Icon of the Virgin Mary in Poland
The
Black Madonna of Cz?stochowa
(
Polish
:
Czarna Madonna z Cz?stochowy
;
Latin
:
Imago thaumaturga Beatae Virginis Mariae Immaculatae Conceptae, in Claro Monte
,
lit.
'Miraculous Image of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Crystal Mountain'), also known as
Our Lady of Cz?stochowa
(
Polish
:
Matka Boska Cz?stochowska
) is a venerated
icon
of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
housed at the
Jasna Gora Monastery
in
Cz?stochowa
,
Poland
.
Pope Clement XI
issued a Pontifical decree of
canonical coronation
to the image on 8 September 1717 via the
Vatican
Chapter. It has also merited three Pontifical
golden roses
.
The icon is venerated by both
Catholics
and
Eastern Orthodox
Christians.
The icon
[
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]
The original painting (122 centimeters × 82 centimetres)
[2]
displays a traditional composition well known in the
icons
of
Orthodox Christianity
. The Virgin Mary is shown as the "
Hodegetria
" version (meaning "One Who Shows the Way" or “Οδηγ?τρια” in Greek). In it, Mary directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the child extends his right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in his left hand. The icon shows Mary in
fleur-de-lis
robes.
[3]
The origins of the icon and the date of its composition are still contested among scholars.
[4]
One difficulty in dating the icon is due in part to its original image being painted over after being severely damaged by robbers in 1430. The wooden panel backing the painting was broken, and the image slashed.
Medieval
restorers unfamiliar with the
encaustic method
found that the paints they applied to the damaged areas "simply sloughed off the image", according to the medieval chronicler Risinius. Their solution was to erase the original image and repaint it on the original panel. The original features of an Orthodox icon were softened; the nose was made more
aquiline
.
[3]
History
[
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]
Lucan tradition
[
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]
The icon of
Our Lady
of Cz?stochowa has been intimately associated with Poland for the past 600 years. Its history before it arrived in Poland is shrouded in numerous legends that trace the icon's origin to
Luke the Evangelist
, who painted it on a cedar table top from the
Holy Family
house.
[5]
[6]
The same legend holds that the painting was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by
Helena
, who brought it back to
Constantinople
and presented it to her son,
Constantine the Great
.
[7]
Arrival in Cz?stochowa
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]
The oldest documents from
Jasna Gora
state that the picture traveled from
Constantinople
via
Belz
.
[6]
Eventually, it came into the possession of
Władysław Opolczyk
,
Duke of Opole
, and adviser to
Louis of Anjou
, King of Poland and Hungary. Ukrainian sources state that earlier in its history, it was brought to Belz with much ceremony and honors by King
Lev I of Galicia
and later taken by Władysław from the Castle of Belz when the town was incorporated into the Polish kingdom. A famous story tells that in late August 1384, Ladislaus was passing Cz?stochowa with the picture when his horses refused to go on. He was advised in a dream to leave the icon at Jasna Gora.
Art historians say that the original painting was a
Byzantine
icon created around the sixth or ninth century. They agree that Prince Władysław brought it to the monastery in the 14th century.
[
citation needed
]
Our Lady declared as Queen and Protector of Poland
[
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]
In August 1382, the hilltop parish church was transferred to the Paulites, a hermitic order from Hungary.
[8]
The golden fleur-de-lis painted on the Virgin's blue veil parallel the heraldic
azure, semee de lis, or
of the French royal coat of arms and the most likely explanation for their presence is that the icon had been present in Hungary during the reign of either
Charles I of Hungary
or
Louis the Great
, the Hungarian kings of the
Anjou
dynasty. They probably had the fleur-de-lis of their family's coat of arms painted on the icon. This would suggest that the image was probably originally brought to Jasna Gora by the Pauline monks from their founding monastery in Hungary.
The Black Madonna is said to have miraculously saved the monastery of Jasna Gora (English: Bright Mount) from a Swedish invasion.
[6]
The
Siege of Jasna Gora
took place in the winter of 1655 during the
Second Northern War
, as the Swedish invasion of the
Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth
is known. The Swedes were attempting to capture the Jasna Gora monastery in Cz?stochowa. The sacred icon was replaced with a copy and the original moved in secret to the castle in
Lubliniec
, and later to the Pauline monastery in
Mochow
between the towns of
Prudnik
and
Głogowek
.
[9]
Seventy monks and 180 local volunteers, mostly from the
Szlachta
(Polish nobility), held off 4,000 Swedes for 40 days, saved their sacred icon and, according to some accounts, turned the course of the war.
[8]
This event led King
John II Casimir Vasa
to give what has become known as the
Lwow Oath
. He submitted the Polish Commonwealth under the protection of Our Lady and
proclaimed her Queen of Poland
in the cathedral of
Lwow
on April 1, 1656. Before this event, several royal nobilities have offered crowns to the image throughout the years, replacing its iron sheet crown
riza
with one in gold with several jewels. In later years, various gemstones were interchanged and repositioned around the image to preserve the icon's aesthetic by replacing the stolen crowns.
