Black Madonna

The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted as black. The Black Madonna can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries.

This article is about the Christian depiction of the Virgin Mary. For other uses of the term, see Black Madonna (disambiguation).
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Poland
Black Madonna of Outremeuse, Liège, in a procession
Black Madonna of Guingamp
Madonna at House of the Black Madonna, Prague

The paintings are usually icons which are Byzantine in origin or style, some made in 13th- or 14th-century Italy, others are older and from the Middle East, Caucasus or Africa, mainly Egypt and Ethiopia. Statues are often made of wood but occasionally made of stone, painted and up to 75 cm (30 in) tall. They fall into two main groups: free-standing upright figures or seated figures on a throne. There are about 400–500 Black Madonnas in Europe, depending on how they are classified. There are at least 180 Vierges Noires in Southern France alone, and there are hundreds of non-medieval copies as well. Some are in museums, but most are in churches or shrines and are venerated by believers. Some are associated with miracles and attract substantial numbers of pilgrims.

Black Madonnas come in different forms, and the speculations (mostly by white scholars) behind the reason for the dark hue of each individual icon or statue vary greatly and are not without controversy. Though some Madonnas were originally black or brown when they were made, others have simply turned darker due to factors like ageing or candle smoke. The Jung scholar, Ean Begg, has conducted a study into the potential pagan origins of the cult of the black madonna and child.[1] Another speculated cause for the dark-skinned depiction is due to pre-Christian deities being re-envisioned as the Madonna and child.[2]

Studies and research

Research into the Black Madonna phenomenon is limited due to a wide consensus among (white) scholars that the dark-skinned aspect was unintentional. Begg has a different view: he links the recurring refrain from the Song of Solomon, ‘I am black, but I am beautiful’ to the Queen of Sheba.[1] Recently, however, interest in this subject has gathered more momentum.

Important early studies of dark-skinned holy images in France were by Camille Flammarion (1888),[3] Marie Durand-Lefebvre (1937), Emile Saillens (1945), and Jacques Huynen (1972). The first notable study of the origin and meaning of the Black Madonnas in English appears to have been presented by Leonard Moss at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on December 28, 1952. Moss broke the images into three categories: (1) dark brown or black Madonnas with physiognomy and skin pigmentation matching that of the indigenous population; (2) various art forms that have turned black as a result of certain physical factors such as deterioration of lead-based pigments, accumulated smoke from the use of votive candles, and accumulation of grime over the ages, and (3) residual category with no ready explanation.[4] [5]

In the cathedral at Chartres, there were two Black Madonnas: Notre Dame de Pilar, a 1508 dark walnut copy of a 13th-century silver Madonna, standing atop a high pillar, surrounded by candles; and Notre Dame de Sous-Terre, a replica of an original destroyed during the French Revolution. Restoration work on the cathedral resulted in the painting of Notre Dame de Pilar, to reflect an earlier 19th century painted style, rendering the statue no longer a "Black Madonna".[6][7]

Some scholars chose to investigate the significance of the dark-skinned complexion to pilgrims and worshipers rather than focus on whether or not this depiction was intentional. This is an important subject because many Black Madonnas turn the shrines in which they are housed into some of the most revered pilgrimage sites, by virtue of their presence. Monique Scheer, one of these scholars, attributes the importance of the dark-skinned depiction to its connection with authenticity. The reason for this connection is the perceived age of the figures and the idea that these depictions are more accurate to historical Mary, since many of the works are eastern in origin and since Mary herself likely had dark skin.[8]

List of Black Madonnas

Africa
Mary & Child Icon Sinai 6th century, potentially the oldest depiction of the subject
Our Lady of Guidance, Manila

Asia

Japan
  • Tsuruoka city, Yamagata prefecture: Tsuruoka Tenshudô Catholic Church features a black Madonna statue given by France during Meiji period[12]

