The Pope and His Childhood

Within 60 kilometres of the desolation of Auschwitz in Poland are the tranquil monasteries of Kalwaria and Czestochowa. Twice a year thousands of pilgrims from all over Eastern Europe descend upon these places to worship. It was near here that Pope John Paul II grew up. Kalwaria is set amidst rolling hills. It is one of Poland’s’ major pilgrimage destinations and the monastery and town owe their existence to the squire of Krakow who, in 1600, commissioned the church and monastery for the Bernadine Order. Having seen the resemblance of the area to the site of Jerusalem, he set about creating a place of worship similar to that of the Holy City. This sacred place was to become an important pilgrimage destination for the future Pope. It was here that he retired with his father and brother, following the death of his mother, at the age of nine. The monastery at Czestochowa houses the Polish National treasure – an ancient painting of the Black Madonna. Every year over fifty thousand people attend an outdoor mass in the grounds of the monastery on St. Mary’s Day, August 15th. The future Pope first paid homage to the Black Madonna, aged 12, and as one biographer said “The image of Mary was very important to him; it represented a mother who was forever and wouldn’t die.” It was many years later at Czestochowa that Pope John Paul II called upon the Polish people to stand up to Communist oppression. The Solidarity movement that he founded while Arch Bishop of Krakow, was a decisive factor in the overthrowing of the Communist regime. The growing number of pilgrims who visited Czestochowa in the last seventies and eighties were viewed as a direct threat to Communist rule and, as Pope, he openly encouraged this sign of devotion that was directly opposed to communist ideology. Wadowice, the Pope’s birthplace, was situated exactly mid way between Kalwaria and Auschwitz. The future Pope grew up literally a few hours walk from either heaven or hell – at least as close as one could come to them on earth. Wadowice remains to this day an uninspiring industrial town but one in which the legacy of John Paul II remains strong. Some of the elderly people remember him as a child; both his parents and brother died while he was still young and he had no remaining close relatives. Even from an early age he was known to spend many hours in the Church. The house where he grew up is situated in the shadow of the Church and is now a museum dedicated to his memory.