Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Glad you asked! Click this link to open a new browser window with a virtual reality 360° panoramic view to see the answer. Special thanks to John Chmielewski and Matt Horvath for getting the photographic equipment for this VR tour into the church steeple.

There are ten angels painted on the walls of the church clearstory - the open area that extends out from the level of the choir loft like a second story. They each hold a scroll with a Polish rendition of a title of Mary from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The floor plan (the image file might take a few seconds to load) below shows where each is located and what their scrolls say in Polish and English.

Our Lady of Częstochowa

This painting on the wall near the Blessed Virgin Mary Altar is a rendition of the famous icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa, revered as a spiritual trasure of Poland. According to legend it was painted by St. Luke while Mary told him about Jesus' boyhood. It was kept in Constantinople for 500 years of the Byzantine Empire's existence, but passed via doweries into several noble families in Russia, and, finally, Poland. In 1382 St. Ładisłas moved the icon to its current location, a monastery run by Pauline Fathers on Jasna Góra (Bright Hill) in Częstochowa, a town in southern Poland. Many miracles are ascribed to its presence, including protection from invasions, protection from plagues, and individuals' healings. In 1655, a Swedish army of 3,000 attempted to storm the monastery, which was being guarded by only 300 Poles. The three thousand were turned back. In 1920 an invading army of Russians turned aside from entering Częstochowa after seeing the icon appear in the clouds above the town as a warning. The appearance was attributed to Poles' prayers to "Our Lady of Częstochowa." The icon was recognized as miraculous by Pope Clement XI in 1717.

The icon is sometimes referred to as "the Black Madonna" because of its dark coloration caused by centuries of soot from devotional candles. For protection as well as for veneration, the icon is usually only displayed with a decorated cover that only shows the original painting's portrayal of Mary's and Christ's faces and hands. This painting shows one of the commonly used covers. For comparison, here is the uncovered original.

The two slashes on Mary's face are said to have come from a Hussite's sword as he attempted to destroy the icon in 1430. He is said to have been stricken dead before he could raise his sword a third time. An alternative legend regarding the slashes involves one of the many times the icon was hidden when invaders threatened in the 1300's and 1400's. The icon was buried in a field, and its location was lost. A year later, a farmer was plowing the field with his ox, when the plow ran into the painting in its protective box. The plow pressed against the painting where the slashes are, but the ox miraculously stopped as soon as the plow made contact with the painting. The farmer saw the box in the ground, and dug the icon back up.

This painting, together with the rose window set near to it (with the polish shield and the depictions of St. Casimir and St. Stanislaus, two national Polish saints) and the Blessed Virgin Mary Altar, forms a single memorial to Poland in the church. This link will take you out of the parish website to the website maintained by the Pauline Fathers at Jasna Góra, where you can see and learn much more about this icon and its monastery.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

This painting on the church wall near the Sacred Heart Altar depicts the Byzantine icon entitled "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." According to the legend behind the icon, the archangels Gabriel and Michael visited Jesus when he was a little boy to show Him the means by which He would die in order to save mankind. Frightened by the cross, lance, and nails, He ran to Mary for comfort, almost losing His left sandal. The icon shows Mary reassuring him.

The icon is in the care of the Redemptorist order. This link will take you out of the parish website to the website maintained by the Redemptorists, where you can see and learn much more about the icon's symbolism and its history. Here is a brief explanation. The icon's history can be reliably traced back for about 500 years. The Greek letters near Mary's head are initials for the title "Mother of God." St. Michael is on the viewer's left, holding the lance. Th letters over his head are initials for his name. St. Gabriel is on the right, holding the lance and nails. The letters over his head are initials for his name. The letters near Jesus are initials for "Jesus Christ." Mary's robe is blue, the color worn by mothers in 1st century Palestine, while her tunic is red, the color worn by virgins. The crowns were painted onto the original in 1867 by order of the Pope as a token of the many miracles attributed to Mary as "Our Lady of Perpetual Hope." Jesus' hands turned palms down into Mary's symbolize that the Graces of Redemption are in her keeping. Mary's eyes look toward us, pleading to us to avoid sin and love her Son.

The crest in the rose window nearest to the Blessed Virgin Mary altar shows the love that the founding parishoners had for their Polish homeland. The words on the scroll say, "God Save Poland." The three dates below the shield are the three dates that Poland was partitioned among Austria, Prussia, and Russia. In 1795 Poland ceased to exist as an independent nation. The years on the banner are the dates of significant Polish attempts to re-assert independence, often with tragic results.

1794 -- Thaddeus Kosciuszko leads an abortive attempt to prevent the 1795 partition.
1830 -- A major revolution in Warsaw is crushed by Russia.
1848 -- Poles play leading roles in peasant revolutions across Europe, but with no success in Poland itself.
1863 -- A revolution in Warsaw again is suppressed by Russia; over 10,000 Poles are deported to Siberia.

The shield displays the royal Polish Falcon, a knight defender, and God's Angel of Justice surrounding a depiction of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. It should be remembered that the window was commissioned in or before 1911 (the year construction of the church was finished), well before Poland was restored as a sovereign nation in 1918 after World War I. Thus, this window is a token of hope and faith that God would restore Poland.