The Philippines

Europe

Belgium
  • Brugge, "Our Lady of Regla"[16]
  • Brussels: "De Zwerte Lieve Vrouwo", St. Catherine Church
  • Halle (Flemish Brabant) : Sint-Martinusbasiliek
  • Liège: La Vierge Noire d'Outremeuse,
  • Lier: Onze lieve vrouw ter Gratien
  • Scherpenheuvel-Zichem: Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel
  • Tournai: Our Lady of Flanders in Tournai Cathedral
  • Verviers: "Black Virgin of the Recollects", Notre-Dame des Récollets Church,
  • Walcourt: (Notre-Dames de Walcourt)
Marija Bistrica

Greece

Hidden church of the Black Madonna, Vamos, Crete

Croatia
  • Marija Bistrica: Our Lady of Bistrica, Queen of Croatia

Czech Republic
  • Brno: Assumption of Virgin Mary Minor Basilica, St Thomas's Abbey, Brno[17]
  • Prague: The Madonna of Breznice; The Black Madonna in the Church Our Lady Under the Chain[18] The Black Madonna on the House of the Black Madonna.

France
Madonna of Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets (35)
  • Aix-en-Provence, (Bouches-du-Rhône): Notre-Dame des Graces, Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix[19]
  • Arconsat: (Notre-Dame des Champs)
  • Aurillac, (Cantal): Notre-Dame des Neiges[20]
  • Beaune: Our Lady of Beaune
  • Besançon: Our Lady de Gray
  • Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise,(Puy-de-Dôme): Saint-André Church, Notre-Dame de Vassivière
  • Bourg-en-Bresse, (Ain): 13th century
  • Chartres, (Eure-et-Loir): crypt of the Cathedral of Chartres, Notre-Dame-de-Sous-Terre[21]
  • Clermont-Ferrand, (Puy-de-Dôme)[22]
  • Cusset: the Black Virgin of Cusset
  • Dijon, (Côte-d'Or)
  • Douvres-la-Délivrande, Basilique Notre-Dame de la Délivrande, "Notre-Dame de la Délivrande"[23]
  • Dunkerque, (Nord) : Chapelle des Dunes
  • Guingamp, (Côtes-d'Armor): Basilica of Notre Dame de Bon Secours.
  • La Chapelle-Geneste, (Haute-Loire: Notre Dame de La Chapelle Geneste[24]
  • Laon,(Aisne): Notre-Dame Cathedral, statue of 1848
Vierge noire de Graville (Le Havre)
The statue of the Black Virgin at Rocamadour
  • Le Havre,(Seine-Maritime): statue near the Graville Abbey (Abbaye de Graville)
  • Le Puy-en-Velay: In 1254 when passing through on his return from the Holy Land Saint Louis IX of France gave the cathedral an ebony image of the Blessed Virgin clothed in gold brocade (Notre-Dame du Puy). It was destroyed during the Revolution, but replaced at the Restoration with a copy that continues to be venerated.[25]
  • Liesse-Notre-Dame, (Aisne): Notre-Dame de Liesse, statue destroyed in 1793, copy of 1857
  • Marseille,(Bouches-du-Rhône): Notre-Dame-de-Confession,[26] Abbey of St. Victor ; Notre-Dame d'Huveaune, Saint-Giniez Church
  • Mauriac, Cantal: Notre Dame des Miracles[27]
  • Mende, (Lozère) : Cathedral (Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat de Mende)
  • Menton, (Alpes-Maritimes): St. Michel Church
  • Meymac Abbey, (Corrèze)[28]
  • Molompize: Notre-Dame de Vauclair
  • Mont-Saint-Michel: Notre-Dame du Mont-Tombe
  • Myans, (Savoie)
  • Paris, (Neuilly-sur-Seine): Notre-Dame de Bonne Délivrance, in the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Thomas of Villanova[29]
  • Quimper,(Finistère): Eglise de Guéodet, nommée encore Notre-Dame-de-la-Cité
  • Riom,(Puy-de-Dôme): Notre-Dame du Marthuret[30]
  • Rocamadour, (Lot): Our Lady of Rocamadour [31]
  • Sainte Marie (Réunion) : Black Virgin River Rains
  • Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Camarque) Avignon: Annual Gypsy festival[32] celebrating Sara, the patron saint of Gypsies[33]
  • Soissons (Aisne): statue of the 12th century
  • Tarascon, (Bouches-du-Rhône): Notre-Dame du Château[34]
  • Thuret,(Puy-de-Dôme)[35]
Black Madonna of Toulouse
  • Toulouse: The basilica Notre-Dame de la Daurade in Toulouse, France had housed the shrine of a Black Madonna. The original icon was stolen in the fifteenth century, and its first replacement was burned by Revolutionaries in 1799 on the Place du Capitole. The icon presented today is an 1807 copy of the fifteenth century Madonna. Blackened by the hosts of candles, the second Madonna was known from the sixteenth century as Our Lady La Noire[36]
  • Tournemire, Château d'Anjony, Our Lady of Anjony
  • Vaison-la-Romaine, (Vaucluse): statue on a hill
  • Vichy, (Allier): Saint-Blaise Church

