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OUR HISTORY
HISTORY
Our Story
Over the Years
1225
1225

Bishop Bartholomew built the monastery of St. James on the Ürög’s Mountain in Patacs forest for the hermits and gave them the rule of life. This year is considered as the beginning of our Order.
1246
1246

Blessed Eusebius renounces the canon of Esztergom, sells the goods, gives the money to the poor, and settles in the Pilisium forests as a hermit where he meets other hermits.
1250
1250

Blessed Eusebius builds the monastery of St. Cross in the Pilis Mountains, where he gathers hermits living in the area. The monastery of St. James merges with the monastery of St. Cross, creating one congregation of hermits.
1253
1253

Bishop Bartholomew died.
1256
1256

Blessed Eusebius is elected the first provincial of the order.
1262
1262

Blessed Eusebius goes to Pope Urban IV in Rome to ask for his approval of the Order and the granting of the Rule of St. Augustine. He is helped by St.
Thomas Aquinas. Despite the Pope's favor, approval has to wait. The Pope calls Bishop Paul of Veszpré to investigate the property status of Pauline monasteries. It turns out that the monks do not have sufficient material resources to meet the requirements of the Augustinian rule. In view of this fact, Bishop Paul gives the Paulines a new temporary Rule, intended to complement the Rule of Bishop Bartholomew.
1270
1270

Blessed Eusebius dies in the Monastery of St. Cross in Klastrompuszta in the Pilis Mountains.
1308
1308

Gentilis de Mone Florido, as legate of Pope Clement V, approves the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, giving it the Rule of St. Augustine.
1309
1309

The Chapter, gathered in the Monastery of St. Lawrence near Buda, develops the first monastic constitutions. Provincial Lawrence (the fourth successor of Blessed Eusebius in the office of provincial) is appointed the first general of the order.
1341
1341

Fr. Nicolas the German, the general of the order, introduces white habits for the Pauline Fathers of all provinces.
1382
1382

Foundation of the monastery at Jasna Góra.
1429
-1450
1429 -1450

Construction of the Chapel of Our Lady at Jasna Góra Monastery
1463
1463

Consecration of the great Jasna Góra Church (today the Basilica) of The Holy Cross and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
1472
1472

Foundation of the monastery at Skałka, in Krakow.
1474
1474

St. Casimir is admitted to the Pauline confraternity. Years later, he will be declared its patron.
1493
1493

Queen Isabella I of Castile entrusts the Pauline Fathers with the work of evangelizing the newly discovered America during the second Columbus
expedition. Soon the evangelizing work begun by the Pauline Fathers is undertaken by other orders.
1526
1526

Defeat of the Hungarian troops at Mochacz. Dozens of Pauline monasteries are demolished, archives and libraries burned down, and many monks are
martyred.
1537
1537

Cardinal George Martinuzzi, Pauline, publishes the Pauline Missal in Venice.
1540
1540

The Pauline breviary is issued
1568
1568

Father Nicolas of Wilkowiecka publishes the first work in Polish on the history of the Jasna Góra icon.
1600
1600

The general Chapter in Lepoglava adopts the missal and breviary reformed after the Council of Trent.
1644
1644

General Chapter gathers in the Monastery of St. Wolfgang near Bratislava and adopts new Constitutions.
1655
1655

Defense of Jasna Góra under the command of Father Augustyn Kordecki during the Swedish invasion of Poland.
1656
1656

King Jan Kazimierz makes his vows in the Lviv Cathedral and proclaims Mary the Queen of Poland.
1717
1717

Coronation of the image of Our Lady of Jasna Góra with papal crowns, the first such act in the world outside Rome.
1724
1724

The general chapter of Maria Thall reforms the Constitutions, implemented at the next chapter in 1727.
1786
1786

Dissolution of the Order in Austrian territories under the decree of Emperor Joseph II.
1793
1793

Prussian troops under the command of Field Marshal Mólendort take the Jasna Góra fortress.
1806
1806

Napoleon’s army, which included Poles and French, takes the Jasna Góra fortress.
1819
1819

Dissolution of some monasteries in the Russian partition.
1864
1864

By order of Tsar Alexander II, monasteries in the Russian partition are closed. The execution of this order takes place on the night of November 27- 28, 1864. Of all the existing Pauline monasteries, only Jasna Góra and the monastery on Skałka in Krakow under Austrian rule remained.
1904
1904

Pope Pius X institutes the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
1910
1910

Re-coronation of the Jasna Góra icon with the crowns of Pope Pius X after the theft of the previous papal crowns in 1909.
1920
1920

In the face of the invasion of Poland by Soviet Russia, at the call of the Pauline Fathers, numerous pilgrims come to Jasna Góra, begging for victory over
the enemy. The nationwide prayer ends with the news of the Miracle on the Vistula, the defeat of the Bolsheviks on the outskirts of Warsaw on August 15. In the same year, the first general chapter of the reborn order is called, after a break of almost a century and a half.
1930
1930

Pope Pius XI approved new monastic Constitutions.
1939 -1945
1939 -1945

During World War II, a German military garrison is stationed at Jasna Góra. The sanctuary survives without damage during the Occupation.
1941
1941

In the Jasna Góra Monastery, the solemn Act of Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the community of the Pauline Order is performed.
1951
1951

Fr. Michael Zembrzuski, a Pauline Father, comes to the United States, bringing a faithful copy of the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa (blessed by Pope
St John XXIII), hoping to establish an American Shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa, similar to the one in Poland.
1953
1953

Father Michael Zembrzuski is granted permission from the Holy See and Cardinal O’Hara of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to establish a monastery and shrine on the land, which he previously purchased in Doylestown, PA.
1955
1955

A small wooden barn chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa with the celebration of the first Mass, thus marking the beginning of the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA. The dedication of the first chapel creates a new center of Marian devotion and a place of pilgrimage. Many pilgrim groups start coming to this little Shrine. The first pilgrimage ever recorded comes from St. Laurentius parish in Philadelphia on June 26, 1955, for the dedication ceremony of the barn chapel.
1956
1956

Jasna Góra Vows of the Polish Nation
1966
1966

With a great crowd of pilgrims, in the presence of the President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson and his family, representatives of the Catholic Church and State officials, Archbishop John Krol solemnly dedicates the new Shrine in the honor of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown.
1969 AND 1976
1969 AND 1976

Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Archbishop of Cracow (future Pope John Paul II) visits the Shrine of American Czestochowa.
1973
1973

The Constitutions, reformed in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, are implemented.
1979
1979

The first pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra.
1983
1983

The second pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra.
1986
1986

The Monastic Constitutions, revised following the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law by Pope John Paul II, are introduced.
1987
1987

The third pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra.
1991
1991

The fourth pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra as part of the VI World Youth Day.
1997
1997

The fifth pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra.
1999
1999

The sixth pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Jasna Góra.
2004
2004

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approve the new Liturgical Calendar of the Pauline Fathers, in which it allows the inclusion of the feast of Bl. Eusebius of Esztergom, presbyter and founder of the order, which is tantamount to an official approval of our devotion to him.
2005
2005

John Paul II, a day before his death, donates new “Totus Tuus” crowns for the icon of Jasna Góra.
2006
2006

Pope Benedict XVI visits Jasna Góra.
2016
2016

Pope Francis visits Jasna Góra.
2019
2019

Coronation of the Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown.
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