Our Lady of Brebières (Notre Dame de Brebieres)

 The ancient madonna
statue known as Notre
Dame de Brebières (Our Lady of the Shepherds) was found by a shepherd in the fields near Albert France during the middle ages.  The shepherd's flock kept returning to the same green patch of grass day after day.  In an effort to drive them somewhere else, he struck the patch of grass with a hoe to dig it up, and to his amazement, found a statue of the Madonna and Child underneath!  It was taken to a local church where miracles were soon attributed to Our Lady's intervention.  During the French revolution the statue was saved from destruction by being buried in a barrel in the basement of a local shop.  It was returned to the Basilica of Notre Dame de Brebières in 1802.


There is another famous statue of the madonna and child at the Basilica, but this is not the one pictured on the medal.  The exterior statue of Notre Dame de Brebières became famous during World War I when it was damaged by a German mortar shell, but did not fall from her place.  She became known as "The Leaning Madonna" and rumor said the the war would end when she fell.  She did fall in the Spring of 1917, but unfortunately, the war did not end until November of that year.  The statue has been replaced with a copy and is once again a famous landmark for the region.

The Feast of the Annunciation

This is a large beautiful medal that shows our mother, Mary, on the front with the words "Maria Immac.", short for "Immaculate Mary", around her halo.
The Feast of the Annunciation celebrates the day that the archangel Gabriel visited the blessed Virgin Mary with the request that she bear the son of God in her womb.  We celebrate her "Yes" on this holy day and give thanks for Mary who became Jesus's mother and our mother as well.
The back of the medal shows her radiant Immaculate Heart.  It's really lovely and perfect to share on this feast day.

Mary is flanked by the words "Penin Poncet".  These are the names of the two well-known engravers living in Lyon who worked together in the 19th century.  I believe this medal is the work of Ludovic Penin or possible his son Adolph with Jean Baptiste Poncet.

What is a Black Madonna?

Black Madonna Statues

The first time I saw a Black Madonna medal, my reaction was 'Our Lady of ....what?' The names and locations of many of the Black Madonna representations are not familiar to us; however, they represent a unique and intensely spiritual time in the life of the Catholic church. Collecting this type of medal is both challenging and fun since they can prove to be difficult to find. First, let me attempt to answer a few questions ~

What is a Black Madonna?

Black Madonnas are statues representing the Blessed Virgin Mary and Christ Child with dark skin. They frequently date back to the middle ages and are typically associated with a history of miracles. There are an estimated 450 to 500 Black Madonna statues
known in the world today. Typically petite, measuring only about 3 feet high, these statues have European features that contrast with the darkness of their skin tone. Usually they are made of wood, but some are made of stone.

Why are they black?

This is the $64,000 dollar question. There are several suggestions for the darkness of these Madonna's skin.
The features have been darkened over the centuries with grime and candle soot, leaving them very black in color. However, this down not explain those Madonna statues that are recorded as having always been black.

Some of these images were certainly brought back to Europe by soldiers returning from the crusades in the Holy Land. They were crafted by and for the darker skinned people of that area of the world. Knowing that these statues came from the actual area that was home to Jesus and Mary reinforced and made acceptable the idea that the Madonna and Child should be represented with dark skin, influencing European craftsmen in their work. This idea probably was reinforced by the scriptural passage from the Song of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 5, 'I am black, but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem...'. The female elements of this book of poetry were typically thought during the middle ages to represent the Virgin Mary, so the connection between Mary and dark skin could have been easily made.

Black Madonnas represent some link with pre-Christian eart goddess traditions or early representations of the goddess Isis with her son Horus. Their blackness shows a connection with this goddess and the darkness of the earth.

I think it's safe to say that, whatever their origins, the typical worshipper of the middle ages primarily saw the beauty of the Mother of God cradling her infant son, Jesus, in each of these unique statues. Each one showed a connection to the divine to which even the most humble peasant could relate. Often the madonnas were part of a pilgrimage route to the shrine of a saint or were noted for miraculous healings and protection. They represent a simple and profound faith that shaped the lives of everyone who came in contact with them.

Many black madonnas are very old, even ancient, but modern artists still make icons, statues, and paintings showing the Virgin Mary with black or dark skin. These modern representations are no less black madonnas than the ancient, but more famous, statues that are found on religious medals. Black madonnas still carry a potent, even defiant, message to the world. Just read the popular novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd to see how powerful this image still is today!

What about Ancient Madonnas Statues?

Similar to black madonnas, "ancient" madonnas (as I call them) are very old, small statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child found throughout the world. These representations have been venerated and invoked for assistance and protection for hundreds, sometimes over a thousand, years. The main difference between these statues and black madonna statues is that ancient madonnas lack the dark skin tones of black madonnas and they are always very, very old. Black madonnas are frequently also very old, but not always - Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered by some to be a "newer" black madonna! Occasionally a black madonna statue has been cleaned to reveal a lighter toned ancient madonna ~ in one case, the residents of the town insisted on retinting this statue back to it's original black tone!

What does this teach me?

I think that the lesson we can learn from all these representations of the Virgin Mary is that since she is our mother, mother of the world, mother of all peoples of the world, she must look like all of her children. What child does not look like his or her mother in some way? Even my friend's adopted children look like their adoptive mothers in expression, tone of voice, or mannerism. So, of course, our representations of our mother will also look like ourselves.

