Warsaw, Poland, Aug 6, 2008 / 19:07 pm
Five U.S. soldiers embarked on a 10-day, 180 mile-long march to Poland’s Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa with hundreds of camouflaged soldiers from various nations on Tuesday. The shrine contains the icon of the Black Madonna, the creation of which tradition attributes to St. Luke.
The 300-year old pilgrimage has deep religious and patriotic significance in Poland and is expected to end before August 15, the Feast of the Assumption.
Many miracles have been attributed to the Black Madonna, which was brought to the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa in 1384. During a 1655 siege, 70 monks and 180 supporters held off nearly 4,000 soldiers from the Protestant Swedish army, in a reputed miracle that inspired Poles to repel the invaders.
Before beginning the pilgrimage, soldiers attended an early morning Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army where a priest blessed them with holy water and then exhorted them to set a moral example during the march.