Częstochowa – Black Madonna’s icon in Jasna Góra Monastery, Częstochowa
Fact of the Polish figure „St. Adalbert”
Part of the „The patrons and guardians of the land” topic
The Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa with its sanctuary is one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in Poland. It contains a shrine of Virgin Mary, with the miraculous image of Black Madonna, bearing characteristic scars on her cheek. The monastery was founded in the 14th century by Pauline monks who came here from Hungary. During the so-called Deluge of the 17th century the Swedish troops repeatedly besieged it, but never captured, which was seen as a symbolic triumph over the enemy. It was also a place where the Polish king John II Casimir Vasa’s prayed for liberation of the Commonwealth from the invasion. On the three hundredth anniversary of his vows, entrusting the country to the care of the Mother of God, a similar promise was made at Jasna Góra on the initiative of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, interned by the communist authorities at the time. It has shown the continuous attachment of Poles to the Catholic faith and was supposed to raise the nation’s spirit in these hard times.
Further reading:
Noszczak B., We, the Nation. Poland and Poles in the Millennium Programme of Primate Stefan Wyszyński (1956-1966/1967), ,,Studia Theologica Varsaviensia” (2018), V. 56, No 2, p. 51-67.
Witkowska A., The Cult of the Jasna Góra Sanctuary in the Form of Pilgrimages till the Middle of the 17th Century, ,, Acta Poloniae Historica” (1990), V. 61, p. 63-90.
