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by S.
Michael Adkins
More than 500 representations of
the Virgin Mary in existence today are considered to be Black Virgins.
Miraculous in
their powers, they have long inspired—and continue to inspire—fervent
devotion. Yet despite their number and the
intensity of
their following, much about their origins lies shrouded in myth and
conjecture. Long ago, there were many
more of these
mysterious effigies, bu A Black Virgin is not simply a Virgin painted black. There are many representations of a dark Mary
(and Jesus) in Africa, for example, or wherever there are dark-skinned
Christians. Many of these depictions are
recent and some are hundreds of years old, but they are not capital
“B-V” Black Virgins in the sense of what we are talking about here. “Black Virgins” are found all over the world
but have their origin in a European tradition, and it is in Europe that
most are found today, the highest concentration being the south of
France. What exactly then is a Black Virgin?
First and foremost a Black Virgin is identified by its
dusky hue. It is usually of Medieval (or
prior) origin and has a particularly devoted following due to its
miraculous powers. Its origins are usually
as obscure as its skin is dark. Myth has
it that many of the Black Virgins were chanced upon in unlikely
settings: in caves and grottoes, buried in the ground near springs or
under bushes, hidden in trees. Often they
were discovered by farmers plowing their fields.
In some cases the farmers were alerted to its presence by
the strange comportment of their animals, especially bulls, some
refusing to cross the spot where a Black Virgin was buried, some
seemingly attracted to the spot. Many of
these Virgins were brought from the spot in which
they were discovered and placed in a chapel, only to disappear from the
chapel, somehow making their way back to whence they were
discovered. The common thread of these legendary origins is an
association with the earth and its life-giving waters, soil and
vegetation.
Why are they black? Many
writers have given a very prosaic explanation: being the object of such
devotion, the years of exposure to incense and candle smoke have
rendered some statues black. A fine,
rational explanation that nevertheless fails to explain why only the
skin of a Virgin turned black and left her garments multi-hued. Another explanation is that the pigment used
for the skin, over time, due to either chemical reaction or decay,
turned dark. This seems possible in some,
but by far from all cases; there are simply too many for them all to
have had this experience. This leaves us
with hundreds of surviving Black Virgins whose color cannot be
explained away by "physical" theories; we must thus look at other
possibilities.
One theory is that the original Black Virgins were
painted black under the influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
(1090-1153), who in his numerous commentaries upon the Song of
Solomon associated the phrase "I am very dark, but comely" (Song
of Solomon 1:5) with the Virgin Mary. Bernard
is known to have visited several shrines of Black Virgins (including
that of Toulouse) and his theology emphasized an emotional, “earthy”
connection with the Christ and the Virgin as opposed to the rationalist
strain of Medieval thought exemplified by Abelard, Bernard's
(vanquished) rival; Bernard played a crucial role in the development of
the Marian cult and in the 11th century she became the most important intercessor between
humanity and the Savior. In this vein, some go on to
state that the Black Virgin represents something out of Templar and/or
Cathar beliefs. Make of that what you
will; for although Bernard was a supporter of the Templars, he preached
vehemently against the Cathars.
Another theory is that the Black Virgins are black
because they follow the iconography established by religious images of
various goddess cults of the Pagan world, be they Celtic, Teutonic or
Greco-Roman; in short, Black Virgins represent a Christianization of
whatever Pagan traditions were already present in a given region.
Especially prominent among these theoretical predecessors are Cybele,
Artemis and the Magna Mater. This theory
seems to hold considerable merit in that these goddesses were
frequently represented as black, and that in sites where a Black Virgin
is present, an older pagan tradition often exists. A goddess who bears
an especially striking resemblance is Isis, who by the Hellenistic
period had become so popular that many other goddesses, including those
previously mentioned, became identified with Isis in her various
aspects. In Isis’ iconography (a crown of
stars, a starry cloak, a crescent moon) and her numerous titles (“Queen
of Heaven”, “Our Lady of the Waves”) there are certainly enough
correlations to support the theory that she is an important forerunner
of Marian iconography. One often finds
Hellenistic statues of Isis suckling a baby Horus on her knee that are
indistinguishable from the Christian version of this iconography, and
by the Hellentistic era this iconography was already venerable.
Like Mary, Isis has been associated with the rose (i.e. Apuleius’ 2nd
century novel The Golden Ass) and one of the standard flowers
of Isis, the lily, has also been associated with Mary in the form of
the fleur-de-lis and/or lilies themselves.
Ean Begg suggests that the lily carried by Isis may be echoed
in the baton sometimes carried by Black Virgins, including Notre Dame
de la Daurade.
(l) Images of lilies on the shrine to ND de la Daurade; (r) ND de la Daurade with baton
The original
Daurade Basilica was built on the vestiges of a Roman temple to Apollo,
endowed by Galla Placidia in about 415 CE and beginning life as the Saint-Mary Basilica of Toulouse.[1] Hereafter it
served as a chapel for the Visigothic Kings of Toulouse.
