Jasna Góra will be the site of the so-called Second Pilgrimage Peak this weekend before the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa on Monday. Pilgrims from various parts of Poland and abroad will attend the ceremony to participate in the main Sumum of Indulgence and renew the Vows of the Nation of Jasna Góra.
Pilgrims from various parts of Poland will gather in Jasna Góra this weekend. The pedestrians will come mainly from the archdioceses of Łódź, Katowice and Częstochowa. There will also be pilgrims from further afield, such as Tarnów, Warsaw, and the Pauline parish of Trnava in Slovakia. Cyclists will also come, including: from the Drohiczyńska diocese, or rollerblading pilgrims from Bemowo, Warsaw.
On Friday, the eve of the ceremony, Vespers will be celebrated in the Archcathedral Basilica at 5:15 pm, and after them the faithful will follow in a diocesan Marian procession to Jasna Góra, where on the 19th they will join other pilgrims at Holy Mass.
Principal Sum of Indulgence
The following day, during the Feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa, the main Summa of Indulgence will be celebrated at the summit at 11 a.m. under the leadership of the Primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak. Traditionally, during this Holy Mass there will be a renewal of the Vows of the Nation of Jasna Góra, the author of which is blessed. primate Stefan Wyszyński. On this day, the prayer at the summit will begin at 10 a.m., and at 7 p.m. An additional Holy Mass will be celebrated with the participation of the faithful of Częstochowa, of which Our Lady of Jasna Góra is the patroness.
This is the only Marian holiday in Jasna Góra, before which there is a novena, that is, nine days of spiritual preparation. Every day until August 25, at 6:30 p.m., masses are celebrated in front of the Jasna Góra peak with special considerations, in which especially the faithful of the parishes of Częstochowa participate. The sermons of the Novena are preached by Fr. Marek Studenski. The vicar general of the diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec invites everyone to the “School of Jasna Góra Mother and Queen” and encourages them to pray especially for the intentions of the Church in Poland at this time, asking that it not turn away from God, that the lives of the unborn be protected and that religious lessons not disappear from schools.
Two pilgrimage peaks occur in Jasna Góra every year: on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on August 26, the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Częstochowa. The second holiday was approved in 1904 by Pope Pius X, initially only for Jasna Góra and the then diocese of Włocławek. An important role in this process was played by Blessed Honorat Koźmiński, who after the failure of the January Uprising tried to unite the nation around the Queen of Poland, Mary. In 1931, the Pope extended the celebration of the holiday to the whole of Poland, setting the date for August 26 and approving the new text of the Holy Mass and the breviary.
