Cisiec belonged to the parish of Milówka. There wasn’t even the chapel in the village, where a Mass could be celebrated, even occasionally. People of many generations longed to build a church. Eventually, a group of people started to fight for a small church in Cisiec. It was the beginning of the 70’s. Multiple letters, requests and applications were send to the authorities but without any answers. During that time, priest Władysław Nowobielski came to Milówka. After fruitfulness visits in offices, people came up with an idea to adapt some building for a chapel.
They chose the old, closed bakery owned by the Śledziak family. After the first visit, it turned out that the building cannot serve the function. Therefore, it was decided to build the chapel from the foundation, but it was kept secret so the authorities didn’t know about it. According to the plan, it was supposed to be “a detached house”. The plan was approved by the authorities.
The church dedicated to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was build under the unusual circumstances. In November 1972, the inhabitants from Cisiec, against a clear ban of authorities, built the church during 24 hours on previously laid foundations.
The oldest part of the present church was built in 1542, when it was a filial chapel of the parish church in Radziechowy.
Another very important part of Saint Katherine’s church history is a period between 1666 and 1667, when the church was considerably extended by enlarging the nave and building the tower on the initiative of priest Stanisław Kaszowicz from Radziechowy. The event was recorded in 1666 in “Dziejopis” (“The record of history ”) written by Andrzej Komoniecki:”(…) This year, due to the actions made by priest Stanisław Kaszkowicz, a parish priest and dean in Żywiec, who is a priest in Radziechowy for the meantime, the parish St. Catherine’s church with a bell tower is built.”
Until 1798, Saint Katherine church functioned as a filial church of the parish church in Radziechowy. Priest Marcel Słupecki became the first parish priest. For a several dozen years there weren’t made any changes to the building. The further extension took place not until 1857, when a new sacristy and treasure-oratory were built.
In 1839, when Władysław Dobrzański was the parish priest, a new stage of church extension in Cięcina began. The building works were supervised by Robert Fussgänge, a builder from Żywiec. They lengthened the nave and used rollers to moved the tower to the west. A new narthex and a small tower were also built. In 1894, a year later, a covered entrance adhering to the narthex was built. In 1895, the present building was extended by the chapel dedicated to St. Francis of Asissi (the present entrance was built not until 1928). In 1869, a year later, Antoni Stopka, who was an artist from Maków Podhalański, made mural and ceiling paintings. In 1909, the roof of the church was covered by eternity (asbestos cement roofing material) that replaced the shingles.
The tented roof, which can be seen today, was designed by an architecture Wacław Krzyżanowski in 1935. The previous tower built in 1893 turned out to be disproportionate to the size of the considerably extended church. The project was carried out not until 1932, when the tower was lengthened by almost 7 meters. After that, the church has not been extended, but it was renovated systematically. The most important workings include the renovation of the interior between 1949 and 1951, when Jan Bryndza was the parish priest. The walls and the ceiling were painted and the altars and paintings (gliding and polychrome) were renovated. At the same time, a bottom rotten wooden panes were replaced. The conservatory workings were continued in the beginning of 60’s. The rock underpinning under collapsing outside walls was replaced and strengthened with two brick pillars.
The church is faced towards the east. It was built from logs laid horizontally and interlocked on the ends with notches. The tower has a timber framing construction. The floor plan consists of the short presbytery enclosed from three sides, elongated nave and the tower in the east. The one-storey sacristy and the narthex with a small porch are situated in the north side by the presbytery and the narrower part of the nave. There is a chapel dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi in the south by the narrow part of the presbytery. In the presbytery there is a ceiling of 1884 that resembles the barrel vault. The decor of the church is baroque. There are numerous altars in it. The main altar is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria.
