Each year, one painting draws millions of pilgrims and tourists to the non-descript Polish city of Czestochowa. Nestled in the industrial town of 300,000 is the historic monastery of Jasna Góra (meaning “Mountain of Light”), where the painting is housed. The painting, of course, is Our Lady of Czestochowa, also known as the Black Madonna. 

For centuries, reports of miraculous events and healings have been associated with this image of Our Lady. Centuries of votive candles in front of the image have covered the original colors of the portrait with soot, giving Mary’s fair complexion a dark hue. The portrait is a unique combination of Eastern Byzantine and Western Latin art. 

The icon’s history is as tumultuous as Poland’s history, and the two histories are tightly intertwined.

Although there are various versions of the history of this famous portrait, legend holds that the icon was originally painted by St. Luke on a tabletop that Jesus constructed. While Luke painted the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary told the Gospel writer everything about her life. 

After centuries of obscurity, in the year 326, the painting was discovered by St. Helen, when she went to Jerusalem to search for the True Cross of Christ. St. Helen then passed it along to her son, Constantine, who later had it displayed on a wall in Constantinople while the city was under siege by the Saracens. The invaders were quickly routed, and the image was given credit for saving the city.

The image changed hands for centuries until Charlemagne is said to have gained possession of it, then passing it on to Prince Leo of Ruthenia (then Hungary). In the 11th century, Ruthenia was invaded, and the king, his small army and the country were spared after praying to Our Lady for divine assistance. The invaders were covered in a cloud of darkness and, in their confusion, started to attack each other.

Finally, in the 14th century, Prince Władysław, duke of Opole, a city in southern Poland on the Oder River, prompted by a dream, requested that 16 Pauline monks from Hungary bring the holy image to Poland while establishing Jasna Góra monastery in 1382.

In 1430, Hussites attacked the monastery and tried to take the sacred portrait. One marauder struck the painting twice with a sword and was immediately and inexplicably struck dead. Those cuts and another arrow wound to the image are still visible on the image today. 

In 1655, Poland was overrun by Swedish invaders in the war that is known today as “The Deluge.” The entire country — except for Jasna Góra — had been conquered by the Swedes. The monks miraculously held off the enemy forces for 40 days, thereby changing the momentum of what had been a devastating war. Miraculously, the rest of Poland was able to drive out the invaders. This remarkable event prompted the coronation of Our Lady of Czestochowa, naming her the Queen of Poland in 1717, when the entire country was placed under her protection. 

In 1920, as the Russian army was approaching the Vistula River in Warsaw, an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa was seen in the clouds over the river on Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. After a series of battles, the Russians were defeated in what is known today as the “Miracle at the Vistula.” 

During World War II, the Nazis prohibited pilgrims from going to Jasna Góra, although many still risked death by doing so. In 1945, after the liberation of Poland from the Nazis at the end of World War II, 500,000 Poles went to the holy site in gratitude, followed by 1.5 million Poles who gathered a year later on Sept. 8, 1946, to rededicate their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Under Soviet communism, the Soviets also tried to keep pilgrims from the site. Undaunted, Archbishop Karol Wojtyla (later to become Pope St. John Paul II) and other Church leaders helped to arrange a tour of the Black Madonna around Poland. Since the fall of communism, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of pilgrims to Czestochowa.

Averaging about 14,000 pilgrims on any given day — more on Marian feasts — Czestochowa is truly the heart of Polish Catholicism and the country’s devotions to Our Lady as Queen of Poland. Since the Middle Ages, pilgrims have made the trip to Jasna Góra on foot. The practice is still followed today, with an average of 100,000 people each year walking from all over Poland to Jasna Góra. (For those not inclined to walk to Czestochowa, trains and buses run there regularly from Krakow.)

Pope St. John Paul II was intensely devoted to the Virgin Mary and to her icon at Czestochowa, making four pilgrimages to Jasna Góra while pope (1979, 1983, 1991 and 1997). In 1991, the sixth World Youth Day was held at Czestochowa. Pope Benedict XVI also visited the shrine during his papal visit to Poland in 2006. 

There is much to experience behind the fortress walls of Jasna Góra. The image of Our Lady of Czestochowa is in the small 15th-century Gothic chapel, with a much larger baroque church adjacent to the chapel. Also within the walled complex is the monastery where the Pauline monks still reside, which features a priceless collection of books, a museum and the treasury. The treasury includes gifts offered to Our Lady by kings, queens, presidents and popes for prayers answered. Among the many treasures are swords and scepters, a rosary made from dried bread in a concentration camp, tear-gas cylinders the Soviets used against Solidarity protesters in the 1980s and Lech Walesa’s 1983 Nobel Peace Prize.

Carrie Gress

has a doctorate from The Catholic University of America.

 She is the co-author, with George Weigel, of City of Saints:

A Pilgrimage to John Paul II’s Kraków. Follow her

World Youth Day previews at NCRegister.com.

 Black Madonna icon/Public domain