The fate of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Malko Tarnovo is inextricably linked with the history of recent centuries. It can boldly be called the image of the "wandering Mother of God". For it has travelled not so much a long road as a tortuous one. It led from Lviv, through the eastern Balkans and Turkey, ending in Malko Tarnovo.

Polish mission in Adrianople
Before we move on to the history of the much venerated image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Malko Tarnovo, we must first go back in time and then in space.

In the autumn of 1863, the January Uprising in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth comes to an end and the entire socio-political-economic order of the time is forgotten. At the same time in Bulgaria, on the eve of its breakout to independence, there is also no shortage of political and religious turmoil. Thanks to the powerful, including financial intercession of Prince Adam Czartoryski, the union of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with Rome was signed at the turn of 1860/1861. As a result of multilateral diplomatic efforts, co-led by Paris and Istanbul and the Polish emigration residing in Turkey, the Bulgarian Uniate Church was officially established. Its first Ordinary was Jozef Sokolski. The signature of this Bulgarian clergyman appeared on all Union documents, which did not suit Russia. Bishop Sokolski was soon abducted to St Petersburg, from where he never returned to his native land. His successor, Raphael Popov, met an even worse fate - he was poisoned.

At the same time, a third priest, the Pole Hieronim Kajsiewicz, a participant in the November Uprising, writer and co-founder of the Resurrectionist Order, brought his confreres Fr Karol Kaczanowski and Br Marcin Janus to Adrianopol (now Edirne), in the Turkish Rumelia, who first established an elementary school and then the highly regarded Bulgarian-Catholic Gymnasium. The high level of teaching at the Adrianopol school guaranteed admission without entrance examinations to universities in various European countries, including Switzerland and France. The missionary activity of the Polish Resurrectionists brought results, the number of believers increased, and the fame of the place also reached the post-partition Poland.

Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Malko Tarnovo
In 1907, the Adrianopol shrine and headquarters of the Resurrectionists gained an extraordinary gift - a copy of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

The Jasna Gora image is a so-called hodegetria type, or from the Greek 'pointing the way', because in fact the Mary depicted on it is holding the little Jesus in one hand, while the other is showing direction. There are at least two hypotheses regarding the interpretation of this particular gesture and also of the nickname. According to the first, Empress Pulcheria placed the prototype of this icon in the Ton Odigon church in Constantinople, where monks caring for the blind ministered. The second hypothesis is that Mary is literally pointing to the environment where she was set, namely the harbour district, full of sailors and merchants. This most famous Marian image came to Czestochowa on 9 August 1382, thanks to Prince Władysław Opolczyk, to radiate from there to Hungary, Germany, Austria, Russia, England and France.

Our Lady of Lwów
The cult of the Czestochowa image was also alive in Galicia. The Lviv goldsmith Walenty Jakóbiak (Jakubiak) came up with the idea of donating a copy of the icon to a Bulgarian church. What inspired him to such an original but - let's not hide it - expensive venture?

Perhaps at the dawn of his journey as a painter, he was spurred on by conversations with Adam Chmielowski, later to become Saint Brother Albert. They both met in Rome, where Jakóbiak practised, gaining experience in the best workshops in Europe.

However, we still do not know why he chose Adrianople. What is certain is that, offering a painting of unknown authorship, the Lviv resident dedicated the gift as a "consolation to all Catholics living in the eastern Balkans". The painting itself was given a gold, richly decorated cloth. Like the Jasna Gora original, Mary and Jesus, who is held in her arms, here have darker skin and eyes, turned straight towards the viewer, while Our Lady's face is crossed by two parallel features. Completing the icon are two, most likely wooden, gilded figures of kneeling angels, positioned on either side of the painting. Like the cloth, these came out of Jakóbiak's workshop.

Last mission - Malko Tarnovo
The donor arrived with the gift in person and Adrianopol must have made quite an impression on him. The city, centre of the Bulgarian mission of the Resurrectionists, once called Hadrianopolis in honour of its founder, Emperor Hadrian, is still considered one of the most disputed places in the world. Its location, close to the borders of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria meant that its affiliation changed frequently in the 20th century. The Adrianopol mission of the Resurrectionists continued to flourish until 1914. After the Ottoman Empire joined the First World War on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, all representatives of the Entente States left Adrianopol. Polish missionaries, on the other hand - due to their links with French missionary societies - were considered potential agents of the Western powers. The activities of the Resurrectionists in Adrianople officially ended in 1928, although already earlier, in the wake of armed conflicts and political turmoil, the monks were forced to move (along with the church equipment) to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, where they spent almost thirty years.

After the Second World War, the communist authorities of the People's Republic of Bulgaria waged a war against all expressions of religion, especially against Catholic religious confraternities, usually arriving from other European countries. It was then that the Resurrectionist priests once again went on the road. They finally settled in Malko Tarnovo in Strandja, the south-eastern border region of Bulgaria, where there had been a Uniate community since the 19th century. Over time, a chapel was added to the church, to which today both Uniate, Catholic and Orthodox believers from all over the world make their pilgrimage.

Bulgarian Black Madonna - Patroness of Christian Unity
Today, the image of the saint is adorned with a golden crown, set with precious stones. The ceremony of bestowing the royal insignia on the image took place on 25 May 2002. It was then that Pope John Paul II raised a prayer in the sanctuary, and not only Bulgarians remembered his words:

. May the Lord support and help you in the noble fulfilment of the tasks of the Christian life, and through the intercession of his Blessed Mother, venerated as Patroness of Christian Unity in the shrine of the Most Holy Trinity in Malko Tarnovo, may he grant you an abundance of his blessings.

And when, years later, Karol Wojtyla was proclaimed a saint, another special polonium arrived at the shrine, namely the so-called piuska, or headdress, in which the Pope then celebrated Mass.

And so we find Polish traces in a small village, far from the fixed points on the tourist routes. We can only hope that their wandering stories have come to an end.