Orcival is one of the oldest and most famous Marian shrines in the Auvergne. People have been going there on pilgrimage since before the 10th century…

The original Black Madonna of Orleans came from Syria in the 5th century. She accompanied a group of her countrymen who settled outside the city gates of Orleans in a village called Avenum…

This Queen of Peace is quite an aristocratic lady. It is believed that she was a wedding gift by Jean de Joyeuse to his wife in 1518. The house of Joyeuse intermarried with French royalty…

She used to stand in the church Saint-Etienne-des-Grès in the Latin Quarter, but that church was destroyed during the Revolution and all its content sold…

Prats-de-Mollo is a beautiful, ancient town of 1,000+ inhabitants with very good energy. No wonder, the inhabitants honor their Lady of the Heart of the Oak…

Tradition says that Our Black Lady washed ashore somewhere in France where a sailor from Pézenas found her and brought her to his home town…

There are two important statues of the Mother of God venerated in this church and they often get mixed up: the Black Madonna Our Lady of Marthuret and the White Madonna Our Lady of the Bird (Vierge a l’oiseau)…

As a Christian holy site, Rocamadour dates back to the 10th century, but as a young priest giving a tour pointed out in 2008: "People have been praying here for 20,000 years”…

This is one of those poor Black Virgins who had her color stolen. She was restored to her original pigmentation of 800 years ago…

Here you see what happens when you don't renovate wooden statues once in a while. This Black Madonna is so worm eaten that you can barely make out the face and of baby Jesus only a little stump is left…

No miracles or other "special effects" are reported about this Virgin. During the Middle Ages she was obtained by the Saint-Gervazy family and brought to their little castle by the same name…

Although Sara la Kali is not Mary, the mother of Christ, she is often discussed in the context of Black Madonnas because she is a Dark Mother. The Gypsies venerate her as their queen…

The little old church lady, who led me to the church of Our Lady of Victory knew nothing of a Black Madonna at her church. The little statue is hardly visible…

In the 13th century the seventh Crusade (1248-1254) was preached in the sanctuary of the famous Black Madonna of Le-Puy-en-Velay, in the presence of King Louis IX…

'Daurade' is a kind of fish and must be one of the strangest nick-names for a statue of the Blessed Mother. Yet it was skilfully chosen, because everybody will ask…

The original church in the mountain hamlet of Vassivière stood until the 13th century and housed the predecessor of this Black Virgin.

As so many Black Madonnas, so this one too resides in a place that was already sacred during pre-Christian times. Excavations have revealed cults of Isis, Cybele…