County residents to attend special event
Fayette County residents will be among those attending a special commemoration at St. Paul’s Cathedral in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Wednesday of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, known as the Black Madonna and the Queen of Poland. The Polish Heritage Club is arranging for a bus to take people from Uniontown to the event, which includes a 7 p.m. Mass, celebrated by Bishop David Zubik of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. A reception will follow.
Kathy Duhon, club treasurer, is making arrangements for the bus that will leave Uniontown at 5 p.m. Aug. 26 from the lower-level parking lot of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, which is a Polish heritage church located on Walnut Hill Road. For the latest information on seats, call Duhon at 724-439-4406.
Duhon said the idea for the bus came from the club’s chaplain, the Rev. Joseph Sredzinski, a Uniontown native of Polish heritage who is chaplain at St. Emma Monastery in Greenburg.
“It’s a great honor for the Blessed Mother,” said Duhon, who noted the Catholic Church is honoring Mary this year.
“I’m looking forward to it. I pray the rosary every day. Even our pope has said we need to honor the Blessed Mother more than we do.”
Meanwhile, members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Everson, which is also a Polish heritage church, are traveling to the event on a bus leaving from Mount Pleasant, said Bernadette Lewandowski, president of the church’s St. Joseph Society.
“We have a deep devotion to her,” said Lewandowski of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
The Polish Falcons of America, which is headquartered in Greentree, Pa., and is one of the nation’s largest ethnic fraternal organizations, is sponsoring the event in cooperation with the Polish Clergy Association of Pittsburgh and neighboring dioceses of Greensburg and Altoona-Johnstown. Sredzinski is also national chaplain for the Polish Falcons.
According to a press release from the Polish Falcons, “Long regarded as the Patroness of Polish immigrants in the United States, the Black Madonna is a revered image that has borne witness to Poland’s triumphs as well as tragedies for nearly a millennium. Our Lady of Czestochowa was declared the ‘Queen of Poland’ by royal decree of King Jan Casimir in 1656 after the Polish nation overturned a brutal attack by invading Swedish forces. Seen as a key event in Poland’s history, tradition attributes the Polish victory to the holy portrait. Synonymous with Polish faith and patriotism, the dark-skinned image bears several slash marks on the cheek, evidence of repeated but unsuccessful attempts at theft and desecration by foreign invaders. Patroness of Poland, the Black Madonna is highly revered by Poles and Polish-Americans and was a special subject of devotion by the late pontiff John Paul II.”
For more information, contact the Polish Falcons of America at 1-800-535-2071 or e-mail info@polishfalcons.org or visit www.polishfalcons.org.