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July 17, 2005
The Black Madonna
In my Parish, there is a icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. This is a picture of the entire sanctuary; you can see the icon to the right...
I always thought that it was just some icon that someone had bought for the Church. However, while I was reading the Youngstown Catholic Newspaper, the Exponent, this past Friday, there was an article about the icon in it.
Apparently, the icon is more then just an icon. The icon was created in 1981 in Poland, and hung near the original painting of Saint Luke in Jasna Gora. However, the Dominican Fathers became frightened for the safety of the painting and had it smuggled to Rome where they believed it would be safe. The Communist authorities struggled to have the painting returned, and once again the safety of the image was questioned. The Communists appealed to the Italian Government, but they declared that the icon was not under their jurisdiction but under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. It was now agreed that the Icon must go to the United States, where it would be to far for the Communists to reach.
The Icon had come to the attention of His Holiness, Servant of God, Pope John-Paul II. He said that the icon must go to a Polish Parish. He told this to a small group of Roman Catholics traveling in Rome from the Diocese of Youngstown in 1983. The morning that they were set to leave, they were told that they would have a secret private audience with the Pope, and were to bring their entire luggage with them. They would leave immediately after the audience. They were given the icon at the air port, and were told not to let it out of their sight. It was wrapped up and marked carpet. Traveling with the group was Father Grabowksi, Associate Pastor at my Parish at that time. He brought the icon to my Parish, a Polish Parish, informed the Pastor, and it was hung in my Parish ever since. It has been reframed, but everything else is original.
Rather exciting history if you ask me, all this history out of an icon I thought someone just bought out of a catalogue or something. Who would have guessed that John-Paul II had a hand in it coming to my Parish?
Posted by cr3do1 at July 17, 2005 09:06 PM
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