Browse Black Madonnas
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.
Algeria, Algiers
Madame l’Afrique is a copy of a French statue crafted in silver by the artist Edmé Bouchardon (1698-1762), which was destroyed during the Revolution…
Rwanda, Kibeho
When fans of the Black Madonna fall into a reverse kind of racism by appreciating only Black Madonnas while disparaging white ones, they would do well to remember Our Lady of Kibeho…
Senegal, Popenguine
In 1887, Bishop Mathurin Picarda visited the mission of the Holy Ghost Fathers in Guéréo, Senegal, for the baptism of its first Catholic converts…
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.
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.