In the 9th century the church became part of a
Benedictine monastery and in the 11th century a Romanesque
nave was added. The 11th centuryalso
witnessed the rise of the troubadours, and the church became a center
for poets and members of the Company of Gay Science, who held their jocs
florals (floral games) in honor of the Black Virgin every
May.
The original cupola was destroyed in
1703 after threatening to collapse. A new
dome was erected in 1760 but only a year later the whole building had
to be demolished, the dome having compromised the integrity of the
walls. Apparently during the demolition a
statue of Aphrodite was found among the rubble. A
reconstruction project began in 1764 but the ambitious plans were
delayed and finally made impossible by the construction of the quays
and walls of the Garonne River on which the Basilica sits.
The plans had to be modified, and the nave of the original
basilica serves today as the transept. Work
on the project was interrupted again by the Revolution.
As a consequence, the basilica, though dedicated by Pope
Pius IX in 1876, was not finished until 1883.
In 109 CE, legend has it that the Roman Consul Cepio
drained a lake at the site of the current Daurade Church looking for
the legendary “gold of Toulouse” taken from Delphi by the Volcae
Tectosages[2], uncovering a statue of Pallas Athena in the process. (Athena, incidentally, was one of the goddesses sometimes
represented as black). According to Wikipedia: The name Delphoi is connected with de?f?? delphus
"womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of an Earth
Goddess at the site. Apollo is connected with the site by his epithet ?e?f????? Delphinios,
"the Delphinian", i.e. either "the one of Delphi", or "the one of the
womb." Also of interest is that Daurade is related to dorée or dorada, which in French and Spanish, respectively, translate to “golden,” or more specifically “gilded.” Many statues of Athena are known to have been gilded. Historical documents at the present church reveal that the name Daurade referred to the brilliant frescoes that adorned the original church; certainly, no less apt a name could be applied to the current edifice, which is, save the brightly-colored altar to the Black Virgin, as dark and gloomy a church as I have ever visited. Gilded black Athenas aside, it is worth noting that the discovery of the precursor to Notre Dame de la Daurade conforms to the pattern we find in other Black Virgin origin stories, and that it was made while searching for a treasure associated with a place etymologically connected to the womb.
In any event, this statue was
installed in the temple where it rested until the site became
Christianized under the patronage of the aforementioned Galla Placidia
in 415 CE. At this point the histories are
unclear, and myth and history collide. Was
the original statue of Athena re-consecrated as a Black Virgin, or was
a Black Virgin dedicated that recalled this earlier effigy? We cannot
say for sure, and in the 14th century this original was
stolen and immediately replaced by another effigy, which, if we are to
believe an inscription found underneath the current solce, was sculpted
in Auch.[3]
By the 17th century Notre Dame la Brune (the Brown)—was
known as Notre Dame la Noire, after two hundred years of candle smoke
supposedly further darkened the statue. During
the Revolution her cult was forbidden, but her following was so strong
that the authorities were forced to reauthorize it.
However, in 1799 the effigy was burned on Place Capitole
after public demonstrations of devotion by her followers alarmed the
police. Another reproduction was carved
from memory in 1807. One can only assume
the memory was very faulty, because the current Virgin bears no
resemblance whatsoever to a 14th century Christian icon. For an idea of what she looked like, we look
to the Black Virgin of Solsona, in Catalonia, which was made in
Toulouse and is believed to resemble the 14th century Virgin
of the Daurade.
Mare de Déu del Claustre, Solsona Cathedral by Cleo Morris
Notre Dame de la Daurade is
especially protective of children, pregnant women and ensures safe
childbirth—so much so that another one of her titles is Notre Dame des
Bonne Couches (Our Lady of Good Childbirths)—and votive plaques to this
effect cover the walls of her chapel to this day. Many
other Black Virgins have the same power and not surprisingly, we find
this attributed to many Goddesses of the Classical world, such as
Diana/Artemis. Notre Dame de la Daurade
has an uncommon but not unique feature in that she is draped in an
actual dress, which is changed according to the season.
In times past women could “rent” her belt to ensure a
particularly fast and painless delivery.[4]
This very specific detail is recorded in cults dedicated to Hera and,
tellingly, Isis.
