Image of the Blessed Mother of Rokitno
The miraculous image of Our Lady of Rokitno (Polish: Cudowny Obraz Matki Bożej Rokitniańskiej ) is an icon of Mary from the Count's House of Opaliński in Greater Poland . It is also known under the names of Our Lady of the White Eagle, Our Lady of the Patient Listening and Our Lady of Polish Chivalry .
description
The picture was created on linden wood by Dutch masters in the early 16th century . Mary is depicted on a gold background, who, characteristic of this work, looks down with her ear bare. For this reason Mary is also called the "patient listener".
Her head is surrounded by a filigree carved aureole and her face is tilted slightly to the left. The main hair is covered by a white muslin veil and another blue-yellow veil, the chest is dark red. The picture is heavily decorated, but not very large, the dimensions are: 40 cm high × 27 cm wide.
The picture is one of the most important religious portraits in Poland.
history
In 1624 Katharina, a daughter of the princely family Leszczyńskich, entered the house of the magnate family Opalinski by marriage and brought the picture of the Mother of God Mary with her. Her son Count Kazimir Jan Opalinski, a Cistercian abbot in Bledzewo , inherited the painting after her death.
Tradition has it that Count Opalinski had an apparition in a dream who ordered him to promote Marian devotion . That is why he brought the icon to the monastery chapel.
In 1669 Count Opalinski transferred the picture to the main church of the pilgrimage site of Rokitno . The cult of Mary grew more and more and word got around in Poland about the supposed miracle work of the miraculous image , through which Opalinski is said to have recovered from a serious illness. Therefore the Bishop of Posen decided to convene a theological commission to examine the miraculous work of the image. In 1670 the theological commission determined the miraculous activity and since then the image has been considered miraculous according to canon law. The call of Our Lady of Miracles also reached Warsaw , to the court of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki , where the picture was taken at the request of the king.
A short time later, the king took the picture with him to Lublin when he and the Polish knighthood wanted to put down an uprising of the Polish nobility ( Szlachta ). From this point on, the miraculous Holy Mother of God Mary is also called the Front Madonna or Mother of God of Chivalry. King Korybut Wiśniowiecki added a white eagle to the picture in memory of the miraculous Mother of God Maria with the inscription: “Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris” ( Latin : “Give peace, Lord, in our days”). The white eagle with a royal crown is a symbol of Polish royalty. Since that day the picture has been referred to as the miraculous Queen Mother of God of the white eagle and the icon was housed in the chapel of the Warsaw Royal Castle.
Only years later did King Korybut Wiśniowiecki and his wife Eleonora von Habsburg agree to the transfer of the picture to Rokitno. Korybut Wiśniowiecki ordered that the icon should be solemnly received and honored in every place and village on its way to Rokitno. The way of the procession of that time is still known today and is revered in Poland. A small stone chapel was built on the site of the penultimate station of the overpass on a hill between the fields of Rokitno and Lubikow . On November 21, 1671 the image of Our Lady was transferred from the main church in Rokitno to the new chapel.
From 1810, the stream of pilgrims returned to the portrait of the miraculous Queen Mother of God the white eagle, mainly as a result of the Napoleonic wars . Only after the Second World War did the pilgrimage to Rokitno increase again.
In 1969 the transfer of the icon to Rokitno by Count Opalinsiki celebrated its three hundredth anniversary. A solemn procession through the village, accompanied by pilgrims from all over the world and the Polish clergy, always takes place on August 16 on this occasion.
Recognition by the Vatican
In 1971 the then Archbishop of Cracow and later Pope Karol Wojtyła visited Rokitno. He agreed to a coronation of the miraculous Queen Mother of God of the White Eagle. On the occasion of the coronation, he presented the parish of Rokitno with a silver rosary and a golden papal rose, which are exhibited next to the picture today.
In addition, the Pope also presented a chasuble together with a bishop's miter, a white cassock and a sub-birettum (skull cap) as a sign of the spiritual connection between the Polish Pope in the Vatican and the parish in Rokitno. The village is visited by around 300,000 pilgrims annually.
On April 22, 1989, the crown of the miraculous Queen Mother of God of the White Eagle was blessed in the Vatican and on June 18, 1989, the Mother of God was solemnly crowned by the cardinal and Polish primate Józef Glemp . More than 400,000 believers attended this event.
The church in Rokitno is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage churches in Poland and has had the honorary title of Basilica Minor since 2002 .