MOTHER OF GOD OF BUDSLAU
July 2
According to the chronicles of the Bernardine cloister in Budslau, the Icon of the Mother of God of Budslau has been kept in Buda (present-day Budslau) since 1613. In 1598 the icon was presented to the governor of the Minsk province, Jan Pats, who cherished the icon and kept it beside him all the time. After Pats’s death in 1610 the icon remained in the possession of his chaplain Isac Salakaj, and later it went to the vicar in the village of Dauhinava. In 1613 the chaplain Salakaj, who came to Budslau on Great Thursday and Friday solemnities and was so impressed by the divine services there, decided to satisfy vicar's request to transfer the icon to the local church. From the very beginning, when the icon was placed in the local parish it became an object of veneration for the faithful. The icon became famous for its miracles and in 1635 was transferred to a place of honor above the main altar. In 1617 the history and miracles of the icon were described by prior Eleutyry Zeliaevich in the book “Zadyiak na ziamli” (Zodiac on Earth). The first miracle was recorded in 1617 when a five-year old boy Yazafat Tyshkevich, who later became a famous Carmelite father, regained the ability to see. Today the Icon of the Mother of God of Budslau is a Belarusian relic. The icon was solemnly crowned by cardinal Kazimierz Świątek on July 2, 1998. Since 1992 pilgrimages to Budslau have been held annually. Source : The National Sanctuary of the Mother of God in Budslau : The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus |
