Skip to content
Vatican Observatory
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Tours
    • Castel Gandolfo
    • U.S.
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
  • Shop
  • Calendar
    • View our Event Calendar
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
    • VO in the News
    • Press Kit
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Tours
    • Castel Gandolfo
    • U.S.
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
  • Shop
  • Calendar
    • View our Event Calendar
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
    • VO in the News
    • Press Kit
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact

John Paul II’s Sundial

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  11 May 2024  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope and Saint John Paul II, was born and grew up in the town of Wadowice, Poland. His family lived in a second-floor apartment that stood next to the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In fact, he was born in a room in that apartment.

Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Bedroom (where Karol was born) and kitchen of the Wojtyla apartment.

The windows of that room, and other windows in the apartment, look across an alley to the church, which was the family’s church, of course. And on the wall of the church, visible from within the apartment of the Wojtyla family, was and is a simple astronomical instrument — a sundial, inscribed with the Polish inscription, “Czas Ucieka Wiecznosc Czeka”; “Time Flies, Eternity Waits”.

Views out the kitchen window, middle one enhanced to reveal sundial (arrowed).

Of course people do not think of sundials as astronomical instruments. We think of them as simple time-keeping devices. However, sundials show the position of the sun in the sky. The position of the sun is an astronomical measurement. Therefore, a sundial is an astronomical instrument. With a sundial you can not only note the time, but you can also track the sun’s more complex motions through the sky — the motions that produce the analemma (click here for a recent post on that). Young Karol could do all that, if he was so inclined. And since he saw the sundial all the time, and he was a pretty sharp guy, chances are he did notice more in the sundial than just the time of day.

The sundial seen from outside the apartment.

The sundial is popular. Reproductions of it can be found in various places, such as in the apartment itself, but also including within the Church (now Basilica) of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As I was walking through the church, which is quite cool, I looked up and noticed a clock. The clock was made to look like the sundial, and was even inscribed with “Czas Ucieka Wiecznosc Czeka”; “Time Flies, Eternity Waits”.

Inside the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sundial clock inside the church.
Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Sacred Space Astronomy

The Vatican Observatory’s official digital community and online magazine.

Become a Member

Recent Posts

Corkscrew Prom

By Deirdre Kelleghan  |  21 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

From the Vatican Observatory Faith and Science pages (Younger Readers) — Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas

By Faith and Science  |  21 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Nuns Helped Map Close To Half A Million Stars In The Early 20th Century After The Vatican Recruited Them

Chip Chick  |  20 May 2025  |  Press

Visit of Br. Guy Consolmagno S.J.

Pluscarden Abbey  |  19 May 2025  |  Press

Archives

      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • August
      • June
      • March
      • January
      • November
      • October
      • December
      • November
      • April
      • May
      • January
      • December
      • September
      • May
      • March
      • December
      • November
      • February

More Posts by
Christopher M. Graney

The Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas, Realities, and Science

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  17 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

AI and the Vatican Observatory: Looking GOOD!

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  10 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Science and Painful Truth

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  3 May 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Images and Energy from SAI 2025

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  26 Apr 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Stairway to Truth

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  19 Apr 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

A Jesuit University Observatory in Guadalajara, Mexico

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  12 Apr 2025  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

View More

Newsletter

Upcoming astronomical events, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical reflections… just a few reasons to subscribe to our newsletter!

Vatican Observatory
  • About
  • Telescopes
  • Tours
  • Latest
  • Podcast
  • Education
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Donate
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
Privacy Policy  |   Cookie Policy  |   Disclosure Statement  |   This website is supported by the Vatican Observatory Foundation

Podcast:

  • Apple Podcasts Listen onApple Podcasts
  • Spotify Listen onSpotify
  • Google Podcasts Listen onGoogle Podcasts
  • Stitcher Listen onStitcher
  • Amazon Alexa Listen onAmazon Alexa
  • TuneIn Listen onTuneIn
Made by Longbeard