One man’s vision, effort and belief in accomplishment allowed for changing an old barn into a catechetic room, and turning a chapel into a church. Thanks to his consequence and persistence a modest beginning had an impressive final.

 

The history of the sanctuary
The Sanctuary of the Sorrowful Mother of God and the Mother of the Świętokrzyskie Land, is connected with the figure of Fr. Czesław Wala, who since 1967 has been the vicar of the Krynki parish. Due to his determination and enormous effort, the Chapel of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was built in the nearby Kałków. In the beginning, it was only a catechetical centre for the children from the area, yet with time, it has become a place not only for church service, but  also religious and patriotic events, the Schola (a religious choir) and the Altar-boys’ Circle meetings. Although Fr. Wala was formally still a vicar of Krynki, the people of Kałków considered him their parson and treated the chapel as a parish church. Nevertheless, the parish was established there not earlier than 1981, as the activity of Fr Wala was not well seen by the contemporary administrative authorities. He was often persecuted and summoned to testify before the officers of S.B.(Służby Bezpieczeństwa - hist. Security Services). Despite these problems, the religious services in Kałków took place as usual. In 1982 the building of the church started and soon, with a common effort of the parishioners, the temple was completed. A year later, on the Feast of the Pentecost, (Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit), a copy of the painting of the Licheń Mother of God was brought to the new temple. At first, it got to the St. Maximilian’s Chapel, next, to the main altar of the lower part of the new church and finally, after completion of the building in 1988, the enthroned painting was placed in the main altar of the temple’s upper part. At the same time, on the nearby land, bought from the local farmers, other religious sites have been built, mainly the pilgrimage houses, the house John Paul II and the Calvary. All this was contributory for the Kałków-Godów temple to become a sanctuary.

The miraculous image
The Kałków sanctuary is also a place of miraculous cult of the Mother of God Image in the copy of the Licheń Mother of God painting which has been offered by a keeper of the museum in Licheń. The original painting of the Sorrowful Queen of Poland in Licheń was painted by an anonymous artist and since 1858 it has been ascribed to bring grace and cure. Its cult started during an epidemic of cholera on the Polish lands in 1852. What is more, in the Kałków temple’s altar of the Home Army Chapel there is a painting of the Sorrowful Mother of God from Wykus. The pilgrimages to the sanctuary started in 1983, when the Sorrowful Queen of Poland has been brought to Kałków-Godów. Every year, the place is being visited by thousands of pilgrims from Poland, as well as Lithuania and Belarus.

Not only a place of cult
The temple, which is a centre of the Kałków sanctuary, was built as a thanksgiving votive for saving the Polish nation from atheism and as a plead for peace around the world. Presently, the area of the sanctuary includes several sites, among which there are: the pilgrim’s house, the house of John Paul II, the house of the Świętokrzyskie Panorama and the Lord’s Passion House, as well as, water pump stations. Similarly to the sanctuary in Licheń, a Way of the Cross has been built here. Its first stations are situated by a road known as the Martyrdom Way of the Świętokrzyskie People, leading straight to the sanctuary, while the remaining ones are made of stone and lead to a 33 metres high Golgotha. Apart from these places of cult, in the area of the sanctuary there is a village for deaf-and-numb children, a senior house of Sue Ryder and a house of the enclosed order sisters. Nearby, there are also a few hermitages with a view of the Holly Cross which serve as retreat houses.

For those who search for calming and reflection over the earthly and eternal matters.