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Mother of God the Fosterer Czarna Sanctuary

Czarna is a small village, which lies south of Warsaw, on the road from Skarżysko Kamienna to Końskie. It is noted for it’s miracuolus picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is praised there under a beautiful title of Our Lady of Czarna- the Fosteter. Acording to a legend, an apparition of Our Lady to the people of this land took place on the turn of the XVIth ceuntry. Local people, most of whom worked hard burning charcoal or smelting iron, committed themselves to the Mother of God. On the place of her apparition a small shrine was built. Piligrims began to flow from neighbouring and more distans areas and soon many people learned about Our Lady’s graces and miracles. In 1763 a churche founded by the noble Lady Izabela Malachowska née Humiecka was erected on this special place. The official permission was given by the Right Rev. Wladyslaw Lubieński, archibishop and the Primate of Poland, on the XVIth March 1763 with the dedication ” For the glory of Almighty God and the Mother of God, famous there for her picture and her miracles”. The parish was erected in 1919 and dedicated to the visitation of the Blesed Virgin Mary. The number of piligrimages and piligrims who came to pay reverence to the Blessed Virgin in front of her picture was so great that it was so great that it was necessary to built a bigger church. The first chapel and then the church and sanctuary were built on this place in Czarna, due to the presence and graces of the miraculous picture of Our Lady. The picture, painted on canvas, is one of the most beautiful portraits made after the example of the Roman ” Salus Populi Romani”- Salvation of the people of Rome. It comes from the XVIth or XVIIth century and was renovated in 1990. Since 1971 the church and the sanctuary have been in the care of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallotine Fathers). The fathers renovationed of the interior of the churche and it’s exterior as, wel, as preparation to expected solemn coronation of the holy picture. These crowns were blessed by John Paul II during his fourth visit to Poland in 1991. The solemn conoration was 5 september, 1999.