Print Size: 9” X 12”- Shinny Rustic Frame 1203

• Image size: 9” X 12”

• Frame size: 12.25” X 15.25”

• Intricately carved wooden design

This is a beautiful high resolution replica of the ancient icon of Mary, Mother of Mercy framed in one of our vintage frames. Many are not aware of the significant role this icon, and in turn, Mary, Mother of Mercy, played in the history of Divine Mercy. In a word, this icon was in Vilnius (Lithuania), where St. Faustina lived out her mystical life, hundreds of years before she was transferred there by her superior. In fact, by the time the young St. Faustina arrived, Vilnius had been called “The City of Mercy” by people throughout Europe and Eastern Europe for hundred of years.

Our replicas are printed on super-fine museum-quality Archival Canvas Paper and will last for many years. This is not a glossy print reproduced on inexpensive paper by the thousands and you will be able to tell the difference immediately. Like our Divine Mercy replicas, each print is numbered and stamped as officially licensed from the Archdiocese of Vilnius. All the frames in this section are from our exclusive Vintage Collection which means they are repurposed frames that we have hand-selected from estate sales and other searches. Some of these frames have slight blemishes and if there is any significant damage or flaw it will be indicated with close-up photos.

Please contact us directly at originaldivinemercy@gmail.com for special requests and custom orders (we can print in any size).

To this day, the icon is venerated in Vilnius over the Gate of Dawn, a significant place in the writings of St. Faustina. St. Faustina prayed before this image very often, and as is still the practice today, surely blessed herself every time she entered the city gates of the ancient city of Vilnius.

About the Icon

The icon of Mary, Mother of Mercy was painted, probably in Vilnius in the period between 1620-1630. Despite numerous investigations, the painter remains unknown. The painting sized 78” x 64” (200 x 165cm) is oil on oak boards covered with a thin chalky primer. The painting today is always covered by a gilded silver cover placed on the painting at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries which includes the distinctive feature of a votive offering in the form of a crescent moon, placed at the bottom of the painting in 1849. The icon hangs in the chapel of Mary Mater Misericordia in Vilnius Lithuania, above the Gate of Dawn. a pilgrimage destination for people all over Europe for hundreds of years. The silver walls of the chapel where the painting of the Mother of Mercy icon is displayed is made up of votive offerings including those sent by St. John Paul II. In total, the silver votive offerings donated by the faithful in gratitude for the graces obtained is estimated at approximately 8000.

In the chapel, the residents of Vilnius, as well as pilgrims from around the world, have prayed for generations for graces for themselves and their families through the intercession of the Mother of God.

In 1773, Pope Clement XVI granted indulgences to the Fraternity of the Guardianship of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vilnius. By the Pope’s decree of 1927, the painting of the Madonna in the Gate of Dawn chapel was given the name of the Icon of the Holy Mother of Mercy and was crowned with papal crowns. The coronation ceremony was an important national and religious event - the image was crowned by the papal nuncio which went missing during World War II.

Thanks to Divine Providence, a few years later (in 1935), the painting of the image of Divine Mercy was publicly venerated for the first time ever right next to the Icon of the Mother of Mercy. During World War II, by the decision of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vilnius, at the time, Romuald Jałbrzykowski, the Icon of the Holy Mother of Mercy was left with the faithful worshippers above the Gate of Dawn. After the war, when Vilnius was annexed into the Soviet Union and most of the churches in Lithuania were closed, the Gate of Dawn chapel remained open.

Fr. Michael Sopoćko, spiritual director to Saint Faustina, wrote: “For us, Mary is a Mother of Mercy, and her testimony of mercy began at Calvary. Since then, grace has streamed on people through the intercession of Mary: she strengthened the Disciples in their work; she obtained inspiration for the Evangelists. And particularly, after she was assumed to Heaven, she looks after us and obtains Divine Mercy for us even more. Maybe we recognize the numerous sins in our lives; or maybe we sank into deep sin - Mary obtains for him the grace of conversion. How many times has this happened? This will remain a secret known only to God. We can be assured that it happened many times - and if many times, then we ourselves are the subjects of the special divine work of our Mother of Mercy. She was the one who puts in our mouths the words: JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU and postponed the moment of eternal and horrendous punishment. Without a doubt, everything comes from the Merciful Jesus, but all the graces we are granted come to us through Mary.”

Fr. Michael Sopoćko continues, “This has been proven by numerous, wonderful places where, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, people are cured from illnesses, comforted in sorrows and receive hope in despair. It was not a coincidence that the picture of Divine Mercy, which is now venerated all over the world, was originally displayed at the foot of the Holy Mother of Mercy (April 28, 1935) on Low Sunday (the first Sunday after Easter which is now Divine Mercy Sunday), one might say, for her to approve and recommend it (as Divine Mercy Sunday). Therefore, let us strengthen our ties with Mary, Mother of Mercy and trust her boundlessly” ***

*** Fr. Michael Sopoćko is writing prior to the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope John Paul II in 2000. He was confident during his lifetime that Sister Faustina would be canonized and that Divine Mercy Sunday would be come an official feast on the Church Calendar, but he did not live to see it.