MADISON — After traveling 40,000 miles through 24 European nations, the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, already viewed by millions and venerated by hundreds of thousands of Christians, landed on the shores of America in August 2013 for the next leg of an historic pilgrimage in the movement to build a Culture of Life.
The Black Madonna, a replica of the original in Jasna Gora Monastery in Poland, was received at a ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, on St. Clement’s Island, Md. — the exact site of the first landing of Catholic pilgrims in the American British colonies of the 17th century. Tradition holds that the original icon of the Black Madonna was painted by St. Luke on a cypress table used by the Holy Family.
The Human Life International-sponsored “Ocean to Ocean Pilgrimage in Defense of Life” will visit Madison on Thursday, June 19, 2014. The Black Madonna will be on the sidewalk outside of Planned Parenthood on Orin Rd. for a 3 p.m. prayer vigil, and at 7 p.m., there will be Mass with Fr. Peter West of Human Life International as celebrant at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monona.
Details and a short video about the pilgrimage can be found at www.hli.org/oceantoocean
“The legal and political battles to defend life and the family in the U.S. and around the world are necessary, but building and sustaining a Culture of Life requires us to turn to God and hear His voice, and that’s why this pilgrimage is so important,” said Human Life International Vice President Fr. Peter West.
“Orthodox and Catholic faithful are seeking Our Lady’s intercession for the protection of the family, and of all human life from conception to natural death.”
The peregrination of the icon began in the summer of 2012 after a meeting of Catholic and Orthodox pro-life leaders in Europe. Starting in Vladivostok, Russia, the Ocean to Ocean Campaign has received the support and blessings of numerous bishops in Europe, as well as Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church and is expected to circle the globe in defense of life.
The icon was blessed by Archbishop Stanislaw Nowak of Czestochowa in January 2012 during a special ceremony at the Jasna Gora Monastery. Fr. Roman Majewski, prior of Jasna Gora, said the pilgrimage has “enormous significance” in the struggle to protect the dignity of all human life.
“The pilgrimage of the Czestochowa icon ‘From Ocean to Ocean’ through the world is an unprecedented historical event and has enormous significance,” he said. “I am expressing my great joy and heartfelt gratitude to all those who arranged for Our Lady to travel through the world in the sign of the image of Jasna Gora and to remind everyone of the value and dignity of human life from conception to natural death.”
For more on the history of the Black Madonna, on the tradition of pilgrimages with sacred icons (based in the Old Testament), and on the Ocean to Ocean Campaign, visit www.hli.org/oceantoocean or contact Adam Cassandra at 540-622-5230 or [email protected]