The legend of the poor musician and Divine Mercy

Do you know this legend has been told for over 400 years!? It features a golden slipper.

There is a legend connected to the painting of Christ on the cross (1605) by Kasper Kurcz hanging in the Romanesque Church of the Holy Saviour in Kraków’s Zwierzyniec. It portrays Jesus in a long, red tunic and golden shoes, of which one is dropping towards a poor fiddler playing at the foot of the cross. The painting, replaced the old Romanesque crucifix, which was rumoured to be a gift sent from Moravia to the first Christian prince of Poland. The crucifix, presenting Christ naked, received the royal tunic, a crown studded with diamonds, and golden shoes to add to its reverence.

There was a poor fiddler who came frequently to praise the Lord with his music at the foot of the crucifix. God, seeing the poverty in the home of the pious musician, decided to help by removing one of the precious shoes from the figure of Christ, and casting it to the feet of the fiddler. Afraid that someone may accuse him of stealing, the boy asked God to place the shoe back on Christ’s foot. The next time the fiddler turned up by the crucifix, he saw a crowd of people. When he began to play, the golden shoe slipped off Christ’s foot again and fell at his feet. This time, nobody could doubt the honesty of the musician. The crucifix was moved to Italy in the 17th century and was replaced by a painting showing Christ and the fiddler, which to this day reminds us of divine grace, mercy, and generosity.

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