July 30Mother of God of Perpetual Help, Shemetava, Myadzel, Minsk, BelarusPart of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until partitioned to Russia in the 1800s, Northwestern Belarus is a crossroads of faiths and ethnicities. Under Russian rule, the Catholic church in the village of Shemetava was closed and then disassembled. In 1902, Balaslau Skirmunt began rebuilding it, and on July 30, 1904 the church was consecrated to the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, then a new and popular devotion. Now the main icon on the altar is the Black Madonna of Vilnius, Lithuania, Our Lady of Ostra Brama. This small reproduction of the Roman icon of Perpetual Help hangs far above it. The parish celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004.Sources:
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