Niepokalanów

Niepokalanów monastery (so called City of the Immaculate Mother of God) is a Roman Catholic religious community situated in Teresin (near the Warsaw-Łowicz railway line, about 42 km to the west from the capital of Poland). It was founded in autumn 1927 by Friar Minor Conventual – Maximilian Kolbe, who was later canonized as a saint-martyr of the Catholic Church.

Beginnings of the monastery
In 1927 duke Jan Drucki-Lubecki, son of Konstanty Drucki-Lubecki (commander of the Vilnius Cavalry Brigade) and countess Maria Antonina Krasinski, offered fr. Maximilian Kolbe a convenient ground near Warsaw for building a new monastery, later called Niepokalanów. In autumn of the same year the three wooden barracks (including the first chapel) were built and a consecration of the new monastery took place on 7 December 1927.

The facility served as a home for the conventual friars, a minor seminary and a volunteer fire department (since 1931). It was also a centre for charitable ministry and evangelization through the radio programmes and the distribution of printed materials (books and magazines). In 1930 father Kolbe founded a similar community in Nagasaki (Japan), called Mugenzai no Sono (無原罪の園: Garden of the Immaculate).

Quick growth of the Niepokalanów required more and more space. The donator, duke Jan Drucki-Lubecki, allowed the friars to use as much field as necessary, so the area of the monastery reached 28 ha. Before the Second World War broke out, it was the largest monastery in the world, housing as many as 760 men. One of the magazines, The Knight of the Immaculate (in Polish: Rycerz Niepokalanej), countered religious apathy and had a press run of 750,000 copies a month. The whole publishing house used about 1600 tonnes of paper annually for about 60 million copies of papers.

The time of war
During the Second World War, the monastery provided shelter for many soldiers, injured in the September Campaign of 1939 and also for refugees, regardless of their nationality or religion. For example, at the turn of 1939/1940, a group of approximately 1500 Jews, displaced from Greater Poland, stayed in Niepokalanów for several months, and the friars provided them with care.

The war did not spare the inhabitants of the monastery itself. Father Maximilian Kolbe, together with four other friars, was arrested by the Gestapo and he was murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp in august 1941 when he chose to sacrifice his life so another prisoner could live. That time the media evangelisation was forbidden (with the only one exception – December 1940 issue of Rycerz Niepokalanej, which aroused the hope of surviving dark time of war).

The Franciscans tried to keep up common prayers and help for the prisoners and numerous refugees. There was a sawmill, carpentry and dairy, a repair shop for agricultural machinery, bicycles, scooters, watches and many other items. The friars grew their own food, they had livestock, bee hives and chickens. Every day the local bakery provided fresh bread to many people in need. The courses of secret teaching were also held and PCK (Polish Red Cross) circle functioned.

During the Warsaw Uprising, the monastery became a refuge for the wounded members of Polish resistance, homeless families, and war orphans. Providing food for all that people was a big logistical challenge under the conditions of the occupation. In the end of the war (January 1945) during heavy bombardment of Niepokalanów, six friars were killed, some others injured and many of the buildings of the monastery were destroyed. In total, about 50 friars lost their lives during the entire war.

Niepokalanów today
After the war the printing house in Niepokalanów was reopened. The Knight of the Immaculate was issued again, as also some books, dedicated to St Maximilian (e.g. Dwie Korony [Two Crowns] by Gustaw Morcinek). In 1948-1954 there was built a new church in the modernist style according to the design of the architect Zygmunt Gawlik from Cracow. In June 1950, by the decree of cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, a new parish in Niepokalanów was established (7500 faithful circa).

In 1980, by decree of the Holy See, the church in Niepokalanów received the title and privileges of a minor basilica. The church and the monastery were visited by pope John Paul II during his second Pastoral Visit in Poland, on 18 of June 1983. The visit of the pope made Niepokalanów famous not only in Poland, but also abroad. John Paul II called the monastery a heroic place where saint Maximilian lived and the environment of the Immaculate. Many pilgrims wanted to visit the place, sacred by activity of St Maximilian, and pray in the local basilica.

Today the monastery is an important pilgrimage center in this part of Poland. Every year, on the way to Jasna Góra, the Warsaw Metropolitan Academic Pilgrimage makes a stop in Niepokalanów. Thousands of pilgrims can visit the basilica, the Millennium Panorama or the museum, dedicated to St Maximilian Kolbe (called There was a Man), established in 1998. There also exists a wooden old chapel, one of the first buildings here, constructed in 1927 and rebuilt two years later so the local faithful could attend the celebrations and services.