Church of St. Philip and St. Jacob
In short
The miraculous image of the Mother of God with the Baby and the daily carillon concerts (13:00 and 19:15) make the Church of St. Philip and St. Jacob a must-see.
The church was founded in 1624, but the present building dates back to the end of the 17th century. The church was supposed to be destroyed in Soviet times, but it survived and was ultimately left abandoned.
The church is in the late Baroque style and services are held in Lithuanian and Polish.
Brief History
The appearance of the famous miraculous image of the Lukiškės Mother of God with Baby is associated with the famous Gosiebskiai family, the ruling elite of the GDL of the 17th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was thought that the image was brought by the GDL artillery general Motiejus Korvinas Gosievskis from the wars with Moscow. The icon was kept in the Lazdijai and Dumblis Manors, which were owned by Lazdijai elders. And in 1683, it was donated to the Lukiškės Dominican of Vilnius. The first refuge of the Mother of God icon in Lukiškės was a wooden monastery church.
When the painting was brought, Aleksandras Šemeta of the Lukiškės Monastery was seriously ill. He then experienced the vision of the Mother of God and received encouragement and a promise from her that his health would be restored if the image was brought to his monastery and hung on the great altar. He sought help from the Blessed Virgin when he became more ill and decided to hang the painting on the great altar, though he didn’t tell anyone of his visions when he recovered. Mary scolded him in subsequent vision so he began speaking publicly of the miracle and began urging others to turn to the mystical fountain of grace, the Mother of God, when having trouble.
Mother of God Hodegetry, according to tradition, the image of Mary created by the evangelist Luke was brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in the 5th century, where it was housed in a shrine built by Empress Pulcheria near the Hodegon Monastery. The iconic name Hodegetria originated in the 9th century from the name of the shrine whose etymology in turn is associated with the healing spring at the site of the shrine and the Greek meaning of the words "showing the way."
