Early departure from our overnight stay in Warsaw to make our way towards Krakow. First stop, Niepokalanow and the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mother the Immaculate located in the middle of a monastery complex where St. Maximilian Kolbe resided. Raymond Kolbe was a very interesting person who entered the novitiate of the Conventual Franciscans in 1910 at the age of 16, studied in Rome and was given the religious name Maximilian. He was ordained a priest in April 1918. He had a particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and returned to Poland in 1919 where he actively promoted the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He built the monastery in Niepokalanow in 1927. The monastery grew at such a rapid pace, they constantly needed more space and continued to build a complex that encompassed 70 acres. Before World War II broke out, it was the largest monastery in the world, housing as many as 762 religious, seven times more than all the priests and brothers in the whole country of Poland. He began printing a monthly publication called the "Knight of the Immaculate". The monastery produced an average press run of 750,000 copies a month...keep in mind they were using printing press machines that we not automated in the 1930's. When WWII broke out, Kolbe sheltered refugees, including 2000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary at Niepokalanow. Seeing Kolbe as a threat to Communism, the German Gestapo arrested Kolbe on February 17, 1941. He was then transferred to Auschwitz on May 28th, prisoner 16670. In July 1941, three fortunate souls from Kolbe's block were able to escape, however, the rest of the block were punished by the Camp Commander. He select ten men to be placed in the starvation cell as a deterrent for future escape attempts. One of the men selected was a young husband and father, Franciszek Gajowniczek. As they pulled him out of the line-up, he cried out, "My wife! My Children!" Kolbe walked right up to the the commander who was dumb founded at the boldness of such a move and volunteered to take the young man's place. Kolbe and the other condemned men were take to the cell and were starved. One by one, the men died, however, the remaining men continued to pray out loud and sing....Kolbe leading the way, encouraging and entrusting them to their Mother in heaven. The guards were so disturbed by this, they refused to go down to pull the dead bodies out each day and sent other prisoners of the concentration camp to do their work. After two weeks of starvation, Kolbe was the only prisoner still alive. It has been reported that he emanated light and gazed at the Nazi soldiers when they checked on him. Again, disturbed they shouted, "Stop looking at me". The soldiers eventually gave him a lethal injection to end his life, and his remains were cremated on August 15th, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary. Kolbe was cannonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982, with Franciszek Gajowniczek (the person he saved) in attendance with his family. He is a fascinating saint, with even more history about building a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan. His monastery remained standing after the atomic bomb was dropped and obliterated the city.
Jasna Gora, Our Lady of Czestochowa:
After our visit to Kolbe's monastery, we drove to Jasna Gora, home of the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. This Monastery is home to the image of Our Lady of Jansa Gora, also known as the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Many locals refer to it as the "Black Madonna" because the image has darkened over time due to the type of varnish used and votive candles used to light the image over the centuries. The image, according to tradition, was painted by St. Luke using wood from a table top built by the carpenter, Jesus. It was while Luke was painting Mary that she told him about the life o Jesus. St. Helen brought the portrait of Our Lady back from Jerusalem in 326. The painting was eventually owned by Charlemagne, who presented the painting to Prince Leo of Ruthenia (northwest Hungary).
In 1382 invading Tartars attacked the Prince's fortress a Belz. In this attack one of the Tartar arrows struck the throat of the Madonna. In order to protect the icon, the Prince fled to the town of Czestochowa. The Prince then built a monastery and church to ensure the safety of the icon. I can tell you the complex is much like a fortress. In 1430, the Hussites overran the monastery. One of the looters twice struck the painting with his sword, but before he could strike another blow he fell to the floor writhing in agony and died. The painting was restored, however, later the sword cuts were added back as a reminder of what happened to the icon.
There are many historical details to add about the spiritual nature of this icon and it's role in history. I will leave it to the reader to investigate further. I would like to elaborate on our experience visiting this fascinating holy site. The icon is displayed in the Basilica over the altar. Like the "Queen Mother" the icon is veiled and unveiled daily for "audiences". We attended the evening "veiling" ceremony among at least 2000 other pilgrims. Masses happen at least hourly in the Basilica during the day with a constant stream of thousands of pilgrims EVERY day. This is one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, about 4.5 million visitors a year. They have a special area where they can hold a Mass for over 100,000 people. It was absolutely mind-boggling to attend a rosary before the unveiling where thousands of people were so quiet during portions of the rosary that you could literally hear a pin drop. We stayed a a very humble "pilgrim house" during this leg of our journey with modest accommodations and meals that remind our hosts of the rations received during the reign of communism. I have never seen such devout people as the Polish people. It was a privilege to witness their faith, knowing their history and how easy it would be to lose hope.
Our host, Fr. Raymond, one of the monks who lives at the complex gave us a wonderful tour.
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