„Teologia przepięknej i łaskami słynącej statuy Matki Najświętszej Sejneńskiej”. Dzieło sztuki jako obiekt kultu i duszpasterskie wyzwanie

Abstract

One of the many spectacular pastoral initiatives of Primate Stefan Wyszyński was the coronation of cult Marian images with papal crowns. He did forty-seven of them, one of the last was the coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Sejny (Sejny is a town in north-eastern Poland). The article analyses the coronation sermon delivered on this occasion on September 7, 1975 in Sejny. The crowned figure belongs to the iconographic type of the so-called Shrine Madonnas, or the group of Pomeranian sculptures, the creation of which was linked to the Teutonic Order. Its origin and history are unknown. In 1602, together with the foundation of the Dominican monastery, it appeared in Sejny and very quickly became worshiped. This cult survived the dissolution of the monastery and is still alive today. The controversial iconography of Mary with the Child – a sculpture housing the Holy Trinity (Throne of Grace) – was a challenge for the guardians of the sanctuary. From the 17th to 19th centuries, we observe the slow withdrawing of the actual image of a sculpture and making its likeness for the purposes of worship: from covering the figure with a metal robe to prohibiting a ban on the opening of the statue. The coronation sermon bears Trinitarian overtones and is entirely intended to convey to the faithful the truth about the operation of the Holy Trinity in the life of the Church and Its special relationship with Mary. In his conclusion, Primate Wyszyński gave the cult figure a new name: Mary of the Holy Trinity. Thus, he revitalized the medieval iconography, using not only its original ideological significance, but also inscribing it in the current post-conciliar Trinitarian Mariology, contained in the Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, as well as in the Apostolic Exhortation by Paul VI Marialis Cultus. It is the only coronation sermon delivered by Primate Wyszyński inspired entirely by the iconography of the crowned cult image.