Day: August 15, 2008

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

88th Anniversary of the Miracle on the Vistula

From Wikipedia: Battle of Warsaw (1920)

The Battle of Warsaw (Russian: Варшáвское сражéние, Polish: Bitwa Warszawska; sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, Polish: Cud nad Wisłą) was the decisive battle of the Polish-Soviet War, which began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasting until the Treaty of Riga (1921).

Before the Polish victory at the Vistula, both the Bolsheviks and the majority of foreign experts considered Poland to be on the verge of defeat. The stunning, unexpected Polish victory crippled the Bolshevik forces. In the following months, several more Polish victories secured Poland’s independence and eastern borders.

Pod Twoją obronę uciekamy się" - 1920
Pod Twoją obronę uciekamy się - 1920 (Under Your Protection we find shelter - 1920)

August 15th was the turning point. Polish forces at Warsaw routed the Russian army. It is said that an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the Wisła was the inspiration for the victory by the Polish forces.

Fathers, PNCC

August 15 – Rufinus of Aquileia from the Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed

“Who Was Born by (de) The Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.” This nativity among men is in the way of dispensation, whereas the former nativity is of the divine substance; the one results from his condescension, the other from his essential nature. He is born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin. Here a chaste ear and a pure mind is required. For you must understand that now a temple has been built within the secret recesses of a Virgin’s womb for Him of Whom erewhile you learned that He was born ineffably of the Father. And just as in the sanctification of the Holy Ghost no thought of imperfection is to be admitted, so in the Virgin-birth no defilement is to be imagined. For this birth was a new birth given to this world, and rightly new. For He Who is the only Son in heaven is by consequence the only Son on earth, and was uniquely born, born as no other ever was or can be. — Paragraph 9.