When I reflect about my experience of God, my first memories are the traditional Sunday Eucharist with my parents and brothers. Once the Mass was over, my father led us by the hand in front of the image of the Mother of God (in Poland we call Mary so, rather than «the Virgin»), the Black Madonna, Mother of God of Częstochowa, Queen of Poland, with her serious face and two wounds on her cheek. I remember that, as a child, I did not know why we were kneeling before this somber and majestic image, but it seems that this was not bothering Maria: she does always know why she looks at us pointing to her Son. I am Sr. Alicja Grzywocz, Tertiary Capuchin, Polish, and I have the pleasure to share with you some “brush strokes” about Mary’s experience as Queen of Poland.
Even though from Rome to Gniezno – the first Poland capital – there are a little more than 1500 km, the Christian faith took almost a thousand years to reach these Slavic lands. Our prince Mieszko I was baptized in the year 966 and the first church he ordered to build was dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. To this day, the Gniezno Cathedral – that below its walls hides the ruins of that first church – is called «mother of the churches of Poland». A very fruitful mother from whom her children have inherited a very special veneration for the Mother of God.
The first hymn of our country was a prayer sung to the Virgin Mary. With her and with the name of Mary on their lips, the Polish army began its battles that – among other reasons, due to its geographical location in the center of Europe – have been very numerous throughout our history. It was in the XVII century – lso in the context of a war – that the King of Poland crowned the Mother of God, naming her Queen of Poland. The curious thing is that almost 50 years before, the Virgin herself requested to be called so. The story tells that an Italian Jesuit praying in Naples, saw Mary dressed as a Queen and holding the Child Jesus in her arms. The Jesuit wanted to hail the Virgin with a title with which she had not yet been venerated by anyone. Our Lady took the initiative and told him: “Why don’t you call me Queen of Poland? I love this kingdom and I am going to do great things for it, because a peculiar love for me burns within its children». The Jesuits – after carefully examining this apparition and having received from the Church the confirmation of its authenticity – informed our king, who liked to welcome the before mentioned Jesuit, that walked to Poland, the Kingdom of the Virgin Mary. At the top of the tower of the Church of the Assumption, in the main square of Krakow (at that time, the capital of Poland), it was placed a crown as a sign of acceptance of this request of the Virgin.
The most desired moment of the coronation did not occur until after the invasion of Poland by Sweden and Russia (known as the «Swedish flood»). A key moment in this war was the miraculous defense of the Jasna Góra (Clear Mountain) monastery in Częstochowa, where the icon of the Black Madonna was worshiped. The chronicles tell that a very limited group of soldiers, after having spent the night in prayer before the icon of the Mother of God, defended Jasna Góra because She was fighting with them against a much stronger army. Other cities, after hearing the news, went back to the battle with a renewed spirit, well knowing that the Virgin was on their side. The victory in Jasna Góra and finally in the whole Poland, inspired King John Casimir to crown the Virgin as Queen of Poland and to pronounce her vows on behalf of his entire kingdom. The celebration took place in Lviv (now belonging to Ukraine, but then to Poland) in the year 1656.
This one was not the only time that Mary has been crowned Queen of Poland: this fact has been repeated more than 50 times, renewing, in different historical moments, the commitment that that entails. A few years after Poland had regained independence (1918) and once ended the II World War II, two very significant jubilees took place: in the year 1956 the 300th anniversary of the vows of John Casimir and of the coronation of the Virgin as Queen of Poland and, in the year 1966, the 1000 years of the baptism of Poland. Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (a close friend of John Paul II and whose beatification will be next June) proclaimed novenas in preparation for these jubilees. In 1956 the whole nation renewed its vows before the image of the Mother of God of Czestochowa and began the preparation for the Millennium Jubilee of Baptism: one of the realized initiatives was the pilgrimage of a copy of the image of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa through the parishes of Poland.
I have heard many people speaking about that pilgrimage and although I did not live it because of my age, I can perceive the importance of this event in Poland. The context was very unfavorable since the communist government was striving to make all the possible to stifle the faith in Poland. During 9 years they observed the pilgrimage of the icon of the Virgin that every 24 hours changed parish. People were decorating their houses and streets to welcome the Black Madonna, the crowd was praying day and night before the image … The communists saw that all their efforts to weaken the faith were in vain, since the pilgrimage of the Mother of God of Częstochowa was awaking a very special strength in everyone. Finally, they decided to arrest the Virgin … In the 1966, a few days before the celebration of the millennium of the baptism of Poland, under the pretext of controlling the vehicle where the icon was transported, they seized it and took the image to the Warsaw Cathedral, preventing its passage through the parishes that were still waiting to receive their Queen. After the jubilee they put the image at the window of the sacristy, secured with bars, and forbade to continue the pilgrimage; although that, people tried again to continue the pilgrimage but, once again, the communists took the image and brought it to Częstochowa, where it remained during 8 years strongly protected behind bars and under military surveillance.
Surprisingly, during these 8 years the pilgrimage took an even greater strength: what was carried from one parish to another was … an empty frame. People continued to decorate the houses and streets of their villages, the churches were full of people and everyone was praying before the empty frame of the image of their “imprisoned” and safeguarded Queen. The message is very clear: faith makes us free and there is no way to imprison it; the Polish people gathered before the empty frame of the icon of the Black Madonna, pointed out whom they wanted to serve and to whom their heart was belonging.
The Czestochowa monastery is still one of the most important places in Poland. Every year something like 250,000 people leave their towns and cities and walk to the Black Madonna. The oldest pilgrimage will soon turn 400 years of tradition. For some of them, it is more than 600 km on foot. For those who live «on the way» to Czestochowa it is a pilgrimage of hospitality: during the months of July and August they keep the doors of their houses open to host free pilgrims who come to present their intentions and to ask the blessing of the Queen and others, in front of their houses, set tables with water, sweets, bread … to comfort the pilgrims.
Why is it so popular the Virgin of Częstochowa and not any other else image among many other miraculous representations of Mary that are in Poland? Perhaps, the people so many times wounded by wars and other evils, see in the sad face and scared face of the Black Madonna, a Queen able to of understand and share their suffering … Perhaps, looking at this icon, they remember the victorious battle despite the magnitude of the enemy and regain hope in their daily fights Or perhaps, the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus in her arms, inspires them a most simple and trusting prayer: “Madonna, Black Madonna, how it is good to be your son; let me, Black Madonna, hide in your arms ”, as one of the songs says.
Every day at 9:00 p.m. before the icon of the Queen of Poland in Częstochowa, but also in thousands of families who spiritually join with Jasna Góra from their homes, people pray «Apel Jasnogórski» – «Appeal of the Clear Mountain ”. It is a prayer to present to the Queen what they have lived during the day and to beg her blessing upon the night and the following day; it usually ends with a sung prayer: «Mary, Queen of Poland, I am with you, I remember, I watch over». The last time in which I was able to experience that in Czestochowa, after a walk of 100 km from my birth parish to Jasna Góra I understood that, may be, more than saying we: «I am with you, I remember, I watch over», as polish people, it is our Queen who tells us that. Her presence in Poland is “breathed” at every step and at no time She has forgotten this people that she herself chose to be her Queen and, like every Mother, day and night, she keeps watch and cares for her sons and daughters.
Wherever you are, sooner or later, you will surely come across the image of the Black Madonna, Queen of Poland, since her people have always carried her with them… Pray to her also like us: “Madonna, Black Madonna, how good it is to be your son Let me, Black Madonna, hide myself in your arms”. And I hope you hear in your heart her response: «I am with you, I remember, I watch over….»
ALICJA GRZYWOCZ, TC