The Black Madonna of Jasna Góra
On the hill of Jasna Góra above Częstochowa hangs the most famous image of the Virgin in Poland: the Black Madonna. Across her dark face run two slashes on the right cheek, and of those scars a tale has been told for centuries.
1 The image on the hill
According to tradition the icon was painted on a tabletop from the house of the Holy Family, and came to Poland by many roundabout ways. When it was placed on Jasna Góra, pilgrims flocked to it, and the monastery grew rich in gifts of gold and precious stones.
That wealth did not go unnoticed. A band of robbers, some say heretic warriors, made for the hill, resolved to seize the treasures and the famous icon.
2 The cart that would not go
The robbers plundered the treasury and loaded the icon too onto a cart. But when the horses were to set off, the cart would not move. However they whipped and pulled, the wheels stood fast, as if the earth held the image down.
Enraged and superstitious, one of the men seized his sabre and struck at the face of the Madonna. Two slashes he drew across the cheek. When he raised his arm for a third blow, he collapsed, and terror sent the whole band fleeing.
3 The scars that will not heal
The monks found the icon left behind on the ground, with the two slashes on the cheek. They tried to paint them over, but again and again the scars rose to the surface, as if the image wished to keep them.
Ever since, the Black Madonna bears her slashes as a sign. For the pilgrims who come each year to Jasna Góra it is no damage but a proof: that the image would not be carried off, and that it wished to remain at Częstochowa.
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