Browse Black Madonnas
Font-Romeu/Odeillo
Modern Font-Romeu is a rather unattractive ski resort, but with an ancient history. For more than a thousand years its fountain at the hermitage (l’Ermitage) above the town was a stop for pilgrims…
Guingamp
With its Black Madonna, labyrinth, and its legend of an ancient Black Madonna under the earth Guingamp, Brittany competed for centuries with Chartres, 400 km to the East. To this day it honors its Lady of Good Help with festivities known as ‘the Pardon of Our Lady’. Unlike in Chartres, there is no whitening the Black Madonna or covering the labyrinth with chairs or slacking off of devotion here!
Fontgombault
Our Lady's monastery goes back to a hermit by the name of Gombaud who lived in a cave on the site around the year 1000. This Black Madonna was originally known as…
Laghet
Miracle working Our Lady of Laghet near Nice and Monte-Carlo in a retreat center run by Catholic nuns. The dark copy in the crypt reminiscent of the original Black Madonna
La-Chapelle-Geneste
This Black Madonna sits enthroned above a globe (the earth), which is supported by the symbols of the four evangelists: an angel, a lion, an ox, and an eagle…
Le-Puy III
In 1844, this 17th century approximate copy of Our Lady of Le Puy was taken from another church to assume the empty throne and title of her burnt sister…
Le-Puy-en-Velay I and II
The story of this shrine in the Auvergne begins with stones, a dolmen, i.e. a Druidic stone altar. Since time immemorial stones had been associated with Goddess…
Liesse-Notre-Dame
Here is her legend as told on this Black Madonna’s parish website: It is the year 1110 A.D. three brothers from the diocese of Laon (17 km from Liesse-Notre-Dame) leave for the Holy Land…
Mayres
Notre Dame de la Roche in Mayres near Clermont Ferrand, whom Dr. Cleveland calls Our Lady of the Side-Eye. 14th century statue commemorating the vision of a 12 C monk. Is she rolling her eyes at White patriarchs or what? Anybody have a better picture please?
Menton
I believe the “Black Virgin of Menton” is a copy of the Black Madonna of Montserrat, her famous sister venerated 700 km to the South. For the centuries, the faithful wouldn’t hesitate to walk that far in search for a miraculous healing. Once they were granted their wish, they would give public thanks with an ex-voto, a painting commemorating the miracle. That’s what we are looking at here.
Mont-Saint-Michel
Many Black Madonnas were associated with the realm of the dead. Since this realm was imagined to lie deep in the earth I like translating “Notre-Dame (de) Sous Terre” as “Our Lady of the Underworld”…
Myans
The Romanesque Black Madonna of Myans became famous when she stopped a giant avalanche of rocks at the door step of her church, where a group of Franciscan monks had taken refuge after getting kicked out of their abbey.