Commemoration planned for Our Lady of Czestochowa
The western Pennsylvania Polish community will gather in Pittsburgh on Friday, Aug. 26, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oakland for a special commemoration of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, known as the Black Madonna and the Queen of Poland.
Bishop David Zubik of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will celebrate with a 7 p.m. Mass, followed by a community reception.
A bus sponsored by the Polish Heritage Club of Uniontown will depart from the lower parking lot of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, located off Old Walnut Hill Road, at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26. Reservations are required and can be arranged by phoning Cathy Duhon at 724-439-4406.
Last year, more than 1,300 lay people gathered for this event. Busloads of pilgrims came from Aliquippa, McKeesport, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, Polish Hill, Altoona and Uniontown. Five parish choirs were joined by instrumentalists of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
The Polish Falcons of America, one of the nation’s largest ethnic fraternal organizations, is sponsoring the event in cooperation with the Polish Clergy Association of Pittsburgh and neighboring Roman Catholic dioceses of Greensburg and Altoona-Johnstown.
The Rev. Canon Joseph L. Sredzinki, a Uniontown native and national chaplain to the Polish Falcons, has helped conduct planning meetings.
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 Pope John Paul II.