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Icon
of
Our Lady of Victories

Sourced from Ukrainian Catholic Iconographers - reached the UK having survived live fire - now we need funds to install it in the Catholic Cathedral of the Bishopric of the Forces for veneration by serving personnel -

Why Our Lady of Victories?

Our Lady of Victories is the Patron Saint of the CMA. She is also known as Our Lady of the Rosary, and encouraging people to pray the Rosary as a means of victory over their own vices is a fundamental part of our apostolate. We are named for her and have a devotion to her, but it's difficult to find images of Our Lady of Victories specifically.

Why an Icon?

We don't believe an Icon of Our Lady of Victories has ever previously been written. Icons are an important part of the history of both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. As St Thomas Aquinas explains, "Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is."

Where has it come from?

As a way of showing our support to Ukraine, we asked Aid to the Church in Need if they could put us in touch with a Ukrainian Catholic iconographer. ACN acted as an intermediary, but half way through the design process their point of contact was called up to Active Service and everything stopped. We waited and prayed and eventually a way forward was found and the icon was completed. We only knew it was finished once it had left the country, coming under live fire in the process.

Where will it be installed?

This Icon is given by and for the serving personnel of the UK Armed Forces. Serving personnel have commissioned it and they will be able to venerate it in the Catholic Cathedral Church of St Michael and St George which serves as the Roman Catholic cathedral for the Bishopric of the Forces. We are in the process of planning the Installation Mass; get in touch if you would like to attend. We are also hoping that the Icon will be able to visit various significant sites around the country, such as Walsingham.

Be a part of this extraordinary story...

When the war in Ukraine started, we felt at a loss. How could we practically support those so far away? An answer came in prayer - commission an Icon of Our Lady of Victories.

We began discussing designs through our ACN intermediary, but then the line went cold. Our POC had been called up to Active Service. We prayed for him, and we waited. And sure enough, eventually plans picked up again and so we waited and hoped some more. Finally we were told that a box would soon be arriving from Ukraine, and the ACN thought that our Icon might be in it. We continued to wait and to pray and eventually it arrived.

The Icon of Our Lady of Victories had been written. It had even survived coming under fire in Ukraine when it was being transported out of the country. Although we haven't seen it yet, now that it's safely in the UK, we are preparing to have it installed for veneration in the Bishopric of the Forces Cathedral in Aldershot.

Such magnificent work comes at a price. This is your chance to be a part of this extraordinary story. A donation of just £10 will:

help to install the world's first Icon of Our Lady of Victories for veneration at the Bishopric of the Forces Cathedral.
support the work of the Catholic Military Association as we do all that we can to bolster the faith of Catholics in the Armed Forces.
support the work of Aid to the Church in Need as they continue to minister to Christian communities in the most challenging environments
support the Ukrainians, whose faith and good work made this possible

Please Donate TOday

Donations will support the installation of this icon, as well as the Ukrainians who wrote it, the CMA and the ACN.