This lovely and very old Madonna is the original ‘Virgin of Tenderness’, a type of icon called Eleusa (Greek: tenderness). She is one of the numerous Black Madonnas believed to have been painted by Saint Luke the evangelist…

There are two Black Madonnas in the sanctuary of St. Anthony of Padua. One was whitened in spite of more than 800 years of tradition venerating a Black Madonna with a strong connection to St. Anthony and proof existing that both Madonnas were conceived as Black from the start. Our Mother’s black skin was stolen, because too many people found her more beautiful with white skin: a racist mutilation!

According to tradition Luke the Evangelist carved this statue and St. Eusebius brought it to Italy…

Stories as to where Our Lady came from vary greatly. Some say she was brought by a monk, others by a shepherd…

Local tradition, as recounted by the historian Armerino Charanda, attributes this icon to the hand of St. Luke the Evangelist.

Many Black Madonnas reside in places formerly dedicated to a pre-Christian goddess, but this one is different…

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…

Our Lady of Consolation in Turin, Italy, reputedly painted by St. Luke the Evangelist, likely a formerly Black Madonna like so many others attributed to him and associated with the Augustinian order. She had to be hidden from her enemies in the earth twice but always made sure she was found again. Very miraculous.

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…

The Black Madonna was a gift from 19th century French missionaries.

She owes her title to the tradition that she appeared miraculously in these mountains. Her reputation for granting miracles is so great that people of all religions and even atheists come to her with their needs…

The city walls of Vilna were built around 1514 and include the two story tower of the Gate of Dawn, whose upper floor holds the chapel of this miraculous image…

As most Black Madonnas so this one too is deemed to be a miracle working ‘image of grace’. Most people agree that she must have been sculpted around 1360 by a member of the Cologne school of sculpting

This Madonna received her beautiful Aztec looks from a native artist who carved her in Mexico…

For the full history and more photos of this officially Black Madonna go to the beautiful Pintakasi website of James Ben Malabanan.