Florida Catholic | Our Lady of Czestochowa

Our Lady of Czestochowa icon home at St. Marks

JIM DELPH | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 09.28.07

Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa at St. Marks Parish.

Deacon Bob Esposito, left, and Pauline Father Muriusz Dymek unveil the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, blessed by Pope Benedict XVI, at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Summerfield Aug. 26.
JIM DELPH | FC

SUMMERFIELD | An image in the possession of Pope Benedict XVI now hangs within a parish in Summerfield, with the blessing of the pontiff.

A 5-foot-high replica of the original miraculous image of Our Lady of Czestochowa now graces St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Summerfield, south of Ocala and just a stone’s throw from The Villages. Pauline Father Mariusz Dymek, assisted by Deacon Bob Esposito, unveiled the icon Aug. 26, the feast day of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

“We are truly blessed to have the only permanent icon, blessed by the Holy Father, in the United States at this time,” Father Dymek told the congregation as he became emotional to the point of briefly being unable to speak.

The image is significant to the Polish people and especially to the religious order of St. Paul the Hermit, otherwise known as the Pauline Fathers. The order was founded in the13th century in Hungary, and its members lived in caves in Hungary. The monastic order spread throughout the countries of Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Austria and Bavaria. Although various governments closed monasteries during a period of time, they persevered in Poland. The order furthered its devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the main monastery in Czestochowa, Poland, where the Pauline monastery still thrives. In the United States, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is located in Doylestown, Pa.

So, how did the image go from the pope to a small town in central Florida? According to Deacon Esposito of St. Mark it was “God-cidental.”

In 2006, an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa produced by a Polish artist and icon painter was offered to the pope during his trip to Poland. The Pauline Fathers prepared a smaller copy of the icon. Pope Benedict XVI blessed both icons, but selected the smaller one, which is in his bedroom in the Vatican. He left the original icon with the Pauline monks at Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa in case of some “special needs.”

Less than two weeks later, Deacon Esposito and Pauline Father Sebastian Hanks, then parochial vicar of St. Mark, lead a pilgrimage to Jasna Gora Monastery. While there, Father Hanks talked to his friend, Father Peter Polek, subprior of the monastery, about the Summerfield parish’s need for a focal work of art for its new sanctuary.

Father Polek showed Father Hanks the 5-foot-tall icon, which was housed in the monastery’s treasury. Deacon Esposito said Father Hanks’ reaction was excited and it took no time to ask if the icon could find a home at St. Mark.

“We asked for it and we got it. It was incredible,” Deacon Esposito said. “It wasn’t coincidental. It was ‘God-cidental.’ God wanted it to be here.”

The icon traveled from Poland to New York and then to the national shrine in Doylestown. From there, two priests drove it down to Summerfield, where St. Mark’s 3,200 parishioners have marveled at it. The parish is one of nine entities (including eight parishes and a national shrine) staffed by Pauline Fathers in the United States, and it is the largest parish staffed by Pauline Fathers in the United States.

“Parishioners have reacted in awe,” Deacon Esposito said. “Since the unveiling, a steady stream of visitors has come to see the painting and pray to Our Lady for their individual intentions. Not just from the parish, but from other parishes.”

According to an article in The Villages’ Daily Sun, the St. Mark’s Women’s Guild presented a check of $4,000 to Father Dymek to cover the costs associated with the icon.

The image upon the icon, which shows the Blessed Mother holding the infant Jesus, is believed to have been created by St. John sometime after the crucifixion of Jesus. It remained in the Holy Land until St. Helena of the Cross discovered it in the fourth century. The painting was hidden in Saracens for 500 years before being taken to Poland, where it became the possession of a Polish prince, St. Ladislaus, in the 15th century.

Eventually the painting came to its final resting place in Czestochowa. Many spectacular miracles, archived by the Pauline monks, were attributed to Our Lady of Czestochowa. Pilgrimages to the shrine are popular with U.S. Catholics.

Jean Gonzalez of the Florida Catholic staff contributed to this story.

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