Częstochowa pilgrimage season kicks off
                
                    
                        PR dla Zagranicy
                    
                    
                        Jo Harper
                        
                        30.07.2015 17:07
                    
                                 
                
                
                    An annual season of pilgrimages to the Black Madonna shrine in Częstochowa has started, with a group of 230 people leaving the port city of Szczecin on the Baltic coast.
                
                
                    
                         A statue to Pope John Paul II in Częstochowa. Photo: TVP Info
A statue to Pope John Paul II in Częstochowa. Photo: TVP Info
                     
                
                
                
               
                
                         They will cover 640 kilometres before arriving in Częstochowa for the Feast of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary on 15 August.
A slightly shorter route – about 500 kilometres – lies ahead for 300 pilgrims from the town of Białystok, north-eastern Poland.
From Warsaw alone there are six pilgrimages to the Black Madonna shrine, all leaving the capital in the first week of August. They include groups of students and the handicapped. (mk/jh)