Poland Part 1

Last weekend the school took us to Poland.  It was the longest and most in depth trip that we have had so far.  Next to Innsbruck it was my favorite.  Simply due to the nature of how huge this trip was, I have decided to split it up into at least two (if not several) posts.  But first, here is a quick update on my life.  I am about halfway through the semester, and midterms are next week.  From what I know of my midterms, they are all going to be very difficult.  Fortunately I only have four of them.  I guess that up until this point in my life, I have been used to simple multiple choice and true or false questions for midterms.  This time around it looks like I will be dealing with essays and maybe some true and false if I am lucky.  In case any of you are concerned with my grades, rest assured I have already started studying, which is unbelievable for me considering how much time I still have before the tests come around.  Anyway, on to Poland…

The trip to Poland began at around 8PM last Thursday.  We departed by bus, and drove all through the night.  It was a pretty typical long bus ride; hot, generally uncomfortable, sleep-deprived and a bit frustrating considering some of the other people on board.  Despite all this, it was entirely bearable considering the reality that we had to come to terms with before arriving in Poland.  We were on our way to visit a place where some of the most unspeakable horrors and some of the greatest triumphs of all humanity occurred.  I am speaking about the mass-murder committed at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, and the first step in the overthrow of Communism (spearheaded by Karol Wojtyla the future Pope John Paul II).

Our first destination was Czestochowa.  We arrived there early in the morning, around 5:30AM I think.  Most of us got off of the bus and immediately rushed to a monastery known as Jasna Gora.  By “rushed,” I literally mean that we ran in order to make it to a ceremony that happens there every morning at 6AM.  This ceremony is the unveiling of the Black Madonna, or Our Lady of Czestochowa.  The Black Madonna is an icon that was written by St. Luke, of the Virgin Mary holding her Son.  The table that belonged to the Holy Family served as the canvas for the icon.  The Black Madonna has been housed in Jasna Gora since 1382.  We were told that Jasna Gora and the Black Madonna have been and will always be at the heart of Poland.

Anyway, the actual ceremony was pretty cool.  At 6AM sharp, there was a loud blast of trumpets accompanied by drums, and the silver veil covering the image began to be lifted.  It is hard to describe exactly how intense the whole situation was using only words, but I will say that what we had been told about Jasna Gora and the Black Madonna was completely true.  Merely being present and watching the ceremony showed me how deeply routed the Polish people are in their devotion to Mary and their faith. 

Here are some pictures from the ceremony and the time spent in Czestochowa. 

This is a picture from the unveiling ceremony of the Black Madonna.

This is the icon itself.  The Black Madonna, or Our Lady of Czestochowa.  The dark tint actually comes from numerous attempts to preserve the image over the years.  You may also notice the cuts on the right side of her face (left side of the picture).  According to legend a Hussite raider tried to destroy the image with his sword, but he only managed about two and a half strikes before he fell over in agony and died.

The stole of John Paul II when he was shot.  It hangs next to the image of Our Lady.  John Paul II said that it is because of Mary’s intercession that he survived the attempted assassination. 

Jasna Gora from the outside. 

A balcony where John Paul II addressed his people (either after the fall of Communism, or in the tail end of its time in Poland).

Our group finishing up Mass in the shrine where the Black Madonna is kept.

Mary and I in Jasna Gora.

 

That is all for right now, my next post will be about our visit to Auschwitz. 

Pictures From Prague

St. Wenceslaus statue in Prague.

A random building covered in sculptures of people.

Prague’s famous astronomical clock.

The Tyn Church (possibly cathedral) in the Old Town square.  It started as a Catholic church, converted into a Hussite church, and then returned to being Catholic. 

A statue of Jan Hus, the starter of the Hussite heretical movement.  He started this movement before the protestant reformation, but ultimately it was very similar thing.

Statue of Mary behind the Tyn.

A Crucifix sculpture on the Charles Bridge in Prague.

Mary and I on the bridge, I look pretty strange without a beard. 

My traveling buddies at lunch in a Subway.  Fortunately none of us are opposed to eating fast food in foreign countries, it saves a lot of money.

We climbed a giant staircase up to the Prague Castle.

Before going into the castle we looked around and took pictures of the city.  We had a pretty good view of everything, which makes sense considering that castles were built on hills in order to give a good view of the cities that they were built to protect.

Some more of the city. 

Apparently Prague has a replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Marriana, Mary, and I on top of the big hill where the last four pictures were taken.

