n 1664 the Augustinian monk Jacob Willemart (1626-1697) traveled from Brugge to Spain. Nobody knows why, but the good relations between Spanish and Belgian Augustinian communities must have played a role…

In 1744 sailors threw this statue into the river Senne, but instead of sinking to the bottom it was later found floating on a piece of turf…

According to tradition, Ludwig IV of Thuringia sent this and three other Black Madonnas home to his wife St. Elisabeth of Hungary…

According to the Belgian TV program (see footnote), this is one of eight Black Madonnas in Belgium. Legend says that she was brought here by a crusader…

The area calls itself the “free republic of Outremeuse” and possesses its own festival, folklore, fun rituals, cartoon characters, special “fire water”, and of course, its own Black Madonna…

This shrine was erected in 1879 by the aristocrat who lived in the estate across the street from it: the Baron de Woelmont, whose coat of arms we find under the Madonna…

This Mother of Mercy is called Virgin of the Recollects because her church used to be a monastery chapel of the Recollects, an extinct reformed branch of the Franciscan order…

The roots of this Black Madonna go back to the 4th century, when the bishop of Cologne and Tongeren (both cities with Black Madonnas to this day)…

How happy is a devotee’s heart when a Black Madonna has a whole town named after her and her own flag…

Most representations of the Queen of Cubans portray her as rather light skinned, but some depict her as black. The actual statue is generally regarded as a ‘mulata’, a woman of mixed race…

Like the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple, she is veiled. Only copies of her are allowed to be viewed by human eyes. Of those “copies” (variations on a theme) there are countless around the world…

The Pearl of Moravia is yet another icon said to have been painted by Luke and brought to Constantinople by Empress Helen in the 4th century A.D

This is one of those Black Madonnas whose skin color might have been attributed to the Byzantine style, candle smoke, or the 'saponification of the white lead' in the paint, were it not for her halo…

The church Our Lady Under the Chain belongs to the Maltese Order, which published a brochure describing the church and its works of art…

She is a copy of the Black Madonna of Loreto. All a local tour guide had to say about her was: "She is like an address sign…”

According to Raylene Abbott this statue of Our Lady of Consolation in the Brigittine Monastery of Amity Oregon is a Black Madonna. The distaff in her hand represents feminine wisdom and power. She exudes peace and strength in the beautiful garden of teh Brigittine monks at the Priory of Our Lady of Consolation. The oldest image of Our Lady of Consolation is a 5th century icon in Turin, attributed, like many other Black Madonnas, to St. Luke the Evangelist.

Our Lady of the Taper received the special “honor” of being burnt at the stake in 1538, in Chelsea, London, along with all the other ancient, famous Madonnas of Great Britain…

The 15th century Mayfield Madonna is listed in Ean Begg’s index of Black Madonnas. Unfortunately, she is not accessible to the public because she lives in a boarding school that once was the palace of an archbishop. Her big right hand points to the earth: our Heavenly Mother pointing the way back to our Mother Earth.

Since nothing is related of her origin and she shares the geometric pattern of the robes of the much more famous Black Madonna of Le-Puy, she may well have been created as a copy of the latter…

The origins of devotion to Our Lady of Willesden are lost in depths of history; but there is evidence…