WKŁAD SALEZJANÓW W UPOWSZECHNIANIE KULTU MARYI WSPOMOŻYCIELKI WIERNYCH W POLSCE
SALESIAN CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS PROPAGATING THE CULT OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS IN POLAND

Summary/Abstract: Among the first known places of the eponymous worship one should mention Passau, Innsbruck, Vienna and Turin. Pope Pius VII instituted the feast of Mary Help of Christians on May 24, as a commemoration of his return to Rome from Napoleonic captivity. The above mentioned Marian title had a lot of adherents, for instance the founder of the Salesian Society, St. John Bosco, who within 1863- 1868 founded the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin. Salesians, after arriving in Oświęcim in 1898, rebuilt the post-Dominican Holy Cross Church, giving it the new title of Mary Help of Christians and placing in the altar the faithful copy of the image of the Madonna of St. Bosco. Apart from Oświęcim, the Salesian Society also handles the sanctuaries of Mary Help of Christians in Przyłęków, Twardogóra and Rumia as well as nine parishes and two rectoral churches under the same title. Furthermore, in 1959 Polish Salesians contributed to the constitution of the compulsory feast of Mary Help of Christians, which since then has been celebrated on May 24 in all dioceses all over the country.

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