Day: August 29, 2018

OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA

The origin of this miraculous image in Czestochowa, Poland is unknown for absolute certainty, but according to tradition the painting was a portrait of Our Lady done by St. John sometime after the Crucifixion of Our Lord and remained in the Holy Land until discovered by St. Helena of the Cross in the fourth century. The painting was taken to Constantinople, where St. Helena’s son, the Emperor Constantine, erected a church for its enthronement. This image was revered by the people of the city.

During the siege by the Saracens, the invaders became frightened when the people carried the picture in a procession around the city; the infidels fled. Later, the image was threatened with burning by an evil emperor, who had a wife, Irene, who saved it and hid it from harm. The image was in that city for 500 years, until it became part of some dowries, eventually being taken to Russia to a region that later became Poland. Continue reading →

The Beheading of St. John Baptist

When St. John, the Baptist and Precursor of Jesus Christ, of whose miraculous birth we have spoken elsewhere, by divine admonition left the desert, he repaired to the river Jordan, to preach repentance, thus to prepare men for the recognition of the Messiah. The abuses and vices which had crept in among the Jews, and had become habitual with them, were rebuked by him without respect to persons. At that period there reigned in Judaea, King Herod, surnamed Antipas, a son of the Herod who murdered the Holy Innocents, and a brother of the Herod who clothed Christ with a white garment and derided Him. This King had forcibly carried off Herodias, the wife of his still living brother, Philip, and had married her. The whole country was scandalized at this criminal deed, but nobody dared to reproach the King for his unlawful conduct. St. John alone would not be silent.  Continue reading →