Germany

Hungary
  • Szeged: Saint Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, Szeged

Mathias Church (some call St. Matthew’s, but he was never canonized)

Ireland

Italy
Tindari Madonna Bruna: restoration work in the 1990s found a medieval statue with later additions. Nigra sum sed formosa, meaning "I am black but beautiful" (from the Song of Songs, 1:5), is inscribed round a newer base.
Black Madonna in Venice
N I G E R
I N A R E
G A L A G
E R A N I
R E G I N

Kosovo
  • Vitina-Letnica: Church of the Black Madonna, where Mother Teresa is believed to have heard her calling.

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia
  • Kališta, Monastery: Madonna icon in the Nativity of Our Most Holy Mother of God church
  • Ohrid, Church: Madonna with the child

Malta
  • Ħamrun: Our Lady of Atoċja, a medieval painting brought to Malta by a merchant in the year 1630, depicting a statue found in Atocha, a parish in Madrid, Spain, and widely known as Il-Madonna tas-Samra. (This can mean 'tanned Madonna', 'brown Madonna', or 'Madonna of Samaria'.)

Poland
Icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, covered in a decorative silver shield, at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Poland

Portugal

Romania
  • Ghighiu: Maica Domnului Siriaca – Manastirea Ghighiu
  • Cacica: Madona Neagra – Biserica Cacica
  • Bucuresti: Madona Neagra – Biserica Dichiu

Russia
  • Kostroma (Kostroma Oblast): Theotokos of St. Theodore also known as Our Lady of St. Theodore (Федоровская Богоматерь), in Theophany Monastery
  • Our Lady of Wladimir, from the 12th century
  • Black Virgin of Taganrog, Taganrog Old Cemetery

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain
Image of the Virgin of Candelaria, in the Basilica of Candelaria (Tenerife).

Sweden
  • Lunds Domkyrka Lund Cathedral Attached to a marble pillar in the crypt: Black madonna with child
  • Skee Kyrka Bohuslän former Norwegian and Danish province. Black madonna with beheaded child

Switzerland
One of three of Turkey's surviving icons of the Theotokos on the island of Heybeliada at the Theological School of Halki

Turkey

Three icons portraying the Theotokos with black skin survived in Turkey to the present day, one of which is housed in the church of Halki theological seminary.

Ukraine
  • Tsarytsya Karpat (Hoshiv Monastery): The Queen of the Carpathian Land

United Kingdom

The Americas

Brazil
Nossa Senhora Aparecida

Chile
  • Andacollo, Elqui Province: La Virgen Morena (Spanish for The Brunette Virgin)

Costa Rica
  • Cartago, Cartago Province: Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Our Lady of the Angels Basilica)

Cuba
  • Regla, Havana Province: Nuestra Señora de Regla (Spanish for Our Lady of Regla)

Trinidad and Tobago
  • Siparia: La Divina Pastora[43]
  • Gran Couva: Our Lady of Montserrat[44]

