The Black Madonna, Our Lady of Czestochowa
- Jane Orton
- Oct 6
- 7 min read
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, an icon of the Virgin Mary and child, is a national symbol of Poland and motherhood. It is also a miracle-working icon and protector of the Polish people. Dr. Orton investigates the folklore and history of Poland’s most important painting.
I recently had the good fortune to visit the famous Jasna Góra monastery of Częstochowa, Poland’s spiritual capital and home to one of the world’s most important icons. The Black Madonna is cherished by Poles and Catholics all over the world.
The icon is said to have been written (Eastern icons are said to be “written” rather than painted) by Saint Luke on a cedar table built by Jesus (although others say it was created much later). It depicts the Virgin Mary in her stance as the “Hodegetria,” in which Mary holds Jesus and points to him as the source of salvation. Jesus has his hand extended towards the viewer and holds a book of gospels in his other hand. The figures of Mary and Jesus in the Black Madonna of Częstochowa are black, which is sometimes explained to be as a result of the smoke from votive candles, or varnish, or because it was originally painted that way, perhaps due to the icon’s Eastern origins.
A Miracle-Working Icon
St. Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine is said to have discovered the Black Madonna in Constantinople, where it was said to protect the city during sieges and times of disease. Theodore the Syncellus’s Homily on the siege of Constantinople in 626 AD describes how “at all the western doors of the city, from which left even the revenge of darkness, the holy archpriest, after having painted on icons the holy features of the Virgin carrying in her arms that which she had given birth to, the Lord, — and these icons were like the most brilliant sun, driving out the darkness by its rays…”
According to Jasna Góra monastery records, the icon was at deposited at Jasna Góra in 1384, when Prince Ladislaus was on his way to take the icon to Opala. When he reached Czestochowa, his horses refused to move (click the link to read about how the final resting place for St. Cuthbert’s shrine was identified in a similar way). Prince Ladislaus took this as a sign that this was the proper resting place for the image. He left the icon with the monks, who later established a shrine.
The Wounding of the Icon
Narratives of desecrated pictures were not uncommon in the medieval period, especially during the period of iconoclasm (the destruction of religious images) around 726-843. These narratives often involve an iconoclast or unbeliever damaging a holy image, which miraculously develops a bloody wound or scar and the vandal is punished, sometimes repenting.
Some narratives allege that the Black Madonna was wounded during siege of Bełz castle in the fourteenth century by Lithuanians, Tatar and Scythian pagans, at which point the icon miraculously saved the castle. Historians point out that Lithuanians actually defended the castle during fourteenth century sieges, while the Polish-Hungarian army attacked it.
The more common narrative is that the icon was damaged during an attack by the Hussites (Czech forerunners of the Protestant reformation) in 1430. Chronicler Jan Długosz describes how the Hussites slashed the painting with a sword.
The attackers are said to have dropped the icon during their escape. When the monks retrieved the painting, a spring that appeared miraculously in the place where it had been dropped. The spring remains today, and many believe it has healing powers.
King Władysław Jagiełło attempted to restore the icon and returned it to the Jasna Góra Monastery in 1434. The Black Madonna was then treated as a palladion (a protective image of the Jagiellonian dynasty). King Władysław Jagiełło was a newly baptized Christian and the icon was an important religious symbol for him. In spite of the painting’s restoration, the scars on it remain.
The Black Madonna and the Polish Nation
From the mid-sixth century, we find references to acheiropoietoi, images of Christ not made by human hands that were believed to have divine origins. There were also sudariums (“sweat cloths”) and vera icons (“true images”) which show the impression of the face of Jesus Christ on a cloth. In this context, another group of images emerged: images of Christ or of the Virgin Mary with Child that were said to have been painted by Saint Luke (sometimes completed by divine intervention). There are accounts of the Black Madonna of Jasna Góra that say that the icon was completed by angels.
Many art historians and anthropologists argue that, in order to understand the importance of the icon, we need to understand both the Eastern and Western context. The cult of images is important within the Byzantine tradition and there was a Marian cult in Latin Europe in the fourteenth century at the time of the Black Madonna’s arrival at Jasna Góra Monastery. As cultural anthropologist Anna Niedźwiedź says, “In the religious context of the late Middle Ages, various miraculous powers were attributed to the Virgin Mary. The widespread belief in the Assumption also influenced the growth in Marian devotion. If one believed that the body of Mary was taken to heaven, there would be no relics from her body.”
