Młodzieńcze pielgrzymki Karola Wojtyły do Kalwarii Zebrzydowskiej a fenomen Sanktuarium Kalwaryjskiego

Karol Wojtyla's youthful pilgrimages to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and the phenomenon of the Kalwaria Sanctuary

Summary: The purpose of this study is to show the juvenile peregrinations of Karol Wojtyła to the Sanctuary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. In doing this special attention was paid to the religious phenomenon of this sanctuary. The present Pope, both in his childhood and in his youth, pilgrimied to this sanctuary. In the 1920s, he went their with both parents. After his mother's death in 1929, he went again on a pilgrimage to Kalwaria, together with his father and older brother. It was in this same sanctuary that he and his father mourned over the premature death of brother Edmund. After many years, already as a cardinal, he said: 'When something happened in our family or we had problems, we used to pilgrimize to our Mother of God in Kalwaria.' In his various pronouncements the Holy Father often mentions the Kalwaria Sanctuary, explains its deep theology and presents his own, emotional bonds with this specific centre of religious cult. Pope John Paul II can see that Kalwaria holds in itself a 'Great mystery of faith' and stresses three basic aspects of this sanctuary: Easter Mystery, meaning suffering, death on the cross and resurrection of Christ—a typical Mariology for him, manifesting itself in the mystery of unification of Mother and Son and Son with Mother on the paths of the Passion of Christ, and the contemplative character of this sanctuary. The religious phenomenon of the Kalwaria pilgrimage centre makes it possible to experience deeply a spiritual unification with suffering Christ and St Mary. In this place it is extremely easy to enter the spiritual influence of sacrum and expose oneself to contemplations in prayers. The analysis presents the juvenile pilgrimages of Karol Wojtyła to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and makes one acquainted with the religious phenomenon of this place, which resulted in the warm and affectionate feelings John Paul II has always had for this Sanctuary.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 1997, z.5, s. 89-102.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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