File:Gdow Church 13.jpg

English: Portrait of ks Ludwik Kusionowicz (1816-1888) in the Vestry of the Church at the site of the Parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gdów - shrine of our Lady of Gdów. The Church ("Kościół") of Gdów is located close to where the historic Battle of Gdów took place in 1846 (in the field next to Gdów Cemetery) and in which Polish 'insurgents', under the command of the absent Colonel Suchorzewski, fought for independence from Austria in the only battle of the Kraków Uprising. Ludwik, the parish priest in Gdów from 1842 to 1888, chronicled the Battle of Gdów and also provided refuge in the Church for supporters of the Polish nationalists who were fleeing the Austrian military and their peasant militia. Ludwik’s "nephew" Sylwester was at that time living in Chochołow and training as a teacher and organist under Jan Kanty Andrusikiewicz (pl) who was one of the leaders of the Chochołow Uprising (pl) which took place on 21 February 1846, five days before the Battle of Gdów.

Ludwik was born in Czchów on 3 August 1816 to parents Izydor and Marianna (nee Karnikiewicz) and after studying theology in Vienna was ordained as a priest in Tarnów in 1840, by Bishop F Zachariasiewicz, before being appointed the parish priest in Gdów on 6 June 1842. With the financial support of Eleonora Fihauser, heiress of Fałkowice Manor, Ludwik expanded the Gdów Church by extending the presbytery and building a new sacristy and hexagonal chapel. Around 1850 Sylwester moved to Gdów to run the local parish school and transform it into the first 'state school' in the district (in the former parish school building). [In spite of the efforts of the Austrian authorities to suppress Polish culture in Galicia it continued classes in the Polish language beyond the period of the January Uprising (1863-1864) which extended across the lands controlled by the Russian Empire to the outskirts of Kraków.] Sylwester Kusionowicz, who was father to a number of children, including Władysław and Andrzej who were born in Gdów, was also the organist at the Church and around 1860 moved into the old church house.

On 12 September 1865 Ludwik was appointed state school inspector for the Deanery of Wieliczka before his later appointment as Dean of Wieliczka and on 26 July 1871 he was awarded the honorary title of Canon of Tarnów. Ludwik, who was also a founder of the Temperance Brotherhood, continued to serve as the Gdów parish priest until his passing on 27 December 1888. Prior to the famous battle of 1846, Ludwik, again with the support of Eleonora Fihauser, had had an impressive Chapel built in the local cemetery and on his passing he was laid to rest underneath this Chapel beside which rests Sylwester (1828-1877) in a prominent grave watched over by a beautiful statue of Mary sculpted by Edward Stehlik (pl).
The Scotch Mist Gallery contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland.