ADAMS — Walk into the sanctuary of St. Stanislaus Kostka Mission Church in the morning and the room is bathed in a warm yellow light from the bank of stained glass windows on the eastern wall.

Even empty, this majestic and capacious room, which harkens to European cathedrals with its art and to Poland with its particular selection of saints, offers an immediate feeling of both transcendence and repose.

One of 98 angels depicted throughout the interior of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams.

St. Stanislaus was built in just over a year from 1904 to 1905 by Polish immigrants who worked in Adams mills and wanted to hear sermons in their native language.

At 121 years old, the church is showing signs of its age, and a group of dedicated volunteers has been working to restore and preserve it. The project was initially estimated to cost about $5.1 million, with a goal of completion in October 2030.

The first and most critical phase of construction is wrapping up at about $450,000 — significantly under the initial estimates of about $1.28 million.

Beverly Maselli, chair of the SSK Preservation Fund, credits that level of generosity to the affection this church has engendered among its parishioners, their families and the children who attended St. Stanislaus School — some of whom now own businesses that have worked on the church for free or at greatly reduced rates.

Using lifts rather than scaffolding saved both time and money and added safety to the work done on the roof and double steeples and buttresses of the yellow brick church at the corner of Summer and Hoosac streets.

This isn’t the first time this church has had a major show of support.

The front entrance to St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams.

The church was nearly closed in 2008, and only through the dedication of parishioners who literally slept in the unheated building, was it reopened in 2011 by an act of the Vatican.

Following the discovery of mold in the basement, a 2018 Steeple Fund campaign was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic  In 2020, Amherst architect Kuhn Riddle did a structural assessment of the church and found it in need of urgent repair to stop water infiltration.

The first phase of exterior work is nearly finished and the Most Rev. William Byrne, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, has approved the SSK Preservation Committee’s request to move forward with additional construction.

The first phase of fundraising started Nov. 13, 2023, to coincide with the feast day of St. Stanislaus.

A painting of St. Stanislaus, which was hidden for decades, is now revealed and serves as the backdrop for the baptismal font at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams.

Since then contractors have cleared downspouts and gutters, replaced cracked or missing roof slates, repaired or replaced deteriorating steeple ornaments, and pointed and repaired exterior brick and masonry.

This work is nearly finished and is expected to wrap up within weeks.

As of this week, the preservation committee has raised $1.1 million from 769 donors from 27 states and Malaysia. Donations range from $10 to $40,000, with one donor giving a total of $94,000.

The next focus of work will be on a less visible part of the building, the long-closed basement, which houses Kolbe Hall, bathrooms and a kitchen. Mold remediation will be done along with replacement of ceilings and floors, bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Next, a lift will be installed from the first floor to the basement.

Parishioner Joe Armata talks to some of the history and his earliest memories as a child going to St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams. “We hope to raise enough money to restore the church and to fix all the problems it has developed over a century.”

Maselli has been working with Joe Armata, assistant sacristan, to clean out the basement.

“We want to make everything totally modern,” she said.

She hopes that space can be extended for community use, such as for Scouts, events and parties.

A mason works on repointing the steeple of St. Stanislaus Church in Adams.

“There is no community space in Adams anymore,” she said. “The Armory is closed. The Polish National Alliance is closed. The youth center’s closed.”

As part of St. John Paul II Parish, St. Stanislaus is open for 8 a.m. Mass on Sundays and is used occasionally for weddings and other religious ceremonies. When St. Stanislaus School is in session, Mass is held on Monday mornings as well.

Eugene Michalenko’s uncles got their start in the priesthood at this church, and his first memory is of attending a Holy Thursday processional as a child.

Today, as a local historian he gives tours of the church and points out the saints represented, including several depictions of St. Stanislaus, both in windows and murals. He’s also careful to point out the prominence of women, both among the saints represented, including Saint Lucy and Saint Teresa, as well as the women of the church.

Eugene Michalenko speaks about the history St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams. He leads tours during town and church events as well as by appointment.

He points out the three mosaics in the entrance, depicting the American eagle and the Polish eagle, as well as the crucifixion. There is but one more mosaic in Adams at the top of Mount Greylock inside the war memorial.

Maselli said she's particularly concerned about the stained glass windows, which need exterior work.

One stained glass window depicts Archbishop Jan Cieplak symbolically standing trial before Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin. Another depicts 20th century martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe.

The church also contains a prominent depiction of the Divine Mercy as visioned by Saint Faustina Kowalska. It is the first to be displayed in the Western Hemisphere, and the church has had strong ties to The National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge.

The trope l’oeil columns in the sanctuary appear to be marble — until one touches them. Only then is the wood grain palpable beneath the glossy paint.

Armata’s first memories of the church include the Easter processional, and hearing the sermons in English and Polish.

“We hope to raise enough money to restore the church and to fix all the problems it has developed over a century,” he said. “My hope really is that it will become more of a sanctuary church, because of the Divine Mercy image and the relation to the creation of the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, but we’ll just have to see how that develops.”

Michalenko feels a responsibility to preserve the building.

“It’s our obligation to keep this church open and to preserve it for the next generation,” he said. “Hopefully that will happen and this church will continue for another 100, 200 years.”