Numerous sites of national remembrance and religious worship were the destinations of a pilgrimage from Bolesławiec to Belarus and Lithuania, undertaken from 12 to 19 July of this year.
The pilgrimage was organized by the Bolesławiec Branch of the Society of Friends of Lwów and the Eastern Borderlands, chiefly by Mrs. Stasia Balawender, chairwoman of the Circle. Forty-six people took part in the pilgrimage, including six priests:
Rev. Prelate Władysław Rączka from Bolesławiec,
Rev. Prelate Edward Bober from Bolesławiec,
Rev. Canon Władysław Karwacki from Bolesławiec,
Rev. Canon Jan Czachor from Bożejowice,
Rev. Canon Marian Podolski from Parowa,
Rev. Canon Stanisław Draguła from Przeworno, who, thanks to the courtesy of His Eminence Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, guided our pilgrimage under the sign of the Red Cross; thanks to him, we crossed the border without waiting in line.
The main purpose of the pilgrimage was to reach the Gate of Dawn— a place of religious worship for Catholics in Lithuania—and to provide charitable assistance.
In Belarus, we visited Odelsk, Grodno, Szczuczyn and Nowogródek. In Odelsk, thanks to the courtesy of the local priest, a Pole, we learned that Catholics and Orthodox Christians pray together before the miraculous image of Our Lady of Odelsk.
The parish is about 500 years old, while the larch church itself is 300 years old.
The next stage of our journey was Grodno—a city connected with the life and death of Eliza Orzeszkowa. Her home is located here, and she was also buried here, in the old Catholic cemetery. At her grave, we lit votive candles and sang the Angelus.
In Grodno, St. Maximilian Kolbe worked from 1922 to 1927 at the Franciscan Church of Our Lady of the Angels. The confessional in which he heard confessions is still there. It was also there that the Virgin Mary appeared to him, offering him a choice of two crowns: a white one and a red one. As we know, he chose both. We also visited the theological seminary, the seminary church and the cathedral, formerly the parish church, which local Poles defended day and night for 35 years against closure.
In Szczuczyn, we visited the Piarist church and took part in a retreat organized by Polish youth for Belarusian children.
In Nowogródek, we followed in the footsteps of our national bard. Most of the mementos of Adam Mickiewicz’s presence are found in churches. Our bard was married in St. Michael’s Church, while he was baptized on 12 February 1799 in the parish church of the Transfiguration. It was also here, before the image of Our Lady of Nowogródek, that little Adaś was miraculously healed, as he mentions in the invocation of "Pan Tadeusz" (Book I, lines 6–12). The inscriptions on the wall testify to the importance of the parish church for the national memory of Poles. One of them reads:
"In this church, in 1422, Władysław Jagiełło, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, married Zofia, Princess of Holszany, the future mother of the Polish kings Władysław of Varna and Casimir Jagiellon. King Casimir Jagiellon was the father of St. Casimir and of the Polish kings John I Albert, Alexander, Sigismund I, and Władysław, King of Hungary and Bohemia, as well as Frederick, Cardinal of the Roman Church and Primate of Poland. He was also the grandfather of Sigismund Augustus—the last of the Jagiellonian dynasty, who raised the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the highest heights of power and glory."
On the other side of the church stands an obelisk stating: "This place was the resting place, from 1991, of 11 Nazareth Sisters murdered by the Nazis on 1 August 1943. In 1991, an exhumation was carried out, and their grave, now surrounded by reverence and prayer, is located in the miraculous chapel,"
We said goodbye to Nowogródek in front of the Mickiewicz family home, which now houses a museum.