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Our pilgrimages · On foot · 2022

Częstochowa 2022

Dates
On foot
140 km
Days
13
Stages
5
The group, seen from behind, walks along a road between wheat fields; ahead, a cross.

The route

On footBy plane, coach or train

The stops

  1. Barcelona19 July
  2. Krakówby plane
  3. Tarnawa21 July
  4. Pilica22 July
  5. Włodowice
  6. Zaborze
  7. Olsztyn
  8. Częstochowa (Jasna Góra)

Częstochowa 2022, at the feet of the Black Madonna

Sixty-four young people, a historic cross from the Archdiocese of Kraków and five days on foot to the shrine of Jasna Góra, in the land of St John Paul II.

In July 2022, 64 young people went back to Poland to make a pilgrimage like the ones Poles make: walking to Częstochowa, where the Black Madonna, patroness of the country, is venerated, and where five million people go on pilgrimage every year. Most of them flew to Balice, in Kraków, on 19 July; a few got there by van, after almost two days on the road, to bring the luggage and get everything ready. It was made possible by Pawel, a Pole they had met at WYD in Poland, who put them in touch with the archdiocese and acted as their interpreter.

A cross and five days on the way

The Archdiocese of Kraków entrusted them with a historic cross to carry all the way to the shrine, and a team of Polish guides went with them along roads and paths, from Kraków to Tarnawa, Pilica, Włodowice, Zaborze, Olsztyn and Częstochowa. The rules were strict: in Poland a large group may not start walking before six in the morning, and they walked for two hours and rested for half an hour, with the odd longer stop to celebrate Mass and eat sandwiches. First fields of cereals, then green, leafy woods. The first hour, in silence, was for praying, and during the rests they read a letter that had supposedly been written to them by St John Paul II. For Juan Pablo, that five-day march on the tarmac was “a catechesis of life”.

Jasna Góra

They entered the shrine singing at the top of their voices and went straight to the feet of Our Lady of Częstochowa to leave there the intentions they had carried all along the way. That night they followed the tradition of saying good night to her, and the next morning some got up early to say good morning to her. Nacho, struck by so much devotion, was in no doubt: “You could tell it was a country where God was very present”.

Welcomed like their own children

For the last few days they were taken in by Polish families who treated them, says Nacho, “as if we were their own children”. Juan Pablo stayed with a group of ten young men in a house in Wieliczka where the grandmother got up at five in the morning to make them a hearty breakfast. On 28 July they had a holy hour in Kraków, and on the 29th they had dinner with the families to say goodbye. They also visited the places of St John Paul II’s life —Wadowice, his home—, Kalwaria, the Divine Mercy shrine, the salt mines and Auschwitz, where Nacho understood that, “even in the midst of pain, God can be present”.

From that summer a song remained, “Dona toda tu vida”, which one of the pilgrims insisted they all learn in Poland and which a year later was already the anthem of their pilgrimages. And a lesson, which Michelle explains like this: she learnt there that “what is simple is more than enough and that Christ is present in our most everyday situations”.

Photos

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How they lived it

  • “We entered the shrine singing at the tops of our voices and went straight to the feet of Our Lady of Częstochowa to leave there all our intentions”

    Pilgrimages are an encounter with Jesus, and beginning ours with the support of the Archdiocese of Kraków, which entrusted us with a historic cross to carry all along the way to the shrine of Częstochowa and introduced us to a team of guides who would accompany us, was a moving experience. Our friend Pawel, a Pole we met at WYD in Poland, put us in touch with the archdiocese and helped us organise the whole pilgrimage, as well as being our translator.

    Read it in full

    […]

    Arriving in Częstochowa was an unforgettable experience. I remember that we entered the shrine singing at the tops of our voices and went straight to the feet of Our Lady of Częstochowa to leave there all our intentions, which we had carried with us throughout the pilgrimage. After enjoying a well-deserved ice cream, we were able to follow the lovely tradition of saying goodnight to Our Lady at the shrine of Częstochowa, in Poland. The next day, some of us got up early to say good morning to Our Lady, and I was very struck to see so much devotion to her. Later we visited the shrine with a guide who explained its history and architecture to us. For the rest of the pilgrimage we had a unique experience staying with Polish families from Pawel’s parish in Kraków, who treated us with great love and care, as if we were their own children.

    Nacho

  • “How good it is to walk together to meet Christ!”

    Our first stop was Kraków. From there we walked through the beautiful Polish countryside until we reached the shrine of Jasna Góra, popularly known as Częstochowa, in the heart of the country. It is the Polish people’s “Montserrat”, a magnificent shrine where the icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa, patroness of Poland, is venerated.

    Read it in full

    […]

    I have to say that the five-day march on the tarmac was a catechesis of life, with its joys, its hardships, its pains, its moments of friendship and companionship… As always, how good it is to walk together to meet Christ!

    Personally, I would like to tell you how kind, self-sacrificing and charitable the Poles who welcomed us into their homes in Wieliczka were. I was in a group of ten boys who stayed in a house with a big garden. The family who hosted us was made up of a married couple, their two children and the cheerful grandmother, who so generously got up at five in the morning to serve us a hearty breakfast. The amazed comments you could hear among us were “I’ve never eaten so well”, “I’ve never seen so much food in one place!”, and so on. We were surprised to feel so welcomed and looked after by our Slavic hosts.

    Juan Pablo

  • “What is simple is more than enough, and Christ is present in our most everyday situations”

    What I value most is having been able to spend those days completely disconnected, without phones, sharing them with perfect strangers who, little by little, after many introductions and chats, became companions, friends and partners in a few bits of mischief. You also live through a lot of apparent discomforts, like sleeping on the floor, but in the end they help you value what you have day to day. The days go by and everything is a laugh; despite the tiredness, there is always someone with something to tell, and really interesting topics of conversation that in other circumstances we would never have shared.

    Read it in full

    Without a doubt, nothing is impossible there: we even managed the impossible mission of finding flowers at eight in the evening in a city we didn’t know, praying Hail Marys in the rain.

    All these stories, and many more, are what now make me think that it was an incredible trip in which I was able to learn that what is simple is more than enough and that Christ is present in our most everyday situations; so, I can’t wait for the next great pilgrimage to Lisbon.

    Michelle

  • “I have learnt to look at people with different eyes and not to judge them so quickly”

    We woke up at 6 in the morning, because in Poland you can’t start walking any earlier if you are part of a large group. For about a week, a group of Poles guided us along the roads of Poland, with no more than 30 km a day. They made us follow some very strict rules: walk for 2 hours, rest for about 30 minutes and, sometimes, stop for as long as an hour, which we used to celebrate Mass and eat sandwiches, before setting off again. The landscape was quite beautiful: at first we were surrounded by fields of cereals and, later on, we went deep into large, lush green forests.

    Read it in full

    […]

    My experience of this pilgrimage, of going to a Marian place on foot and surrounded by people you love, was a really lovely experience, which has changed the way I live with and see other people (whether you like them or not), because I have learnt to look at people with different eyes and not to judge them so quickly.

    Jose

The chronicles

What we wrote along the way and afterwards, chronicle by chronicle.

  1. Going out to meet Christ6 April · Juan Pablo B.
  2. Christ in everyday life6 April · Michelle P.
  3. Surrounded by people you love6 April · Jose G.
  4. Devotion to Our Lady6 April · Nacho C.