Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary’s Church in Okulice (Rzezawa commune) is situated circa 15 km to the north-east from Bochnia. In the Middle Ages Okulice belonged to the Tyniec Benedictine monastery. There are two versions of the origins of the Sanctuary. The first one claims that Boleslaus the Chaste (St. Kinga’s husband) had a vision of Virgin Mary, who, in the critical point of the battle against the Tatars, gave him a sword as a sign of victory. Winning the battle with such a help made the duke found a chapel to worship Virgin Mary.
According to the other version, it was Leszek the Black, not Boleslaus the Chaste, to whom an angel with a sword appeared, when he was fighting for the throne of the Cracow Land against Conrad of Mazovia at Bogucice in 1285.
