The faith that overcame disaster: the strength of Poland.

They say that you cannot appreciate the Polish mentality until you have walked the 243 kilometres on the annual nine-day pilgrimage which starts on August 1, from Holy Ghost Church of the Pauline friars in Warsaw, south to Czestochowa to pray at the shrine of the Black Madonna. It contains the icon believed by many to have been painted by St. Luke himself on a beam from the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth.

In 2010 the annual walk will celebrate its 300th anniversary, although it has been a pilgrims' route since the beginning of the 15th century. Like so many monasteries and shrines in Poland, the Hussites sacked the Jasna Gora (Black Mountain) monastery in 1430. Two sword cuts on the black Madonna's cheek are still visible. The Swedes invaded 226 years later, but were beaten back at Czestochowa by King John Casimir Vasa, who claimed the victory to have been a miracle thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mother. So, on April 1, 1656, he declared Mary, the Mother of Christ, to be hereditary Queen of the Polish lands. Behind a silver grill, pilgrims give thanks in a 15th-century Gothic chapel, the Black Madonna overlooking an altar of finely worked ebony and silver.

Throughout eastern Europe and particularly in Poland, now that communist atheism has been uprooted, the wonders and beauties created by human hands and minds in praise and gratitude uplift us once again in holy sites. Where there have been warfare and brutality, and so much trampling on the individual spirit, these magnificences have been cherished, restored, rebuilt, to strengthen and reaffirm us.

The people of Poland, strong and united in faith, despite having their lands frequently carved up and delivered as spoils of war to foreigners, have shown the world they are relentless in their courage and determination to preserve their spiritual conviction, their language, and their identity. In that sense, the Polish people have never been conquered, not even when their lands were chopped up three ways and distributed to three empires--Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. The Poles did not acquiesce; they repeated their resistance at the outset of World War II when Nazi Germany and Communist Russia overran Poland, newly independent for some twenty years.

After subjugation, it was the Nazi custom to call on citizens of the conquered country to collaborate in its administration. In Poland, I was told more than once with the dignity of real pride, there were no collaborators. Poland is the only country invaded by the Nazis to be able to make such a claim. Two weeks after the Nazis took control of western Poland in September 1939, the Soviet Communists helped themselves to eastern Poland. After the end of World War II they gained control of the entire country, which served to strengthen the Poles even more deeply in their staunch Catholicism.

When the people of Warsaw thought they might have a chance to overthrow the Nazis in a courageous freedom strike on August 1, 1944, because the Russians were close by, the children took the lead by finding their way through the sewers. But the Uprising was brutally overcome when the Soviet army stood by idly--most likely on direct orders of Stalin--and even refused Western Allies permission to land their aircraft in order to deliver supplies and ammunition.

There is a monument of a tiny soldier wearing a helmet many sizes too big for him, a poignant reminder of unwavering dedication. The Polish people were as one, united in faith. When the communists took over and tried to spread their atheism, it simply did not fly. Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, 1901-1981, Primate of Poland, the friend and mentor of the younger priest who became Archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyla, resolutely kept the churches open, defying communist overlords to the point of imprisonment for three years. Called the Primate of the Millennium by Pope John Paul II, his unwavering faith and courage were an inspiration to all Poles. No wonder the shipbuilders in Gdansk, who finally brought the intruders down and freed the country, called themselves 'Solidarity.'

The Primate's statue on the Royal Route at the out-skirts of the University in Cracow, shows a more than lifesized figure of monumental calm and thoughtfulness on a towering plinth, his mitre reaching up like a spire, to inspire, which indeed it does.

Nearby, St. Jacek's Church in beloved and beautiful New Town (Nowe Miastro), first built at the end of the 14th century, has been completely restored and rebuilt. It was constructed by the Dominicans in the Gothic style in 1603, and reduced to rubble by the Nazis. Overcoming heartbreak, bits of debris which must have been almost unrecognizable have been lovingly replaced in their former position with the most painstaking care, a piece of pointed Gothic arch here, a section of a pillar there, the whole a monument to determination and faith.

A small side chapel commemorates Polish resistance leaders in World War II "In the memory of Polish people who died in the uprising, Pamieci 1944-1953" and lists several names of those who fell, including Tadeusza Zawadzinskiego, an uncle of the Holy Father.

Cracow, so lovely a medieval city that even the Nazis stopped short at demolishing it except for the Jewish Quarter, was the seat of a bishopric in 1000 A.D. and for more than 500 years was the capital until the time of Poland's partitions; it has remained a centre of patriotic fervour.

St. Mary's Church, where His Holiness served as Archbishop, dominates the central square of Cracow, two towers with chapels branching out from the nave and the presbytery, built over many centuries. Growth as needed is continuous. The interior is literally filled with magnificent statuary, tombs of long-dead kings and queens, altars, portals of Debniki marble, a native Polish stone, frescoes, and tapestries. The higher of its two towers serves as the municipal watch tower. Every hour on the hour, a bugler tells time for the city and at noon the call is broadcast to the entire country. It is a heart-pounding climb to the bugler's eyrie.

Inside St. Mary's Cathedral, the magnificence on every surface, the golden stars on a heavenly nighttime blue-sky ceiling, the central crucifix, the reredos at the High Altar created by Veit Stoss between 1477 and 1489, produce a sense of beatific calm mixed with awe. What must have been the feelings of the faithful souls gathering within these towering walls of beauty, devotion, and tranquility when enemy forces were stampeding about on the other side of the doors?

To kneel, pray, and give thanks for the outcome of the last century's anguish is only to enter into a very limited understanding of the strength of will and the devout faith of these remarkable people, the Poles, of whom of course, the Holy Father will forever be the outstanding example. Nowadays we seem to have new dilemmas, but we have been shown the way we must take and in which we must persevere.

Mary Mason's last contribution to Catholic Insight was how Quebec Premier Maurice Dupplessis helped save the Polish art treasures during World War II (July/August 2001).