Our Lady of The Gate of Dawn - Veneration - Miracles and Votive Offerings

Miracles and Votive Offerings

In 1761, monk Hilarion published a book, collecting 17 miracles attributed to the painting and Mary. His first recorded miracle occurred in 1671, the same year the first chapel was built. A two-year old child fell from the second floor onto stone pavement and was badly injured. The parents then prayed to Our Lady and the next day the child was healthy once again. In 1702, Vilnius was captured by the Swedish Army during the Great Northern War. The Swedes, who were Protestants, mocked the painting, forbade songs and prayers, and partied around the Gate of Dawn. One soldier even shot at the painting (the hole can still be seen on the right sleeve). In an early morning of the Great and Holy Saturday, heavy iron gates fell and crushed four Swedish soldiers – two died instantly and two later from injuries. The next day, during the Easter, the Lithuanian Army successfully counterattacked near the gate. The commander, grateful for the victory, bestowed the chapel with a large silver votive offering. The painting is also credited with other miracles: subduing a city fire in 1706, punishing a Russian soldier for an attempt to steal her silver clothes in 1708, and numerous miraculous healings. Other stories of various miracles were kept by the Carmelite monks, but those books did not survive.

Votive offerings became a tradition. They are usually small silver objects (hearts, crucifixes, figures of praying people, images of cured eyes, legs, arms). Several times (1799, 1808, 1810) some of these objects were taken down and melted into liturgical objects. In 1844, there was a total of 785 offerings. Twelve years later, in 1856, the number almost doubled to 1,438. From 1884 to 1927, a journal of new offerings was kept. During that time it registered 2,539 new gifts. Currently, there are about 8,000 silver votive objects in the chapel. The large crescent moon, located right beneath Our Lady, is also a votive offering. Its origins are unknown, but it bears an inscription in the Polish language and a date of 1849. The moon incorporates well with the silver cloth, adding additional parallels with the Woman of the Apocalypse, described in the Book of Revelation as a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.