Friday July 25
After breakfast (if I haven’t mentioned it yet, they had a
great one here with lots of fresh fruit), Wojtek drove us around 2.5 hours to Czestochowa
to visit the Jasna Góra Monastery.
The Monastery is a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary and
one of the country's major places of pilgrimage. Every year since the Middle Ages,
thousands of Poles go in pilgrim groups to visit Jasna Góra. In 2011, it was
estimated that 3.2 million pilgrims from 80 countries around the world went to
the shrine.
A little history if you are so inclined:
Saint Luke the Evangelist, according to tradition, is
believed to be the original artist of this painting in which Mary is depicted
holding the Christ Child. This sacred picture, enshrined and venerated at the
renowned Marian Shrine in Poland, was first brought from Jerusalem through
Constantinople and was bestowed to the Princess of Ruthenia. He invited the
Monks of Saint Paul the First Hermit from Hungary to be its guardians.
Jasna Góra Monastery was founded in 1382 by Pauline monks
who came from Hungary at the invitation of Vladislaus II of Opole. The new
monastery was entrusted with the icon, depicting the Mother of God with the
Christ Child, known as the Black Madonna of Częstochowa or Our Lady of
Częstochowa. On April 14, 1430, Jasna Góra was sacked by the Hussites. It was
originally a single-nave church, which was enlarged around 1463 to become a
three-nave hall church in the Gothic style.
The scratches on the Czestochowa Black Madonna are two long
gashes on the Virgin Mary's right cheek, said to have been inflicted by a
Hussite invader in 1430 who tried to steal the icon. According to legend, the
attacker struck the painting twice with his sword, and as he went for a third
strike, he fell dead to the ground. Attempts to repair the slashes have failed,
with the marks reappearing, and they are now seen as a symbol of suffering,
redemption, and a reminder of the icon's history. There are other miner scratches but 2 are the most prominent.
End of history lesson!
After the beautiful drive Wojtek brought us in to introduce
us to our guide. I have forgotten her name, but she was a fun young lady that
told great stories and brought the place to life. She knew everyone there and
they seemed to adore her. She was a volunteer not one of the nuns.
She explained that due to demand, there are almost non-stop
masses going on.
She stopped at a sign and pointed out what we would be
seeing. She said you will be moving past the altar, and your eyes will be drawn
to the Black Madonna, and you won’t really see anything else in detail.
Votive Offerings at The Altar of Our Lady
1. Papal sash with the blood of Pope John ll after the assassination attempt in 1981
2. Royal regalia (septre and orb) offered to the Mother of God Queen of Poland by Polish Women
3. Golden rose, rosary and heart - offerings from Pope John ll
4. Votive offering from Pope Francis
5. Votive offering from Pole Benedict XVl
6. Relics of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski
7. Act of Consecration of Poland into the Maternal Slavery of Mary, Mother of the Church
After that we were taken to see the rest of the Basilica & Chapels.
We then proceeded inside the Basilica housing the Black Madonna and there was a long line of people waiting to approach the shrine, so we joined. Upon arriving at the place of the shrine at which one would pass in front of the icon of Our Lady, it is expected and a sign of respect for pilgrims to drop to their knees and traverse the anterior of the shrine on their knees. Of course, many are merely tourists and not expected to do that.
Our guide was in front and then me and I turned around and noticed there was a
large gap behind me. I could see Greg way back and then noticed there was a man
going slowly around on his knees. (upright not on all fours) Greg said the guy was so eager he jumped ahead of
him and dropped down. So, we waited for Greg to catch up with us, which gave
me time for some photos. She was right that the time went so fast I hardly
noticed anything else except the picture.
Next, she took us to see the “closing of the Black Madonna”. She is unveiled twice a day. (around 6:00a, and around 1:00p) During this ceremony a "curtain" conceals her symbolizing the boundary between the mortal world and the divine. The ritualistic unveiling draws back this "curtain," inviting pilgrims to come into the presence of the miraculous image. Our guide joked that she needed her beauty sleep. It really was a powerful experience to witness. Music with trumpets and people dropping to their knees and praying. I shot a short video which is on the web albums.
Our last stop was at a small museum where our tour ended, we were able to walk around and see the monastery treasury and see the fortified walls, bastions, and gates. We popped back into the Chapel with the Black Madonna as I would have liked to have gone around it again, but she was still “closed”.
Pope John Paul II Sunday gave the Jasna Gora monastery a sash pierced by a bullet that almost killed him as a sign of his thanks for surviving the shooting two years ago in St. Peter's Square.
It was well past lunch time and Wojtek told us where to go for lunch. It was an order at the counter place and the lady said she didn’t speak English. We managed to order some pierogies and a couple of sodas. We went in search of gelato and were following Google Maps to a place when we came across people with these huge, dipped cones. We stopped where they were selling them, and they were so good!
We texted Wojtek that we were on our way back, and we made the drive back to Krakow. After another long day we decided to go back to the Italian place for pizza (and were hoping to get another of those chocolate orange aperitifs) The pizza was good but no after dinner drinks were brought.
We walked back to the Main Market Square for the gelato place we liked (really good Dubai Chocolate) and enjoyed it while sitting on a bench and watching the people. We wandered the square taking some more photos before walking back towards the hotel. Since it was our last night, we continued on past the hotel to walk around the lake again.
Tomorrow morning, we fly home. I'll have one last post with my final thoughts on the trip.
Monastery https://photos.app.goo.gl/h5i7iXwgXQxyDGTB7
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