The painting of the Blessed Mother that would not budge

Tradition tells us that Saint Luke, a capable painter, in responding
to the requests of many Christians who wanted to preserve a remembrance of the Blessed Virgin Mary after her elevation into Heaven, painted her sacred face on an oak table, near which Our Lady used to sew and pray.

Some time later, when the Romans dominated Jerusalem and were destroying many churches, Divine Providence protected the icon from falling into the pagans’ hands. The relic, carried to Constantinople by the Empress Saint Helena, hidden by the Christians, always received divine protection, especially
when Constantinople fell under the dominion of the non-believers for centuries.

In its constant pilgrimage, we find the image, in 802, in the chapel of the Belz, in White Russia. In those days, there were many marriages between members of the Byzantine and Russian nobility, so the icon was probably given as a wedding present in one of those marriages.

In the second half of the fourteenth century, Louis, the Hungarian king of Poland and Hungary, annexed White Russia to his realm and the Belz Castle was given to Prince Wladyslaw of Opole (now Silesia). During that time, Ruthenia was invaded by Tartars, and in one of those invasions, the Belz Castle was besieged by them. The defense became increasingly difficult and the defenders threatened to capitulate.

Prince Wladyslaw was praying before the altar on which the picture of Our Lady rested, begging for her assistance when an enemy arrow struck the Virgin’s face, leaving a scar.

The ancient chronicles say, broad daylight turned into dark night. Fear seized the Tartars. The prince, sallying forth with his knights to the open plain, routed the Tartar hordes.

Our Lady Picks Czestochowa

On seeing how insecure Belz Castle was, and wishing to avoid
the possible destruction of the beautiful icon, Prince Wladyslaw
decided to transport it to Opole, in Silesia. And so he put the
image in a splendid carriage drawn by six chargers, and began
the long voyage to the land of his birth. But when they arrived
at Czestochowa, the powerful horses stopped and would not budge!

Prince Wladyslaw, perceiving this as a sign from heaven, went to the little chapel of the village that was on top of the hill of Jasna Góra (Bright Mountain), where he gave himself up to prayer. He was overcome by sleep. Our Lady communicated to him her desire in his dreams: Her image had to be venerated on Jasna Góra.

Without any delay, the picture was enthroned solemnly in the little chapel while Prince Wladyslaw ordered the construction of a church of greater dignity and scale in that place, and a monastery beside it. Later, in 1382, he requested 16 Hungarian friars of the Pauline order whom he charged with the care of the relic.

The happy news soon spread all over the country and the historian Jan Dlugosz, who lived at the time, reports that pilgrims began to stream into Czestochowa from all the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom, as well from Bohemia and Moravia.

The Attack of the Hussites

Good Friday night in 1430, a band of Czech Hussites, commanded by a Polish noble, also a Hussite (in nearby Silesia, this heresy had gained many followers among the nobles) attacked the sanctuary and killed five religious, seized the golden vessels and the Church’s ornaments, some relics and Our Lady’s image, and loaded them in a cart. The chronicles of Jasna Góra tell us that immediately after descending the hill, the horses stopped and would not move.

Then, one of the heretics, cursing the painting, hurled it to the ground so hard that it splintered into three pieces but the faces of Our Lady and of the Infant Jesus remained whole.

In the face of this, one of the Hussites unsheathed his sword and struck the right side of Our Lady’s face twice, and when he raised his sword for the third blow, he fell fulminated by a bolt of lightning. His companies fled in terror, but the chiefs of the band were caught and put to death by the sword.

So profaned by the heretics, and abandoned in the midst of the slime, the holy painting was found by the Paulist friars. When they bent over to pick up the holy painting, the friars saw a spring of crystalline water open underneath it and washed the holy painting.

In that place, at the foot of Jasna Góra, was placed a wooden cross, and later the Church of Saint Barbara was built there. In the interior of the temple, the spring continues to gush the miraculous water sought by the pilgrims and famous for the cures of eye diseases.

The Miraculous Scars

The painting was then taken, at King Wladyslaw Jagiello’s request, to Krakow to be restored. The best Polish artists dedicated their talent to the task, but a miraculous fact occurred. Once the restoration was completed, the paint that covered the scars left by the sword ran off!  Italian artists who were later tried to restore the painting found that same phenomenon occurred with them.

Finally, it was decided to make a copy of the original picture on a new canvas, preserving the wounds. This picture, however, is fixed to the original wood, which is considered to be a relic. (There are three known copies of the picture done at the end of the fourteenth century, for the churches of Glogowek in Silesia,
of Lepoglaw in Croatia and of Sokal. None of them show the wounds in Our Lady’s face because they were made before the Hussites’ attack.)

As a consequence of that attack, King Wladyslaw Jagiello nearly declared war on Bohemia. What kept him from declaring war were the Polish nobles involved. Those nobles, however, were severely chastised, and the historians of time report that all of them died violently in the year following the holy place’s profanation.

Jasna Góra Becomes a Fortress

 

Later, toward the end of the sixteenth century, King Zygmunt III, in order to give greater security to the sanctuary, built strong walls about it with four bastions constructed according to Dutch techniques, surrounded by a moat, and provided a garrison maintained by the kingdom. Thus, Jasna Góra took on the aspect of a fortress. Against its walls in the following century, an invasion of the Swedish heretics would fail.

Replacing the rustic and primitive little church, there now rose a majestic one, with a high wooden tower. The work of its construction, in which King Wladyslaw Jagiello personally participated, lasted from spring until October for many years. In 1690, the tower burned and, falling on the nave, did great damage. In its place a new tower was built of wood, which was also destroyed by fire.

In 1906, the present even more imposing tower of bricks and mortar was inaugurated. In that year, Pope Saint Pius X elevated
the church, whose nave holds nearly 4,000 people, to the rank of basilica.

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