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 The most sacred icons of the Catholic Church are
the Black Madonna and Christ child, which are found in Europe's
most venerated shrines and cathedrals. Each year, millions of
European pilgrims ritually humble themselves before the image
of Black Mary and her child Jesus at Black Madonna sites throughout
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and other Catholic
countries. Many Black Madonna statues have the black paint literally
kissed off of their hands and feet. In Poland, the Church encourages
believers to pray to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa every morning
before rising. It is reported that Pope John Paul follows this
ritual. Time Magazine (June 11, 1979) reported on Pope Paul II's
visit to Czestochowa's holiest shrine, which prominently displays
"The Lady" known for centuries as the Black Madonna.
At Our Lady of Koden (Poland), there are statues of white saints
carrying pictures of Black Madonnas. Pilgrims throughout the
ages have visited Black Madonna sites and left inspired, confident,
relieved, or healed of their afflictions. Today, there are over
300 documented Black Madonna sites in France alone!1 Sometimes
they are hidden away in vaults, while the public is shown Madonnas
with European features. [photo, right: The Black Madonna at the Abbey
of Einsiedeln (Hermits) in Switzerland is visited by over
a million people each year. Click here to view its glorious interior.
In the hard-to-find classic, Anacalypsis,
historian Godfrey Higgens writes, "...in all the Romish
countries of Europe, in France, Italy, Germany, &c., the
God Christ, as well as his mother, are described in their old
pictures and statues to be black. The infant God in the arms
of his black mother, his eyes and drapery white, is himself perfectly
black. If the reader doubt my word, he may go to the cathedral
at Moulins to the famous chapel of the Virgin at Loretto
...the whiteness of the eyes and teeth, and the studied redness
of the lips, are very observable... There is scarcely an old
church in Italy where some remains of the worship of the BLACK
VIRGIN and BLACK CHILD are not to be met with. Very often the
black figures have given way to white ones, and in these cases
the black ones, as being held sacred, were put into retired places
in the churches, but were not destroyed...2
 The Black Madonnas originally all had Africoid
features before most of them were destroyed by iconoclasts. When
they were replaced, the artists retained the dark skin color
but, not being familiar with real Afrikans, gave European features
to the paintings. In cases where originals have survived, you
may witness Africoid features on Mary and her child Jesus, such
as the Black Madonna of Nuria, Spain called "the Queen of the Pyrenees." Russia's remarkable legacy of Black Madonnas
and other Christian icons of dark skin is evidenced in the book,
Russian Icons by Vladimir Ivanov, including the feature story
of the Spring 1994 issue of Russian Life magazine, graced with
a Black Madonna on its cover.
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