Under the reign of Henry I the Bearded, the Duke of Silesia, a community of monks was brought in from Lubiąż Abbey to Mogiła by Odrowąż around 1219, to commence the construction of the brand new church in his diocese. He granted them a village by the Vistula River, close to his residence in the capital. The monastic community, consisting of the 13 professed monks mandatory for an independent monastery, moved in around 1225, although the expansion of the abbey continued for years to come. The Mogiła Abbey was confirmed by the Roman Curia through a papal bull signed by Pope Gregory IX on 9 June 1228. In Latin, the monastery still retains its name of Clara Tumba, a name derived from two local toponyms. There is an ancient barrow, called Wanda Mound, within a mile of the monastery site; and the name of the site of the monastery, originally the village of Mogiła, translates as "tomb" in Polish. In 1241 the abbey was ransacked in the course of the Mongol invasion of Poland. It was rebuilt and the abbey church was consecrated in 1266 by Bishop Jan Prandota. It was later consumed by fire in 1447. It was ravaged again in the 17th century by the invading Swedish army. The abbey was destroyed and its entire resident population was killed by the Swedes, except for two monks whose lives were spared. The structure was renovated numerous times. The Baroque façade of the monastery church was added in 1779–80, based on a design by Franz Moser. The abbey church was promoted in 1970 by Pope Paul VI to the rank of a MinorBasilica, and visited by Pope John Paul II, who celebrated Mass for 200,000 people in a nearby open field in 1979.
Notable individuals
Under the reign of Abbot Erazm Ciołek, who was elected as abbot in 1522, the abbey was restored to its former glory, with a greatly expanded collection of rare books. He died two years after being appointed the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kraków in 1544, and was buried in the abbey cemetery. This abbot employed the services of the Polish Renaissance painter Stanisław Samostrzelnik, known also as Stanisław z Mogiły, who spent his final years working at the abbey, where he died. His frescoes are featured in the right-hand transept and in one of the chapels of the monastery church, including his painting on the forward wall of the chancel from c. 1530.
