Great History of Our Lady, Tom.
A large painting hangs in my
front room. Mine is the adorned
version. It was a gift from the
wife of the deceased editor
of Gwiazda Polarna. I love it.
"Tom Coss" <WA1
...@webtv.net> wrote in message
...
The Black Madonna was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. St. Luke is
believed to have used a tabletop from a table built by the carpenter
Jesus. It was while Luke was painting Mary that she told him about the
events in the life of Jesus that he eventually incorporated in his
gospel.
The next time we hear of the painting is in 326 A.D. when St. Helen
found it in Jerusalem and gave it to her son and had a shrine built for
it in Constantinople.
During a battle, the picture was placed on the walls of the city, and
the enemy army fled. Our Lady saved the city from destruction. The
picture was owned by many other people until 1382 when invading Tartars
attacked a Prince Ladislaus' fortress, where the painting was located. A
Tartar's arrow lodged into through the throat of the Madonna. The Prince
transfered the painting to a church in Czestochowa, Poland.
In 1430, the church was invaded and a looter struck the painting two
times with his sword, but before he could strike it another time, he
fell to the ground in agony and pain, and died. The sword cuts and the
arrow wound are still visible on the painting.
Our Lady of Czestochowa (the Black Madonna) was soon made Queen and
Protector of Poland. In 1920, Russians were invading Poland, when they
saw an image of Our Lady in the clouds, and they withdrew on seeing the
image.
Miraculous events such as spontaneous healings have occured for
centuries on making pilgrimage to the portrait. The painting is known
as the Black Madonna because of the soot residue that discolors the
painting. Centuries of votive lights and candles burning in front of the
painting are the cause of the soot.
