This icon ( Greek for "image" ) of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God is usually known under the title of Our Lady of Czestochowa in English-speaking countries, and often as "The Black Madonna", because the face of the image darkened over the years from the smoke of candles and incense. It is the most important holy picture in all of Poland, a national as well as religious symbol for almost 800 years! Its origin is clouded in mystery and legend. Though piously attributed to St. Like, who painted the image on original planks of the table of the Holy Family and later uncovered by the Empress Helena in the 4th century, where it was then enshrined in a church in Constantinople, it definitely is of Byzantine origin, and one of the earliest known icons of Mary and the Christ Child in existence. As such it is venerable in itself. It traveled from Constantinople to Ruthenia to Poland in 1382, to the monastery of the Pauline Fathers, where it is today. The original painting was encased in several bejeweled "coats" over the centuries and crowned Queen of Poland first in 1717. A Tartar's arrow once lodged in the throat of the Madonna. Another time, a foreign soldier struck the Madonna twice in the neck with his sword. The wounds are still visible in spite of King Wladyslaw Jagiello's order to "heal" the image by restoration. In 1920, the appearance of the icon in the sky, is credited with driving the Bolsheviks, out of Poland, "the Miracle on the Wisla!". In 1982, Pope John Paul II presented the holy icon with a "Golden Rose", stating "...you have been helping us to create our history...continuity...and identity." Millions of pilgrims from all over Poland and the world visit her shrine every year. A MUST FOR EVERY HOME OF POLISH HERITAGE!

Icon measures 10.5"W X 12.5"H X 1.5"D