Browse Black Madonnas
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Einsiedeln
After a fire in 1465 this gothic standing mother and child replaced a 9th-10th century Romanesque Seat of Wisdom Madonna lost in the flames. Baby Jesus holds a bird in his left hand…
Meerveldhoven, Netherlands
Our Lady of the Oak was found in a tree in 1263. Although not a Black Madonna, she’s included in this index, because she shares many Black Madonna leitmotifs: a strong connection with the earth, miracle working, and repeatedly returning, by her own will, to the place in nature where she was found. Many Madonnas are associated with sacred trees, but this Dutch lady is the only one who got to keep her tree in the church that was erected for her.
Prešov, Slovakia
Baroque rendition of the Black Madonna of Loreto in the Greek Catholic cathedral in Presov, Slovakia. The ex-voti and thanksgiving tablets attest to her miracle working power and the faith of her devotees.
Penrose, Australia
Our Lady of Mercy shrine in Penrose Park, Australia is dedicated to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, the Queen of Poland. This copy of the miracle working original icon was crowned by St. Pope John Paul II in 2001. Many smaller international shrines in this sanctuary include one to the Black Madonna Aparecida do Norte, Brazil.
Ethiopia, Abuna Yemata Guh
This Black Madonna surrounded by White saints was painted in the 15th century in the most difficult to access sanctuary in the world, a 5th century rock hewn church. Pilgrims have to climb 8,460 feet barefoot up a 90 degree cliff to pray here. Women do it in long skirts with babies on their backs! It seems the artist meant to show either that Mary was a Black woman or that her being the Black divine Mother of her Ethiopian children was more important than the historical reality that she came from the same area as many of the White men in the frescos.
Oirschot
Our Lady Consolation of the Dejected and Oppressed, Our Lady of the Holy Oak, Our Lady Wealth of Joys was found in a river in 1406. She insisted on residing in a sacred oak tree and performed many miracles. Most popular Madonna in Netherlands.
Handel
Our Lady of Handel shares many Black Madonna leitmotifs: a sacred tree, healing water, miraculous origins, and Heaven using animals to communicate its will. The abundant waters of the miraculous source merge into a stream one can wade into.
South Africa, Soweto
This is not one of those traditional, ancient European Black Madonnas with miraculous powers that begs the question…
Argentina, Los Toldos
Black Madonna in the Benedictine monastery Santa Maria de los Toldos, Ruta 65, Los Toldos, province Buenos Aires.
Brazil, Aparecida do Norte
In 1717 three fishermen were sent to catch fish in the Paraoba River for the governor of São Paulo because it was a religious day of abstinence and he wasn't allowed to eat meat…
Colombia, Las Lajas
Though this Madonna is not black she shares important characteristics with Black Madonnas. First, her eyes and hair are so black that she is revered by her devotees as “La Mestiza”…
Costa Rica, Cartago
The Queen of Costa Rica is called Our Lady of the Angels because she was found on the day the Franciscans celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Angels…
Mexico City
In 1531 things were looking dismal in Mexico. In the course of ten years millions of native Mexicans had been killed by the brutality of the Spanish Conquerors and their diseases…
Mexico, Santa Catarina Juquila
There are several versions of the legend of this Dear Dark One. The most common one claims that her first known owner was a Dominican priest called Frey Juan Jordán de Santa Catarina…
Pacific, Missouri
The history of this shrine began in 1927, when the archbishop of St. Louis requested a group of Franciscans to come from Poland to set up a nursing home in the countryside…
Los Angeles
A copy of Our Lady of Loreto (Italy) located in Our Lady of Loretto Catholic Church in Los Angeles in Historic Filipinotown, at 250 N. Union Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026.
Miami
This Black Madonna is a copy of Our Lady of Regla in Havana, Cuba and in Chipiona, Spain. The original is said to have been carved in the 5th century by St. Augustin following instructions from angels.
New York City
It is ironic that the only “real” Black Madonna (not just a copy) in the USA isn’t actually a Black Madonna in the strict sense.
Vina, California
The Cistertian abbey in Vina is a beautiful monastery for Trappist contemplative monks that welcomes lay people for retreats. It was founded in 1955 by Thomas Merton’s monastic community…
Austin, Texas
The Black Madonna of Austin, Texas was comissioned around 2005 by an African priest of the predominantely black Holy Cross Catholic parish with strong black activist roots in that city. She was sculpted by the white artist Jim Thomas.
Heiligenleithen
The chapel was built from 1697 to 1699 as a pilgrimage church in honor of Our Lady of Einsiedeln. At some point, in order to spread devotion to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln…
Kaltenleutgeben
In 1766, the parish chronicle relates that the „Black Madonna of Kaltenleutgeben“ was sculpted by a holy hermit in Altötting. He touched his faithful copy to the original in order to absorb…
Klagenfurt
The son of the earl, who built the copy of the Holy House of Loreto just outside of Klagenfurt on the Maria Loretto Peninsula, had this funeral chapel built for his family in the cathedral in 1660/61…
Klagenfurt, Maria Loretto Peninsula
Klagenfurt is the capital of the state Carinthia, (Kärnten). In 1652 Earl Johann Andreas von Rosenberg had a castle built on what was then an island in Lake Wörther…
