On June 27, 1877, the Gietrzwałd Apparitions began - a series of Marian apparitions that took place in the village of Gietrzwałd in Warmia (then in the Prussian partition). Then, thirteen-year-old Justyna Szafryńska and twelve-year-old Barbara Samulowska, in a state of ecstasy, saw apparitions of Our Lady on the church maple tree, talking to them after Polish.
Chapel of the apparitions of Our Lady in Gietrzwałd, photo: Wikipedia
Other people also had similar visions at this time. These are the only Marian apparitions in Poland whose cult has been approved by the Roman Catholic Church.
The apparitions were investigated by church authorities as they occurred. Mary allegedly said that the Church in Polish lands would not be persecuted, and there would be more Polish priests if people prayed and recited the rosary. She spoke to them in Polish, in the Warmian dialect. This strengthened the Polish movement in Warmia, tightened the bonds between the Catholic Church and the Polish patriotic movement, and consolidated the Marian cult in Poland.
source - Wikipedia
Comments