Votive plaque: “Protect
my child”, 1930. Chapel of ND de la Daurade
Notre Dame de la Daurade has other
powers. She has often been called upon in
periods of drought to bring rain, which is in keeping with her role as
a fertility figure. The last time a
procession with the effigy was held for this purpose was in 1790—in the
thick of the Revolution. She could also
offer protection from other threats. Crowds
were said to gather around her when Simon de Montfort laid siege to
Toulouse in 1218 (apparently it worked; Simon was crushed by a stone
launched by a catapult tradition says was operated by a team of women). In 1630, during a procession referred to as
the “Descent of Notre Dame de la Daurade,” her image was carried in
procession when the plague threatened the city. Again,
in 1672, a procession with the effigy saved the Saint-Michel
neighborhood from being destroyed by a fire. Two
paintings in the church commemorate this event. In
our own era, on August 15, 1944, the people of Toulouse carried her
through the streets to pray for deliverance from the Nazi occupation.
One of the two paintings depicting the procession which
saved St. Michel in 1672
The Basilica of the Daurade sits on
the Garonne River just to the south of the plaza bearing its name. Although the façade is quite monumental
(albeit unremarkable) and of a classical order, the front doors are
rarely open and most people pass by without even looking up. Because the façade faces a narrow
street on the other side of which sits the river, the casual passerby
is given little opportunity to remark upon its existence; I imagine
that many assume the church is part of the fine arts school to which it
is attached. One enters the church by an
unassuming hallway on the north side of the nave. The
unprepared visitor is in for a shock, however, because the interior is
much larger than one might anticipate, highly decorated but utterly
gloomy. In fact, the chapel of Notre Dame
de la Daurade is the only colorful place in the basilica.
The Chapel of Notre Dame de la Daurade The
chapel of Notre Dame de la Daurade occupies the southern end of the
transept. The effigy itself surmounts an
altar decorated with lily motifs. Even the
lamps to either side of the statue are suspended from brackets formed
to look like lilies. The altar is made out
of ceramic, and the wall behind the effigy is made up of a mosaic
depicting God the father and a host of angels.
The Black Virgin herself stands upright with the infant
Jesus upon her left arm. She holds a baton
stiffly in her right arm. Her body is
draped with a real dress, which upon every occasion I can remember has
been blue. Postcards in the church,
however, depict a yellow dress; I am told that the dress is changed
according to the season. Both Mary and
Jesus are crowned, and an ovaloid halo of stars surmounts the pair. Perhaps the most curious motif of the chapel is the
serpent, which is repeated in at least six separate images throughout
the basilica. The most striking is a
mosaic on the floor directly underneath the Virgin.
The mosaic depicts a jaunty fellow, his tongue flickering
over the apple. The symbol of the serpent
is repeated on a relief, which adorns the right pier that forms a kind
of entrance to the chapel. In this the
monogram of Mary is surmounted by a crown and radiates rays of light;
four cherubs look on. Underneath is an
upturned crescent moon around which the serpent has wrapped itself.
(l) The carefree serpent and (r) monogram of Mary with a
crescent moon and serpent
Directly across from this relief is another depicting
the paraclete, emitting rays of light, descending upon a lily—one must
assume Mary—held by a disembodied hand. Six
cherubs look on.
Opposite the monogram of Mary, a disembodied hand
presents a lily The serpent appears in other contexts.
Around the corner from the relief of the hand and the
lily, we find a depiction of the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a
staff. A snake is coiled around the staff
in the form of a Tau. This refers to a
curious incident in the Old Testament book of Numbers. In Numbers 21 the Israelites have just set out
from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea and, disheartened by their
difficulties, speak reproachfully against God and Moses.
So the lord sends fiery serpents among the people and many
die from the bites. The people return to
Moses and recognize their sin and ask Moses to pray for a reprieve. “And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery
serpent, and
set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall
live” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and
set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the
bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers 21:8-9) According
to my annotated Bible this echoes the serpent magic practiced in the
ancient world, e.g. Egypt. The bronze
serpent, called Nehushtan, itself became an object of worship and the
Israelites burned incense before it until the reign of Hezekiah, who
broke it into pieces (2 Kings 18:4). In Exodus 7:8-13, we find the famous story of
Aaron’s rod. God instructs Aaron and
Moses to impress Pharoah by
throwing down the rod, which becomes a serpent. Pharoah
has his sorcerers do the same, but Aaron’s rod swallows them up. The incident is repeated in the Quran, and
many traditions developed around the rod, associating it not only with
the Tree of Life, but the Cross. Indeed,
Jesus himself makes the connection between the incident in Numbers and
his own destiny: “And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, so
must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life.” (John 3:14-15). Its
inclusion at the Daurade sanctuary thus refers not only to the healing
powers of the Virgin but of redemption through Christ. Serpents were widely associated with healing in
the
ancient world. Asclepius, the Greek god
of healing, was symbolized by
and often depicted carrying a wand or rod around which a serpent was
wrapped. It is still used in medical
symbolism today. Another ancient symbol
used in medicinal symbolism is the Caduceus, typically
represented as a winged staff around which two snakes are coiled . It often used interchangeably with the Rod of
Asclepius, although the latter is considered more accurate despite the
common usage of the Caduceus. The Caduceus has been linked with Tamit, the Phoenician
goddess of the moon, but is more usually associated with Hermes, father
of alchemy and known to the Romans of Mercury. In
alchemy, the crucified serpent was used to represent making the elixir of mercury, a
healing potion of sorts, which was made by removing the “volatile”
element. The serpent represents the
poisonous mercury held in check by the “soufre d’or” of the cross. At the northern end of the transept, in the position analogous to that of the relief depicting the monogram of Mary, we can find a cross emitting rays of light. The serpent is wrapped around the base of the cross. Five cherubs look on.
