Black Madonnas

The Black Madonna

Just to clarify, there are two kinds of "black madonnas" in the world today. There are Black Madonnas, and black Madonnas. For the latter, another term for these figures is "intercultural" Madonnas. These figures are not what will be discussed on these pages. These images are important in that they show the unirversiliaty of Christ and Christianity. Some of these images are recently created by many individuals of varying backgrounds. Other black Madonna images are much older created in Africa and these images have been for the most part largely ignored.

The Black Madonnas discussed here are statues or paintings of mainly medieval origin of dark coloured or black features whose exact origines are unknown or difficult to determine. The prominence of the Black Madonna is said to be due to the miraculous character of the image. They are popular among the faithful and hundreds exist at various shrings. Some well known Black Madonnas exist at Our Lady of the Hermits in Einsidedeln, Switzerland, Our Lady of Jasna Gora (Czestochowa, Poland), Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexic City, Mexico), and Our Lady of Tindari in Sicily.

Many authours used to equate the "Black Virgins" to pagan goddess images of similiar appearance, however recently feminist writers have suggested that the Black Madonna is indicative of a perspective on Mary not strongly emphasized in traditional Christian belifes. Whatever their purpose, they have proved to be devotional aids for many people. Important early studies of dark images in France were done by Emile Saillens, Jacques Huynen, and Marie Durand-Lefebvre. The first notable study of them in English was presented by Leonard Moss in 1952. Based on a study of about a hundred samples from all over the world, Moss gave three categories for the images:
I. Dark brown or black madonnas with skin pigmentation and features matching that of the indigenous population.
II. Various forms of art that have turned black as a result of physical factors (like accumulated smoke from the use of votive candles, accumulation of grime over time, and deterioration of lead-based pigment for example).
III. No explanation.
A percentage of black images falls into the first group, which seems obvious. African features accompany dark colour in African images. The second explanation is also cited often and it applies to some Black Madonnas. An example of this is the statue of Our Lady of the Hermits in Einsiedeln, Switzerland.
However, some images dark colour is left unaccounted for. Artistic liscense is of course a popular theory. One strong theory as to why these images where darkened intentionally is to illusrate "I am black but beautiful" from the Song of Songs. This is supported by the fact that many black madonnas exist in France and are dated to around the Crusades when Bernard of Clairvaux wrote many commentaries on the Canticales. It is also said he visited many shrines of the Black Madonna. Another likely theory is that the Black Madonna is an ancient earth-goddess who was integrated into Christianity. This is supported in that many goddesses were depicted as black. Ceres and Isis for example were depicted as black. Ceres is the Roman goddess of agricultrual fertility (her Greek counterpart is Demeter). Being an earth mother, and the best and most fertile soil being black, this theory could be tied together. Many other practices and dieties were placed in Christian terms so this is likely.