Our Lady of Tenderness

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing to ponder the Pope’s homily in Cuba at Mary’s Shrine, speaking of a “revolution of tenderness as Mary”, I searched for a picture of the icon, “Our Lady of Tenderness” which I could post. This image is also called "Our Lady of Vladimir. It has been for some years, one of my favorite icons:
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/images/vladimir.gif

What attracted me to this icon when I first saw it was the tenderness of the Little Jesus pressing His cheek so close to Mary’s and His hand around her neck, hugging her close to Him. Mary, however, in this icon is not looking a Him but at us! At the website where I found this picture is the following:
Meditation
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Icons have been described as windows to the divine. Those who take time to meditate on the divine realities expressed through the paintings, do so with the inner eye of the soul reaching beyond the representation to the truth it represents. Meditation can be simply a quiet observing in silence and wonder. Words are not necessary. Perhaps this is the best meditation of all. Meditation can also inspire prayer to share with others. We invite you to reflect on Our Lady of Tenderness with us.
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Mary, Mother of God,
The gentle tenderness you share with your child is a quiet, strong thing, reflected from your image. There is no distance between his soft, but total embrace and you. He loves you. Yes, there is no doubt! O how this child loves you! You are molded as one. His body from your body, his flesh from your flesh, his heart from your heart. His eyes praise you and thank you for your share in his humanity.
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Like a strong, powerful, but peaceful magnet, your gaze holds mine. Quiet, calm, endlessly gazing at me from nine centuries of reflected wisdom. You ask only one thing of me: to share the love you share. Love is not gentle, soft tenderness in the sense of weakness. Love is gentle in the sense of strength: enduring, radical, unbroken unity.
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Lady of Tenderness, your gaze is both statement and question: If this is the unity he seeks – a love so strong between God and the human being that nothing can divide it – then can I not at least try to love as he has loved? Can I not at least try to break down barriers that separate the nations? Can I not make my decisions in his presence and under your gaze – the presence of this call to unity from the fulness of tender love?
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Mary, perhaps if I would pause long enough to return your gaze, stop long enough to love tenderly for just one moment, I could learn from you what wisdom really means.
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For more information on this icon, see: HERE
 
In 1941, when the German Army was very near to Moscow, Josef Stalin, who as a young man studied in a seminary, apparently turned to prayer as a last resort.
He had this icon flown around the city several times in an aircraft.
 
The artistic imagery used in images of Our Lady is so rich. Among my favourite attributes used to show Our Lady’s tenderness are doves–and seven of those flying over her head can also represent the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, combining the idea of her tenderness and gentleness with that of Mary as Seat of Wisdom.

Wasn’t it the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, though, that was flown over Russia during WWII and on numerous occasions (most recently over the Crimea?)
 
Wasn’t it the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, though, that was flown over Russia during WWII and on numerous occasions (most recently over the Crimea?)
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The present home of The Virgin Of Vladimir is a twelfth-century Russian church situated outside the city of Vladimir. I recently watched a documentary on UK television in which the Icon was featured and the events at the time of the German advance on Moscow were related. Within weeks of the icon being flown around the ciry the Wehrmacht began to suffer reverses. After this, religious worship, which up to this time had been forbidden by the Soviet authorities, gradually began to be tolerated.
You are right about Our Lady Of Kazan also being invoked during WW2, indeed the Icon was carried in processions around the city of Leningrad (St Petersburg) during the 872-day siege.
 
dividus said:
The present home of The Virgin Of Vladimir is a twelfth-century Russian church situated outside the city of Vladimir. I recently watched a documentary on UK television in which the Icon was featured and the events at the time of the German advance on Moscow were related. Within weeks of the icon being flown around the ciry the Wehrmacht began to suffer reverses. After this, religious worship, which up to this time had been forbidden by the Soviet authorities, gradually began to be tolerated.
You are right about Our Lady Of Kazan also being invoked during WW2, indeed the Icon was carried in processions around the city of Leningrad (St Petersburg) during the 872-day siege.
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Dear dividus and also bardegaulois,

Thank you both for your replies to this thread, and for the interesting comments on Russia during WW2. I continue to ponder the apparitions of our Blessed Mother at Fatima, and her prophecy that her Immaculate Heart would triumph. It was also said by St. John Paul II to the Servant of God Frank Duff (founder of the Legion of Mary) : “Remember, victory will come through Mary”.
 
Interestingly enough, Fatima and St John Paul II played a role in the story of Our Lady of Kazan. From Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan):

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, there was speculation that the original icon was in fact preserved in St. Petersburg. Reportedly, an icon of Our Lady of Kazan was used in processions around Leningrad fortifications during the Siege of Leningrad. There was a conflicting theory that the image had been sold by the Bolsheviks abroad. Although such theories were not accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church, a reputed original (one of several in existence) was acquired by the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima and enshrined in Fátima, Portugal in the 1970s. The image proved to be a copy, dated by experts to ca. 1730.

In 1993, the icon from Fátima was given to Pope John Paul II, who took it to the Vatican and had it installed in his study, where he venerated it for eleven years. In his own words, “it has found a home with me and has accompanied my daily service to the Church with its motherly gaze.” John Paul II wished to visit Moscow or Kazan to personally return the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. When these efforts were blocked by the Moscow Patriarchate, the icon was presented to the Russian Church unconditionally in August 2004. On August 26, 2004 it was exhibited for veneration on the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and then delivered to Moscow. On the next feast day of the holy icon, July 21, 2005, Patriarch Alexius II and Mintimer Shaymiev, the President of Tatarstan, placed it in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin.
 
bardegaulois said:
Interestingly enough, Fatima and St John Paul II played a role in the story of Our Lady of Kazan. From Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan):

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, there was speculation that the original icon was in fact preserved in St. Petersburg. Reportedly, an icon of Our Lady of Kazan was used in processions around Leningrad fortifications during the Siege of Leningrad. There was a conflicting theory that the image had been sold by the Bolsheviks abroad. Although such theories were not accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church, a reputed original (one of several in existence) was acquired by the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima and enshrined in Fátima, Portugal in the 1970s. The image proved to be a copy, dated by experts to ca. 1730.

In 1993, the icon from Fátima was given to Pope John Paul II, who took it to the Vatican and had it installed in his study, where he venerated it for eleven years. In his own words, “it has found a home with me and has accompanied my daily service to the Church with its motherly gaze.” John Paul II wished to visit Moscow or Kazan to personally return the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. When these efforts were blocked by the Moscow Patriarchate, the icon was presented to the Russian Church unconditionally in August 2004. On August 26, 2004 it was exhibited for veneration on the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and then delivered to Moscow. On the next feast day of the holy icon, July 21, 2005, Patriarch Alexius II and Mintimer Shaymiev, the President of Tatarstan, placed it in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin.
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Thanks again!
 
Thanks to you also,MariaChristi, for starting the thread. It really is such a beautiful icon.
 
Casilda said:
When setting up my icon corner, I chose the Vladimir Theotokos because of the motherly tenderness. I also love the image Our Lady gave to San Juan Diego.

http://www.delange.org/Guadalupe/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe_Original_Image.jpg
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Dear Casilda,

Thanks so much for your reply. It is good to hear from you again! The words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego have been a particular blessing to me. Mary said to this humble man: “Am I not your Mother? Are you not in the crossing of my arms?” How tender a Mother’s love, Mary gives to us – to hold us in the “crossing of her arms”! 🙂
 
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