American Czestochowa

I am not actually Catholic and probably not any Polish, so why did I want to visit a Polish Catholic shrine?  Well, many years ago, when my dad used to drive a charter bus, one of his routes was to shuttle groups to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is in Doylestown, PA.  For whatever reason, this is something that I distinctly remember hearing about when I was younger.  When we were in Poland I'd hoped to visit the monastery of Jasna Góra in original Częstochowa, not too far from Kraków; though I didn't make it there, I still hope to some day, and now I'll have something to compare it to.

According to tradition, the icon of the Black Madonna was made by St. Luke himself.  At some point the icon made its way to Poland, and has been there since the 14th century.  One of the most noticeable aspects of the icon is the damage to Mary's face; the slashes were likely inflicted by a Hussite during a raid of the monastery in 1430.  The Black Madonna also protected Jasna Góra during a Swedish invasion in 1655, and since then she has been known as the Queen and Protector of Poland.

It should come as no surprise that there's a big statue of the Pope (JPII, that is) out front, and of course there are lots and lots of statues and pictures of Mary.  Many of the signs are in both English and Polish.  One building houses the gift shop, where you can buy everything from pisanki to Polish snacks to house slippers, the deli, and meeting spaces, while the other holds the sacred spaces.  Between them is a small votive chapel and an outdoor grotto, featuring plaques naming donors to the shrine. 

The chapel on the ground floor of the church is modeled after the one at Jasna Góra, while upstairs there is a larger sanctuary.  In the narthex are memorials to Polish patriots and martyrs throughout history, from Casimir Pulaski, an ally during the Revolution lauded as the "father of the American cavalry," to Father Maximilian Kolbe, who took another prisoner's place to die in Auschwitz, to victims of the Katyn massacre. 

Inside the sanctuary is decorated with heavily-embroidered banners, soil from other Marian shrines set into the floor, and yet another rendition of the Black Madonna above the altar.  For me the standout feature was the two stained glass windows, both nearly the full height of the sanctuary.  The window on the wall to the left as you face the altar depicts important people and events in Polish history, while the wall on the right highlights American history, with special attention paid to Polish-Americans and Catholics.  It's fun trying to see what you can recognize; some of the people are named and some years are given, but others aren't.  If you can't make out all of the details, don't worry: the gift shop has a full-color bilingual booklet that identifies all of the people and events set in glass.

Kościuszko

I don't know that this is a must-see destination for all travelers; if you happen to be a Marian Catholic Polish-American, then of course you ought to go, and if belong to even one of those groups, or are a stained glass aficionado, it would be good to keep it on your radar.  Otherwise, unless you're in Doylestown for some other reason, it mightn't be necessary for you to make a special trip there.  I thoroughly enjoyed visiting, though, and I'm grateful to my dad for making the drive there once again.