BACHLEDÓWKA PAULINE MONASTERY THE OUR LADY OF JASNA GÓRA CHURCH

Bachledówka is a hill in the Pogórze Gubałowskie foothills, located between the villages of Czerwienne and Ratułów; it offers spectacular vistas of the Tatra and the Beskidy mountains. The place is of special importance to the local highlanders – many of them have seen a strange halo over Bachledówka, and folk tales have only added to the mystery of this uninhabited hill.

One of the first people to settle in Bachledówka were two wealthy ladies: Maria Bułhak-Prińska and Helena Kowieńska-Jarząbek. The former etched the sign of the cross into a rock to devote the place to God. The present-day church stands on exactly that spot. The latter made a vow to donate all her possessions to God when her house was being searched by the Gestapo. After World War II, she sent invitations to many religious orders, but the remote, inaccessible forest location away from the village did not meet with much enthusiasm. Eventually, she donated her house and land to the Order of Saint Paul in her pilgrimage to Jasna Góra in 1955. The wooden house, called Villa Tebaida, was adapted to the needs of the Order and served primarily as a retreat.

Bachledówka was especially beloved by Primate Wyszyński, who between 1967 and 1973 would gladly come here for month-long stays. During each such holiday, he would be visited by Karol Wojtyła.

The new church was built with tremendous help from the local people between 1985 and 2000. Nowadays, Bachledówka is a place for contemplation and prayer that can bring the faithful closer to the two great devotees of the Virgin Mary: Blessed Stefan Wyszyński and Saint John Paul II.