On Saturday morning, November 8, the recently restored icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa was reinstalled in the chapel of the same name at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The icon was blessed during a Mass with the Polish Catholic Mission in France.
Presided over by Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, President of the Polish Episcopal Conference, and attended by Polish bishops and vicars general of the Diocese of Paris, this Mass also provided an opportunity to gather many members of the Polish community in France. Due to the large crowds at Notre-Dame, a second mass was celebrated in the afternoon.
“We Poles venerate Mary in our land, but also in exile. Every place dedicated to her is our spiritual home.” “We are happy that there is a Polish chapel here. It was consecrated on December 1, 2018, on the occasion of the centenary of Poland’s independence.” “Here lies a part of Częstochowa, a spiritual bridge to Our Lady of Jasna Góra,” Bishop Wojda said in his homily.
The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa
The Jasna Góra shrine in Częstochowa, Poland, is known for housing the miraculous image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, preserved by the Fathers of the Order of Saint Paul the First, the Hermit. Venerated since 1382, it is at the heart of national piety and the country’s most important Marian pilgrimage.
Offered to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2018 by the Pauline Fathers of the monastery, at the initiative of the Polish Embassy in France, this copy of the famous miraculous icon has now been reinstalled in the Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa, one of the chapels in the cathedral’s choir. This gesture expresses the spiritual communion between France and Poland, united in prayer and Marian devotion. The faithful can now return to pray to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in the heart of Paris.
