Local tradition, as recounted by the historian Armerino Charanda, attributes this icon to the hand of St. Luke the Evangelist.

Many Black Madonnas reside in places formerly dedicated to a pre-Christian goddess, but this one is different…

Although this Madonna is listed as a Black Madonna in several indexes the local Sicilian parishioners don’t see her as black, if they see her at all…

In 1564 the order of Augustinian monks brought this Black Madonna to San Severo from Sicily. Nobody knows how old she was at that point…

According to Ean Begg and others, this is a Black Madonna. She was recently whitened, but she was never real dark, only “olive-brown” in Ean Begg’s description…

Our Lady of Consolation in Turin, Italy, reputedly painted by St. Luke the Evangelist, likely a formerly Black Madonna like so many others attributed to him and associated with the Augustinian order. She had to be hidden from her enemies in the earth twice but always made sure she was found again. Very miraculous.

In her sanctuary in the small city of Tindari, municipality of Patti, province of Messina, on the North-Eastern shore of Sicily, painted cedar wood.

Between 575 and 580 Saint Gregory the Great set out to build a monastery on a terrain around Vena which belonged to his mother, Saint Silvia…

This Black Madonna is one of the dozens attributed by medieval legends to St. Luke the Evangelist, in my opinion in order to protect them from inconoclasm…

This “African” Madonna is an important reminder of the racial issues connected with Black Madonnas…