Jasio joins the pilgrimage to Częstochowa

Jasio joins a large pilgrimage from Lipce to Częstochowa, but the journey’s public religious purpose is shadowed by a private farewell that Jagusia cannot make. The parish priest blesses the departing company, the villagers see it off beneath a raised banner, and the pilgrims set out singing; for Jagusia, however, Jasio’s departure brings anguish rather than consolation. She follows him only as far as the shrine at Podlesie estate, then returns to a village and a night emptied of hope.

The news and the Mass

The departure becomes personal for Jagusia when Hanka tells her that Jasio, the organist’s son, is coming with the pilgrims. Hanka has heard from the organist’s wife that he is determined to go. Jagustynka doubts that his decision is as straightforward as it sounds, but there is no time to investigate her suspicion: half the village is already gathered in the church for a votive Mass for the pilgrims.

Jasio serves at the altar as usual, yet his appearance makes the occasion feel different. His face is paler than usual; his eyes seem bruised and still clouded with tears. As he looks across the church, he sees Tereska lying crosswise through the service, Jagusia’s frightened eyes, his mother seated in the gentry pew, and the pilgrims approaching for communion. The service continues, but his grief gives the scene a private intensity beneath its communal form.

Blessing and departure

At the end of Mass, the parish priest takes leave of those who are going. Outside, he sprinkles them with holy water and gives them his blessing. The banner rises, a cross leads the way, and someone begins a hymn; the company then sets out on the long road. Among the people from Lipce are Hanka, Marysia Balcerkówna, Kłębowa and her daughter, Grzela, Tereska and her husband, and a couple of hired hands. Together with pilgrims from other villages, the company numbers about a hundred.

The whole village comes to see them off. Carts piled with bundles follow behind the walkers. Though the hour is early, the heat is already building; the sun is blinding and dust billows around the road. These concrete signs of a journey underway—bundles, carts, banner, cross, song, and the crowd’s movement—make the departure unmistakably public. Yet Jagusia is present not as one of the pilgrims, but as someone watching Jasio leave.

Jagusia’s farewell at Podlesie

Jagusia accompanies her mother and the others, drawn and trembling with desolation. She gazes at Jasio from a distance, but the organist’s wife and children stay beside him constantly. Their presence means Jagusia has no opportunity to speak with him or even to see him properly. The company’s movement toward Częstochowa therefore carries a second, unspoken meaning: the separation of two people for whom a proper farewell remains out of reach.

At the shrine by Podlesie estate, Jagusia and the others say goodbye to the pilgrims. The company continues on, its singing growing more distant until the people disappear from sight. Only dust remains visible, rising somewhere along the sunny road. Jagusia’s attention narrows to this vanishing procession: Jasio is going, and she believes she will never see him again. She trails back toward Lipce behind the others, feeling like a corpse, while the heat and exhaustion deepen the force of her grief.

The road after the pilgrims

The departure does not end for Jagusia when the company leaves her sight. She longs for night and silence, but neither brings relief. She wanders around the cottage until dawn, goes out onto the road, and even hurries as far as the shrine where she last saw Jasio. There she searches the wide sandy road for his footprints, his shadow, or even a clod of earth he might have touched. The search yields nothing; grief has turned an ordinary road into the only remaining link to the person who has left.

Her return from the shrine completes the event’s emotional movement. The village’s pilgrimage continues toward its sacred destination, while Jagusia is left behind with no message, encounter, or sign to sustain her. Jasio’s journey is a communal act of departure marked by Mass, blessing, a cross, a banner, and song; for Jagusia, its decisive consequence is private abandonment. The contrast between the company’s shared forward motion and her solitary search gives the pilgrimage its force in the story.