Saint Mary Patroness of Lucera (Santa Maria Patrona di Lucera)

1304 A.D., wood, life size. Note the key to the city hanging from her right arm. In the cathedral on Piazza del Duomo, open 8am-noon & 4-7pm May-Sep, 8am-noon & 5-8pm Oct-Apr

The Patroness of Lucera is a very powerful and unique presence. Though she clearly looks like a Black Madonna and once was called such, this is no longer the case. Here is why.

In October 1836, the city of Lucera was struck by the Indian cholera pandemic, which peaked in the summer of 1837. When the people asked their then still Black Madonna for help, she did not fail them. Not only did she heal many faithful of the cholera and other infirmities, she also gave a special sign of her living presence: On July 12th and 13th of that same year, she moved her eyes and changed the color of her skin. The Italian Wikipedia article “Santa Maria Patrona di Lucera” doesn’t say to what color. Apparently, it doesn’t matter to the locals. What matters is that it was a sign to them that she is not just a statue, but a living emanation of their divine Mother. Only Ean Begg recounts that she turned white and since then is no longer referred to as a Black Madonna.¹ Thank God, the restoration in 1999 revealed her “pure gold robes and the brown color of the faces of the Virgin and Child” (Wikipedia). Otherwise she may have been whitened like so many other Black Madonnas in recent years.

The year following the 1837 miracle, an official canonical investigation of it was opened by Pope Gregory XV and the Sacred Congregation of Rites. When it confirmed the supernatural events, the second day of the miracle, July 13th, was proclaimed as the feast of ‘the Madonna of the Cholera’.

The divine Mother repeated this sign in 1844, when the city was hit by a crushing drought, again changing the color of her skin and moving her eyes.

Her History

Veneration of St. Mary in Lucera goes back to the founding days of Christianity. According to tradition, the city was evangelized by the Apostle Peter, who ordained St. Bassus of Lucera as its bishop. Bassus dedicated his first cathedral to St. Mary. His successor, bishop Pardo, also built a church in honor of Santa Maria della Spiga (St. Mary of the Sheaf of Wheat) on the remains of a Roman temple to Ceres, the Goddess of Cereal – the typical Catholic way of baptizing Pagan holy sites.

During a war with Byzantium in 663 C.E., the old cathedral was sacked and the bishop’s seat moved to another town. It took almost a century before Bishop Marco II brought Benedictine monks and a new statue of the Virgin Mary to Lucera and rebuilt the half-destroyed cathedral. That Madonna, the predecessor of this statue, was placed on the altar, and since that day she has been invoked as protectress of the city.

Veneration of Mary continued until 1223, when the German Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II resettled 60,000 Muslim Saracens from Sicily to Lucera and its environs. They were free to practice their religion and to rule the area as they pleased.² This was a severe blow to local Christianity, which suddenly saw everything it had built over the centuries suppressed and disappear. Churches were abandoned or converted into mosques. In short order, only a handful of Christians remained in Lucera. They hid their precious Mary statue in some underground place outside the city walls.

St. Mary of the Victory

In 1300, Charles II of Anjou organized the "Angevin Crusade" in order to eliminate the last Islamic stronghold in his Kingdom. On August 15th, the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, Christian soldiers received Holy Communion to prepare themselves worthily for the battle and took an oath to the Blessed Virgin, to the effect that if she granted them victory, they would dedicate the city to her. The Christian soldiers won the battle, according to local tradition with the help of the Virgin Mary, who sent immense swarms of midges against the Saracenes.

The Crusaders found the ancient statue of Mary (the predecessor of the current patroness) and carried it in a victory procession, calling her St. Mary of the Victory. After a short siege, the city surrendered on August 24. Its mosques were demolished and the Saracens were either massacred, expelled, sold as slaves, or forced to convert to Christianity.

When the original statue was lost, it seems that two newer ones took its place, each receiving one of the titles of their mother statue, much like kings would divide their kingdoms among their heirs. The one above became St. Mary of the Victory, the other the Patroness of Lucera. Santa Maria della Vittoria (14th century) is venerated in the church of San Giacomo Apostolo (St. James the Apostle). She enjoys her own feast day (2nd Sunday in September) with a procession, dancing, etc.

