St. Mary's Church Legend

St. Mary’s Church Legend – There are many legends associated with St. Mary’s church. One of them is about the unhappy love of a young watchmaker who assembles a clock on the tower and the mayor’s daughter who is in love with him. Another one is about Stolem who is a gentle giant, who sat on a huge church, like on a stool, and with friendship for the citizens of Gdansk gave them sculptured figures of animals that can be found in various places of the city even in the present day There is also a legend about the devil being banished from Gdansk. In a nutshell, it sounds like this: A plague epidemic broke out in the city a long time ago. Desperate citizens of Gdansk decided to seek help from a Venetian scholar, astrologer and exorcist, namely Master Damian. A ship was sent for him, which after some time brought the scholar to Gdansk. When Master Damian looks into the situation, he states that the devil who settled in the city is responsible for the disease and has brought misfortune. Only the prayer of the bells of St. Mary’s Church can chase him away. There were six bells on the tower, but for the effective prayer, a seventh, small bell was needed to be brought from the church of St. John and attach its sound to the prayer of six large bells. Only a person without sin could do it. A child named Chrystian was assigned to the task. When the boy took off the bell from the church of St. John and went with him to St. Mary’s tower, the devil went his way and tried to interrupt the mission. Fortunately, the great bells on the tower began to toil and the boy could join in with the bell which he carried to sonorous prayer. At that moment, a huge thunderstorm broke out over Gdansk, and lightning struck the tower. In this way the devil was driven away and the plague subsided. Unfortunately, Damian, who sacrificed his life in the fight against the devil, did not survive this event.