In 1655, Sweden invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in a conflict known as “the Deluge.” When they reached the monastery at Jasna Góra, the monks and volunteer defenders refused to surrender, eventually leading to the Swedish retreating after losing morale. Monks at Jasna Góra credited the icon for the victory and the following year, King Kazimierz of Poland declared Our Lady of Częstochowa to be “Queen of Poland.”
Our Lady of Częstochowa is also credited with the victory of the Poles over the Red Army in 1920. The Russians were on the banks of the Wisla River, poised to attack Warsaw, but people in churches across Poland prayed to Our Lady of Częstochowa and her image is said to have appeared in the clouds.
The icon was a symbol of resistance during the Nazi occupation of Poland (1939–1945). The Nazis prohibited pilgrimages to Jasna Góra, although many Poles disobeyed this rule. There are narratives of the icon defending Jasna Góra in 1939, when the Nazis planned to bomb the monastery, but were unable to find it.
The icon has a special connection to the Polish people and is an important pilgrimage destination. The third of May is the feast of Mary, Queen of Poland, established by Pope Pius XI. It is also an important day in Polish national history: it is Constitution Day, which commemorates the constitution in 1791. Jasna Góra itself is regarded as the “spiritual capital of Poland.”
Cultural studies scholar Dr. Anna Hamling argues, “The Virgin Mary’s suffering is the essence of the Polish soul, Polish culture, Polish Catholicism, Polish history and of all Polish mothers. She has been the most powerful symbol of “Polishness” since the painting was brought to Częstochowa in 1382 when Poland was coming a nationhood. Through Poland’s very turbulent history (the Russian partitions, WWII, and post-war communism) Our Lady of Częstochowa has always stood as the epitome of perfect motherhood, loving and forgiving, protector of her children who shared her grief in losing her son to a violent death on the cross.”
The influence of the icon’s has spread beyond Jasna Góra. A copy of the image that was kept at the cathedral in Lublin in Eastern Poland was recorded to be weeping in 1949. This was known as the “Lublin miracle” and, along with images of Pope John Paul II, images of the Black Madonna became symbols of resistance to communism.
The Black Madonna became linked to the anti-authoritarian Solidarity movement when Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa wore a badge with the image on it. As Anna Niedźwiedź writes, “Our Lady of Częstochowa became one of the most powerful anti-communist symbols in Poland.” In the 1980s, rumours began to spread that the wounds on painting opened and blood flowed, that a third scar had appeared and that the existing wounds had started to elongate. During the Martial Law period in the early eighties, images of the Black Madonna became one of the most popular symbols of resistance, appearing on underground envelopes and leaflets and being alluded to in popular protest songs.
This link is acknowledged by the monastery today. Its Golghota Gallery has a series of paintings by Częstochowa-born artist Jerzy Duda-Gracz. One of these depicts Pope John Paul II – cherished by Poles as their Polish Pope and a key figure in Poland’s resistance to communism – right after the assassination attempt on his life in 1981. The Black Madonna icon is included in the painting behind the Pope’s body. My guide at Jasna Góra explained that the Black Madonna is thought to have protected the Pope during the attempt on his life.
Today, the icon remains an important source of solace to Polish people. So many votive offerings – widows’ wedding rings and other such personal items – were given to the Black Madonna that it was decided to use them to create “dresses” held on hooks just centimetres from the icon so that they could be close to it. This idea has been extended and some dresses have been made in gratitude for miracles performed by the Black Madonna: recovery from illness, for example. That’s why the icon looks different from the original image. My guide at Jasna Góra recalled meeting a seventeen-year-old boy who was conceived after his parents visited Jasna Góra to ask the Black Madonna to relieve their infertility.
“I told the boy,” she said. “I am looking at a miracle.”
Find out more
Our History and Art History blog has a series on Art History! You can also read about another miracle-working Madonna in our post on the Secrets of Siena. We also have a Secret History of Cities series, where you can read about St. Cuthbert’s protection of the city of Durham!
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