Bydgoszcz Mother of God

The painting in the late Gothic style depicts a wife from the Apocalypse , clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet; on her left hand she holds a divine infant , in her right hand a bud of a bright red rose . This type of image of the Blessed Virgin in the Catholic Church is called the image of Our Lady with a rose. According to art historian Professor , the Bydgoszcz Mother of God is the most beautiful image of the Mother of God in Poland.

The creation of the image dates back to 1467-1475 years. Author unknown. There is an assumption that he belonged to the Cologne or Flemish schools of painting. The image was painted with tempera using gliza on a wooden board 104 × 180 cm in size. At the feet of the Blessed Virgin a man is kneeling, possibly or Jan Kosczeletsky . Some researchers believe that it is King Casimir IV himself , who was one of the founders of the altar in the cathedral and often visited Bydgoszcz during the Thirteen Years War .

The appearance of the image and the foundation of the altar is associated with the completion of the Thirteen Years War. With the permission of King Casimir IV, on December 9, 1466, Jan Kosczeletsky, governor of Inowroclaw and the elder of Bydgoszcz, in gratitude for the return of East Pomerania to the Polish crown, founded an altar in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish church in Bydgoszcz. The main decoration of the altar was the image of Our Lady acquired by him. By the care of the altar, the governor attracted the burgomaster and advisers to Bydgoszcz. During the daily morning mass, the assigned to the church were to sing the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray for the salvation of the soul of the deceased Nikolai Sharleysky, governor of Brest and the former elder of Bydgoszcz, to whom Jan Kosczeletsky owed his career.

On February 25, 1521, the altar was consecrated by Maciej Dzewicki , Bishop of Wroclaw. Until 1600, concern for the altar was divided between the city council, headed by the burgomaster and the Kosczeletsky family. After the altar remained in the care of only the burgomaster and the city council.

In the 16th century, thirteen altars were erected in the church. In 1527, the altar where the image was located was consecrated in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary; from the middle of the XVII to the beginning of the XIX century - in honor of the Meeting. The new altar depicting Our Lady of the late 18th century was located in the nave in the northern part of the church, while the choirs were decorated with paintings depicting the Holy Trinity and the patrons of the church - Saints Martin and Nicholas. In 1819-1829, during the overhaul of the parish church, the altar with the image of the Virgin was transferred to the place of the main altar.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the early image was covered with ornaments. It was discovered in 1922 by the priest of the parish church, . The restoration of the image in 1922-1923 was carried out by from Poznan.

Both images of Our Lady and the temple survived the Second World War . July 23, 1943 the image of the Bydgoszcz Mother of God was sheltered by parishioners in a rural church in , where he was placed in the altar aisle. On September 26, 1945, he was returned to the church in Bydgoszcz, but needed urgent restoration, which was carried out in 1950 at the Laboratory for the Protection of Cultural Heritage at the University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Torun under the direction of . Then the image in a gilded frame was again returned to the temple and placed on the main altar.

The history of veneration of the Bydgoszcz Mother of God dates back to the time of the Renaissance. Since the XVI century, in the temple, they began to leave before the image the donations that were made according to the vow to the Blessed Virgin. In 1712-1745, the image was covered with a salary, which consisted of gold and silver dresses of the Mother of God and the Mother of God, crowns and stars, and a tin background. The gifts brought in gratitude and hanging in front of the image were strands of beads and precious stones, earrings, necklaces, medallions, pendants and chains. At different times, two donations were made by the Bydgoszcz City Council; on one of them with the coat of arms of Bydgoszcz the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary was engraved. Most of the donations at the end of the 18th century were donated to assist the national uprising led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko .

The image of the Mother of God with a rose, which until the beginning of the 19th century was in the northern nave, is mentioned in the sources of 1699-1745 as “miraculous” and “gracious”. The veneration of the miraculous image decreased during the destruction of Polish statehood in 1772-1920. After the restoration of independence, the veneration of the Bydgoszcz Mother of God steadily grew.

The image of the Bydgoszcz Mother of God was twice crowned. On May 29, 1966, in the in Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski , Polish primacy, he was crowned for the first time. The cardinal called the image the Mother of God of the Lord's Grace, and since then this name has been assigned to him. The ceremony was attended by the then archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła , who on June 7, 1999, having already become pope under the name of John Paul II, arrived in Bydgoszcz. During the mass. at the airport of the city, in which 600 thousand people participated, he crowned the image with two crowns, over the heads of the Mother of God and the Mother of God.

After the last event, the number of pilgrims to the image has grown significantly. On March 25, 2004, St. Pope John Paul II established the Bydgoszcz Diocese, the patrons of which were the Bydgoszcz Mother of God and Blessed Michael Kozal .

• Matka Boża Pięknej Miłości. Patronka Miasta i Diecezji (Neopr.) . Katedra Bydgoska. - An article about Our Lady of Bydgoszcz on the site of the Cathedral of Saints Martin and Nicholas in Bydgoszcz. Date of treatment March 16, 2015. (Polish)

• Carmel Mother of God in Bydgoszcz