St. Vitus Cathedral inside of Prague’s castle.  We didn’t actually get to see much of the castle, really just the church and the view of the city. 

Stained glass in St. Vitus.  It was all pretty incredible.

The John Lennon wall in Prague.  Basically was a wall dedicated to Lenin (not John), but because of a mutual dislike of him, people started graffiti-ing John Lennon lyrics on the wall.  Since then it has become common practice.

Mary and I stuck on a spider-web in a local park where we decided to kill some time before Mass.

I took some pictures while we were going to the bus from dinner.

Most of them ended up being a bit blurry, but still still worth posting I thought.  Prague is very well lit and nice looking at night.

The Tyn at night. 

Poland

I am getting ready to hop on the bus to Poland in about an hour.  It is going to be a long drive.  About twelve hours.  Needless to say, I will be out of touch until Monday.  Please say a prayer for us, as this is probably the biggest trip we will take besides maybe Rome.

Speaking of Rome, I am officially going to the Beatification of JPII my last week here.  I paid my 90 euros today and secured a spot on the bus.

Well, that is all for now.  See you in about four days.

Prague

So, as you may know I went to Prague with my school last weekend.  Of the trips that we have taken so far, I think that it was the least exciting.  It was still good and fun, just not up to par with the other trips that we have been on.  Prague is located in the Czech Republic, and it seems to be a major tourist trap for the most part.  Due to a general economic depression prices there are good for most things, which is probably the reason why it was so touristy.  The main thing that I noticed about Prague though was that it was by far the most American city that we have visited.  It was a little depressing to go into a city with virtually the same disgusting culture as most of the big cities back home.  Despite all of this though, it was still a good trip.

It looks like I can't post pictures right now for some unknown reason, but I will as soon as I am able to again.

Also, the school is taking us on a trip to Poland this weekend.  It is supposedly the best trip that the school offers, and I am really excited about it.  We will be leaving Thursday evening, and getting back late on Sunday.  It is going to be a long drive.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Tomorrow

So, I am going to Prague in a few hours.  Just figured that I would let you all know.  I'll be posting about it on Sunday most likely.

John Paul II

So, it looks like my school is arranging a trip to Rome to see the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.  The trip would be during the very last bit of free time that we have before we come home to the States.  I really hope I can go, I think it would be an incredible way to end the semester here.

The Eucharistic Miracle in Seefeld

Since there have been some questions about the miracle that my group and I got to see, I decided that it might be a good idea to post a link with the story.  As you will see, this whole incident happened on Holy Thursday in 1384.

Here is the link.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/seefeld-eucharistic-miracle.htm

The only thing about it that I question is the material that they claim the monstrance is made of.  I thought it looked like gold, but I guess that it could be worn silver, considering that it has been around since the 1300s.

That's all for now!

Innsbruck, Absam and Seefeld

I officially got back from my first trip that wasn't directed by the school last night.  The trip was fantastic, despite having some definite bumps in the beginning.  The day of our journey started at about 3 AM when the Kartause's fire alarm unexpectedly went off, stranding almost all of the students out in the cold and rainy courtyard in front of the building.  We were stuck outside for about a half of an hour as we watched Gaming's fire department arrive, strap on gas masks, and go inside. They found that the cause of the alarm was merely a hot wire rubbing up against a piece of Styrofoam.  It wasn't exactly a pleasant start to the day, but it could have been worse.  After the all-clear I went back to bed for a short while.

The day began again at 5:30 AM.  I got up and got ready to meet the rest of my group for the bus at 6.  So far so good, everyone was awake, everything was packed and we were ready by 6 for the bus, so we walked to the bus station.  After about ten minutes of waiting at the bus station, people started to question whether or not our bus was even coming.  After about an hour, we were content that neither the first nor second bus were coming.  I was starting to get reasonably frustrated, when another student (from a different traveling group) discovered that there are actually two bus stops in Gaming labeled "Marktplatz," and we had been at the wrong one.  At this point we decided to head back to the Kartause and try to find a way to Scheibbs, the nearest train station.  Fortunately for us, one of our friends was already on the case, and had found everyone rides with the director of the Austrian program and my boss Maros.

By the time we got to Scheibbs we had missed our train, but it was okay.  We had a couple of hours to kill before the next one, so we decided to walk around the town.

Scheibbs has a river running through it, so Mary and I decided to get a picture on the bridge.  