United States

See also

References
  1. Begg, Ean (2017). The Cult of the Black Virgin. Chiron Publications. ISBN 978-1630514419.
  2. Moss, Leonard W.; Cappannari, Stephen C. (1953). "The Black Madonna: An Example of Culture Borrowing". The Scientific Monthly. 76 (6): 319–324. Bibcode:1953SciMo..76..319M. ISSN 0096-3771. JSTOR 20482.
  3. L'Atmosphère : Météorologie populaire (1888), édition avec gravures fr.
  4. "Black Madonnas: Origin, History, Controversy". udayton.edu. The Jungian scholar, San Begg published a study of Black Virgins and their possible pagan origins.
  5. Begg, Ean (2006). The Cult of the Black Virgin. Chiron Publications. ISBN 9781888602395.
  6. Filler, Martin "A Scandalous Makeover at Chartres", The New York Review of Books, December 14, 2014
  7. Ramm, Benjamin. "A Controversial Restoration That Wipes Away the Past", The New York Times, September 1, 2017
  8. Scheer, Monique (2002). "From Majesty to Mystery: Change in the Meanings of Black Madonnas from the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries". The American Historical Review. 107 (5): 1412–1440. doi:10.1086/532852. JSTOR 10.1086/532852.
  9. "Algiers". interfaithmary.net.
  10. "Senegal". interfaithmary.net.
  11. "Soweto". interfaithmary.net.
  12. "Experiencetsuruoka.com". Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
  13. Baybay, Felicito S., "Patron Ng Kapayapaan At Mga Manlalakbay" Archived 2014-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  14. KD. "Our Lady Of The Rule National Shrine – Quirks of Life". quirksoflife.com.
  15. Darang, Josephine. "Special Mass for Our Lady of Piat held July 9 at Sto. Domingo Church", Philippine Daily Enquirer, June 26, 2011
  16. "Your Question". udayton.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  17. "Brno – The Black Madonna". brno.cz. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  18. "Church of Our Lady Below the Chain in Prague", Prague.cz Archived November 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  19. Channell, J., "Notre-Dame des Graces", Aix-en-Provence
  20. "Black Virgin of Aurillac". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008.
  21. The New York Times
  22. "Notre Dame de Clermont". 2007-12-19. Archived from the original on 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  23. "Douvres". interfaithmary.net.
  24. "Notre Dame de La Chapelle Geneste". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
  25. "Notre Dame du Puy, Cathedrale...: Photo by Photographer Dennis Aubrey". photo.net. 2007-11-09. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  26. "Black Virgin of Marseilles". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008.
  27. "Black Virgin of Mauriac". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
  28. "Meymac". interfaithmary.net.
  29. Mariancalendar.org
  30. "Black Virgin of Riom". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
  31. "The Sanctuaries". visit-dordogne-valley.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-07-05. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  32. Garth Cartwright (2011-03-26). "Partying with the Gypsies in the Camargue". the Guardian.
  33. "Gypsy's Pilgrimage – Les Saintes Maries de la Mer – Camargue – France". avignon-et-provence.com.
  34. "Notre Dame du Château". amigo.net. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
  35. "Vierge des Croisades". 2007-12-19. Archived from the original on 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  36. Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe, Norman Davies
  37. Maria Farneti and Bruno Bartoletti, “Gubbio: The Italian Rennes-le-Chateau”, 'Hera', issue 43, September 2005
  38. Gubbio e il mysterious del “NIGER REGIN”
  39. “IL MONTE TEMPIO E LA PIRAMIDE DI GUBBIO” by Mario Farneti & Bruno Bartoletti
  40. Woman arrested in Poland over posters of Virgin Mary with rainbow halo, Christian Davies, Guardian, 6 May 2019
  41. Poland: Furor over 'rainbow madonna' LGBT activist arrest, Deutsche Welle, Monika Sieradzka, 10 May 2019
  42. The American Episcopal Church sells T-shirts with the Holy Mother of God, Queer.pl, 19 June 2019
  43. Dhalai, Richard, "La Divina Pastora", Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, March 19, 2007
  44. Nationaltrust.tt

Sources
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