The Art of Gratitude:  The Enduring Value of Ex-votos to the Black Madonnas of Italy

At major sanctuaries to the Black Madonna throughout Italy and beyond, devotees over the centuries have made offerings known as ex-votos, Latin for “out of a vow,” to give recognition for healing received at a time of great need.

This art of gratitude often takes the form of a narrative painting with the words “PGR,” per grazia ricevuto – for grace received – along with an inscription of the specific details of the circumstances of the event.

More than 10,000 ex-votos in Italy have survived the ages, although many have been lost, stolen, or destroyed.

These testimonies of divine connection provide a fascinating insight into the past. They offer a historical record of everyday dangers and communal catastrophe. At the same time, they tell of survival, resilience, and collective action. Making offerings at sacred sites is an ancient practice, as evidenced by devotional items found throughout Italy.

The viewing of ex-votos invites us into conversation across time and suggests a meaningful spiritual practice that can be utilized today. They ask us to pay attention to not only what has happened in the places we inhabit, but also to what is happening.  They encourage us to ask: What am I grateful for? Who is helping me? How am I acknowledging that? What am I giving back in return for the gift I received?

As we seek deeper connections that carry us forward into uncertain times, creating expressions of gratitude offers a practice of relationship and reciprocity with the natural world.

“The Art of Gratitude:  The Enduring Value of Ex-votos to the Black Madonnas of Italy,”presented to the Pacific Northwest American Academy of Religion, George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon, May 20, 2023. 

Praise-Poem to the Black Madonna of Loreto

Madonna di Loreto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She is the Our Lady of the Tree, Rock, Sea and Cave

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is the Madonna of Fire and Water

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is the Madonna of High Places, and of places deep within the earth.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She reminds us of cycles of the seasons, honoring the above and below and the passages in between

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is the Throne, the Seat of our Wisdom

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She reminds us of the Earth as Source, of Female as source, Goddess as source. She blesses us with her holy blood and sanctifies our own blood.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She helps us find the Black Madonna within us all.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful

She is fierce to protect us, compassionate to hold us and hear our prayers.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is Queen and Virgin, one unto herself. She is inviolate. She is rising up.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She unites opposites. She brings balance.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is the face of our First Mother, our Oldest Mother, our African Mother. She reminds us that we are all Sisters, Brothers.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

She is Mother, Mother of All, Mother of All that is.

Beloved Mother of Wisdom, You are Black and Beautiful!

The inspiration for the call-and-response form of this praise-poem is the Litany of Loreto, an ancient song of praise and petition said in procession to the highly venerated Black Madonna of Loreto, near Ancona, Italy. She is considered to be the protector of Italy, and is celebrated on December 10.

The phrase “You are black and beautiful, my friend” is engraved above where the Black Madonna of Montevergine in Avellino used to hang.

Tree of Wonder, Tree of Life

 Of all the sites in Crete that beckoned, it was the thousand-year-old Sacred Myrtle Tree that I most looked forward to visiting. I had first read about it in 1995, in Carol Christ’s Odyssey to the Goddess.* Carol described the Panagia Myrtià, the All Holy Myrtle, as a place of veneration, tended by the local nun’s, and extremely sacred. At that time, I was about to begin my own odyssey over the months and years to come, first encountering the Black Madonna while doing genealogy research in Italy, and then returning to Italy to delve deeply into my ancestral heritage. Now, here I was in 2015, twenty years later, gathered at the base of the Sacred Tree with Carol Christ and a group of women as part of a Goddess Pilgrimage. Tears came to my eyes as Carol read the story of her first visit to the Tree, the very story that had called to me long ago. We do not know who our stories reach when they go out into the world. Continue reading

Dreams of the Black Madonna

Our Lady of the SnowsThis summer I received a postcard from a friend in Italy portraying the Madonna in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the major church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Far more than a just a beautiful image, this Black Madonna has been attributed with miraculous and awesome power. Her titles “Our Lady of the Snows” and “Salvation of the Roman People” offer clues of her power over the weather and her ability to protect a whole community.

According to the legendary fourth century origins of the church, still celebrated today, the Virgin Mary caused snow to fall in August in Rome (a highly unlikely weather phenomenon) so that she could designate where she wanted her church to be built. She appeared to a couple and to the pope in a dream telling of the snowfall. She came to be known as Santa Maria della Neve, Our Lady of the Snows. On August 5, white flower petals are released from the church to celebrate the event and to simulate the miraculous snowfall. Continue reading

Epiphany on the Tyrrhenian Sea

SchiavoneaIn 1995, I took a sabbatical from my job to do genealogical research in Italy. My journey started with a pilgrimage to Goddess sites in southern Italy with a small group of women, led by archaeologist Frances Bernstein. I had been going to Italy for 20 years. But it had never occurred to me that among all the ruins and hidden in the churches and in nature were places once sacred to women and men who honored female divinities.

Here was common ground of my blood ancestry and my spiritual heritage. This land, consecrated by being at the crossroads of my passions, became holy ground for me. Continue reading

Queen of Peace

Madonna di LoretoDecember is the darkest month here in the northern hemisphere, a time of going within to access the dark maternal matrix of creation. On liturgical calendars throughout Italy, December 10 is the date dedicated to the Black Madonna of Loreto. The sanctuary of Loreto in Ancona, Le Marche, is a major pilgrimage site of Europe with millions of visitors a year. Considered to be the protector of Italy, the Madonna of Loreto is a highly revered and well-known. Sibyls and prophets adorn the outside of the marble enclosure of the Santa Casa, or Holy House, in which her image is venerated. As one enters the small shrine within the large church, there is a feeling of intimacy and accumulated devotion. Continue reading

Missing My Mother

Backyard shrineI guess it is inevitable that I should miss my mother, the person who birthed me into this world, as my birthday draws near. Although we are exquisitely connected for all time, I miss her presence in my life at this time. Paraphrasing a phrase that I read in a book about motherhood: “Mother is the first place I knew.” Continue reading