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Former President Donald Trump is going to visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa(the Black Madonna) in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, this weekend, according to recent reports.
It gets its name "Black Madonna" from the soot residue that discolors the painting. The soot is the result of centuries of votive lights and candles burning in front of the painting. With the fall of communism in Poland, pilgrimages to the Black Madonna have increased dramatically.
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
I've read that the damage to the icon will not go away. It's a mystery, but the scratches return.
Artists over the years have repeatedly tried to fix the original image, but every attempt fails. The scars miraculously reappear every time, and so artists have given up trying to repair the image, recognizing that the Virgin Mary wants the scars to be there.
The Black Madonna, also known as Our Lady of Częstochowa, has two parallel scratches and a third horizontal cut on her right cheek, and six scratches on her neck. The scratches are said to have come from an incident in 1430 when Hussites attacked the monastery where the icon was kept, stole it, and slashed it with swords:
The attack
The Hussites stormed the monastery, stole the icon, and put it in their wagon to leave. When the horses refused to move, the Hussites threw the icon to the ground. One of the Hussites then slashed the icon twice with his sword.
The aftermath
The Hussites were unable to leave with the icon, and the soldier who slashed it fell to the ground and died. The icon was recovered and returned to the monastery.
The scars
Artists have tried to repair the scars, but they keep reappearing. Some believe the scars are a sign from the Virgin Mary that she wants them to remain, and that they have multiple meanings:
A warning: The scars may warn others who might want to steal the icon.
A reminder of suffering: The scars may symbolize the Virgin Mary's suffering on earth, similar to the scars on Jesus' resurrected body.
A reminder of Poland's history: The scars may represent the difficult history of Poland, and that the Virgin Mary suffers with her people
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
