Description
Famous for favors, the image of Our Lady of Licheń is painted with oil paints, on a larch board (dimensions: 16 cm x 23 cm). On the golden mantle of Mary there are symbols of the Passion of the Lord: thorn crown, whips, nails, spear and others. The sign of the White Eagle is painted on the breast, to which Mary draws her eyes closed. Her face is full of seriousness, majesty and pain. The Royal Crown on the head of the Mother of God is supported by two angels. At the bottom of the picture, there is the inscription "King of Poland - give peace to our days". The painting was made around 1772.
In 1844 Tomasz Kłossowski - wounded in the battle of Leipzig and miraculously saved by Mary - placed an image on a pine tree in the Grąblin forest. In this forest in 1850, Our Lady appeared to the shepherd Mikołaj Sikatka. By the decision of the church authorities in 1852, the image of Madonna, considered by the faithful as miraculous and numerously haunted, was transferred to the church in Licheń. This date is taken as the moment of the foundation of the Marian Sanctuary in Licheń. During World War II, the picture was hidden from the Nazis, and only in 1945 he returned to the looted church. In 1949, the Congregation of Marian Fathers took care of the sanctuary. In 1965, Pope Paul VI announced that, by favors, the famous painting of Our Lady of Licheń was considered miraculous and he was recommended to crown it with a papal crown. He made the act of coronation on August 15, 1967. Servant of God Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland. In 1994, at the initiative of priest Eugene
Makulski, MIC, a longtime custodian of the sanctuary, the construction of the temple began - the largest in Poland, eight in Europe and 12 in the world. In 1999, the Holy Father John Paul II came to the Licheń sanctuary to worship before the Miraculous Picture and to bless the building that was being built. By the decision of the Polish Episcopate, the Licheń temple was proclaimed a vote of the Polish Church for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. After ten years of construction, on June 12, 2004, it was consecrated. On February 25, 2005, John Paul II gave the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Licheń the title of a smaller basilica. After 150 years of wandering, on July 2, 2006, the Miraculous Picture was introduced into the basilica. Every year on July 2, the Sanctuary celebrated the indulgence of the Blessed Virgin Mary Licheńska.
