The Passion Sanctuary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Medals can be purchased from the vending machines at the bookshop, at the café and at the Vocations Centre!
The Sanctuary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, is today one of the most interesting landscape-architectural complexes in Poland and one of the most frequently visited Polish pilgrimage sites. Tens of thousands of pilgrims gather especially during the Glorious Mystery of the Lord in Holy Week and during the Mystery of the Burial and Triumph of Our Lady in August. The Calvary Sanctuary consists of a Baroque basilica, which houses the miraculous image of Our Lady of Calvary, a monastery and a complex of churches and chapels in Baroque and Mannerist style, integrated into the picturesque landscape of the Beskids and called the Calvary Roads. This sanctuary was built on the model of the Way of the Cross of Jesus in Jerusalem. It is, therefore, ‘a kind of copy of the Calvary of Jerusalem’ with chapels for meditating on the Passion of Christ and the mysteries of the life of the Mother of God.
The guardians and custodians of the sanctuary are, by the will of the first founder, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, the Friars Minor, popularly known in Poland as the Bernardines (Franciscans). The special foundation document, handing over Kalwaria to the Bernardines, was signed by Mikołaj Zebrzydowski at the Kraków castle on 1 December 1602. Thus, this is the official beginning of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. The first Bernardine friars arrived at Kalwaria in 1604, when the construction of the church and monastery began.
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a place of the Passion of Christ cult and the Marian cult. The devotion to the Passion is manifested in the devotion to the Lord Jesus and in the Passion celebration of Holy Week, while the Marian devotion is manifested in the devotion to Our Lady of the Cross, in the Procession of the Burial and Triumph of Our Lady in August and in the veneration of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Kalwaria, which has been located here since 1641. It should also be noted that the Marian devotion here is complementary to the devotion to the Lord Jesus and closely harmonises with it. The mysteries of Mary are intertwined with the mysteries of the Lord Jesus: ‘What constantly attracts new attention here is precisely this mystery of the union of the Mother with the Son and the Son with the Mother. This mystery is told vividly and generously by all the chapels and churches which are spread out around the central basilica’ (John Paul II at Calvary, 7 June 1979).
On 1 December 1999, the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Sanctuary (basilica, monastery and wayside walks) was entered on the UNESCO list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The reason for this was the scenic, cultural, artistic and cult values of Kalwaria: its excellent location between Żar mountain and Lanckorona, its unparalleled architectural richness and the mysterious tradition which has continued here for generations. In 2003, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska will celebrate the 550th anniversary of the presence of the Bernardines on Polish soil and the 25th anniversary of the pontificate of John Paul II, the great Kalwaria Pilgrim. 2 August 2003 marked the 400th anniversary of the solemn consecration of the first monastery and Church of Our Lady of the Angels. Our Lady of the Angels. The sanctuary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska deserves special attention and a visit.
