POLAND: CZĘSTOCHOWA

June 25, 2019

We were picked up at our hotel at abut 8:00 AM for a 2 1/2 hour drive to Częstochowa, home of Poland's most famous icon, the Black Madonna.

The icon is housed in a chapel within the basilica anchoring the Jasna Gora Monastery, which was founded in 1382 by Pauline monks from Hungary. Because of her presence in the monastery, Częstochowa is the third largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world.

A 350-foot-tall bell tower dominates the approach.

"Totus tuus" is Latin for "All yours." Pope John Paul II's motto was "All yours, Mary!"

Side chapels protrude from the side of the basilica.

We were herded into a waiting room where we were assigned to a group of four other English-speaking tourists and to Father Foster Muir, one of the Pauline monks. He was Scottish and had a delightful accent. We found him to be very knowledgeable and often quite funny. He pointed out that we were lucky not to have come on a day like the one shown in this photograph that was hanging on the wall. That's a lot of people. Father Muir said that many poles walk to Częstochowa from Warsaw or Krakow, the two cities Częstochowa lies more or less half-way between. (Krakow is about 92 miles away, and Warsaw is about 135 miles away.) It is typically a nine-day journey.

Before entering the chapel, Father Muir gave us a basic orientation about what we would see on and around the altar. I was especially intrigued by #1.

We saw this stiff Pieta somewhere on our way into the chapel, reminding me just why Michelangelo's version is so great:

We followed Father Muir into the Chapel of the Black Madonna, and there she was, Our Lady of Częstochowa, the Queen of the Polish Nation and Lady of Miracles, watching over a packed room of worshipers. (Father Muir led us up one side of the chapel and told us to feel free to take all the pictures we wanted to take, even though the chapel was very crowded.)

Legend says she was originally painted by St. Luke on a cedar table top built by Jesus that Luke took from Mary's house. The painting was discovered in 326 by St. Helena on one of her visits to Jerusalem, and she gave it as a gift to her son, Constantine the Great. It arrived in Poland in the 14th century. The painting itself measures about 4' x 2.8'.

That's the Pope's blood-stained belt there on the far left:

Our Lady has twelve different "dresses" or overlays that fit into the frame and protect the painting.  Each has a unique history and is used for different occasions. The day we were there, she was wearing a starry blue robe.  I think this is the most common outfit, the one that matches what she is wearing in the actual painting. It is known as "The Millenium Dress."

I bought a set of postcards showing all the overlays just so I could see what they all look like. The following are scans of the postcards with Google Translate explanations from their Polish captions. A "votive," by the way, is an consecrated offering.

L: The Millenium Dress (Votive offering on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of the baptism of Poland, 1966) 

R: The Coral and Pearl Jewelry Dress (Made by sisters in 1969)

L: Hetman's [military officer in Ukraine] Coat (A votive offering of the generals of the Second Polish Republic in 1977)
R: Coral-Pearl Dress (Votive offering on the occaison of the 600th anniversary of Jasna Gora, 1981)

L: Sixth Anniversary Dress in Gold (A vote of thanks in 600 years for the presence of the miraculous picture of Jasna Gora)
R: Amber and Diamond Dress: All Yours (Votive offering on the 350th anniversary of the defense of Jasna Gora against the Swedes. Korna Onarow (?), John Paul II before his death, 2005)

L: A Dress of Gratitude and Love, Suffering and Hope (Votive offering on the 100th anniversary of the miraculous image recoronation in 1910, 2010)
R: The image of the Mother of God of Czestochowa bears the features of a Byzantine icon, where there is a Bysantine-Ruthenian tradition of decorating icons with precious decorations. All dresses on the image of the Mother of God are an expression of reverence for Mary and the extension of her worship. (Clearly not a title, but rather an explanation, and it doesn't really look like an overlay.)

L: Brilliant Diamond Dress (Used for the biggest celebrations (17th century)
R: Ruby Dress (Founded as a votive offering for Advent and Lent. Since 1957 also called the dress of fidelity because it was sewn on wedding rings during the great novena - a year of fidelity.) [I have no idea what that might mean.]

L: Coral Dress (Expiatory votive after the theft of crowns and dresses in 1909. Pope Pius X, 1910)
R;: Dress with Seeds (Also called council deed of kindness, 1964)

It's hard for me to distinguish among a few of the overlays, and I don't really understand all the captions, but it is clear that this icon means a lot to the Polish people. I am so glad we took a day out of our trip to see her.

A reproduction in another room shows what the Black Madonna looks like underneath the overlay. Other copies of this painting are in cathedrals in Pennsylvania and Missouri, as well as in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. By the way, she's called "black" because her skin and the infant Jesus's skin are dark in color rather than a radiant pink or white. There are actually about 500 "black" Madonnas around the world. This one is possibly the most famous of all of them.

Look closely and you'll see two slashes on her right cheek. The story is that when the Hussites stormed the monastery in 1430, they stole the icon, placing it in their wagon. However, the horses refused to move. Angered, the Hussites threw the painting onto the muddy ground. One of them swiped at it twice with a sword, but when he rose his arm to strike again, he fell to the ground and died an agonizing death. When the monks pulled the painting from the mud, a fountain miraculously appeared where it had lain, and the monks used the water to clean the painting. They sent the Madonna to Krakow for repairs, but the scars on her cheek could not be repaired.

The Black Madonna is credited with many other miracles, including repelling an invading Swedish army in 1655 and coming to Poland's aid to repel the invading Russian Red Army in 1920, not to mention curing people of their illnesses, helping women conceive, and even raising a mother and two of her children from the dead. No wonder she is so loved.