The serpent coiled around both the Cross and the staff of
Moses
The final depiction of the serpent is located behind the
altar in the apse. Here we find a massive
oil painting of Mary as the Queen of Heaven. She
has a halo of stars and stands upon an upturned crescent moon. In this image the snake is being
vanquished. Mary’s right foot rests upon
his head and his
body seems uncomfortably pinioned underneath the moon.
Oil painting in the apse
Initially I was baffled by these representations of the
serpent, but an illuminating essay on Biblical typology by George P.
Landow, Professor of Art History and English at Brown University,
partially clears up the matter of the unusual imagery: Certain problems arise in making representations of Genesis 3:15 since it comprises a prophetic, rather than an historic or legal, type…. One common solution is to combine two realistically depicted images in a realistic - that is, non-historical - manner. For example, mediaeval carvings of the Madonna which show her with one foot upon a serpent take Mary as the seed of the woman. These carved Madonnas offer visual images of a symbolic or spiritual act, since Mary nowhere in the Bible treads upon a snake. The artist therefore has juxtaposed two realistic images, one of Mary and one of a serpent. Whereas the pictorial representation of a legal or historical type depicts only those elements present in the type itself, this portrayal of a prophetic type conflates two times, for it includes the serpent from the Fall and Mary, mother of Jesus, in the same image. A second instance of such conflation of two times appears in those mediaeval Crucifixions that include a snake curled around the Cross. The snake rarely gives the impression of having been bruised, and only the viewer's knowledge of Genesis 3:15 explains its presence.
Genesis 3:15 then, is where God says to the serpent after
Eve admits to eating of the apple: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise his heel.” The logic of the
paintings is thus explained, but the reason for the inclusion of the
prophetic type in the Daurade remains elusive until we read on to 3:16: “To the woman he said “I will greatly multiply
your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children…”
Thus, the iconography of the chapel serves to remind the
pregnant woman precisely why she suffers, and why the intercession of
Mary is necessary. For Mary conceived
without sin and gave birth to the Savior who, through his Sacrifice
upon the Cross, gave humanity the opportunity of washing away their
sins. At the opposite end of the transept
from the Black Virgin, there is a depiction of the Cross.
As the Sacrifice of the Christ offers humanity the chance
for salvation from sin, Mary offers the pregnant woman salvation from
the punishment incurred through Original Sin as described in Genesis
3:16. [1] Galla,
daughter of Emperor Theodosius and half-sister of Emperors Honorius and
Arcadius, was a devout Christian and endowed many churches, especially
in Ravenna. Her connection with Toulouse
stems from her marriage to Athaulf in 414, brother of the Visigothic
King Alaric who sacked Rome in 409 and took her hostage in that year or
in 410. [2] Tolosa was the capital of the Volcae Tectosages from sometime in the 3rd century BCE until conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 BCE. [3] The inscription reads “Maître Raynaud me fit de sa main à Auch.” (Master Raynaud made me by his hand at Auch). The text appears to be in 14th century lettering and is all that remains of the first copy. [4] The belt, now housed in the Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires (Paris)is inscribed with the words: “O Marie, Divine Mére, Priez pour Moi. Protegez-Moi.” (O Mary, Divine Mother, Pray for Me. Protect Me.) Sources: Begg, Ean. The Cult
of the Black Virgin. London: Penguin Arkana, 1996. Cassagnes-Brouquet, Sophie. Vierges
Noires. Rodez: Editions du Rouergue, 2000. Daurade Basilica, Corendal Art’Toulouse.
http://www.corendal.com/java-corendal/arttoulouse/monuments/detail/?monumentid=APPL-MONM-8
(last visited December 11, 2005). Delphi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi (last visited
December 11, 2005). Landow, George P. Victorian Types, Victorian Shadows; Biblical Typology in Victorian Literature, Art, and Thought. Boston and London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980. 1998 web version: http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/type/ch4e.html (last visited December 11, 2005). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, USA, 1977. All photos by myself except where otherwise noted. Please pardon their (lack) of quality, but in the gloom of the Basilica I was unable to get a better resolution. I am not in any way shape or form an expert of Black Virgins or Christian iconography. I'm not even Catholic. If you spot any errors or gross misinterpretations in this text please don't hesitate to email me and set me straight. Index
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