Rocamadour (Part 6)- The Black Madonna
At the heart of the Sanctuary, under the rock, at the feet of Our Lady.
Every year for centuries, thousands of pilgrims have all reached their goal…to pray at the Chapel of Our Lady of Rocamadour, in which stands the revered statue of the Black Madonna.
Regardless of our individual religious beliefs, I feel like most of us need to believe in something or someone greater than ourselves. When it comes to how we portray that belief it varies for different religions, Buddhists pray to Buddha, Muslims to Allah, and so on, even Christian denominations vary in their doctrine, some pray to God, some to Jesus, and some to the Virgin Mary. Each representation holds equal value for those that believe, and no one belief is any more real than another. The same can be said for shrines, they vary considerably, but the one thing they all have in common is that they hold equal value to the individual praying at the time, and the fact that they are associated with miracles. Now let’s be honest here, every religion to some degree is based on faith, the faith to believe in something that cannot always be explained logically, and that is exactly what a miracle is, something that cannot be clearly explained. So when a miracle occurs pilgrims will worship whatever happens to be relevant at the time, whether that be a tomb, statue, river, or even a group of stones.
Our Lady is a 66cm tall blackened walnut statue who is seated with the Christ child on her lap. Why the statue is black has generated many discussions but the most common idea is that her colouring is due simply to age and years of being exposed to soot and candle smoke. She does, after all, date back to the 12th-century, I personally think she looks pretty good for a lady who is over 900 years old.
In saying that, she may not be the prettiest of statues, but she is one of the most powerful, famous and ancient ones, and the miracles attributed to her are numerous. Maybe she is a reminder for us to not judge with worldly eyes, and to not reject something simply because it is not an object of beauty. The other thing about Our Lady, and it is the same for other Black Madonna statues throughout Europe, because there are many, she has the Christ child on her lap but notice how she does not hold onto him. This is symbolic of the fact that she willingly let him go, to be part of God’s plan for him to be crucified to save all of our souls for eternity. It was during the Middle Ages that the site became one of the four holy places of Christendom, along with Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. This was largely due to The Book of Miracles, written in 1172 by a resident monk, clearly describing the 126 miracles that occurred in this spot through the intercession of the Holy Virgin, and many more have been recounted since then. This book had a profound impact on the number of pilgrims that began to make the long and arduous journey to pray at the feet of the Black Madonna. Many saints, kings and queens, together with thousands of ordinary souls have come seeking the blessings of the Queen of Heaven.
The other very interesting thing is the unusual bell hanging from the ceiling of the Black Madonna’s chapel, it is said to ring all by itself when Our Lady saves someone whose life is threatened, especially when that someone is a sailor. Stories abound of how men at sea had prayed to the Black Madonna to protect them from a storm, promising to undertake a pilgrimage to her sanctuary if she would only spare their lives. Many months later when they arrived to fulfil their promise, somebody in the Sanctuary would say “We were expecting your arrival, we heard the bell toll letting us know that someone was in distress at sea”. In closing this final installment of my series of Rocamadour blog posts, I have to say that even though I am a Christian, as I walked into the Chapel of Our Lady, and stood before her, I was filled with such awe, with goosebumps running up and down my body, I feel positive that most people would feel the same way regardless of individual belief. For me, gazing up at her in absolute wonder, it would not have mattered what she looked like, my heart was so full, I was totally enchanted, she was perfection itself. It was like the clock had been turned back hundreds of years, I could feel a deep sense of every one of those pilgrims who have travelled for possibly hundreds of miles, just to stand exactly where I was standing, their only goal to be in her presence, it was incredible and so uplifting.
I truly hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have enjoyed writing it… feel free to comment , I appreciate every bit of feedback.
Does this make you want to visit immediately, take a look at our Plantagenets in France tour where we will visit this incredible UNESCO Heritage site. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Max
Black Madonna photos © Plantagenet Discoveries