There are eight masses a day held in the chapel. We walked right next to the priest, who was delivering a homily in Polish. He just ignored us.

Different priests take their turn at the lectern.

And different choirs file in to take their turn as well.

Holy communion is part of each mass.

The Queen of Poland, serene in her royal robes, takes it all in.

We circled around the area behind the wall of the altar area. The corridor is lined with gold bas reliefs depicting various religious imagery:

This section is my favorite.

We came back into the chapel on the other side, catching a good view of the richly adorned organ in the rear of the chapel.

The room with the Black Madonna is actually just a small chapel within the main church, the Church of the Holy Cross and Nativity of Mary. There, the beautiful ceiling is decorated with depictions of the miracles of Our Lady of Częstochowa. The cathedral was designated a minor Basilica in 1906 by Pope Pius X.

 Very, very Baroque.

These two photos are close-ups of the statues in the structure in the above right photo. Wonderful detail!

 It's gorgeous, for sure, but almost TOO much.

Father Muir walked us through the Treasury, a room filled with lavish gifts that have been given to the monastery over the past four or five centuries either to request a blessing or to give thanks for one. We were not allowed to take any pictures, which is too bad because it is impossible to describe what we saw: swords and scepters, jewels, tapestries, gold and silver vessels, and artistic masterpieces. (In another room is my favorite gift of all: Lech Walęsa's 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, which the great man presented to the monastery the day after receiving it. See a New York Times story about his gift here.)

Next we ascended to the second floor . . .

. . . and looked down at the crowds waiting their turn to enter the Black Madonna chapel.

A corridor on this second level contains an art gallery depicting the traditional Catholic Stations of the Cross in a very untraditional way.

The evocative paintings are by Jerzy Duda-Gracz, an artist born in Częstochowa in 1941. Painted in 2000-2001 and known as The Jasna Gora Calvary, this series of paintings is considered his most monumental work. I love the macabre realism that often places the suffering Christ in 20th century scenes. For me, this is a very personal depiction of a Christ that suffers for all sins, even the sins of the War that almost destroyed Poland. 

My photos are not great, but I'm going to include them all because as a set, I think they are very powerful.

I: Jesus is condemned to death (That blindfolded man must be Pilate, ready to wash his hands in the bowl being held by the woman next to him), and II: He is made to bear his cross (Note the crutches and braces in the background and the man in the wheelchair):

III: Jesus falls for the first time (with a dozen Bishops looking on), and IV: He meets his mother (depicted here as the Black Madonna painting and with many more icons in the background):

V: Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross, and VI: Veronica wipes Jesus's face:

VII: Jesus falls the second time (in front of a rather disinterested, bustling crowd), and VIII: The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus:

IX: Jesus falls the third time (with a backdrop of abused children), and X: Jesus is stripped of His garments (in front of what appears to be a first communion or perhaps a wedding ceremony):

XI: Jesus is nailed to the cross (Note the man in concentration camp striped clothing):

XII: He dies on the cross (Note the Pope, cardinals, and monks, and the painting of the Black Madonna at the base of the cross):

XIII: He is taken down from the cross (The Black Madonna representing his mother Mary extends her hand from the painting to hold him up), and  XIV: He is placed in the sepulchre (with barbed wire fencing and floodlights in the background that bring to mind the Auschwitz concentration camp):

Duda-Gracz added four additional images to the tradition 14 Stations of the Cross.  XV: Jesus is resurrected (and below him are thousands of rejoicing people), and XVI: Jesus shows his wounds to Thomas:

XVII: Jesus in Galilee (perhaps reminding his apostles to "feed my sheep"), and XVIII: Jesus ascends to Heaven:

Very powerful. 

We moved on to the ornate room where the priests prepare for mass. Again, it was as if we were invisible. The priests (at the far end of the room) didn't give us a second glance as Father Muir acted as tour guide:

Our next stop was an outdoor altar on the roof where services can be held for large crowds of pilgrims who gather in the square below:.

Images of the Black Madonna are everywhere. I especially like this one that clearly shows the scars on her face.

I'm not sure what this sculpture of three men refers to, but the title on the base is something like "You pay for them."

Father Muir led us on a walk around the perimeter of the basilica.

Our Lady of Częstochowa is everywhere, much like the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico:

By now, our planned 1 1/4-hour-long tour had turned into a 2-hour tour, and Father Muir had to let us go. (If you ever go to Jasna Gora, try to get him as your guide.) However, I had determined that I would climb the 400 steps to the viewing spot on the tall, iconic monastery tower. Bob was not interested, and so I headed up on my own.

I made my way as quickly as possible up the winding stairs, thinking of W. B. Yeats's poem:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

I little grim, I know.  Of course, I was turning and turning in a lessening gyre and hoping the center would hold.

First resting stop--a view of the refectory:

Then all the way to the top of the stairs, where I could see the smaller, neighboring tower . . .

. . . and Częstochowa spread before me, a beautiful, emerald city that has been witness to some incredible history:

On my way back down the stairs, I noticed a version of a wishing well where coins are dropped as an offering to Our Lady.

When I stepped out of the tower, guess who Bob was still talking to? What a delightful man.

Lucky for me, at the end of the long sidewalk that took us to the parking lot to meet our driver . . .

 . . . there was an ice cream stand. I ordered two scoops without feeling an ounce of guilt.

And then on the highway back to Krakow, we stopped to look at the freshly-harvested chanterelle mushrooms and wild blueberries for sale by some locals at the side of the road. Sadly, we had no way to cooked those incredible golden gems, but we did by a quart of the blueberries and snacked on them all the way back to our hotel.