Lichen, Poland (1813, 1850)
Our Lady of Lichen

Our Lady of Lichen

Summary

According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared in Lichen, Poland to Tomasz Klossowski, a wounded soldier, in 1813 who was healed and discovered a miraculous portrait of Our Lady. She then appeared to a poor shepherd, Mikolaj Sikatka, in 1850 who promoted her devotion. She foretold of a cholera epidemic and interceded for the healing of many who sought her help.

Timeline

1813	Polish soldiers were fighting near Leipzig under Napoleon, among them Tomasz Klossowski who was seriously wounded. Facing death, he began to invoke Our Lady, begging her not to let him die in a foreign land.
	According to the legend, Our Lady was wearing a crown, an amaranth dress and a golden mantle. She appeared to him holding a white eagle in her right hand. She comforted the soldier and promised he would recover and return to Poland.
	Moreover, she asked him to find a picture in her likeness and to make it known in his homeland. The healed soldier returned to his home near Lichen. Year after year he wandered about the countryside searching for the miraculous image of Our Lady.
1836	He eventually found the portrait in Lgota. At first he placed the portrait in his own house, and then hung it up on an old pine-tree in the nearby forest--puszcza grablinska.
1850	The Holy Virgin revealed herself to the shepherd Mikolaj Sikatka who was pasturing cattle near the image in the forest. In her message to Mikolaj, Our Lady summoned people to conversion, to break with greed and licentiousness. She exhorted them to pray the rosary and reminded them to participate in celebration of the Sunday liturgy. She asked priests to celebrate the liturgy worthily. Finally, she also requested that her image be moved to a more fitting place. She promised that those who earnestly prayed before it would escape death during the plague, which was to be the punishment for the lack of conversion of sinners. Furthermore, the Holy Virgin predicted the foundation of the sanctuary and the monastery in Lichen, from where her glory would be made known.
	Mikolaj, the poor shepherd, started to spread Our Lady's message, but he was persecuted and imprisoned by the Russian invaders. At first, people wouldn't believe him.
1852	According to Mary's prophecy, the cholera epidemic broke out and the people remembered her warning and then flocked to the image of the Holy Virgin to pray the rosary for the sick and dying.
1852	A special episcopal committee examined the apparition.
Sept 29, 1852	At the request of the parish priest, Florian Kosinski, the committee decided to move the portrait to the parish church in Lichen.
	During World War II both the church and the rectory were confiscated and used by the Youth Nazi Organization. The image was hidden and preserved.
1949	The parish of Lichen was entrusted to the Marian Fathers They started restoring the sanctuary damage incurred during the war.
1967	On the Feast of the Assumption, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, then Primate of Poland, crowned the miraculous image of Our Lady of Lichen, in the presence of the Ordinary of the Wroclawska Diocese, Bishop Antoni Pawlowski. Many other bishops, hundreds of priests, religious, and about 150,000 lay people attended the ceremony.
June 7,1999	A new Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen was built in remembrance and thanksgiving for the two-thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul II consecrated Poland's largest church.

Description of the Virgin

Our Lady was wearing a crown, an amaranth dress and a golden mantle. She appeared to Tomasz Klossowski holding a white eagle in her right hand.

Messages

In 1813, the Virgin comforted Tomasz Klossowski, an injured soldier, and promised he would recover and return to Poland. Moreover, she asked him to find a picture in her likeness and to make it known in his homeland.

In 1850, the Virgin revealed herself to the shepherd Mikolaj Sikatka who was pasturing cattle near the image in the forest. In her message to Mikolaj, Our Lady summoned people to conversion, to break with greed and licentiousness. She exhorted them to pray the rosary and reminded them to participate in celebration of the Sunday liturgy. She asked priests to celebrate the liturgy worthily. Finally, she also requested that her image be moved to a more fitting place. She promised that those who earnestly prayed before it would escape death during the plague, which was to be the punishment for the lack of conversion of sinners. Furthermore, the Holy Virgin predicted the foundation of the sanctuary and the monastery in Lichen, from where her glory would be made known.

Miracles and Signs

Mikolaj, the poor shepherd, started to spread Our Lady's message, but he was persecuted and imprisoned by the Russian invaders. At first, people wouldn't believe him. Only two years later, when, according to Mary's prophecy, the cholera epidemic broke out, they remembered her warning. Then people flocked to the image of the Holy Virgin to pray the rosary for the sick and dying. Many healings ensued.

Church Approval

A special episcopal committee examined the apparition. At the request of the parish priest, Florian Kosinski, the committee decided to move the portrait to the parish church in Lichen. This took place on September 29, 1852. Until 1939, three-thousand answers to prayers were recorded, among them miraculous recoveries.

In1967 on the Feast of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, then Primate of Poland, crowned the miraculous image of Our Lady of Lichen, in the presence of the Ordinary of the Wroclawska Diocese, Bishop Antoni Pawlowski. Many other bishops, hundreds of priests, religious, and about 150,000 lay people attended the ceremony.

A new Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen was built in remembrance and thanksgiving for the two-thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul II consecrated Poland's largest church on June 7,1999.

Shrines

After the examination of the apparition by a special episcopal committee, it was decided that the portrait be moved to the parish church in Lichen. During World War II both the church and the rectory were confiscated and used by the Youth Nazi Organization. Fortunately, the image could be hidden and preserved.

In 1949 the parish of Lichen was entrusted to the Marian Fathers who started restoring the sanctuary damage incurred during the war. It was completed in 1967.

A new Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen was built in remembrance and thanksgiving for the two-thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. The church, modeled after Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, is the seventh largest in Europe.

The sanctuary is located in Wielkopolska in a village called Lichen. It is located in southwestern Poland within traveling distance of Jasna Gora, (Mother of God of Czestochowa) and is one of Poland's important pilgrimage and apparition sites.

Links

Official Site of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen
The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio

Lichen, Poland (1813, 1850) Our Lady of Lichen

Lichen, Poland (1813, 1850)
Our Lady of Lichen