Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland - a feast (liturgical celebration) celebrated in the Catholic Church in Poland on May 3. The holiday was established by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 at the request of Polish bishops after Poland regained independence in 1918. It commemorates the Lviv weddings of King Jan Kazimierz, who entrusted Poland to the protection of the Mother of God during the Swedish invasion. The cult of the Queen of the Polish Crown became popular after the partitions of Poland, especially in the environment of Polish emigration in France and among the inhabitants of Lviv and Krakow, and played a great role in working on awakening national sense and awareness. The partitioners appreciated the importance of this cult and fought against its propagation, ordering, among others removing the "Queen of the Polish Crown" call from the Loreto Litany, fighting pilgrimages to Częstochowa, removing publications about the Queen of the Polish Crown and pursuing the possession and dissemination of copies of the Jasna Góra image. The initiative to establish a special Marian holiday related to this title was put forward probably by the Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Polish Crown, founded in Lviv, devoting the first Sunday of May to thanksgiving prayers for the protection of Mary over Poland. The idea was supported by Archbishop Józef Bilczewski, and Pope Pius X in 1909 instituted the feast of the Queen of the Polish Crown for the diocese of Lviv and Przemyśl, recommending to celebrate it on the first Sunday of May. In 1914, the celebration was moved from the first Sunday of May to May 2. After Poland regained independence, the Polish bishops proposed to the Pope to establish the feast of Mary Queen of Poland on May 3, so as to emphasize the relationship of this feast with the first Polish constitution adopted on May 3, 1791 by the Four-Year Sejm.
