Although this Madonna is listed as a Black Madonna in several indexes the local Sicilian parishioners don’t see her as black, if they see her at all…

In 1564 the order of Augustinian monks brought this Black Madonna to San Severo from Sicily. Nobody knows how old she was at that point…

According to Ean Begg and others, this is a Black Madonna. She was recently whitened, but she was never real dark, only “olive-brown” in Ean Begg’s description…

In her sanctuary in the small city of Tindari, municipality of Patti, province of Messina, on the North-Eastern shore of Sicily, painted cedar wood.

Between 575 and 580 Saint Gregory the Great set out to build a monastery on a terrain around Vena which belonged to his mother, Saint Silvia…

This Black Madonna is one of the dozens attributed by medieval legends to St. Luke the Evangelist, in my opinion in order to protect them from inconoclasm…

This “African” Madonna is an important reminder of the racial issues connected with Black Madonnas…

Ever since Ean Begg listed this Lady as a Black Madonna in his ground breaking index, she is known as such internationally and she does have a fine patina

This Madonna’s story is told in oral traditions and antique manuscripts. Legend has it that this is yet another one of those ancient images attributed to St. Luke the Evangelist…

The bare historical facts available to us are that the monastery of Our Lady of Regla (the name of the bay where Chipiona lies) was founded in 1399.

The Black Madonna of the Light holds in her right hand a scepter, a world ball, and a lamp to rule and enlighten the world. In her left arm she carries Baby Jesus…

The legend recounts that one evening in the 15th century, two shepherds were gathering their sheep on the slopes of Mount Jaizkibel…

Legend has it that this image belonged to St. Luke the Evangelist and was buried with him when he died. In the fourth century St. Luke's remains, with his statue, were brought to Constantinople…

There are two opinions concerning the origins of the devotion of the people of Jerez to their patroness, each with its legend…

The legend of Lloseta echoes that of nearby Lluc, which echoes many elements of Black Madonna legends around the world…

Inland and up in the Tramuntana mountains, the sanctuary of Lluc not only lays in the physical center of Majorca, but also is the spiritual center of the island…

The Black Madonna Santa Maria del Coro is an Italian Renaissance work from 1509-1515. She was taken to the city Coro, the first capital of Venezuela and later to San Sebastian on a merchant ship. Once a monk wanted to remove her from the church, but she told him: “you don’t want to do that, this is my place.”

Ean Begg dates her to the 12th century, but the Spaniards say the earliest written record of her is from the 7th century and that she is the oldest statue in Madrid…

Around the year 1292 a green marble cross was found in the hills outside the town of Montblanc. It soon became known as the miraculous Green Cross…

The story begins in the 7th century with St. Gil (c.650 - c.710), a hermit who came from Athens, Greece to the Pyrenees to live in solitude…