Writers of the Time of National Partition on the Jasna Góra Pilgrimage Route

PEREGRINUS CRACOVIENSIS Zeszyt 3, 1996 ISBN 83−904441−5−1 / ISSN 1425−1922 Franciszek Ziejka Writers of the time of national Partition on the Jasna Góra pilgrimage route 1. At the feet of Saint Mary n January 4, 1842 Adam Mickiewicz, lecturing at the College de France described Jasna Góra as: “a famous place, known to all Slavs as the O destination of their pilgrimages, similar to Casa Santa of Loretto.”1 . Facts confirm the accuracy of these words. For more than six centuries now, one has observed a continuous flow of pilgrims on all roads leading to Częstochowa. The faithful from all over Poland as well as many other countries hurry there. Among them one can see the sick and the poor, children and students, miners and scholars, farmers and politicians. For centuries Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Croatians, Lithuanians and Russians have hastened there to meet at the foot of Saint Mary’s throne. The pilgrimages of Polish kings to Jasna Góra was one of the most beautiful Polish traditions dating back to the very first years of the Icon of the Mother of God’s presence in Częstochowa (it was probably brought here in 1382). Although we lack any written records directly confirming the visits of King Władysław Jagiełło (Ladislaus Jagiello) to Jasna Góra, historians believe that he made several pilgrimages to Częstochowa2 . It is worth mentioning that Jagiełło was not only the re−founder of the monastery at Jasna Góra (1393), but also a ruler who, in the year 1430, after learning of the raid on Jasna Góra and the destruction of the Holy Icon was ready to declare war on the Czechs, as Hussites were initially suspected of the attack. When the actual perpetrators had been identified the King punished them severely and rescued the picture by entrusting his best painters with the task of reconstructing it. He supplied them lavishly with large amounts of gold, silver, and precious stones necessary to decorate the picture. King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk (Casimir Jagiellonian) followed his father footsteps and visited Jasna Góra three times. He created a new, beautiful tradition of royal pilgrimages to Częstochowa immediately after his coronation. He was also the first Polish monarch admitted, together with his whole family, to the brotherhood of the Pauline order. Kazimierz’s sons − Jan Olbracht, Aleksander, and Zygmunt Stary (Sigismund the Old) also made pilgrimages to Jasna Góra. Zygmunt Stary was there three times during his reign, and with each visit he endowed the treasury with wonderful votive offerings of his 97 Peregrinus Cracoviensis 7 Franciszek Ziejka own manufacture. King Zygmunt III Waza (Sigismund III Vasa) also made pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Jasna Góra several times. His successor to the throne, Władysław IV Waza (Ladislaus IV Vasa), who visited the sanctuary from his youth on, had a special devotion to the Mother of God of Częstochowa. Due to his efforts, a fortress surrounding the monastery was erected. Jan Kazimierz (John Casimir) also visited Jasna Góra and even participated in the reconstruction of defence walls after the Swedish invasion3 . Michał Korybut Wisniowiecki’s name is also mentioned in Jasna Góra chronicles. In 1669, following his coronation in Cracow, he made a pilgrimage there on foot from the town of Częstochowa and in the following year, before the holy altar, married the Austrian Princess Eleonora Maria, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III (the wedding feast was held in the refectory). Jan III Sobieski visited Jasna Góra three times4 . Two kings of the Sasa Dynasty also went on pilgrimages to Jasna Góra: August II once and August III twice. The long tradition of royal pilgrimages was eventually broken by Stanisław August Poniatowski who not only never visited Jasna Góra but robbed its treasury of valuables worth about two hundred thousand zloties, an incredible sum of money at that time 5 . When Poland lost her independence and her monarchs, spiritual power over the nation went to the hands of the masters of words, melody and paint brush, namely artists. For over one hundred and twenty years of a lack of political sover− eignty they showed the nation the paths leading to liberation. They did not use any weapons and had no gun arsenals. And yet they governed the souls and became the successors of kings on the pilgrimage route leading to Saint Mary of Częstochowa. It was fated that two greatest poets of the times of national partition, Mickie− wicz and Słowacki never went to Jasna Góra. Despite this, they spread the fame of the Black Madonna far and wide from Częstochowa. For more than a century and a half, generations of Poles repeated the words of the dedication of Pan Tadeusz, a very moving request directed to “the Holy Maiden, defending Częstochowa!” For an equally long period Poles prayed with the words of Juliusz Słowacki’s Hymn, beginning with the words: “Mother of God! Holy Virgin! Listen to us, Mother of God. This is our fathers’song. In freedom daybreak glows, The bell of liberty strikes, The tree of liberty grows. Oh Mother of God! Bring a song of a free people Before the throne of God6 .” This poem was written by Słowacki on the first days of the November National Uprising. It quickly became the common property of all Poles. Those held in prison camps and then exiles in distant France used to sing it. The latter also read the entrancing verses of Beniowski written a few years after the failure of the Uprising. 