Carpe Diem #1753 Trail of Saints, Krakow, Poland

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday we were in Maastricht, The Netherlands, a beautiful city in which Saint Servatius is very important. It was a real joy to tell you a little bit more about my country, but now it's time to go on again on "an act of devotion", or pilgrimage-routes around the world.

Today I will tell you a little bit about the so called "Trail of Saints", it's a city pilgrimage in the city of Krakow, Poland. Poland has a very rich history on Catholic belief and in Krakow you can find a lot of Catholic churches and cathedrals ... these are the main goal on the "Trail of Saints".

Let me tell you a little bit more about the "Trailof Saints":

There is no other city in this part of Europe with so many graves of people recognised as saint or blessed by the Catholic Church. It was not without a reason that Jan Mucante, master of the ceremony in the delegation of Papal Legate Cardinal Gaetano, wrote in 1596: "If there was no Rome, Krakow would be Rome." Currently, the local churches hold the earthly remains of nine saints, seven blessed and a similar number of Servants of God who died in an aura of sanctity.

Church of Our Lady of the Snows and the Convent of Dominican Nuns

The prayer at the graves of people recognised as saints has been practised in Christianity for two thousand (and in Krakow for almost nine hundred) years. Individual centuries witnessed the lives of great characters enjoying special veneration and attracting thousands of tourists who wanted to pray at their graves. Such persons included St Stanislaus, St Hyacinth, and recently - St Mary Faustine Kowalska.

Krakow owes its genius loci above all to the people that used to live here. The graves of some of them, located in nineteen beautiful churches in Krakow, compose the "Krakow Trail of Saints" and invite tourists to contemplate not only the magnificent architecture of the city, but also its spiritual history marked by the lives of saint bishops, missionaries, preachers, kings and princes, humble priests, ordained sisters and brothers, as well as the so-called lay people. The trail also includes three martyrs of the Second World War, whose graves can be found neither in Krakow's not in other sanctuaries. These people are still remembered in Krakow's churches in which they lived and worked. (Source)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 3rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now .... have fun!