Last week a very special grace came to our community. The traveling icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa visited our town, which has been traveling from town to town across the entire world since 2012 on a pilgrimage to inspire greater devotion to Jesus through Mary and to awaken Christians to the urgent calling to build a culture that protects life from conception to natural death. The pilgrimage is officially called "The Ocean to Ocean Campaign in Defense of Life," which is being carried out through the pro-life missionary organization called Human Life International. The pilgrimage started in Russia, which is quite fitting, since Russia was the birthplace of abortion-on-demand and holds the staggering statistic of 8 abortions per Russian woman!
The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa is also called the "Black Madonna" due to Mary's dark skin which was probably caused by candle smoke over the years. According to tradition, the original icon was painted by St. Luke on the table belonging to the Holy Family. Centuries later, St. Helena brought the icon from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and it eventually found its final home in Czestochowa, Poland. The traveling icon that I was blessed to be able to see and touch is a beautiful replica of the original, and was blessed by the bishop of Czestochowa before it began its pilgrimage across the globe.
Here is a picture of the original icon in Poland:
Many miracles have been associated both with the original icon and with the newly painted icon made specifically for the "Ocean to Ocean Campaign in Defense of Life." The original icon was often carried into battle, just like the Ark of the Covenant was carried into battle in the Old Testament, and brought about miraculous military victories over the years. Many faithful Christians believe that asking for the intercession of Our Lady of Czestachowa aided in ending Communism in Poland, as well. The new icon has been brought to many abortion clinics where faithful Christians have asked for Our Lady's intercession, resulting in many saved babies on the day the icon was present, and even the complete closure of a few clinics within days of the icon's visit.
I believe that I witnessed something miraculous at our own Planned Parenthood here in Helena. Fr. Peter West, who is the priest that is caring for the icon on its pilgrimage, brought the icon to our Planned Parenthood the day before our 40 Days for Life campaign began. A few days later was a scheduled abortion day at our Planned Parenthood. A group of us came to pray at 8:00am. The abortionist arrived, but no clients came for the first hour, which was very unusual (typically, the abortion clients arrive first-thing in the morning). Three clients came later in the morning, but that was the lowest number we have seen on an abortion day. Perhaps the extra intercession to Our Lady helped spare the lives of some unborn children in our town, just like in many others around the world! Praise the Lord!
Here is Fr. West and a few of my pro-life friends praying at Helena's Planned Parenthood:
There is so much rich history regarding this icon. If you'd like to read more, here are a couple of great links that I found:
And for more information about the Ocean to Ocean Campaign, here is their website:
My family visited the Black Madonna Shrine in Missouri last year and it was very beautiful! Before we went I had never heard of the nickname "Black Madonna" for Our Lady of Czestochowa. The links you provided explained why...thank you for sharing them. Thank you also for sharing your testimony of faith through the intercession of Our Mother. Thats is awesome! Thanks be to God, for He is SO Good!
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