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."
