Black Madonna of Czestochowa

Czestochowa, Poland's Jasna Gora Monastery has a very popular shrine to the Virgin Mary known as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. It does not get the traffic that the Virgin of Guadalupe gets in Mexico City (about 20 million visitors a year),  but it gets a lot of visitors. In 2011, 3.2 million people from 80 countries visited the shrine, including 143,983 pilgrims who traveled on foot an average distance of 217 miles over 11 days and I've seen something more recent that guesstimates 5 million visitors a year. 

Our first view of the monastery.

While in Krakow, we took a day tour to Czestochowa which included a driver to and from Czestochowa and an English speaking tour of the monastery led by Father Foster Muir, a monk originally from Scotland, and a member of the Order of St. Paul the First Hermit, which runs the monastery. It turned out to be an extraordinary experience for me, a highlight of our trip. Much of that experience was attributable to Father Muir, a laid back monk who did not take himself too seriously, was quick to laugh, did not feign his religiosity, and made himself available after the tour for an extended conversation with me. I liked him immensely. But another aspect of the experience was the exceptional attention given to the Black Madonna and our our immersion in it. We visited during a mass and the chapel, and beyond, were packed with visitors. Father Muir indicated that a mass is always going on. Because of that, the monk-led tours walk up and down each side of the chapel during mass. We were standing, taking photos and walking through the chapel while a monk was officiating just a few feet from us. It was a little disconcerting, but Father Muir encouraged us to take pictures and take our time. Although the Virgin of Guadalupe gets more than four times the number of visitors, my experience in Czestochowa sensed greater devotion among both the visitors and the officiators.

A monk leading the mass with the Black Madonna behind him to his left. 

A view of the side aisle we walked. Judy is at the back, just in front of the iron grate that sets the back boundary for the chapel. I am behind the monk leading the mass. 

The sacrament table. Father Muir is to the left.

The sacrament table and the monk leading the mass.

Behind the wall with the Black Madonna is a corridor and many items are hanging on the wall, like this.

Father Muir took us through a door into a room next to the chapel, where the monks prepare for mass. The host and wine were set right next to the open door and we were able to continue to view the mass. Extraordinary.

Preparation room for the monks.

View through the open door into the chapel where the mass is taking place.

Those aspects supercharged the experience for me and the rest of our visit, for the most part, both outside and inside the building, were of little significance to me. 

Photos from the main part of the church. Spectacular, but second fiddle to the Black Madonna. 

The legendary origin of the Black Madonna claims it was painted by St. Luke on a cedar table top from the house of Mary and Joseph. It was later discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by St. Helena who took it back to Constantinople and gave it to her son, Constantine. Art historians, on the other hand, believe it was a Byzantine icon created somewhere between the sixth and ninth centuries. Whatever the origins, it was left at the monastery in 1384 by Wladyslaw Opolczyk, Duke of Opole, who got it from the Castle of Belz. 

The Madonna has two scars on her right cheek. Legend has it that Hussites stormed the monastery in 1430 and stole the icon. When they tried to leave their horses refused to move. The Hussites threw the icon on the ground and one of them inflicted the scars with his sword. When he tried to strike it a third time, he fell to the ground and writhed in agony until his death. 

I didn't realize until we were there that the Black Madonna has changes in clothing. Note that the face of the Black Madonna and her Son are currently sunk into the painting by an overlay. This site has photos of previous overlays. Father Muir said that he'd not had the privilege of changing her overlay. 

This is a copy of the original Black Madonna that was in the building. 

This is a photo of the Black Madonna with her current overlay. Note how she's recessed behind it. 

Aside from the chapel with the Black Madonna, I also greatly enjoyed the Stations of the Cross by Jerzy Duda Gracz. This link shows pictures of each of the Stations (much better than my own) and gives a little information about each Station and the artist. The artist notes that "he wants us to be responsible and active during our own self-examination" as we "experience the Passion of Christ." A theme of many of his works is "the journey of Jesus on Polish roads, among contemporary Poles." He presents "poetically understood realism...overstated and sometimes leaning toward caricature...frequently somewhat deformed, at times twisted, ugly, bad, funny or piteous." He features "contemporary and historical individuals, ordinary and festive, typical and unique" and a "very human Jesus, occasionally a little bit distorted, charmless, humiliated and victorious at the same time, Jesus to whom every one of us can come with our own suffering not afraid of rejection." 

Station 1: Jesus stands before Pilate. Like a modern news conference, microphones and lights. Pilate, at back right, washes his hands. 

Station 2: Jesus carries his own cross. Jesus not only takes up his cross, but takes up our crosses as well, including crutches, artificial limbs and human cripples. 

Station 3: Jesus falls the first time. We deny Jesus as our Savior, continuing to repeat the weakness of Peter. I'm wondering if that is Peter in pope garb behind the cross?

Station 4: Jesus sees his mother as the Black Madonna, or all mothers that are a reflection of her image. She shows us the way to salvation. I love that. 

Station 5: A modern Simon of Cyrene takes up the cross. 

Station 6: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus. The white flag with the image of Jesus symbolizes the human surrender to his love. 

Station 7: Jesus falls the second time. It is right before the holidays and the streets are crowded and hectic. Only a dog notices and recognizes the Son of God. 

Station 8: Jesus encounters the women. Consolation is offered to the women in this meeting. Jesus tells them not to weep for him, but for themselves and their children (Luke 23:28). 

Station 9: Jesus falls the third time. Now Jesus is weeping, he suffers the most. Behind the childrens' hell is the ladder from Jacob's dream. It provides access to children, who will ascend before anyone else. Nazis are evident and naked and dead children, evidence of the holocaust. 

Station 10: Jesus is stripped of his clothes. This connects Jesus with the parable of the sinful woman and the throwing of stones by those who have no sin. The "sin" of Jesus is his human nature, his body, perceived of by us as a white body adored and cherished by ringing bells in a ceremonial procession, throwing rose petals instead of stones, not noticing the humiliating nakedness of his body. 

Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the cross. Nailed without executioners. Christ lays himself on the cross, nailed to it by human pain and victims who died in prisons and concentration camps. 

Station 12: Jesus died on the cross. His mother, in the form of the Black Madonna, is at the foot of the cross. The moment of his death he liberated crosses across the earth. 

Station 13: Jesus was taken down from the cross. He is in the arms of his mother, in the form of the Black Madonna. The Nazi SS look on.  

Station 14: Jesus is laid in the tomb. The tomb of Jesus is the foundation for theories and books that proclaim his defeat or nonexistence. Here, at Auschwitz, he is crushed by a pile of crosses which are profaned and thrown away into the gravel pit. 

Station 15: The resurrection (going beyond the traditional stations). Jesus lives, but his Golgotha is not finished. 

Station 17: Galilee. Jesus has been giving orders to Peter and the apostles and their successors, for centuries, telling them to feed his sheep. 

There is so much more to Jasna Gora Monastery, but I've covered what was important to me. 

With Father Muir.