The city, which the Saracenes had renamed Lūǧārah or Luceria Saracenorum was repopulated with Christians and renamed "Civitas Sanctae Mariae" (City of St. Mary). In honor of her, the current cathedral St. Mary of the Assumption was built. In 1304, Charles II of Anjou arrived with a brand new Mary statue or two (the ones we see here today) and symbolically handed the keys of the city to her. Then he ordained that the feast day of St. Mary, patroness of Lucera should be celebrated by big crowds each August 15th, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

On September 24th 2003, the statue of the Virgin was brought to the Vatican and crowned with a triple gold crown by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in the name of Pope St. John Paul II.

The Miracles of the Black Madonna

As any good (ex-!) Black Madonna, so this one too has a reputation of being a great miracle worker. Here are some examples of her work.

Three times, a big earthquake completely destroyed the surrounding towns, but caused much less damage in Lucera and certainly didn’t touch the statue. This happened in 1456, 1627 and 1731.

In 1642 the city was annexed by Spaniards. The people turned again to Santa Maria to ask for liberation. She answered their prayers 49 years later but was still credited. Now that’s what I call faith and patience!

In 1799, Lucera was threatened by the French general Guillaume Philibert Duhesme. The intrepid Duchess Maddalena Candida Mazzaccara intervened. In the name of St. Mary Patroness of Lucera, she met the general outside the city walls and gave him the keys to the city with some conditions, including three days of respite, which he granted. At the end of the three days, the city gates were opened and the Duchess, followed by the statue of the Virgin, welcomed the French in. Dehesme, on seeing the image, was shocked, recognizing her as "the woman with a brown face and eyes of incisive power, who that night had appeared to him in a dream to tell him to leave her people safe". So the general let go of his aggressive intentions and instead entered the city in peace and acclaimed by the crowds. In memory of this prodigious event, a plaque was placed on the facade of Porta Troia.

In 1806, following yet another earthquake survived fairly well, the Virgin was crowned with a triple gold crown in the Vatican and included among the most venerated and miraculous images of St. Mary. On this occasion, the above painting of the Virgin was made. She is enthroned in Heaven between St. Roche and Blessed Agostino Casotti, also known as Augustine of Lucera, the bishop entrusted with the task of re-Christianizing the city after the ousting of the Muslims. Sts. Peter and Bassus were added in this later version. King Charles II of Anjou, on his knees, hands the keys of the city to the Virgin via an angel.

During the Second World War, Lucera was never bombed and never attacked. It is said that the bomber planes were unable to locate the city due to cloud cover. Instead, the pilots said they saw the image of Santa Maria in the sky. In deep gratitude the citizens filled the city with votive shrines to their Dark Mother, which are still visible today throughout the historic center of town. They are dated ‘war year 1943’.

Her Four Day Festival

In the course of the centuries, her festival keeps changing. It recently (What’s 30 years when you’re looking at something that goes back 700?!) turned from a three to a four day affair, lasting from August 13th - 16th. It’s a commemoration of the ousting and massacre of the Saracens in the year 1300. For nine days before the festival, the Madonna is elaborately decorated and enthroned in the cathedral. Since 1983, a living history element was added to the festival. People dress up in period costumes and reenact the moment when Charles II of Anjou handed over the keys to the city to the Virgin Mary. Being in full possession of her role as patroness of the city and the diocese, the Madonna is then carried in procession to the Roman Amphitheater. Now it’s time to play in the site of one’s Heavenly Mother and so begins the ‘Tournament of Keys’. Representatives of the neighborhoods around the five ancient city gates challenge each other in medieval games.

August 15th, the feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, is mainly dedicated to religious functions and concerts in the Cathedral.

August 16th is the feast of St. Roche, co-patron of the city, who is venerated with his own procession. Until the mid-1900s the processions were much more elaborate and took all day. Nowadays people are more interested in the medieval games, the live music, outdoor dance party, and fireworks that conclude the festivities. Still, they adore their Black and white divine Mother.

Footnotes:

1. That is what the mayor of Lucera told him. Ean Begg, The Cult of the Black Virgin, Arkana/Penguin Books: 1985, pp. 242-3

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_settlement_of_Lucera

Lucera