The Virgin of the Mariana Hill of Levoča
Mariánska Hora · Levoča, Eslovaquia · desde 1247
The Tartars and the Promise
In 1241, the hordes of Batu Khan destroyed the territory of the present Slovakia. The cities were destroyed and the population decimated. Among the survivors who managed to take refuge in the mountains and forests, many made promises to the Virgin: if they survived, they would build a sanctuary in their honor in the place where they had found refuge.
In 1247, when the Tatars withdrew, the survivors of the Levoča region fulfilled their vote. They raised a small chapel on the hill that dominated the city, the Marianska Hora, and placed an image of the Virgin with the Child on it. That was the beginning of one of the oldest and most visited Marian shrines in Slovakia.
Seven centuries of uninterrupted pilgrimage
The Levoča shrine has a characteristic that makes it exceptional in Europe: from 1247 to today, without a single documented interruption, the faithful have been on pilgrimage to the Marianska Hora every first Sunday of July. Neither the humitous wars of the 15th century, nor the Protestant Reformation, nor the centuries of habsburga domination, nor the communism of the 20th century managed to break that chain of devotion.
During the Czechoslovak communist regime, the pilgrimages to Levoča were banned and monitored by the political police. However, the chronicles of the time show that the faithful continued to go equally, sometimes walking on secondary roads to avoid controls, risking work and freedom. In 1985, in the middle of the Soviet era, more than 100,000 people went up to Marianska Hora challenging the official ban.
John Paul II in Levoča (1995)
On 3 July 1995, Pope John Paul II presided over the pilgrimage of Levoča. More than 650,000 people went up to the Marianska Time to concelebrate with him. It was the largest religious act held on Slovak soil. John Paul II, who had visited the country the previous year of Slovak independence (1993), wanted to confirm with his presence the link between the young Slovak nation and its oldest Marian devotion.
that seven centuries of walkers have sought you on the top,
help us not get tired of going up
Even if the road is long and the hill is steep. Amen.