On Sunday, October 7th, Our Blessed Mother in the Icon of Czestochowa visited the Holy Cross Church on Rennweg, close to the city center of Vienna. After a solemn welcoming ceremony, a two-hour long veneration began. The church was filled with a large crowd of the faithful, even though the meeting with Our Blessed Mother was taking place already when the Sunday Masses were over, between 3:30 p.m. and 5:50 p.m.
The Polish faithful assembled there devotedly, despite of the late afternoon hour, in order to venerate their Queen. Father Jan Kaczmarek CR presided over the greeting ceremony and the veneration of the Icon, and asked everyone for a half hour of silent veneration in the intention for the protection of the newly conceived life. This silence was very moving – while the rain fell outside.
The Resurrection Fathers have been managing the Polish Mission in Vienna for many years. Their pastoral care benefits the Polish faithful, who live temporarily or permanently in Austria. The Masses at the church on Rennweg are celebrated in their national Polish language and all the local Poles, aware of this, eagerly congregate there. Our Lady of Czestochowa is always present at this parish, as a copy of the Icon of Jasna Gora has its permanent home on the left side of the main altar and is constantly surrounded by prayer.
In Vienna, there is one more famous church belonging to the Polish Mission – the Church of St. Joseph, built on the hill of Kahlenberg. It was here, that the Polish King Jan III Sobieski, on the 12th of September, 1683, commanded the armies during the famous Battle of Vienna, halting the Islamic attack during the second siege of Vienna on Christian Europe and saving at least Austria and Italy from the Turkish occupation. This church is also under the spiritual leadership of the Polish Resurrection Fathers.