Tag: poland

help and protection

Published on by Dawn MarieLeave a comment

The feast day of Our Lady of Częstochowa is celebrated today, August 26th. The miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is one of the oldest icons of the Blessed Virgin in the world. The image portrays the Virgin Mary’s sadness and suffering.

Prior to 1382, the history of the miraculous icon is shrouded in legend and tradition: St. Luke the Evangelist painted the icon on a cypress tabletop from the House of the Holy Family at Nazareth. In 326 AD, St. Helena found the icon in Jerusalem and brought it to Constantinopole where it remained for centuries venerated by the emperor’s family. The Holy Picture reached Southern Poland as part of a dowry in a marriage between the royal families. In 1382, Ladislaus, Prince of Opole, brought the picture to Częstochowa during a war. A devastating attack by Hussite raiders in 1430 resulted in damages to the Holy Picture. Despite the attempt to repair the damage, the slashes on the face of the Virgin Mary are still visible.

I have visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pa twice and a year ago we were blessed to visit and venerate Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland.

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two crowns

Published on by Dawn Marie1 Comment

To win the entire world for the Immaculata and, through her, for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe was born Raymund Kolbe in Poland on January 8th, 1894. Poland at this time was part of the Russian Empire. His father was a weaver and mother was a midwife. At age 12, Kolbe was given a vision of Our Lady. He wrote this: That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.

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perfection

Published on by Dawn Marie2 Comments

“My beloved ones, you yourselves will experience in your lives, even on this earth, that all of the perfection of holiness, all the fervor of action, all the usefulness of the missionary ministry consists not in great wisdom, nor in great intelligence, not in great skills or even in the amount of prayer and penitence, but solely in the perfection of holy Obedience. (KW 380)

St. Maximilian Kolbe

In September of 2024 we traveled to Poland on Pilgrimage. One year later many experiences during our time there have remained in my heart still today.

Our time spent in Auschwitz was a particularly poignant one.

I believe I experienced many of the same feelings most do while walking through the concentration camp. Extreme sorrow, grief, outrage, disbelief. However, one feeling that unexpectedly overwhelmed me was courage.

Unimaginable courage.

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