Koronowane wizerunki maryjne w Karpatach Polskich

Sanctuaries with Coronated Images of the Mother of God in Polish Carpathians

Summary: The Marian worship has been a considerable feature of piety since an eve of Christianity in Poland. It was, no doubt, due to a fact, that the first missionaries were Benedictins and Cisterians, from orders showing a peculiar devotion and the worship to the Mother of God. A prove of this phenomen on still alive, are the numerous centres of Marian worship and those of pilgrimage. The beginning of the Marian image worship in Poland is dated back to the end of 14th c. and the 1st half of the 15th c. Among those images, the peculiar position is that of the images and statues coronated according to the Papal law. This habit in its contemporaneous form reaches the turn of the 16th and 17th c. Actually within the territory of Poland there are some 130 sanctuaries with the coronated Marian images , of witch 25 lie in the Carpathians (on 31st December, 1992). The Carpathians are a region of the long pilgrimage tradition (dating back even to the 10th - 11th c.) and the well-developed network of the pilgrimage centers. The first coronation in this region took place in Rzeszów, in 1763 in the Bernardins Church (the statue of the Ascension of Holy Mary). To the end of 18th c. occured there (in Przemyśl) two more coronation, next began the pause, lasting - in all Poland - almost the century, because of the unfavourable political situation. The turn was observed in the end of 19th c. (the coronation at Stara Wieś, in 1887). The greatest number of the coronations was organized in the post-war period (11 images), due to the reanimation of the Marian worship and the pilgrimages after 1956. Of 25 coronated objects, there are 16 images and 9 statues of the Mother of God.Considering the patronat, in the moment of coronation 13 of them were in the monastery units, 11 - in those of diocese. Because of the actual phase of research (a fragment of the doctor's thesis) and the material at the disposal of the author, she presented widely the objects at Stara Wieś, Borek Stary and Nowy Sącz only. A choose of just those sanctuaries was determined also by the fact, that the coronations were made there in the peculiar moments of the history of the Polish Church and the Polish Nation.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 1995, z.1, s. 153-164.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

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