We’ve visited Częstochowa in a prior Faith on the Road post, today we will see different views the show this stunning shrine to our Lady, the Black Madonna. But, journeying back the Częstochowa this week makes sense with our reflections on ‘the Castle’.
Jasna Gora is home to the sacred icon of ‘Our Lady of Częstochowa’, the Monastery of Jasna Góra is the third-largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world and the center of Polish Catholicism.
In 1382, the Paulist monastery of Jasna Góra was founded by Vladislaus II OF Opole – the Polish prince of upper Silesia. Two years later the monastery received its famous Black Madonna icon of the Virgin Mary and in subsequent years became a centre of pilgrimage. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see this Shrine to the Virgin Mary.
Offering scenic views over the monastery complex, the 106-meter bell tower is the tallest historic church tower in Poland.
Every fortress requires a guard and one that is home to our Lady deserves a great honor guard. St. Michael stands guard just within the gates of the monastery.
The grounds of Jasna Góra are truly worthy of a Queen. Our Lady of Częstochowa resides within the monastery resting on top of the hill overlooking Częstochowa.
The icon is credited with miraculously saving the Jasna Góra monastery during the Siege of Jasna Góra that took place at the time of The Deluge, a 17th-century Swedish invasion. The event stimulated the Polish resistance. The Poles could not immediately change the course of the war, but, they repulsed the Swedes. This heroic defense of Jasna Gora in 1655 during the Swedish invasion became a very important vent in the history of Poland. In the spirit of thanksgiving for saving the painting, then, the monastery and the entire country. King John Casimir made his vows in 1656 in Lvov, in which he appointed the Mother of Jasna Gora the Queen of the Polish Crown. From that day Jasna Gora became a throne of victorious Queen and a place where everyone could confide to Her all their individual, family and national issues.
See below some of the beautiful shots of Jasna Góra, Częstochowa that my wife and I took during our pilgrimage in September 2019.
The grounds are surrounded above by beautiful statues depicting the Stations of the cross and below by statues showing the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
