Penrose, Australia
Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy, 300 Kareela Rd, Penrose NSW 2577, Australia, about 1 ½ hours South of Sydney, a copy of Our Lady of Czestochowa
Our Lady of Mercy,
The Black Madonna of Czestochowa,
Queen of Poland
I don’t know of any original Black Madonnas in Australia, but the Queen of Poland, Our Lady of Czestochowa, goes with her people wherever they immigrate to or where Polish missionaries go. In Australia they have both lay immigrants and missionaries. Some of the latter are the Pauline Brothers, an order that was founded in 1250 by Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom, Hungary (Hungarian: Boldog Özséb) and named after St. Paul the First Hermit (Paul of Thebes c. 227 – c. 341). A highlight in the Order’s history occurred in 1382 when they became the custodians of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, believed to be painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. The Icon was brought to Poland by Prince Ladislaus from a castle in Biez, Russia. He invited the monks to come from Hungary into Poland to safeguard the holy picture. As a result, the monks established a Shrine for the venerated image of the Blessed Mother in the small town of Czestochowa (pronounced as chen-sto-hova). Today this Shrine is the Motherhouse of the Order and is the largest monastery with over 100 priests and monks. It is seen as the spiritual capital of Polish Catholics and is visited by more than 4 million pilgrims each year from all over the world.
The Pauline Brothers promote devotion to their queen wherever they go. So naturally, when building a new shrine, she becomes the center of it. Here in Penrose they even made her and Baby Jesus crowns and St. Pope John Paul II came to crown her in 2001. Being Polish himself, he had a very great devotion to this particular Black Madonna.
Google any Catholic diocese of a major city + Polish masses and you’ll find churches that very likely honor this Black Madonna with a copy of her miraculous icon. Here for example is the list of churches in Sydney with Polish masses.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales was established in 1984 by the Pauline priest Fr. Augustine Lazur, who came from Poland in 1981. The sactuary is dedicated to Our Lady under the title Our Lady of Mercy, as represented by a replica of the icon of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa.
The Shrine has grown much since its founding and now has many smaller sanctuaries built by pilgrims and devoted to the best-loved saints from around the world. In the picture below you see the Brazilian shrine to the Black Madonna Aparecida do Norte, the Chinese shrine to 120 martyrs, and more. People of many different nationalities come to Penrose Park to visit their shrines for days of prayer. Particularly popular are the Fatima Day devotions, on the 13th of every month, which sometimes draw crowds of over a thousand pilgrims.
