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Painting of Empress St. Pulcheria standing on top of [crushing] wicked heretics
The first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist which later, in the middle of the 5th century, was enshrined by the Empress St. Pulcheria in the Church of *Hodegetria in Constantinople. This was the parish church of the guides (Gr. hodegosguide) who, in those days, would lead pilgrimages to the (Catholic) **Holy Land and other holy places.
Thus the Blessed Mother of Hodegetria became the patron of travelers and they would carry her icon with them on their journeys. (Note: The feast day of Our Lady of Guides is celebrated on January 10th.)
*Our Lady of Guides [Church], in Constantinople, contained some of Our Lady's spindles she used, with some of the swaddling - clothes of the divine Infant, given by St. Pulcheria to that church. (Niceph., Tract. 3, cap. 7.).
**During the period of the Catholic Crusader control of the Church's Holy Lands, it has been estimated that Palestine had only 1,000 poor Jewish families. Jews fought alongside the Muslims against the Crusaders in Jerusalem in 1099 and Haifa in 1100 A.D.
"Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin"
by Guercino, (c.1652 A.D.)
May Our Lady Guide Us in Recapturing the Catholic Holy Lands!
Nov. 23, 2023
In Today's Catholic World News Blog
"He [the Great Catholic Monarch] will regain Holy Land after terrible wars in Europe."
(Prophecy of Telesphorus de Cozensa, 11th Century)
"He shall reign over the House of Agar [the Muslims], and shall possess Jerusalem."
(St. Isidore of Seville, 7th Century)
"Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the *Catholic faith. For unless a person keeps this faith whole and entire, he will undoubtedly be lost forever."
(From The Athanasian Creed)