Icons of Our Lady of Czestochowa

       I love to scrounge around antique and consignment shops, especially in Florida where we northerners often end up. I look for icons or other religious objects, and last year I found this metal-covered icon, just less than 5x7”. Curiosity made me remove the small pins holding the covering on, and take the covering off to see the icon underneath. It was actually a sort of postcard of an ancient icon, and a further look at the wood behind it showed that the whole thing was quite recently put together. It took only moments online to find that this was a copy of the icon Our Lady of Czestochowa, much loved by Polish and other Slavic people, and for whom many churches are named.

      This photo of my antiquing find shows the metal cover that has been put over the original icon to preserve it and probably to enhance and decorate it.The metal is worked so that many of the details of the icon itself, such as the designs on the robes of the Theotokos and Child, are in relief. I think a mold would have been made of the metal cover so that many copies could be made, and that probably this particular metal cover is not very old.   Most interesting was that, as the photo shows, someone had used a stylus, probably after the cover was completed, to engrave several very tiny, crude scenes on the metal cover.  These could be scenes from the life of the Theotokos as taken from the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, an ancient manuscript.  Finally, some metal such as brass was used to make intricate halos and crowns, with angels holding the crowns, which were afixed to the metal cover, so the tiny engravings are partially hidden.

 



     In copying and painting this very old icon, above, I found it almost impossible to make out the face of the Child – evidence of the many years of veneration. The internet provided a more modern version of the icon, but I was so struck by this representation that I have painted my own, hoping to capture the lovely face of Our Lady, the Mother of God.  I chose to use the lighter skin tones and bright colors of the garments as they might have been when the icon was first painted, before years of lamp smoke, grime, and desecration gave it the name The Black Madonna.

     I am thankful to the website of Our Lady of Czestochwa National Catholic Church, in Latham, NY for the following history of the icon. 

The Miraculous Image

Tradition holds that St. Luke painted it on the top of a cypress-wood table that came from the home of the Holy Family. At the request of the faithful, Mary sat for the portrait. When it was finished, she was pleased, saying that "My grace shall accompany it." Thus began the wonderful history of the painting.

Venerated for nearly 300 years while hidden in Jerusalem, the painting was discovered by St. Helen while she was searching for the True Cross. She brought it back to Constantinople and presented it to her son, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. Constantine built a chapel for the portrait, where it remained for five centuries.

Miracle upon miracle was attributed to the intercession of Mary by persons praying before the portrait. Over the years, many enemies laid siege to Constantinople. The chapel became a center of hope for the people of the city. During one attack, the city seemed ready to fall, but the people rallied to the painting, and Constantinople was saved. Another time, the city was under attack, and the chapel caught fire. Everything was destroyed except a small section of wall upon which hung the painting of Mary and Jesus. The intense heat and soot from the fire had darkened the already dark olive features of the Madonna and Child.

Eventually, the painting was given by the Byzantine Emperor to a Ruthenian nobleman. The portrait was taken to Kiev and installed in the Royal Palace of Belz. It remained there for the next 579 years.

In 1382, the painting was damaged by invading Tartars. An arrow pierced the Miraculous Image, leaving a scar that is still visible on the neck of the Madonna. Concerned with the portrait's safety, Prince Ladislaus Opolski decided to move it to one of his castles in Upper Silesia.

On the brow of a hill called Jasna Gora ("bright hill") -- and within a few paces of the town of Czestochowa -- the horses drawing the wagon with the painting stopped. No amount of coaxing or goading could make them go on. Mary appeared to Ladislaus and told him that this spot was to be Her new home. The Miraculous Image was placed in a chapel and given to the care of the Basilian monks of the Greek Rite. A few years later, Prince Ladislaus gave its care to the Latin Rite Hermits of St. Paul, who are still there to this day.

The remarkable history of the painting continued. It figured prominently in the heroic and successful defense of Poland against invaders who were enemies of the Church. Over time, the monastery at Jasna Gora became a monastic fortress -- and the focal point for Polish nationalism.

In 1655, the monastery held out against a mighty Swedish army. In 1683, it was the Turks who attacked. And, in 1920, the Bolsheviks. As a result of these and other historical events, Our Lady of Czestochowa was crowned as Queen of Poland. Her Feast is observed on May 3 which is also the anniversary of the Polish Constitution.

Throughout the centuries, the painting did not escape desecration and mutilation. In 1430, Hussites looted the monastery. Pillaging whatever they could find, they loaded all of the treasures of Jasna Gora into wagons. Horses pulling the wagon with the painting refused to move. The Hussites threw the portrait off the wagon, and the horses began to pull it forward. One of the raiders -- seeing the jewels and gold covering the painting -- slashed at it with sabers. Having cut twice into the right cheek of Mary, he prepared to strike it for a third time -- and fell dead. The other raiders fled for fear of Divine Retribution.

Repeated efforts by skilled artists to patch the scars failed. Each time the facial cuts reappeared. It is believed to be the will of Mary that the scars should remain as a sign to any who would desecrate Her Shrine.

In 1909, vandals tore off the gold crown and "overdress" of pearls. This sacrilege was repaired and the portrait was restored with the help of Pope Pius X, who furnished a new crown. Today, a painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa adorns the altar of the Pope's private chapel at Castol Gondolfo.

Why Is She Referred to as The Black Madonna?

"Black Madonna" is a nickname. It refers to skin tones in the portrait of Mary and Jesus. They and St. Joseph lived in a hot climate. Hence, their skin tone would be dark brown or olive in order to survive the intensity of the sun and avoid skin cancer.

Not until the Renaissance were there paintings of Jesus and Mary with alabaster skin, blue eyes and blond hair. Previously, all religious artwork reflected the olive skin, with black or brown hair and eyes attributed to the Holy Family and the Apostles.

Contributing to the portrait's blackened appearance is the fact that the painting is nearly 2,000 years old. When St. Luke painted the portrait of Mary with Christ, he did so with crude oil paints, which naturally dull and darken with age.

Additionally, the painting has survived a major fire -- the one in Constantinople referred to earlier. Beyond that, tens of thousands of pots of incense have been burned near the painting while it was in the Eastern Orthodox Church. And, millions of wax candles have been placed before it as people make their prayerful offerings.

These and other factors have resulted in darkening the Miraculous Image -- the portrait now referred to as "The Black Madonna."