Chapel and monastery

In 1382 Prince Władysław of Opole brought the Order of the Pauline Fathers from Hungary and founded a monastery. The Jasna Góra image of the Mother of God was famous for its miracles and attracted throngs of pilgrims from the entire country and Europe. First records about miraculous events hark back to 1402.

The three-nave Baroque part of the Chapel of the Miraculous Image, annexed to the Gothic part of the church in the 17th c., with Baroque stuccoes on its vaulting and Baroque altars, is regarded as one of the most exquisite works of Polish construction of the Counter-Reformation period. A third part of the Chapel is an old Renaissance cloister connected with the Chapel in 1928. Its pillars and walls are laid with breastplates and votive plaques, mainly of Polish soldiers from all the fronts of the world and martyrs who laid down their lives for a free Poland in the period of communism. The upper part of the Chapel hosts a copy of Jan Matejko’s painting "Vows of King Jan Kazimierz.Ł

Jasna Góra made a name for itself especially in 1655, when a handful of knights and monks led by the monastery’s prior Fr. Augustyn Kordecki withstood the siege of Swedish troops. The worship of Our Lady Częstochowa developed dynamically in the 18th c. following the loss of Poland’s sovereignty and in the time of national uprisings; this in effect triggered a wave of reprisals on the part of the occupants, such as the confiscation of many Pauline monasteries. Attempts at curbing Marian worship brought about totally opposite effects: more and more copies of the Image of the Black Madonna were made and more and more churches devoted to her were built. In 1904 Pope Pius X proclaimed a feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa.

During the Nazi occupation, pilgrimages to Jasna Góra – even if officially banned – did not cease. Pilgrimage movement intensified after World War II. In September 1946, in the presence of 1.5 million faithful, the then Primate of Poland Cardinal August Hlond entrusted Poland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On the 301st anniversary of the vows taken by King Jan Kazimierz, 26 August 1956, the Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński took the Jasna Góra vows of the Polish Nation. In the period of the Great Novena preceding the observances of the millennium of Poland’s baptism, a copy of the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa visited all the parishes of the country. On 3 May 1966 the Polish Episcopate took the "Act of Entrusting Poland to the Motherly Slavery of Mary, Mother of Christ’s Church.Ł

Karol Wojtyła as a cardinal and then also as John Paul II visited the Jasna Góra Shrine on numerous occasions. As a Pope he was six times in the Shrine. During the first pilgrimage to the Fatherland (1979) he brought a gold rose, offered to Jasna Góra still by Pope Paul VI, who was prevented from coming to Poland in 1996 by the communist regime.

During his second pilgrimage to Poland in 1983 John Paul II celebrated a jubilee Holy Mass and expressed thanks for the 600 years of presence of Mary in Her Jasna Góra image. He then left in the Shrine a votive offering for the preservation of his life during the attempted assassination in St. Peter’s Square on 13 May 1981; it was the belt of his white cassock. The Pope visited the Shrine also in 1987 and 1991. He invited to Jasna Góra young people of the world, and so the 6th World Youth Day presided over by John Paul II was held there in August 1991. The Pontiff visited Jasna Góra for the last time in 1997.

In 2004 John Paul II expressed a wish that the papal belt with streaks of blood be shown to the public; it is placed on the left-hand side of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady.

awo, KAI //mam