98 Writers of the time of national Partition on the Jasna Góra pilgrimage route Among the verses we find the complaint of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa on the cruel fate of the Polish nation: “My kingdom”, says the Black Mother, “is destroyed by sword and fire, Little birds, when looking for seeds, Find fields sowed with bullets. Being a thrifty mother, I collect what others sow and Over the generation of the dead I send my angels To fill the barns with martyrs.7” Many of the “spiritual monarchs” made pilgrimages to Jasna Góra during the time of national partition; among others: Zygmunt Krasiński (1849), Stanisław Mo− niuszko (1864), Jan Matejko (1877), Jan Chełmoński (1903), Eliza Orzeszkowa (1881), and Henryk Sienkiewicz (1903). Józef Korzeniowski (1850) and Władysław Syrokomla (1856) prayed before the Holy Picture of Madonna. Cyprian Kamil Nor− wid went on pilgrimages to Jasna Góra twice, in 1842 and 1843. Even when he finally settled in Paris, he never forgot that he was “a child of Częstochowa”. In 1851 he wrote the legend of The Wonderful Mother of God, written in a primitive folk style. Where the Wandering People Cry tells of priests praying before her, “whose hair goes grey while they are praying”, and of noble knights sleeping under Jasna Góra, awaiting the future battles of Poland8 . In the large group of artists going on pilgrimages to Częstochowa during the time of Partition one can differentiate at least two groups. The first one was formed by travellers, the other by pilgrims. 2. With the travellers The disappearance of Poland from the map of Europe at the end of the 18th century did not stop the work of her best sons for the restoration of Poland. One of the forms of this work was becoming acquainted with the “country’s essence”. Al− though Poland was no longer a free country, many traces of Old Poland remained. Therefore one should do his best to get to know his country and discover its past preserved in ruined castles, churches and graves. It was believed that this knowledge would be helpful in the revival of Poland and, in the long term, her restoration. In 1816, from the pages of his Description of Ancient Poland Tomasz Święcicki tried to convince Poles that: “ in Poland one cannot find a single piece of land which is not filled with the memory of everything our ancestors did and would not remind of the former power and wealth”9 . As a result, large crowds of enthusiasts seeking traces of the country’s history went on a great national pilgrimage. Poets, historians and people loosely connected with the arts or science started to discover the beauty of their motherland and her history, and to collect national relics. First of 99 Franciszek Ziejka all Cracow, the old capital of Poland became the primary destination of these nation− al wanderings. Many travellers went to Puławy where the Czartoryskis had just founded the first national museum on Polish soil (The Temple of Sibyl − 1801, The Gothic Cottage − 1809). Quite a number of travellers went to the immense regions of Lithua− nia and the Ukraine to look for traces of their national past there. Jasna Góra was another important place on the trail of national pilgrimages. One of the first national pilgrims at Jasna Góra was Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, whose name is well engraved on the history of Polish literature and culture. Aformer deputy to the Four−Year Seym, he was the author of The Return of a Deputy and Kosciuszko’s secretary during the Insurrection of 1794. After many years spent in the United States (where he made friends with Thomas Jefferson), he returned to Poland in 1807 and became active in cultural and academic life. Starting in 1811 he began a series of historical expeditions around the country (which lasted seventeen years) during which he reached Częstochowa (1821). In his diary, published in 1858 containing a detailed report of these journeys, we find much valuable information concerning the sanctu− ary at Jasna Góra. The author presents us with a shortened history of the Pauline monastery, writes about the treasury there, describes crowds of pilgrims and, first and foremost, stresses the enormous importance of Jasna Góra on the lives of Poles and the neighbouring nations.

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