Our Lady of Czestochowa (Mississauga)

Marian Advocation of Mississauga (Ontario)
Popular devotion (not officially recognized by the Church)

The devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa, a tribute to the venerated image of Jasna Gira in Poland, came to Canada with Polish immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries, and was consolidated especially after the Second World War and subsequent immigration. The Mississauga shrine in Ontario was erected by the Polish community with diocesan support as a national Marian centre for the Poles of the country, under the protection of the Virgin of Czestochowa.

Main data

Origin and history

The devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa, a tribute to the venerated image of Jasna Gira in Poland, came to Canada with Polish immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries, and was consolidated especially after the Second World War and subsequent immigration. The Mississauga shrine in Ontario was erected by the Polish community with diocesan support as a national Marian centre for the Poles of the country, under the protection of the Virgin of Czestochowa.

The image and the sanctuary

La St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish – Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, en Mississauga, está reconocida como santuario mariano polaco al servicio de la diáspora. La parroquia alberga una réplica venerada del icono de Czestochowa y se considera centro espiritual para los polacos de la región de Toronto. El icono se venera como signo de unidad de la diáspora polaca. Hay otras parroquias polacas bajo el mismo título en ciudades como Montreal y Winnipeg, pero el santuario mejor documentado es el de Mississauga.

Sponsorship and coronation

The sanctuary serves as a national Marian centre for the Polish community of Canada, under the protection of the Virgin of Czestochowa. There is no canonical coronation of the image in Mississauga.

Party and devotion

The main feast is Our Lady of Czestochowa on August 26, following the Polish calendar. In addition, the great Marian parties (Immaculate, Asunción), typical of Polish spirituality, are celebrated with solemnity. In many Polish parishes in Canada there are exvotes of thanks for protection during the war, emigration and life in the new country, with stories of families that attribute to the Virgin to have arrived safely in Canada; such stories are kept as personal testimonies, not as officially recognized miracles. Pilgrimage of young people and families, with a strong Marian and patriotic component, is organized.

Link to the Rosary

La devoción polaca es tradicionalmente muy rosariana: en el santuario se organizan rosarios comunitarios, especialmente en octubre, mes del Rosario, y en mayo, mes de María. El Rosario se reza con frecuencia en polaco, con cantos marianos propios como el «Czarna Madonna», como parte de la identidad espiritual polaca en Canadá.