63 pilgrimages with nearly 40,000 pilgrims arrived at the national Polish sanctuary at Jasna Gora to celebrate the Assumption of Virgin Mary. During the period from May to mid-August this year, 133 walking groups, 185 cycling groups, 13 running groups, and 1 horse group arrived. These are only basic data of the Press Office of Jasna Gora that illustrate the pilgrim spirit of hundreds of thousands of Poles.
According to statistics 20 per cent of pilgrimage traffic in Europe is generated by Poles, which represents 5% in the entire world. On the pilgrimage route, there are people of all ages, clergymen, consecrated persons, and laity, both educated and simple people, those who give thanks and others seeking help.
This year’s pilgrimage took place in accordance with current sanitary regulations. On the pilgrimage route one could meet, among others, Msgr. Marek Solarczyk, Bishop of Radom, who led the 43rd Walking Pilgrimage of the Diocese of Radom. The bishop cared for the pilgrims’ spiritual condition, but by playing the horn, he also made sure that no one overslept on the threshold of a new day of the pilgrimage.
One of this year’s more unusual pilgrimage groups was the 22nd Horse Cavalry Pilgrimage from Zaręby Kościelne in Mazovia. For over 11 days, its participants rode 400 kilometers in the saddle and reached the peak of Jasna Gora in early July. “We rode through our towns and villages, with an unfurled banner bearing the image of Our Lady of Ostra Brama, the patroness of the regiment. It was one big prayer,” said the commanding officer, the senior lieutenant, Fr. Andrzej Dmochowski, pastor of the parish of Zaręby Kościelne, to the Jasna Góra Press Office.
This year the August pilgrimage to Jasna Góra is part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of World Youth Day in Czestochowa. It is a great act of thanksgiving for this special time. On this occasion the concert “Pilgrims sing JPII’s Favorite Songs” was organized at Jasna Góra. It was part of the Christian Music Festival on the 30th anniversary of WYD. The Pope’s words were recalled, and many memories were shared.
The pilgrims did not forget about the upcoming beatification of the Primate of the Millennium, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who will be proclaimed Blessed together with Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka on September 12.
During the celebrations at Jasna Gora on August 15th, the “Miracle at the Vistula” was commemorated – the event through which Poland stopped the Bolshevik armies and saved Europe from the flood of dangerous ideologies. Poles are convinced of Our Lady’s special help during those August days 100 years ago. At Jasna Góra, before the indulgenced Mass, a plaque commemorating the “Miracle at the Vistula” was blessed.
Large numbers of pilgrims attended the indulgenced Mass. “Will the world really be better when we become people without borders, without homelands, cultures, traditions, and above all without God?” asked Msgr. Waclaw Depo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Czestochowa, in his homily.
The oldest Polish pilgrimage whose trace is preserved in historical records is that of 1626, when a group of several dozen townsmen from Gliwice visited Czestochowa in September 1626. They came to give thanks after their city was saved from the Danes.
One of the oldest and biggest Polish pilgrimages to Jasna Góra is the Walking Pilgrimage from Warsaw, which has been going on the pilgrimage route since at least 1711, although it is possible that pilgrimages from Warsaw started even earlier. The pilgrimage from Kalisz is even older; pilgrims from there have been coming to Jasna Gora since 1637.
Family News Service
