The Black Madonna was painted by St Luke the Evangelist and it was while painting the picture Mary told him about the life of Jesus, which he later incorporated into his Gospel. The next time we hear of the painting is in 326 A.D. when St Helen found it in Jerusalem and gave it to her son and had a shrine built for it in Constantinople. During a battle the picture was place on the walls of the city and the enemy fled. Our lady saved the city from destruction. The picture was owned by many other people until 1382 when invading Tartars attacked a Prince Ladislans fortress were the painting was located. A Tartars arrow lodged into painting through the throat of the Madonna. The Prince transferred the painting to a church in Czestochowa, Poland. In 1430 the church was invaded and a lotter struck the painting two times with his sword, but before he could strike it another time, he fell to the ground in agony and pain and died.
The sword cuts and the arrow wound are still visible on the painting. The miracles worked by our Lady Of Czestochowa seem to occur mainly on a public scale. During her stay in Constantinople she is reported to have frightened the besieging Saracens away from the city. Similar in 155 a small group of Polish defender was able to drive off a much larger army of Swedish invaders from the sanctuary. The following year the Holy Virgin was acclaimed Queen of Poland by King Casimir.
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