Pielgrzymowanie do Świętej Lipki dawniej i dziś

Pilgrimages to Święta Lipka in the past and now

Summary: The oldest written mention concerning Święta Lipka says that as early as in the fifteenth century this place was visited by pilgrims not only from the Prussian neighbourhood but also from the remoter Mazovia. Even the destruction of the chapel during the Reformation did not manage to break this tradition. When the chapel was reconstructed in 1619 and handed over for maintenance to the Jesuits, the number of pilgrims steadily increased. At the beginning, the Jesuits from nearby Reszel came only for Marian feasts; later they stayed for the whole summer, eventually became permanent residents, and on pilgrimage days invited more confessors. At the end of the seventeenth century they erected a church which immediately afterwards proved to be too small; therefore, it was surrounded with an arcade. The church served only pilgrims because it was built in a desolate place, the nearby village originating as late as about 1800. The majority of the pilgrims came from the region of Warmia and from the border of Mazovia, while fewer visitors arrived from Poland, Lithuania, Pomerania and other countries. The longest distance covered by a pilgrim, as mentioned in the records, was the one from Zagreb, Croatia. The suppression of the Jesuit Order in 1780 did not interrrupt the flow of pilgrims. Parishioners from Warmia continued to arrive yearly on the appointed days. Only during wars and during the closure of the border during Bismarck's times (ca 1890) and between the years 1920-1945 could pilgrimages from Poland not come. After 1945, because of the displacement of the German population, traditional pilgrimages from Warmia disappeared, while Mazovian pilgrimages saw their renaissance. Gradually, Poles were learning about the existence of this sanctuary and flocked there in ever greater numbers despite the obstacles posed by the authorities in the fifties. The place became more popular thanks to the coronation of the miraculous painting of Our Lady in 1968. The splendid baroque church, the only one of the kind in this part of Poland, from the very beginning attracted also tourists. As it is situated en route between Olsztyn and the lake district, all trips stop here. Świeta Lipka is visited also by holiday makers and youth on their summer camps, frequently organised in this region. Therefore, the specificity of Świeta Lipka is a combination of pilgrimages with tourism.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 1998, z.6, s. 137-162.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922, ISBN 83-907568-5-4

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