Word: virgines
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...prospective 1981 visit to the most famous shrine of all, at Lourdes in southwestern France, had to be postponed when the Pope was shot in St. Peter's Square by Turkish Gunman Mehmet Ali Agca. John Paul believes that he owes his recovery from that attack to the Virgin Mary. Thus his two-day trip to Lourdes last week, marking the 125th anniversary of a shrine associated with healing, was a kind of thanks...
...firmly loyal to the church and, more recently, to Solidarity. Thus it was no surprise that John Paul waited until he had gone to Poland's industrial heartland to deliver his strongest sermon on the rights of workers. Standing under the Madonna of Piekary, an image of the Virgin Mary much revered by the region's coal miners, John Paul told his predominantly proletarian audience that work is "at the heart of all social life" and is governed "by a just moral order." He added: "If this order is missing, injustice takes the place of justice, and love...
...meaning was clear enough to the 750,000 young people who had gathered for a special Mass. They applauded loudly and waved red and white handkerchiefs. Speaking from a floodlit altar atop the huge stone ramparts of the monastery, the Pope told his youthful listeners to remember that the Virgin Mary understood "your sense of injustice and humiliation and the lack of prospects for the future." Then he issued a gentle but firm challenge to the state. "Man," he said, "cannot remain without...
...Czestochowa is far more than an object of Roman Catholic reverence. It is a source of historical continuity, a cause and remembrance of national liberation from foreign enemies, and a fount of miracles. The 4-ft. by 2½-ft. gilt-and-tempera dark-hued portrait of the Virgin Mary and Christ child is laden with gems and silver. By legend, the painting is attributed to St. Luke the Evangelist, and was executed on a table top from the house of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in Nazareth. It origins are unknown, but it may date as far back...
...Madonna's status as an emblem of Polish nationalism dates from Sweden's invasion of the country in 1655. For 40 days, as the Swedes surrounded the monastery, the monks prayed to the Virgin for deliverance. The siege failed, and the Poles subsequently drove the Swedes out of the country. In gratitude, the reigning Polish monarch, Jan Kazimierz, dedicated his throne and the country to "the Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland." In 1711 the people of Warsaw walked to Czestochowa to thank the Virgin for saving the city from the bubonic plague. Ever since, the pilgrimage has been...