Trenton, N.J., Aug 7, 2008 / 15:06 pm
On Thursday morning American Catholics began their version of a centuries-old Polish pilgrimage with a 6 am Mass in Great Meadows in northwest New Jersey. Their four-day walk of penance, song and prayer is destined for the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
In Poland many of the faithful walk hundreds of miles on foot to Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, which since 1384 has hosted the icon called the Black Madonna. The icon, whose creation is attributed to the evangelist St. Luke, depicts Poland’s patron saint, Our Lady of Czestochowa, bearing a darkened face.
A similar pilgrimage has taken place in the United States since 1988, with more than 2,000 pilgrims trekking to the National Shrine last year, the Associated Press says. Most of the pilgrims walk 57 miles to Doylestown from Great Meadows, though smaller groups take shorter routes from Trenton and Philadelphia.
Pilgrims remain largely unseen as they pray, sing, and walk along rural back roads in lines that often stretch for miles.