Statistics show that 20% of the pilgrimage movement in Europe takes place in Poland, corresponding to 5% on the world scale.
Newsroom (August 21, 2021 7:49 PM Gaudium Press) Last weekend, during the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, the national shrine in Jasna Gora, in Poland, received 63 pilgrim groups gathering a total of 40 thousand devotees.
According to data presented by the Press Office of the Marian Shrine, from May to mid-August, the site received 133 groups who came walking, 185 riding bicycles, 13 came running, and one on horseback.
Poles account for 20% of European pilgrimages
One of the greatest pilgrimage groups was on horseback from Zareby Kościelne to Mazovia, covering 400 kilometres during an eleven-day journey on horseback. The director of the group, Father Andrzej Dmochowski, pastor of the Zareby Kościelne parish, noted that “it was a great prayer.”
Statistics show that 20% of the pilgrimage movement in Europe is generated by Poles, representing 5% on the world scale. These are pilgrims of all ages, genders, professions and social classes encompassing Priests, religious and laypeople alike.
The oldest and most numerous Polish pilgrimages
Historical documents record that the oldest Polish pilgrimage took place in 1626, when a group of several dozen citizens of Gliwice, visited Czestochowa to thank the Mother of God for saving the city from the Danes.
The Warsaw Pilgrimage is one of the largest Polish pilgrimages to the Jasna Góra shrine. It began before the year 1711. On the other hand, the oldest is the Kalisz pilgrimage, which came to Jasna Góra in the year 1637. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
