Liesse-Notre-Dame
Photo: detail of @morio60 - see more amazing photos of her altar on flickr
Our Lady of Liesse, i.e. Bliss (Notre-Dame-de- Liesse), Our Lady of Joy (Notre-Dame-de-la-Joie)
In her basilica and town named after her, department Aisne, region Hauts-de-France, modern reincarnation of much older statue destroyed during the revolution, ebony.
Here is her legend as told on this Black Madonna’s parish website:
It is the year 1110 A.D. three brothers from the diocese of Laon (17 km from Liesse-Notre-Dame) leave for the Holy Land, in order to protect and care for Christian pilgrims threatened by Muslim invaders. They are ‘Knights Hospitaller’ (the order’s full name is Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights of Malta). Around 1134 they are taken prisoners and brought to Cairo, Egypt. The Sultan promises to spare their lives if they convert to Islam, but they refuse. He sends his daughter, Princess Ismeria, to convert them and the four enter into deep discussions about their faiths.
One major difference between their religions is the Catholic devotion to statues and icons, which to the Muslims is deplorable idol worship. The knights assure the princess that: "the sight of the Virgin Mary’s beautiful figure gives to the heart such a great jubilation (liesse in French) that it is impossible to put into words". Princess Ismeria is curious and wants to see such a statue. The knights promise to sculpt one.
When evening comes, they pray with great fervor and ask the Lord and his mother for help. Upon waking the next morning, they discover a most beautiful statue of Mary that had appeared in their dungeon, apparently carved by the angels. They decide to call her Notre Dame de Liesse i.e. Our Lady of Jubilation, Bliss, or Great Joy. When the princess comes to see her, she is struck to the core, especially since the night before, the Mother of God told her in a dream that the princess herself would free the prisoners and become a Christian. She does as the Madonna comanded and flees with the prisoners, carrying the statue. Tired after a long walk, they fall asleep near the Nile. When they wake up, lo! They find that the angels transported them to an artisan well in Northern France. It is July 2nd 1134.
The miraculous well of the Black Madonna of Liesse
It takes them a while to get oriented. When they figure out how close to home they suddenly are, they are overjoyed and start running, until they realize: “Oops, we forgot the Madonna at the well!” Retracing their steps, they find that the water has overflown and enveloped Our Lady of Bliss. They don’t yet realize it, but this is apparently the moment the Queen of Heaven blesses that water and turns it into a miraculous healing well. Ever since then, the Black Madonna’s healing well (a very typical part of many Black Madonna sanctuaries) has been an important part of her holy place with its own little chapel about 5 minutes walking distance from the basilica.¹
The travel companions pick up their heavenly cargo and head back towards their village. After a few minutes, the Madonna suddenly becomes very heavy and they understand that she wants the place where they are to be her home. So they call it Notre-Dame-de-Liesse and soon build a chapel for her right there. The statue works many miracles and draws so many pilgrims that a little town springs up around her.
Princess Ismeria receives baptism at the hands of the Bishop of Laon and takes the name Mary. Ean Begg suggests that her former name may be the union of Isis and Maria, hinting at why an Egyptian princess would be so taken by a statue that is reminiscent of common Isis and Horus figures.²
Cause of our Joy becomes a title Mary is henceforth known by.
The story is based on historical foundations. There were indeed three brother Knights Hospitaller imprisoned in Cairo in the early 12th century. They were called Jehan, Lord of Eppes, Hector, Lord of Marchais, and Henri. At the same time Ismeria really was the daughter of a Sultan, though I found two different versions of her father’s name. The French Wikipedia article on “the Basilica Notre-Dame de Liesse” claims that Ismeria was the Sudanese daughter of sultan El-Afdhal of Cairo and that she eventually married prince Robert of Eppes, son of Guillaume II of France and a relative of the three brothers. The website of the Black Madonna’s parish gives the sultan’s name as Al Hazan.³
Her basilica was built during the late thirteenth to early fifteenth centuries. The first chapel the brothers built the year of their return was quickly outgrown by the crowds of pilgrims. According to ancient documents, the first shrine of Liesse was built with stones left over from the construction of nearby Laon cathedral. Formerly one of the portal stones was engraved with the inscription: “As a monument of their piety and their gratitude to the Virgin Mary, this holy temple was built in 1134 by the knights of Eppes.” It was rebuilt in 1384 and enlarged in 1480."
In November 1568, the troops of the Protestant Prince of Orange looted the village and its church, and having broken the statues and removed the bells, set fire to the church, reducing the bell tower to ashes. Restoration commenced nine years later.
Sadly, the divine Mother always has her share of adversaries and so she was persecuted again during the French Revolution. This time she was burnt at the stake. The Jesuits managed to salvage only her ashes, took them to Montreal, Canada in 1877, and deposited them in the base of a copy of the original. Alas, she is white, but revered! A street in Montreal, Notre Dame de Liesse, was named to mark the arrival of the statue. The church she graces is l’Eglise du Gesù at 1202 Rue De Bleury.⁴
A whitened copy of the Black Madonna in Montreal contains the remains of her previous incarnation. The banner under her feet says: “Causa Nostrae Letitiae” = her title “Cause of our Joy”
Dozens of churches in France and its former colonies have copies of the Black Madonna of Liesse. Thankfully most of them are black, like this beautiful one in the cathedral of Laon, very close to Liesse-Notre-Dame.
Many famous people, religious and laity, royalty and paupers have gone in pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Liesse and she has granted many miracles. Her specialty is liberating people from all manner of imprisonment, including of one’s own mind and bad habits, and granting women the joy of conceiving a child.
Footnotes and Sources:
1. None of these websites say where this fountain is, but my guess is it’s at the end of the Rue de la fontaine. https://www.notredamedeliesse.fr/histoire-et-culture/la-fontaine-miraculeuse/
2. Ean Begg, The Cult of the Black Virgin, Penguin Books, London: 1 985, p.193
3. This is according to the article: “La Vierge de Liesse “ https://www.notredamedeliesse.fr/histoire-et-culture/la-vierge-de-liesse/ on the website of Our Lady’s parish
4. See far down in the article: “Art for Faith’s Sake”