Press releases

The service is scheduled for 7 July. According to the Roman Catholic Church, the issue was discussed in the meeting between Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran in Vatican.

The Belarusian bishop told Pope Francis’ Special Envoy that the reliquary with the remnants of French Saint Therese of the Child Jesus would be brought to the festivities in Budslav. “This fact was hailed by Cardinal Tauran, a French native,” the Church noted. The President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue was also happy to hear that the celebrations in Budslav would be attended by Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jewish people, Protestants, government officials and diplomats.

According to the Roman Catholic Church, the full program of the Cardinal’s visit to Belarus will be announced in the near future.

The celebrations in Budslav will be held on 5-6 July. Budslav Icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered icons of the Catholic Church and is known for many miracles. It was created by an unknown artist in 1649. It is kept in the Church of Ascension of the Mother of God in the village of Budslav, Myadel District. According to some historical accounts, the Mother of God miraculously appeared in this place to the Bernadine monks in 1588, though most historians believe it happened in 1613. The first owner of the icon was Minsk voevoda Jan Pac who converted from Calvinism to Catholicism. He got the icon during his pilgrimage to Rome in 1598, from the hands of Pope Clement VIII. During the war between the Rzeczpospolita and the Russian Empire in 1654-1667, the icon was temporarily moved to Bialystok. By the end of the 19th century the number of pilgrims decreased but since the early 1990s the pilgrimage movement has again revived. Since 1991 Belarus has welcomed regular pilgrims to the icon. The coronation ceremony for the icon-legend was held in 1998.