Post by troubledgoodangel on Sept 13, 2007 3:09:09 GMT -7
Situated ten kilometers from Konin, the Licheñ Shrine is one of the largest centers devoted to the cult of Virgin Mary, to be exact, the eleventh largest in the world, and the second largest in Poland. I have been there several times, and it is spectacular. But the size of the shrine is not what prompts this article; I leave the description to others. What matters is the icon of the Mother of God venerated there, an icon so beautiful, that it warrants all my attention. Painted on a larch board (desce modrzewiowej), by an unknown artist, it was found by a pilgrim in a roadside chapel, near Czêstochowa in 1836, in the village of Lgota. I have first seen this picture in Washington D.C. during my studies at CUA. and was so impressed, that I have fought with the university officials to have it placed in front of my graduate thesis. The face is that of a young girl, looking downwards, so beautiful, that it appears not of this planet. She reigns in silence, by the power of her beauty. She is an embodiment of self-assurance and Queenhood. The mantle that covers her head is yellow, but something seldom if ever seen on earth. It is a blend of different hues of the orange sun seen in the Orient, perhaps - something indescribable. She has a white crowned eagle on her chest, the orze³ mazowiecki -the emblem of the Polish Kings. The inscription below reads: "Królowo Polski, udziel pokoju dniom naszym" (O Oueen of Poland, bestow peace upon our days). The tradition has it, that the finder hanged the picture on a pine tree in a wooden chapel, but after miraculous healings began to happen, since 1858 it was placed in different churches, and finally in the current Basilica. By an awesome coincidence, completely unbeknowst of the above history, I stumbled last year, some 9 kilometers from Czêstochowa, on a modern copy of the Madonna of Licheñ hanging in the deep forest on a pine tree. The wooden chapel was delapidated and vandalized, and the image was turned sky blue by the exposure to the sun. I restored it at my expense, painted blue, and left it on that tree after having it blessed at Jasna Góra on September 20, 2006. It's miraulously beautiful! I visit it periodically, and I encourage others to do so: just take highway E75 from Czêstochowa in the direction of Cracow, then the route 46 to Jêdrzejów, to the left, then, after crossing the railroad, go some two kilometers until a small parking spot down the hill, paved green, on the right. Park there, and walk 700 meters across the forester's barrier, pass the electric power line, and then, on the first crossing turn to the right, and voila it is there some 80 meters. I am sure, Our Lady will be waiting.