The babiniec

Women can only enter the monastery twelve times a year on the specifically designated religious feast days. The Srebrna Góra Hermitage got special permission for this from the Pope Paul V in 1617.  Sometimes, however, the monks do meet with their families. In the past, the monks also needed to meet with local farmers, for example, to discuss the purchase of eggs.  This made it necessary to establish a place at the intersection of worlds, a place where women could enter without violating the enclosure, and brothers could meet with them without leaving the hermitage. This place is called the Babiniec (from the polish word “baba” meaning a women). Nowadays, the  babiniec  functions mainly as a meeting place for monks and their families.  Such meetings are not too frequent, they are held three times a year at most, with the permission of the monastery’s prior.