Poland’s Most Revered Madonnas
In Poland, the Mother of God is held in a place of special honour. There are streets and churches dedicated to her, and courtyards contain figures of the Virgin Mary. Join us as we discover and discuss the most famous and revered Polish Madonnas.
For Catholics, as for all Christians, the central figure personifying their faith is Jesus Christ. Members of every sect of the world’s most practiced religion revere him as the Son of God. In the 4th century, some Christians began to venerate the Virgin Mary alongside Jesus. In this period, the first shrine dedicated to the Madonna was built in the Ancient Greek city of Ephesus.
To someone who isn’t familiar with the intricacies of Catholic dogma or who hasn’t studied Catholic or Orthodox tradition, the question may arise: ‘Why are there so many Madonnas in all the various corners of the world? After all, there was only one of her’. It’s true... in Latin America, believers venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe, while in France there is Our Lady of Lourdes, and Poles go on pilgrimages to Czestochowa to pray at the icon of the Black Madonna.
There are two main reasons why the Mother of God appears in Guadalupe, Lourdes, Czestochowa and other places. First, a toponym is added to the name of a Madonna if an appearance of the Virgin Mary to a person or group of people occurred in this place. The second reason can be attributed to miracles recognised by the Church – when people were healed by praying to the Mother of God.
The Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Madonna
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Kalwaria Madonna, photo: Monkpress / East News
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The small Polish town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska received its own Madonna thanks to a miracle:
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It happened in 1641. Not far from Kalwaria lived a man from the gentry, Stanislaw Paszkowski. Every morning and every evening, he, his family and their servants would gather in a special prayer room around an old icon of the Virgin Mary and pray together… One day, Friday 3rd May, 1641, the icon began to cry tears of blood,
we learn from a Bernardine chronicle, which still survives today (trans. KA).
After this event, Pan Paszkowski handed over the icon to the Kalwaria-Zebrzydowska church. Believers, having found out about the miracle, immediately began to make pilgrimages to this place from all corners of Poland to pray to the Madonna.
Today, the icon is kept in the Bernardine monastery, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even for the nonreligious, it is worth a visit to this unique place which many call the Polish Jerusalem. The architectural and park complex on a hill includes more than 40 churches dedicated to the Stations of the Cross. Every year, around 1.5 million people make pilgrimages here.
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Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa, photo: Marek Maruszak / Forum
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The icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa could without a doubt be called the most famous sacred object in Poland. All year round, groups of pilgrims make their way to Jasna Góra: on trains, buses and automobiles. The big rush happens in August – hundreds of thousands of believers travel long distances on foot to Czestochowa. Catholics observe two important holidays connected with the Cult of Mary in August: the Assumption of the Virgin and the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa.
The numerous miracles and rich history of the icon led to it acquiring a completely unique status. According to legend, the icon’s creator was Luke the Evangelist. However, most experts believe that the painting was made between the 12th and 13th centuries. The distinctive feature of the icon are the scars on Mary’s cheek. At first glance, it appears there are three, but there are actually more than 10. The story goes that in the 15th century, the Hussites attacked the monastery and decided to take the precious artifact. They put the icon into a cart, but the harnessed horses wouldn’t budge. Then, one of the thieves threw the icon to the ground, and in a rage, he slashed at it with his sabre. The icon remained in one piece, while some of the Hussites went blind and the others fell dead.
In the 1960s, faithful Poles decided to make a pilgrimage with the icon all around the country. The Communist authorities wouldn’t allow them to travel with the image of the Madonna, but this didn’t stop Polish Catholics – they went on their pilgrimage with an empty frame. During the communist regime in Poland, as today, Poles were distinguished by their ingenuity. Keeping with the times, they came up with an ‘online prayer’ to Our Lady of Czestochowa. On the monastery’s website, anyone can fill out a form and at the touch of a button send their appeal to the Madonna.
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Our Lady of Lichen, photo: Piotr Skurnicki / AG
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Not long ago, the largest Catholic church in Poland was built in the little town of Lichen Stary in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The Basilica of Our Lady of Lichen opened in 2004, and since then, it has been one of the most popular places for pilgrimages. The main attraction for the thousands of faithful who come here is the icon of the Holy Mother. Believers say the Blessed Virgin has appeared many times in Lichen and its surroundings. The icon of the Madonna itself is quite small – 9.5 by 15.5 cm. The time of its creation dates to the end of the 18th century, and the painter is unknown.
The miracles for which the icon and her village became known throughout Poland began at the beginning of the 19th century. Believers tell a story about the soldier Tomasz Klossowski, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Feeling his strength failing, he prayed to the Virgin Mary, and suddenly, he saw a woman walking through the battlefield. She was in a dress the color of pomegranate with a white eagle on the chest. When the woman came, near the soldier realized it was the Virgin Mary. In the vision, she promised Klossowski that he would return home. She also asked the soldier to find the icon with her image and bring it to where there would be a lot of people.
The search took 23 years. All that time, Klossowski was working as a blacksmith and would make pilgrimages in search of the icon in his spare time. One day, when he was returning from Czestochowa, he met some pilgrims in the town of Lgota who prayed to an icon of the Holy Mother in a small roadside shrine. The Virgin Mary in this image looked exactly like the one in his vision. With permission from the shrine owner, Tomasz brought the icon home and then hung it on a tree in the forest.
