The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1915-06-10
Religious
A Visit to tho Polish Mecca.

/ Czenstochowa,. Poland, city of So.
600, is typical Of life under the Ger
man occupation, for the Silesians who
scrambled over the line at the crack
| of the pistol-the declaration Of war
and who came in at the front door as
the Russians were making their exit
| at the back, have been there ever
| since. There are also more beggars to
the square yard in Czenstochowa than
almost any other place. They have a
never failing formula for extracting
your copper money, for they all offer
to pray for your soul at the nearby
shrine Of Jasna Cora, the famous Pau
line monastery.
Jasna Cora is the famous Polish
Mecca to which armies of pious pill
grlms went not only from all over
Russian Poland, but from Silesia and
Gal1c1a as we'll, while the pilgrimaging
was good, and their hundreds Of thou
sands will no doubt come again as
soon as traffic conditions improve.
| The attraction is the miracle work
Ing image known as 1.-THE Black Ma
donna of Czenstochowa,' painted, &C.
cording to the legend, by the Evangel-
list Luke and brought there in 1877 by
one Opolski, priest. 1t is further
alleged that the face Of the Madonna
was originally painted in flesh tints.
but once miraculously turned black
overnight, with the result that the
miraculous cures effected by it have
brought fame and profit to the mon
astery through all the ensuing CEN
turtles.
The kaiser is said to have stood for
many minutes deep in thought before
the Black Madonna, rich with gold and
precious stones, and glowing strangely
by soft candle light, and afterward to
have donated an appreciate sum of
money to the monastery.
or more immediate interest to an
American reporter, writes CORE
spondent Of the New York Times, was
the human interest connected with the
beggars that lined the long approach
to the shrine, squatting on the cold
pavement when they had legs, and
propped against the stone walls when
they hadn't. The old adage, Its an
Ill wind that blows no one good.' was
borne out here, for the war had actu-
ally improved the lot of these hideous
grotesques, these poor cripples that
strewed the court like fallen gargoyles.
Before the war there were five times
as many beggars there, but in the
panic that followed the news that the
Germans We're coming most of them
found legs and made off, The lame,
halt and blind who remained are
thanking their stars now that they.
too, were not miraculously cured by
fear of the Germans, for not only has
the fierce competition for aims been re-
moved by the flight of the faint heart
ed, but the barbarians who came to
see (and the many who came to pray.
are providing stream Of revenue such
as never flowed from the pockets of
poor pilgrims even in the palmy days.
Inside the lofty dome you noted that
the place was Uttered up with high
scaffoldlng, for in spite Of war time,
repairs are being made and mural
paintings retouched. There is not an
inch of kneeling room before the mir
acle working Black Madonna. In
the semigloom you slowly make out
the picturesque, mixed war congrega-
ton - Polish women wrapped in
shawls, poorest of the poor; Catholic
German soldiers, holding their spiked
helmets before them; fervent Austri-
ans, praying before starting for the
front; very few Polish men, many
German soldiers in field gray, stand
ing, forming a respectful background.
In a side chamber an impressive Po-
fish priest is celebrating mass, and
here you note many better dressed Po-
fish women, many crying.
Z Z Z
Bible In New Zealand Schools.
The New Zealand government has
introduced into the house of repre-
sentatives of that colony bill to pro
vide for a referendum vote at the next
parliamentary election to determine
whether the Bible shall be read in the
public schools under the supervision Of
teachers, but without sectarian teach
ing, and whether provision shall be
made during school hours for religious
instruction by minister or his substi-
tute, to be chosen by the parent. If
the bill, which has received the in
dorsement of the government. shall
pass, 1t will be submitted to the voters
at the next election, and the result
will be laid before parliament at the
opening session of 1915.-The Living
Church.
= Z =
To Save Judson Memorial.
A campaign has been launched by
Baptists of New York to save Judson
| Memorial RQntiSt chl1rch in XNaali.,o.