By Paul Suski –
“…faith and prayer are forces that can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.” (St. John Paul II)
August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, marks the 123th anniversary of the Miracle on the Vistula River, the event that is still very little known in the West; in fact, a watershed moment of contemporary European history, yet so shamefully-overlooked in the shadows of the interwar period, and after the Second World War when the Communist governments openly declared religion as the ‘opium of the masses’.
Also read: Part II: The Miracle on the Vistula, The Unsaid Story
The Polish-Soviet war (1919-1920) has taken on symbolic meaning for many people around the world, not just the Poles. G. K. Chesterton compared it to the defeat of the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683. A few centuries later, in 1920 a Polish force were defending our Christian civilization against an ideology of militant atheism. Nowadays, not many realize that the primary source of this stupendous victory lay in Our Lady’s intervention, preceded by fervent national prayer. As I alluded in the Miracle on the Vistula River – Rediscovered, published in 2020, there was the double appearance of the Virgin Mary on the outskirts of Warsaw.
In this era of crisis of the European culture and Christian values, it is even more urgent to constantly recall the existence of Almighty God whose Providence guides the destiny of nations.
During the restoration of a nearly century-old wooden trunk, a woodworker stumbled upon a surprising revelation: a concealed compartment with a mysterious envelope. This hidden letter, once belonging to Wiktoria`s grandfather; it had remained untouched throughout the entire period of communist rule in Poland, patiently waiting for the opportune moment to shed light on the Miracle on the Vistula. Here is a large portion, published by a biweekly magazine:
Dear Stasieńko,
I am sorry I have not written to you for so long, but there was no time. We had so much work with those Bolsheviks. We chased them day and night. Don’t be cross with me. Thanks to God, I am alive as you can see, since I am writing this letter. […] I will tell you about the fight against the Bolsheviks as soon as I get home, and now I will only write to you about the miracle that happened here, because I know that such strange stories will interest you the most. All the newspapers write now that the Bolsheviks did not manage to capture Warsaw, because our generals commanded soldiers so efficiently, so they had to lose. Meanwhile, people say that generals are generals, but in the morning on August 15th when you were journeying via a horse-drawn cart to church in Lichen to take part in the indulgence feast, the Mother of God appeared to the Bolsheviks in the sky and scattered them to the four winds! People say different things and you don’t have to believe everything, but in hospital in Warsaw, waiting for a doctor’s call I spoke with two soldiers, who had fought at Wólka Radzyminska, they told me it had been true. First-handed they saw the bug-eyed Bolsheviks, fleeing in panic from the battlefield as if their life depended on it. Mind Stasieńko, one cannot simply run away from the battlefield, when someone does, then they find him, he immediately faces a court-martial and they sentence him to be shot. You must know that the Bolsheviks mete out hundredfold worse punishments than we do, so my conversation companions in hospital were very much surprised that the Reds had been fleeing in such a panic as their commanders watched them. (Notabene – anti-retreat Cheka detachments followed the Red Army regiments) Only on the second day when the battle was over, these soldiers learned, the Bolsheviks had escaped because they had seen the Mother of God in the sky, who had commanded the mighty heavenly army and that this army had rushed at them as if from a high mountain. The Polish army did not see it. The Poles could only see the sky as it looks at dawn. These soldiers who fought at Wólka also said that the Russians had fled breathlessly to nearby villages and they even out of fear had hidden in kennels. Dogs barked at and bit them, but they refused to leave them. Finally, as they were out, on their knees they begged the Poles to hide. They said that Matier Bozyu (Mother of God) had appeared in the sky and admitted that they they could not fight against Her. […] I said to them that the miracle at Wólka might have been necessary for the Bolshevik Russia to come to its senses and convert. My companions replied that it would not be so, because they would immediately sentence those Bolsheviks to be shot for escaping from the battlefield, and even if they are not convicted, and as soon as a Bolshevik speaks out about the appearance, they will surely shoot him for it, because they cannot allow such news spread around Russia. When the doctor called me, I asked him if he had heard of a miracle. He replied that he had heard that in hospital they had had one such Bolshevik who had run away from the sign in the sky. While escaping he jumped over the wall and broke both his legs. The doctor also said that this Seryozha, that is the name of the Bolshevik with broken legs, would not return to Russia, there is no point in doing so, for death only. I don’t understand anything from this Bolshevik policy. How can you kill anyone for telling the truth? […] Before the battle, the churches were full of people. They prayed rosaries for hours. Masses were celebrated. At shrines they repeated Hail Mary’s over and over again. In villages people were kneeling before the images of Our Lady of Czestochowa. They lay prostrated. And they say it was like this all over Poland. They obtained a miracle from God. (…) Be well, God will let me tell you everything soon.
– Józek
One must come to recognize that there is a lack of historical records concerning Red Army soldiers due to a predominant illiteracy among their ranks. Furthermore, political Commissars took proactive measures to prevent the documentation of individual soldier from revelation. It should make the enemies of the Church wonder how could several hundred of atheist soldiers collectively encounter a mass hallucination?
On the 14th of October, 2008, Fr. Dr. Józef Bartnik S.J. (1927-2013) who worked for 30 years at the Jesuits` sanctuary, on the air of Catholic Radio Maryja said:
My objective is to raise awareness about this case and ensure long-overdue thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary after 88 years. […] We are deeply indebted to the Mother of God for Her spectacular assistance given to our army. The Mother of God’s public appearance before hundreds of atheists, which is virtually unique to the world, played a pivotal role in saving Warsaw, Poland and Europe from the Bolshevik revolution in 1920.
… It was only after a series of articles published in the Catholic press, collectively titled “Bear Witness to the Appearance” that relevant documents and testimonials started to emerge. I received them from Senator Jadwiga Stokarska, Pastor Father Wiesław Wiśniewski, Józef Domagalski, and several others. However, many testimonies I learned could not be included in the book as they did not provide new information. Examples of such testimonies were those of Eugenia Władysława Papis and Wacława Jurczakowska.
Tomorrow: Part II: The Miracle on the Vistula – The Unsaid Story