Matka Boska Częstochowska // The Black Madonna of Częstochowa is a venerated icon of the Blessed Vir
Matka Boska Częstochowska // The Black Madonna of Częstochowa is a venerated icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary housed at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. The painting (122 × 82 centimetres) displays a traditional composition well known in the icons of Eastern Christianity. The Virgin Mary is shown as the “Hodegetria” (“One Who Shows the Way”). In it, the Virgin 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 the Madonna in fleur-de-lis robes. The painting was severly damaged by robbers in 1430, the wooden panel broken and slashed. According to legends, the icon was painted by st. Luke the Evangelist on a cedar table top from the Holy Family house. It was later discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by st. Helena and brought to Constantinople. Art historians say that the original painting was a Byzantine icon created around the sixth or ninth century. It was brought to Częstochowa by Władysław Opolczyk, Duke of Opole. In late August 1384, he was passing the city with the picture when his horses refused to go on. He was advised in a dream to leave the icon at Jasna Góra. In 1655 the Black Madonna miraculously saved the Jasna Góra Monastery from a Swedish invasion. During the Siege of Jasna Góra 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 turned the course of the war. This event led King John II Casimir Vasa to give what has become known as the Lwów Oath. He submitted the Polish Commonwealth under the protection of Our Lady and proclaimed her Queen of Poland in the cathedral of Lwów on 1 April 1656. (In the nineteenth century, the defense of the monastery became widely popularized in a novel, The Deluge, by Henryk Sienkiewicz (a 1974 movie was based on the novel)). Częstochowa is regarded as the most popular shrine in Poland, with many Polish Catholics making a pilgrimage there every year. Pope John Paul II secretly visited as a student pilgrim during World War II, and came back many times as a bishop and as a pope. The feast day of Our Lady of Częstochowa is celebrated on August 26. -- source link
#black madonna#częstochowa#poland#polska#christian art#religious art#s#catholic