The Black Madonna of Częstochowa: The Icon Poland Would Not Let Fall

Easter, 1430. Raiders break into a monastery on a hill in Poland, strip a painting of the Virgin Mary of its gold and jewels, and strike it with a sword. Twice the blade cuts across her face. Those two scars are still there today. This is the story of Our Lady of Częstochowa, the Black Madonna of Jasna Góra. We tell the tradition that Saint Luke painted her on a tabletop from the house of the Holy Family, and then the documented history: the icon’s arrival at Jasna Góra in 1382 with the Pauline monks, the raid of 1430 and the restoration in Kraków, and the forty-day Swedish siege of 1655, when Father Augustine Kordecki and a small band of monks and soldiers held the walls during the Deluge. That defence set Poland on fire. On April 1, 1656, King John Casimir chose the Mother of God as Queen of the Polish Crown. The icon was crowned in 1717, pilgrims have walked to her from Warsaw every summer since 1711, and Saint John Paul II knelt before her many times. Her feast is August 26. CHAPTERS 0:00 Easter night, 1430 0:27 Our Lady of Częstochowa 0:31 The tradition of Saint Luke 0:54 The icon: She who shows the way 1:33 1382: Jasna Góra 1:55 The raid and the scars 2:22 The Deluge of 1655 2:44 The forty-day siege 3:13 The vows of King John Casimir 3:44 Crowned, and the pilgrims 4:20 Feast day and patronage 4:41 Scars that stay Sources: English Wikipedia (Black Madonna of Częstochowa; Jasna Góra Monastery; Siege of Jasna Góra; Lwów Oath); EWTN, “The Black Madonna of Poland”; Pauline Fathers of Australia; National Bank of Poland (350th anniversary of the defence of Jasna Góra); polishhistory.pl. Visuals are our own drawings, not reproductions of the original icon. Music is original. #Catholic #BlackMadonna #OurLadyOfCzestochowa #JasnaGora #Poland X post