A statue in the town square I think...

Scheibbs' church.  

A statue in front of the church.  

A war memorial in front of the church.  

The altar in the church (we visit most of the churches that we see).  Also, after our visit here we went to a tiny shopping complex.  I didn't take any pictures of it for some reason...

After shopping, we found a playground, and decided to hang out and get a few pictures in the last couple of minutes before the train.  

Mary and I on another bridge...

Closeup on the bridge.  We also took a few pictures jumping up and down on the bridge, but none of the ones on my camera turned out, so check facebook later.  

After all of this, we got on the train and proceeded towards Innsbruck.  The actual journey to Innsbruck was a bit confusing due to train transfers.  We basically had to take a slow train way out of our way in order to get on a fast train to Innsbruck.  If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have gotten there until 10 or 11 PM rather than 6. 

It was already dark when we got to Innsbruck and almost everything was closed, so we got some pizza and headed for the hostel.  The hostel was actually really good.  Credit goes entirely to Mary for picking it, but it is called the Garni-Technikerhaus, and I highly recommend it for any future students who may wish to visit the Innsbruck area.  After check-in, we started planning out what we were going to do the next day.  Part of that planning involved finding the bus stop, so a few of us ventured out to the marktplatz to try and find it.  

Me in front of the Triumphpforte (the Triumphal Arch).

Some modern art in the marktplatz.  

Innsbruck at night.

After we found the bus station, we headed back to the hostel, hung out, played a few games and went to bed.

The next day we woke up, got breakfast, and hopped on the bus to Absam.  The Absam Kirche is a chapel which was dedicated to Mary after and image of her appeared on a window pane in the 1790s.  Sadly, it is a long story and I don't really know all of the details.  What I do know is that the window pane is on display in the church, and that it has undergone tests to show its validity.  Anyways, we also discovered the coolest adoration chapel that I have ever seen.  

Absam Kirche.

The Altar in Absam Kirche.  

The altar where the window pane is housed.

A close-up of the miraculous image.  

This was a side chapel dedicated to the people who experienced miraculous healing at the church.  All of the pictures on the walls are of people who have been healed in Absam.

The Eucharistic Chapel.  The heart is the tabernacle, and if you look closely, you can see the Eucharist in a small monstrance dead center.  

Absam's cemetery.  

I know this post is starting to get long, but I only have two more places to talk about, Seefeld and Innsbruck (again).  Anyway, we hopped on a train to Seefeld shortly after returning from Absam.  I think it was one of the coolest places that I have ever visited.  It was just a nice little quiet town, with a Eucharistic miracle that we miraculously got to see.  

They actually do cool things with the snow here.

The Church with the miracle, I think it was St. Oswald's.

Another cool snow sculpture.  

The altar where the miracle occurred.  A basic version of the story is this, a knight walked up to the altar during Communion and demanded the biggest host.  The priest gave it to him, at which point his hands stuck to the altar and his feet began to sink into the ground (solid rock).  The priest to the Eucharist back from the night, and it (the Host) began to bleed.  The knight was then released, and lived a virtuous life thereafter.  

This is a grate covering the hole where the knight sank into the ground.  

It is hard to tell from the picture, but this is one of the knight's hand-prints on the altar.  When he sank into the ground, his hands also sunk into the altar.  

As you may have realized, I don't have any pictures of the actual Host involved in the miracle.  That is because we couldn't find it.  As it turns out it wasn't on display.  One of my friends however, managed to find someone who could fix that for us.  Basically she went over to the friars' apartments and found one who could show us the Eucharist.  He gave us a private Benediction with the miracle on the altar, which was incredible.  I don't have any pictures, but I can try to describe it.  Basically the Host was hidden behind a wall panel in a safe of some sort, so we never would have been able to see or even find it without the help of the priest.  It was housed in a small glass cylinder that was decorated with gold.  The Host itself was still stained a reddish brownish color, it was definitely blood.  It was a once in  lifetime experience.

As the Benediction was finishing, these guys showed up outside and started playing some sort of victory song on the bagpipes.  It was well timed.  

After Seefeld, we returned to Innsbruck for a bit of exploring.  

I thought this looked cool, the plane was an added bonus.  

The arch again.

A concert that I guess was benefiting the Youth Olympics that are going to be held there next year.  

A very classy cafe (I think).

The Moustache Cafe.

The Dom (Cathedral).

Well, that is all for now.  Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post about my weekend!