In the autumn of 1852, the icon was brought to a chapel in Lichen Stary. For 150 years, she was in the Church of St Dorothy, and since 2006, she has made the Basilica her home.
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Gietrzwald Madonna, photo: Lukasz Dejnarowicz / Forum
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The Cult of Mary in the village of Gietrzwald began in the 14th century. Believers would come here to pray around the icon of the Holy Mother. Gietrzwald is the only place in Poland (and one of 12 locations in the world) where the appearances of the Madonna were confirmed by the Catholic Church.
From 27th July to 16th August, the Virgin Mary appeared there to two girls from a poor family. Mary was first seen by 13-year-old Justyna Szarfrynska, who was returning home from church and noticed the Madonna sitting on a throne amongst maple leaves. An angel in white clothes was nearby. The priest advised her to go to that same spot the next day. Mary appeared to her again – this time accompanied by several angels and holding a baby in her arms.
For all of the following days, 12-year-old Barbara Samulowska went with Justyna. The girls spoke with the Madonna. At that time, Poland was not on the map, therefore Justyna and Barbara asked about the future of the Polish Church, which was also going through hard times. The Blessed Virgin said the Church would be liberated and the clery would no longer be persecuted if the people would faithfully ask God for it. The news quickly spread around Poland – and it encouraged people from all over to head to Gietrzwald and the Blessed Virgin.
Soon a shrine was built at the sight of the apparition. The maple trees in which the girls saw Mary are no longer there – they were made into a cross, which hangs in the shrine to this day.
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Holy Mother of Lipa, photo: Dagmara Smolna
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The Polish village of Lipa is sometimes called the ‘Czestochowa of the North’ – all because of its popular Cult of Mary, which originated in the Middle Ages. Up until the 13th century, this area was still inhabited by pagans who did not want to hear about Christianity. This lasted until their leader, Subvaro, went to Italy, where he officially converted to Catholicism. Legend has it that a miracle happened right then and there.
The holy object that believers venerate in Lipa is not an icon but a figurine of Mary. It appeared not long after Subvaro’s conversion to Catholicism (through which took the Christian name Paweł). One day, residents noticed that on an old linden tree, located in a sacred grove where people honored pagan idols, a brilliant light appeared. When they came closer, the light went away, but in the tree, they saw a small wooden figure of the Holy Mother with a baby in her arms. The people decided that a better place for her would be the church in Lubawe (a city near Lipa), but this Mary showed character. Three times, they brought her to Lubawe, and three times, she returned to the old linden tree. It became obvious that the Holy Mother did not want to leave this place, and a small shrine was built nearby.
The figure remained there for a long time, but now her place of residence in the Church of the Visitation in Lubawe. On 1st and 2nd July, during annual festivities dedicated to the Holy Mother of Lipa, the figure is brought back to her original place. At this time, a great number of pilgrims travel to Lipa, but many visit the site throughout the year.
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn
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Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, photo: Krzysztof Wojcechowski / Forum
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This icon is located in Vilnius and is a holy place for both Lithuanians and Poles. According to one version, this Madonna was painted in 1622 in Kraków’s Corpus Christi Basilica by the local master Lukasz. Another version states that the image was created by an artist who had been invited from Italy.
The story of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn is filled with so many legends and speculation that it’s easy to get lost in them. Some of them are simply absurd. Scholars believe that the icon was made in the 16th century, yet it is often told that she herself appeared in the kingdom of Lithuania’s capital on the Gate of Dawn in the 14th century. (The Gate of Dawn refers to the gate of the city walls surviving from the old city, above which stands a gothic chapel with the image.) It is also often said that Prince Olgierd brought her in 1363 from a trip to Korsyn.
The popularity of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn was further promoted by literature. The Madonna appeared in Mickiewicz’s epic poem Pan Tadeusz. The genius Polish poet tells about her at the very beginning of the work, after the winged quatrain:
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Lithuania, my country! Thou art like health. Holy Virgin, who protectest bright Czestochowa and shinest above the Ostra Gate! Thou who dost shelter the castle of Nowogrodek with its faithful folk!
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Trans. George Rapall Noyes, 1917
In 1947, the Ostra Gate icon underwent restoration. After that, the coronation of the image, which was attended by Marshal Josey Pilsudski, took place. The Feast of Our Lady of Ostra Gate is observed annually on 16th November.
The Virgin Mary from the small Polish village of Roktino, which has a population of less than 500, is called by the faithful ‘the patient listener’ (Matka Boża Rokitniańska Cierpliwie Słuchająca). An anonymous master of the Dutch School of portraiture painted the image on a small limewood board.
The Virgin Mary here is depicted without the infant Christ. The icon clearly shows the right ear of the Mother of God, uncovered by her hair and a veil. It symbolises the attention of the Holy Virgin to the prayers and questions of believers. This Holy Mary could be called not only a patient listener, but also a traveller. At different times, the icon, painted in the 16th century, was in the Kujawy Region, the village of Bledzew, and the Royal Palace in Warsaw. It even resided with King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki in Lublin, as well as other places.
Many believers have prayed to this Virgin Mary and have been healed. Learning of this, a bishop from Poznan created a theological commission to verify the authenticity of the miracles. In 1670, the experts came to the conclusion that the healings were confirmed and that this icon of the Madonna should be considered miraculous. The feast day of the Rokitno Madonna is celebrated on 18th June.
Originally written in Russian, translated by Katherine Alberti, Dec 2020