Pniewy is a small town near the city of Poznan in the western part of Poland. It was here where the first house of the Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus was founded upon Mother Ursula’s return from Scandinavia. Therefore, this place is the motherhouse of the Congregation. The transfer of the relics of blessed Ursula from Rome to Pniewy in 1989 (her incorrupt body was placed in a special sarcophagus) and her canonisation in Rome on May 18th 2003 resulted in an popularisation of her cult. It also brought the beginning of the Sanctuary, which in 1997 in the decree of Poznan’s Archbishop, got the status of a diocesan sanctuary.
Since 1987 in front of St. Ursula’s relics, a continual novena has been held through her intercession. Every Thursday at 7 p.m. believers gather in the chapel at a Holy Mass, where all the prayer intensions, requests and thanksgivings which are sent personally, by post or via e-mail, are read out.
The Sanctuary is a place for spiritual retreats, spiritual renewal and inner strengthening. Those who are looking for silence and prayer are bound to find it here and are welcome to stay in the St. Angela’s House for Pilgrims, which according to the will of its founders – the Ledóchowski family, serves to the cult of Saint Ursula.
The House in Pniewy is full of traces of Saint Ursula’s life: the modest cell where she lived for the last 20 years of her life, personal things she used, her manuscripts, also an exhibition showing her life and work, and the work of the Congregation.We invite You to a meeting with Saint Ursula in this special place of her presence and of her radiating holiness which she knew how to weave into the beautiful path of her life.