Abstract

The cult of Our Lady in the Czerwińsk church of the Canons Regular dates back to the church’s beginnings. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is confirmed in the bull of Pope Hadrian IV from 1155. The patroness of the church and the abbey has always been especially venerated there, as witnessed in the monastery’s liturgy and customs. In 1612, Łukasz of Łowicz was commissioned by the Czerwińsk Canons Regular to do a painting of Our Lady (figs.1, 2) modelled on Our Lady of the Snows (S. Maria Maior, Salus Populi Romani, fig. 1) from the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Around 1630, the painting was placed on the new high altar. Venerated by the faithful, it came to be known as miraculous. Miracles had been testified to since 1647, and were officially recognized in 1648. The cult of the painting of Our Lady of Czerwińsk in Her sanctuary, called the Jasna Góra of Czerwińsk has continued uninterrupted to this day. On September 6, 1970, the painting was crowned with papal crowns by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland. In the Czerwińsk sanctuary over 100 silver votive plates offered by pilgrims have been preserved (figs. 3 -10), the oldest of them dating from the 1640s