By Paula Graham
Catholic Herald correspondent

Parish celebrates feast day of St. Mary of Czestochowa

HAWKINS -- On Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Mary Parish of Hawkins also honored its patron, Our Lady of Czestochowa. Reviving an old Polish tradition, one the congregation had not celebrated since 1967, Fr. John Anderson blessed bouquets of fresh-cut flowers and baskets of garden produce.

In Poland the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was observed by pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. People would walk for days, sometimes carrying their shoes, sometimes walking on their knees, until they arrived at the church. From their orchards and gardens, they brought flowers or small samples of fruit or vegetables to be blessed.

Polish Catholic immigrants settled what was to become South Fork at the turn of the 20th century. They named their community Czestochowa. In 1915 they built a church and dedicated it to "Matka Boska of Czestochowa" or Blessed Mother of Czestochowa. Every Aug. 15, the congregation honored their patron saint with offerings of flowers and produce.

Bernice Kramer remembers the women of the parish would gather before Mass on Aug. 15 and say the rosary in Polish. "Every year there would be a blessing of the flowers and food. It was a tradition." It was customary for the women to take home their bouquets for drying. They stored them in paper bags. During thunder storms or snowstorms, they would crumble a few petals in a bowl or a dish and light them.

Kramer tells a story about her sister Viola Plaza's July 3, 1929, wedding dance. "A thunder storm kicked up suddenly. Our mother grabbed her dried flowers, burned them and said the Hail Mary." This year Kramer brought a vase of peach-colored gladiolus. She plans to dry the blessed flower petals and follow her mother's tradition of burning them to protect her home during storms.

A picture of the Black Madonna also sat among the vibrant flowers and produce. It once belonged to Jeanette Kowalski's mother, Agnes Copija Gryga. Born in 1895, Gryga was a Polish immigrant who settled in South Fork when she married in 1912.

Kowalski recalls feast day celebrations at the old St. Mary Church in South Fork. "Everybody brought whatever they grew on the farm -- apples on a stick or peppers. They would take them home to share." She doesn't remember seeing her mother burn dried flowers during storms.

"We always burned blessed palms," she said. These days, Kowalski listens to the weather reports on her scanner. "When the storms get to Weyerhaeuser, the palms get lit. I fold it in Kleenex and let it burn. In no time the storms turn south."

In 1967 the parish built a new church in the township of Hawkins. St. Mary's of Czestochowa took along its original bell and statue of Mary. It shortened its name to St. Mary's and left behind the Polish tradition of blessing flowers on their patron's feast day. Thirty-four years later, the tradition has been reborn.

< Local Archives

© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001