The Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Sulislawice is one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the Diocese of Sandomierz in Poland. The image of Our Lady at the shrine, a small icon (21.5 x 22 cm), painted on both sides of a board in the second half of the fifteenth century, represents Christ in the mystical winepress, with his suffering Mother at his side. Jesus shows his pierced hands, while Mary tries to stop the blood oozing from the wounded side of her Son. On the reverse side of the wood is the image of the face of the tortured Lord on the veil of Veronica.
The image was originally located in an old Romanesque church, and in 1888 was transferred to the newly constructed large neo-Gothic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The cult surrounding this image of Our Lady of Sorrows began in the seventeenth century, and Bishop Andrew Trzebicki issued a decree confirming this cult after examining the miraculous events and graces received through it. The coronation of Our Lady of Sorrows of Sulislawice was made by the Ordinary of the Diocese of Sandomierz, Bishop Marian Ryx, in 1913; and the image was recrowned in 1991 by Archbishop Joseph Kowalczyk with a crown consecrated by Pope St. John Paul II.
Our Lady of Sorrows of Sulislawice is the patroness of the Polish Province of the Resurrectionists, who since 1951 are the custodians of this unique place in the territory of Sandomierz.
For more information, please visit the site: www.sulislawice.pl
