Sanctuary of Our Lady of Skępe

The sanctuary in Skępe is a late-Gothic Bernardine church and friary with four wings of Baroque cloisters, born of a vision during a plague in 1495. The small statue venerated here, Our Lady Expecting, shows Mary awaiting a child, which is why couples hoping for children come here in particular. The National Heritage Board counts the complex among the largest and most popular pilgrimage sanctuaries of Kuyavia, the Dobrzyń Land and Mazovia.

History: from a wooden chapel to a coronation

In 1495, during an outbreak of plague, the furrier Jan of Pobiedziska is said to have had a vision. The owners of Skępe, Mikołaj Kościelecki and his wife Katarzyna, built a wooden chapel in Wymyślin, now part of Skępe. In 1496 their daughter Zofia placed in it a Gothic statue of Our Lady bought in Poznań, in thanks for a healing.

In 1498 Bernardine friars were brought in, and in 1508–1510 a friary and a larger church were built; the church was consecrated in 1511. St Anne's Chapel was added in 1519–1524, and in 1725–1732 the four-winged pilgrimage cloisters with Stations of the Cross and confession places for the crowds of pilgrims. In 1750–1752 Brother Walenty Żebrowski painted the interior, and on 18 May 1755 the statue was crowned with papal crowns.

After the January Uprising, in 1864, the Tsarist authorities closed the friary. The Bernardines returned in 1933, had to leave in 1940 and took over Skępe again in 1945.

What to see

• The statue of Our Lady of Skępe (about 88–89 cm) – a young woman with hands folded on her breast, surrounded by many votive offerings.
• The cloisters around a square courtyard, nine arches on each side, with St Barbara's Chapel in the middle.
• St Anne's Chapel and the wall paintings by Walenty Żebrowski.
• The founders' crypts – the church is the burial place of the Kościelecki and Zboiński families.
• "Borek" – the site where prayers were held before the coronation, about 5 minutes' walk from the friary, right next to the recreation area on Lake Wielkie.

Tripto tips

• Masses (sanctuary website): Sundays 7:00, 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 and 17:30; weekdays 7:00 and 17:30. On the fourth Sunday of the month a Mass at 15:00 is offered for couples hoping for children.
• Feast days: 18 May (coronation anniversary) and 7–8 September (Nativity of Mary), when walking pilgrimages arrive with banners.
• Once a month, from Saturday to Sunday, a night penitential pilgrimage sets off to the sanctuary in Obory after the 21:00 Mass.
• Accommodation: the friary offers 6 en-suite rooms all year, and from May to October a Pilgrims' House (about 50 beds, unheated). Address: ul. Klasztorna 5, Skępe.
• Allow about an hour for the church and cloisters, and visit outside service times.