bells were hidden by parishioners and survived; only the Paweł bell’s crown was damaged by a shell during the Soviet offensive in August 1944. Currently, a replica hangs in the belfry of the Daromin church, made in 1982 at Janusz Felczyński’s bell foundry in Przemyśl.