[10]
Legends about the Madonna's appearance
[
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]
The legend concerning the two scars on the Black Madonna's right cheek is that the
Hussites
stormed the Pauline monastery in 1430, plundering the sanctuary. Among the items stolen was the icon. The Hussites tried to get away after putting it in their wagon, but their horses refused to move. They threw the portrait down to the ground, and one of the plunderers drew his sword upon the image and inflicted two deep strikes. When the robber tried to inflict a third strike, he fell to the ground and writhed in agony until his death. Despite past attempts to repair these scars, they had difficulty covering up those slashes as the painting was done with tempera infused with diluted wax.
[5]
Veneration
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]
Cz?stochowa is regarded as the most popular shrine in Poland, with many Polish Catholics making a pilgrimage there every year. Since 1711, a pilgrimage leaves Warsaw every August 6 for the nine-day, 140-mile trek. Elderly pilgrims recall stealing through the dark countryside at great personal risk during the
Nazi occupation
.
Pope John Paul II
secretly visited as a student pilgrim during
World War II
.
[8]
The
feast day
of Our Lady of Cz?stochowa is celebrated on August 26.
[11]
Pontifical approbations
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]
Several pontiffs have recognized the image:
- Pope Clement XI
? issued a decree of
Canonical Coronation
for the image via the Vatican Chapter on 8 September 1717. It is the third image to merit a decree of pontifical coronation outside of Rome. The first one is the Madonna of Trsat in
Croatia
, followed by the Virgin of Mount Goritia in
Slovenia
.
- Pope Pius X
? after the crowns were stolen on 23 October 1909, the Pontiff replaced the crowns on 22 May 1910.
- Pope John Paul II
? gifted another set of crowns as a native of Poland, placed on 26 August 2005.
- Three pontiffs have granted golden roses to the image, Pope John Paul II (1978), Pope Benedict XVI (2006), Pope Francis (2016).
Outside Poland
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]
Orthodox Christian believers in
Ukraine
and
Belarus
as former parts of the
Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth
.
[12]
Ukrainians
have a special devotion to the Madonna of Cz?stochowa. The icon is often mentioned in
Ukrainian folk songs
from the 16th and 17th centuries.
[6]
Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic Church in
Houston
, Texas has a copy hanging inside the church to the left of the altar. This version of the icon does not have the heavily gilded gold over the initial image.
[13]
The American
National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa
is located in
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
.
[14]
Another shrine of the image is located in Garfield Heights, Ohio; erected on October 1, 1939, by the
Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis
.
[15]
In Australia, the
Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy, Penrose Park
, located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales is dedicated in her honour. The title
Our Lady of Mercy
is used as remembrance of times throughout history that prayers for protection have been responded to through appeal to Our Lady of Cz?stochowa, as adherents believe.
[16]
Syncretism in the Religion of Vodou
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]
Due to its appearance, the icon has been syncretized by some Vodou practitioners to the deity
Ezili Dantor
, the main
loa
of the
Petro
family in
Haitian Vodou
. It is hypothesized that the image was introduced into Haiti by the reproductions of the Black Madonna brought by Polish soldiers who sided with the rebels during the
Haitian Revolution
.
[17]
See also
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]
References and sources
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
The Official Site of Radomysl Castle
- ^
"The Black Madonna of Czestochowa | MaryPages"
.
- ^
a
b
"The Black Madonna of Czestochowa"
.
Polish American Journal
. Archived from
the original
on 21 May 2020.
- ^
Nickell, Joe (September 2015).
"The Black Madonna: A Folkloristic and Iconographic Investigation"
.
Skeptical Inquirer
. Vol. 39, no. 5.
- ^
a
b
Duricy, Michael P (26 March 2008).
"Black Madonnas: Our Lady of Czestochowa"
. The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio -
University of Dayton
. Archived from
the original
on 12 October 2011
. Retrieved
5 December
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Zenon Zawada (26 January 2008).
"EASTERN APPROACHES - The Black Madonna"
.
Ukraine Observer
. Archived from
the original
on 26 January 2008
. Retrieved
5 December
2008
.
- ^
"Black Madonna Shrine", Franciscan Missionary Brothers
Archived
August 29, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
c
Menaker, Drusilla. "Poland's Black Madonna",
New York Times
, July 22, 1990
- ^
Kuffel, Jozef (19 November 2010).
"40 dni obl??enia Jasnej Gory w 1655 r."
www.jasnagora.com
.
Archived
from the original on 13 March 2016
. Retrieved
20 October
2021
.
- ^
Rozanow, Zofia (20 August 2019).
"History of the crowns"
.
Niedziela
.
- ^
Coffey, Kathy (2012).
Companion to the calendar : a guide to the saints, seasons, and holidays of the year
(2nd ed.). Chicago, Ill.: Liturgy Training Publications.
ISBN
9781568542607
.
OCLC
816318716
.
- ^
A. Ro?ycka-Bryzek, J. Gadomski, Obraz Matki Boskiej Cz?stochowskiej w ?wietle bada? historii sztuki, "Studia Claromontana" 5, 1984, s. 27-52
- ^
"INTRODUCTION"
.
polishchurchhouston.com
(in Polish)
. Retrieved
17 January
2023
.
- ^
"National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa"
. Archived from
the original
on 19 August 2014
. Retrieved
17 August
2014
.
- ^
'History'
, website of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis (
archive
).
- ^
"Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy - Penrose Park"
.
Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy Penrose Park
. Retrieved
25 August
2022
.
- ^
Rypson, Sebastian (2008),
Being Polone in Haiti: Origins, Survivals, Development, and Narrative Production of the Polish Presence in Haiti
Sources
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External links
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]