Today is the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and, for this occasion, I am re-posting a poem which was written by the English-French Catholic writer, Hilaire Belloc (b. 1870- d. 1953). This poem is a tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa. The name of this Marian ode is Ballade to Our Lady of Czestochowa; and it now begins:
I
Lady and Queen and Mystery manifold
And very Regent of the untroubled sky,
Whom in a dream St. Hilda did behold
And heard a woodland music passing by:
You shall receive me when the clouds are high
With evening and the sheep attain the fold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.II
Steep are the seas and savaging and cold
In broken waters terrible to try;
And vast against the winter night the wold,
And harbourless for any sail to lie.
But you shall lead me to the lights, and I
Shall hymn you in a harbour story told.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.III
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold,
Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory;
Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled,
The Battler’s vision and the World’s reply.
You shall restore me, O my last Ally,
To vengence and the glories of the bold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.Envoi
Prince of the degradations, bought and sold,
These verses, written in your crumbling sty,
Proclaim the faith that I have held and hold
And publish that in which I mean to die.
The last two lines, which are repeated throughout the poem, are noteworthy as Belloc declares, in his usual firm manner, to adhere to the Catholic Faith until death; and he did just that.
~Hilaire Belloc by Emil Otto (‘E.O.’) HoppÈ, vintage bromide print, 1915, source
Hail Our Lady of Czestochowa!
May you have a good day.
~SCF
~Image: Our Lady of Czestochowa, source.
~Here is a link to a homily about the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, source:
