The history of the Polish community in the USA begins on 1 October 1608, when a ship with settlers, including craftsmen from Polish lands, arrived in Jamestown (Virginia). Both they and subsequent Polish migrants brought with them to the New World not only their hopes and talents, but also traditions, including spiritual traditions.

Marian devotion in Doylestown

Marian devotion had been developing in Polish lands since the Middle Ages. Most notably, however, after 1384, when Prince Władysław Opolczyk brought an image of Our Lady and Child, considered miraculous, from Halich Rus to the Jasna Góra monastery near Częstochowa. According to legend, the image was painted by St Luke the Evangelist on a cedar table top from the home of the Holy Family. The Polish settlers who came to Doylestown also nurtured the cult of the Virgin Mary in the New World.

Today, a special place for the Polish community in the USA is the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa (the so-called American Czestochowa or American Jasna Góra), which is located near the town of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 2009. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops named it a National Shrine of the United States.

The Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa with her image

All great things arise from small things. Our salvation was conceived in the stable of Bethlehem - words of Cardinal O'Hara to Father Michael Zembrzuski, founder and builder of the Doylestown Shrine.

In 1951, a Pauline priest, Fr Michal Zembrzuski, arrived in the USA from Poland and brought with him a copy of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, consecrated by Pope Pius XII, with the hope of erecting a shrine on the model of the Jasna Gora shrine. In 1953, the Church authorities gave permission for the Pauline Order to be brought to the USA.

Two years later, a temporary shrine chapel was consecrated in a former farmer's barn (it serves worship purposes to this day). In 1966, to commemorate the millennium of the Baptism of Poland, a new church was consecrated on a hill dominating the area. The ceremony was attended by some 140,000 representatives of the Polish community and, among others, President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, who delivered a commemorative address. This was the first time that a US President attended a Polish celebration and participated in the consecration of a Catholic church.

The main celebrant of the Mass was to be the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. He did not attend because he had not received a passport from the communist authorities. His absence from the millennium celebrations in the USA was marked by an empty chair on which were placed white and red flowers and a crown of thorns, symbolising the enslavement of Poland and the persecution of the Church there.

Karol Wojtyla visited the Shrine twice as Archbishop of Krakow (1969) and as Head of the Universal Church (1980).

The functions of the Doylestown Shrine and its interior

In 1976, a bas-relief and an urn with soil from the Cemetery of the Eaglets of Lwów were unveiled in the shrine. The foundation of the entire shrine complex - the purchase of the land, the construction of the temple with stained glass windows depicting events from Polish and Christian history, as well as the monastery and the worshippers' centre - was financed by contributions from the Polish community, loans and fees for the purchase of spaces in the nearby cemetery. The financial obligations were finally paid off in 1980, on which occasion a symbolic "burning of debts" ceremony was organised.

In 1986, an urn was placed in the vestibule containing the heart of Ignacy Paderewski, who wished to be buried in a free Poland, while his heart was left in America.

At the Doylestown Shrine, sacred and secular functions are intertwined, and Polish conventions, among others, are held here. Since 1967, an annual Polish-American family festival has also been held at the Shrine. This is a multi-day celebration of family, fun and heritage that attracts more than 25,000 visitors each year and is the largest Polish-American festival in the region. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan attended the event.

The Polish Cemetery in Doylestown - the largest necropolis of the Polish community

Adjacent to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the cemetery is the largest Polish-American necropolis (approximately 6,000 graves). The dominant feature is the Avenger Monument, in the shadow of which rest soldiers (over 2 000), among them many post-war emigrants. This sector is referred to as 'Polish Arlington' (in reference to the National Cemetery located near the Pentagon).

Memorial to the victims of the Katyn massacre in Doylestown

The Avenger's Monument is dedicated to the victims of the Katyn Massacre and was unveiled on 14 August 1988. Its author is Andrzej Pityński.

The monument is approximately 10 metres high. It is a bronze sculpture on a granite plinth depicting a hussar kneeling on one knee, supporting himself on a sword. The figure of the lone warrior embodies the idea of patriotism.

There are two plaques on the pedestal, the first with the inscription KATYÑ 1940 , the second SMOLEÑSK 2010 . The first plaque bears a quotation in English from the report of the Special Investigation Commission of the United States Congress to Investigate the Katyn Massacre (the so-called Madden Commission, 1951-1952): The Commission unanimously concludes beyond any doubt that the Soviet NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) committed the mass murder of Polish officers and representatives of the intellectual elite in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, Russia .

Patriotic ceremonies are held at the memorial, which is treated as a "monument to the unknown soldier", including celebrations of the Polish Army Day).

Polish necropolis in Doylestown

Hundreds of veterans of the First and Second World Wars are buried in the cemetery in the American town of Doylestown. Among other monuments, there are monuments to General Władysław Anders, Soldiers of the Wyklętych (unveiled in 2016 by the President of the Republic of Poland) and a commemorative plaque dedicated to the Battle of Warsaw 1920. (unveiled in 2021 by the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Poland).

Numerous representatives of the Polish elite are buried at the necropolis, including Adam Styka (†1959, painter, co-author of Panorama Racławicka together with Wojciech Kossak; he was the first person to be buried at the cemetery), General Władysław Bortnowski (†1966, commander of the "Pomorze" Army in 1939.), Otton Nikodym (†1974, mathematician), Stefan Korboński (†1989, head of the Directorate of Civil Struggle of the Home Army), Roland Kalpas (†1994, before the war a test pilot, he flew about 40 types of aircraft and gliders, including PZL.37 Łoś) and the founder of the shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, Father Michał Zembrzuski (died 2003).