May 3 Matka Boża Królowa Polski (Our Lady Queen of Poland), Poland.

May 3 Matka Boża Królowa Polski (Our Lady Queen of Poland), Poland.

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In 1617, Jesuit missionary Julio Mancinelli, then in Naples, had a revelation in which the Mother of God told him she wished to be known as Queen of Poland. By 1655, when the Swedes invaded Poland, Mary's new title was already known throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the Poles raised the Swedish siege of the monastery of Czestochowa, its beloved Black Madonna became especially associated with the title. On April 1, 1656, King Jan Casimir proclaimed the Mother of God the "Queen of the Polish Crown" and the shrine of Jasna Gora at Czestochowa its spiritual capital. In 1923, Pope Pius XI designated May 3 as the Feast of Our Lady, Queen of Poland, to coincide with the civil holiday commemorating the Constitution of May 3, 1791. The feast is celebrated in Poland, Lithuania, Chicago, and everywhere Polish Catholics have settled.