THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
 |
A NOTE ON THE BLACK MADONNAS OF EUROPE
"A man's mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom
he associates."
--Alexander Dumas
THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
A NOTE ON THE BLACK MADONNAS OF EUROPE
"A man's mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom he associates."
--Alexander Dumas
For thousands of years the African woman has been worshipped and idolized by individuals, families and nations in Africa and around the world. Ancient records show her as queen, goddess and saint. The African woman has led mighty nations into battle, founded splendid royal dynasties, performed sacred miracles and given birth to messiahs. No other human of any racial or ethnic type has been or should be as broadly venerated as the African woman. This is as it should be. All praises due the African woman.
The Black Madonnas of Europe are perhaps the most venerated icons in European Christendom. According to L.W. Moss and S.C. Cappannari:
"All the Black Madonnas are powerful images; they are miracle workers. They are implored for intercession in the various problems of fertility. Pilgrimages covering hundreds of kilometers are made to these specific shrines. The degree of adorational fervor far exceeds that attached to other representations of the Virgin. For example, until the last decade, when the practice was explicitly forbidden by church authorities, pilgrims journeying to the shrine of Mount Vergine would climb the steps of the church on their knees, licking each step with their tongues. We are, thus equating the blackness of the images with their power. The attitude of the pilgrim approaches not reverence but worship (latrial)."
In Russia during the nineteenth century the Russian General Kutuzov had his army pray before the Black Madonna of Kazan before the historic victory at Borodina. The same Madonna is said to have inspired Rasputin and may now be in the United States. In reference to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, Spain, it said that "He is not well wed who has not taken his wife to Montserrat." Spain has more than fifty images of the Black Madonna. Nineteen have been documented in Germany. Italy has more than thirty Black Madonnas. France has more than three-hundred.
SOURCES:
The Cult of the Black Virgin, by Ian Begg
Black Women in Antiquity, edited by Ivan Van SertimaAlso see: THE BLACK MADONNAS OF EUROPE: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Revised: October 27, 2004.
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