BLACK MADONNAS AND PILGRIMAGE

IMAGES OF BLACK MADONNAS, ISIS AND HORUS AS PRECURSORS, PILGRIMAGE SITES*

Montserrat

Rocamadour

Rocamadour Madonna

Isis and Horus

Isis and Horus

Black Madonna of Częstochowa

Virgin of Guadalupe

Maps of Pilgrimage Routes

Cathedral at Le Puy

Cloister at Le Puy

Mermaid at Le Puy

Saint- Michel d'Aiguilhe, le Puy

Black Virgin at Le Puy

Black Madonna of Einsiedeln

Madonnas (Notre Dame de Confession, Saint Victor de Marseille, Notre Dame aux Nieges, Aurillac, Saint Sara, Saintes Maries de la Mer all in )

Madonnas (La Moreneta, Our Lady of Montserrat, Spain, Notre Dame du Pilier, Chartres, France, Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, Cartago, Costa Rica)

*Images of madonnas are from postcards or prayer cards available at these sites. Images of cathedral, Saint Michel chapel and Black Madonna at Le Puy are from the book on Le Puy by Cécile Gall. All other images are from English, French or Spanish wikipedia sites.

ARTICLES AND BOOKS ABOUT BLACK MADONNAS AND PILGRIMAGE

Barham, Penny. "Black Madonnas." Feminist Theology 11:3 (2003) 325-332.

Begg, Ean. The Cult of the Black Virgin. New York : Arkana, 1996.

Benko, Stephen. The Virgin goddess: studies in the pagan and Christian roots of mariology. Boston: Brill, 2004.

Birnbaum, Lucia Chiavola . Black Madonnas: feminism, religion and politics in Italy. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993.

Birnbaum, Lucia Chiavola. Dark mother: African origins and godmothers. New York: Authors Choice Press, 2001.

Bonvin, Jacques. Vierges noires: la réponse vient de la terre. Paris: Dervy, 2000.

Castillo, Ana. Goddess of the Americas: la Diosa de las Americas. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996.

Gall, Cécile. Le Puy-en-Velay. Vic-en-Bigorre, France: MSM, 2000.

Galland, China. Longing for darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna. New York: Viking, 1990.

Hani, Jean. La Vierge noire et le mystère marial. Paris: Maisnie Tredaniel, 1995.

Lash, Jennifer. On pilgrimage: a time to seek. New York: St. Martin's, 1999.

Moss, Leonard and Cappannari, Stephen. "In quest of the Black Virgin." Mother Worship: theme and variations. Ed. James Preston. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.

Rudolph, Conrad. Pilgrimage to the end of the world: the road to . Chicago: University of Chicago, 2004.

Scheer, Monique. "From majesty to mystery: change in the meanings of black madonnas from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries" The American historical review 107:5 (2007):1412-1440.

BOOKS ABOUT PRE-CHRISTIAN CULTS AND GODDESS SITES Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. HarperSanFrancisco, 1989. Mentions that "caves, crevices, and caverns of the earth are natural manifestations of the primordial womb of the Mother." Other landscape features relating to the Earth Mother include hills, streams, springs and wells.

Hawkes, Jacquetta. Dawn of the Gods. New York: Random, 1968. Mentions that the divine power in Minoan Crete was feminine.

Turcan, Robert. The Cults of the Roman Empire. Blackwell, 1996. Describes the spread of Isis and Cybele cults into Europe.

Witt, R.E. Isis in the Graeco-Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University, 1971. Discusses the spread of the Isis cult into Europe and the mediterranean region.

FICTION ABOUT BLACK MADONNAS AND PILGRIMAGE

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Penguin, 2003.

Set in 1964 South Carolina, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been affected by her mother’s death and her father’s abuse. She runs away and is taken in by three black beekeeping sisters, who teach her about the Black Madonna and help her to heal her past. Interview with the author Secret Life of Bees

Newman, Sharan. Strong as Death. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1996.

A mystery story set in 12th Century France and Spain. Catherine Le Vendeur and her husband Edgar go on the pilgrimage to from Le Puy to Compostela to pray that they will be able to have a child. Catherine solves the mysterious murders, recovers a stolen Black Madonna and becomes pregnant.