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This year, due to the Easter season, the Catholic Church in Poland is celebrating the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland on May 2.
The Polish nation has for centuries honored Mary as its Mother and Queen in a unique way. Already Bolesław the Brave in Sandomierz erected the church of Mother of God. Władysław Herman erected a magnificent temple in Krakow on Piasek in her honor, thus thanking for the miraculous healing by the Mother of God. King Sigismund I the Old at the Krakow cathedral erected a chapel called Zygmuntowska and consecrated it to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bolesław the Shy introduced the custom of celebrating Rorats in Advent. The troops of Jan III Sobieski near Vienna took the name of Mary as a call to battle. Mary was the patron of the Polish knighthood. Stefan Czarnecki recited the Hail Mary before each battle. In the Church of Our Lady of Loreto in Krakow, Tadeusz Kościuszko sacrificed his saber. During the examination of the grave, many years later, a ring with the inscription Mancipium Mariae (Mary’s slave) was found on the finger of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski. Years later, Karol Wojtyła, when he was nominated bishop, accepts as his call: Totus tuus, Mary . He makes the coat of arms with the cross and the letter “M”. These signs also accompany him as pope. The first Polish anthem was – Mother of God.
However, it was not Poles who came up with the idea to proclaim the Blessed Virgin Mary the Queen of Poland.
Mary herself asked to be called that. She appeared in Italy on the eve of the Assumption on August 14, 1608, Giulio Mancinelli, a Jesuit, who was distinguished by an extraordinary sanctity of life, great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, care for the souls suffering in purgatory and devotion to our saints – Stanisław Kostka and the bishop Stanislaus. In his prayers, he asked the Immaculate to reveal to him what other title she would like to have in the Litany of Loreto.
It was then that Father Giulio, immersed in prayer, saw the Mother of God, at whose feet a novice fellow – St. Stanisław Kostka. The Jesuit remembered that this was the fortieth anniversary of his death. At the sight of this, Father Mancinelli exclaimed, “Queen of the Assumption, pray for us.” Our Lady replied: “Why don’t you call me the Queen of Poland? I love this kingdom very much and I intend great things for it, because his sons are burning with a special love for Me.” Then Father Giulio said: “Assumption of the Queen of Poland, pray for Poland!”. With her gaze, Mary indicated Stanisław Kostka who was kneeling in front of her and said to Father Mancinelli: “You owe this grace to him, my Giulio”. The monk’s heart was filled with extraordinary joy and from that moment he prayed: “Queen of Poland, pray for us” and repeatedly repeated: “The Mother of God intends great things for Poles”.
O. Mancinelli told the superiors of the order and the Polish Jesuits about his vision. Subsequently, the church authorities established a commission to investigate this revelation, which after a year issued a judgment about its truthfulness. It was then that Fr. Giulio, despite his 72 years of age, began a pilgrimage on foot to the country Mary spoke of. On May 8, 1610, he came to Krakow, greeted by King Sigismund III Vasa, bishops and representatives of all estates.
When a friar celebrated the Eucharist at the tomb of St. Stanisław Biskupa in Kraków, he had another visit. Mary stood before him in great majesty and repeated: “I am the Queen of Poland. I am the Mother of this nation, which is very dear to Me, therefore, intercede for Me for the welfare of this land, and I will always be with you, as now, merciful. Mary also asked for a visible symbol of her kingship to be established in Krakow. In 1628, the inhabitants of Krakow granted this request, decorating the tower of St. Mary’s Basilica with a royal crown. From Krakow, Fr. Giulio Mancinelli went to Lviv, and then returned to Naples, where he died on August 14, 1618. A year earlier, the Mother of God appeared to him again, announcing that she would take him home.
King Jan Kazimierz On April 1, 1656 in the cathedral in Lviv in front of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Graces, he solemnly recognized the Mother of God as the Queen of Poland, and the Kingdom of Poland ordered her to protect her in a special way. This happened after the victorious defense of Jasna Góra during the Swedish Deluge, which was attributed to the intercession of Mary. Soon after this event, a painting of the Mother of God with a Polish eagle on its breast was hung in the church in Rokitno in Greater Poland, and Polish painters copied this painting en masse. The most famous copy of such a painting hangs in Licheń. The Paulines from Jasna Góra also said that Mary was “the Queen of Poland, the Patroness of a brave nation, our Patroness, the Queen of Jasna Góra, the Queen of Heaven, our hereditary Lady” and pointed out that the best type of image of the Queen of Poland was the image of the Lady of Jasna Góra. The painting was crowned with papal crowns on September 8, 1717, which strengthened the belief that Mary was kingship in the Polish nation.
In 1908, when Pope Pius X allowed it, the call “Queen of Poland” was permanently entered in the Litany of Loreto. In the same year, he also established the Queen of Poland feast for the Lviv diocese. The Polish Episcopate asked the Holy Father Benedict XV to introduce the feast of the Queen of Poland into the liturgical calendar on May 3 for the whole of Poland. In this way, they wanted to emphasize the inseparable connection of this holiday with the four-year parliament, and especially with the first Polish constitution, passed on May 3, 1791. The Pope in 1920 willingly acceded to the bishops’ request. On August 15, 1946, all Polish dioceses consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Not a whole month later, on behalf of the entire Polish Nation, surrounded by about a million pilgrims gathered at the throne of Jasna Góra Lady, the wedding certificate was solemnly read out by Cardinal August Hlond. Pope John XXIII in 1962 proclaimed Mary the Queen of Poland and the main patron of the country and the heavenly protector of our nation. On May 3, 1966, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, in the presence of the Polish Episcopate and thousands of believers, handed over to Mary the beginning of the new millennium of Christian Poland, thus pleading for the freedom of the Church and Poland.
After the liturgical reform in 1969, the feast became a celebration. By praying and celebrating, Poles express and emphasize the faith of the nation in the special protection of God that they have experienced and are experiencing through Mary.
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