Summary

After the Order of Teutonic Knights had conquered the Yatvingians, the land, where Punsk is situated now, emptied. During the next centuries wilderness had grown over this land. Only Lithuanian rulers had hunted there.
About 1597 the newcomers from Punia and Merkinė came to this land. The forester Stanisław Zaliwski founded the church. From the beginning of the 16th century inhabitants of Punsk had been called the burghers. The king Władysław IV gave Punsk Magdeburg Law. After the church had been built in 1597, Punsk parish was set up. The parish was inhabited by the Lithuanians so the parish priest should have been the Lithuanian or should have spoken Lithuanian. It was a decision of the king Zygmunt III Waza.
We do not know who was the first parish priest in Punsk. We do not know either what was the first church like. The first church had been distroyed on fire. It had probably happened between 1741 and 1772. In 1772 the parish priest in Punsk J. Chłopicki with his parishioners had built a new, wooden church.
After the third partition of Poland Punsk became under the Prussian rule. About 50 years later in 1852 the burghers from Punsk voluntarily waived their Magdeburg Law. The new wooden church was burnt during the fire in 1868. At first the services were celebrated in a small chapel on the cemetery and later in the old barn. Józef Szumowicz was the parish priest in Punsk at those times. After his death Kazimieras Jonkaitis started to rebuild the church and the presbytery. He did not managed to finish work – he died in 1881. The present stone St. Mary`s church was consecrated in 1887 when the parish priest Simonas Norkevičius (Norkus) was in Punsk. He took care of church fittings and décor as well. He also organized a new cemetery. When Lithuanian printing was banned he was a correspondent of “Aušra” in Prussian Lithuania and worked as a coordinator of illegal book distributors in Punsk parish. His successor was Motiejus Simonaitis who did a lot for the parish.
The I world war damaged the religious life in the parish. The war did not allow to continue a religious service. The choir stopped his work. Later the priest Krakaitis came to the parish and later the priest Juozas Švedas who continued work with the choir, he cobbled the road to the cemetery and started to lead the procession of All Souls` Day. He also bought three new bells.
In 1932 the priests started sermonizing in Polish. One year later a feud was started. The Lithuanians did not want to let the Poles to carry better church banners. This conflict had caused that the priest J. Švedas ran away.
During the II world war the Germans closed the church. They displaced the Lithuanians from Punsk to Lithuania and at their place they brought the Germans from there. The priest
A. Žievys tried to convince their parishioners to stay at their place.
In 1955–1957 Kamiński was the parish priest in Punsk. He changed the services` schedule to Lithuanians` disadvantage. The Lithuanian inhabitants protested and sent a delegation to the bishop, they wanted to change the parish priest. In 1957 a new one came – the priest A. Szumiński – who restored the earlier services` schedule. After his death Ignacy Dziermejko became a new parish priest who was the good host. He refurbished the church in Punsk. After him Jan Jerzy Macek became a new parish priest. And since 2000 Czesław Bagan has been a new one in Punsk parish.