I teach preschool, and frequently children will draw pictures of their mothers. Do these pictures actually look like their mothers? Not really! But I've never seen a mother not love a picture that her child has made of her. And this is the important thing to remember when learning about all representations of the Blessed Mother - what was in the heart of the creator of that image? If it was love for his or her heavenly mother, then that image is beautiful and truly shows what our mother looks like.

I'll be featuring more on black and ancient madonnas on this blog and I hope you'll enjoy it!

Congregation of the Children of Mary Medal

This beautiful 19th century medal would have been worn by a member of the group "The Congregation of the Children of Mary".  It's sterling silver - you can tell because that little dent or ding at the top of the medal is actually a French sterling silver guarantee mark in the shape of a boar's head...a very, very, very tiny boar's head. 

The front of the medal shows the Blessed Virgin Mary in the same pose that she has on the Miraculous Medal:  standing on a snake with a halo of stars around her head.  (I've added a picture of a Miraculous Medal right below the Children of Mary medal)  The Miraculous Medal was struck at the request of the Virgin Mary during a series of visions that were experienced by St Catherine Laboure beginning in 1830.  In 1835 St Catherine told her confessor of a request the Blessed Mother had made to her during on of these visions:

"It is the Blessed Virgin's wish that you should found a Confraternity of the Children of MARY. She will give them many graces. The month of May will be kept with great splendour and MARY will bestow abundant blessings upon them."

And so the seed was planted for the beginning of The Congregation of the Children of Mary.  The group was first opened to girls who were students or orphans in the care of the The Sisters of Charity (St Catherine Laboure's religious order), and later welcomed girls not associated with the order as well.  Girls and young women in the society were encouraged to live holy and devout lives in the everyday world by embracing the virtues of sacrifice, prayer, and works of charity.

But....you couldn't just show up and say "Hey! I'm ready to be a child of Mary!"  A girl had to
request to join, then wait six months during which time she practiced the virtues of the group and prepared to live its values.  When a girl finally entered the group, she was given a beautiful silver medal, like the one above, which she could wear on a blue ribbon.  I've even heard that they sometimes wore little blue capes as well!

The wording around the edge of the medal reads "Monstra Te Esse Matrem" which is Latin for "Show thyself  a mother".  These words come from a line in the ancient Marian hymn "Ave Stella Maris" or "Hail Star of The Sea".

When you flip the medal over, you see an emblem featuring two stems of lilies curving around a radiant star.  I think that the star must also represent Mary as "The Star of the Sea", and the lily symbolizes purity, which was an important virtue for Children of Mary.

The wording around the edge is in French and translates as "Congregation of the Children of Mary", but the group was also known as the "Sodality of the Children of Mary".  At the bottom is a small area that could be used to engrave the child's name or the date of her entry into the society.  You can see that this medal was worn by a girl with the initials "G. G.", and she entered the congregation on December 16, 1893 - my mother's birthday! (Dec. 16, not 1893....)

I love imagining how proud she must have been to receive such a beautiful medal.  And her family really splurged by purchasing a large medal in sterling silver rather than less expensive one in silver plate or even aluminum.  I'm sure that it looked lovely whenever she wore it on a pretty blue ribbon, reminding her to be a good girl and live up to the values of the Children of Mary.  She was in good company as well, because St Therese of Lisieux was a member of the group and St Maria Goretti became a member on her deathbed.

Notre Dame du Suc - Our Lady of the Sap

This is a lovely example of what I call an "ancient madonna" medal.  It shows "Notre Dame du Suc" or "Our Lady of the Sap" with the inscription, "Notre Dame du Suc P.P.N." (Priez Pour Nous or Pray For Us).  Ancient madonna medals are struck to commemorate a pilgrimage site that features a statue of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child.  These statues are similar to black madonnas, but - they're not black.  Both black and ancient madonna statues typically have interesting stories attached to their finding, and the story of Notre Dame du Suc is a good example.

In the 8th century, a shepherd named Jacques or Jacobus, found a small transparent stone statue of the Madonna and Child in a tree near Brissac, France.  (I think this must be the origin of the statue's unusual title "Our Lady of the Sap or Our Lady of the Juice.  Maybe it was a really sappy tree that they found her in.)  Nobody knew where the statue came from or who had left it there, so it was considered to be a miracle.

A group of Benedictine monks who had an orphanage in Brissac wanted to build a chapel to this beautiful little madonna in a spot that would be convenient to worshippers.  The chose a large vacant area on the path from Brissac to Moulin Neuf for their building site.  When the chapel was finished, the statue was placed there with great ceremony; however, the next morning the statue had disappeared from the chapel and was found back in her original tree.  This happened every time the statue was moved, so the Benedictines came to the decision that the Madonna wanted to be left where she was.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find out what the Benedictines did next - did they just leave the statue there?  In the rain?  Did they build a new chapel on the site where the statue was found?  (That's what usually happens in these stories.)  It's a mystery to me! 

Anyway, the story jumps from here to 16th century when Jean de Courdurier, a councilor to King Louis XIV, asked Notre Dame du Suc for the blessing of a child with his wife, Marie Rey de la Croix.  A year later she gave birth to a son.  In thanksgiving, de Courdurier had the chapel entirely rebuilt and a new statue of the Madonna and Child carved.  This statue can be seen in the current church of Notre Dame du Suc which was constructed in 1875.

Notre Dame du Suc is invoked for protection of people in the military.  The church of Notre Dame du Suc is still a popular pilgrimage destination.  It has a rough and stony path featuring the stations of the cross that rises up the mountain on which the church is situated.  At the end of the path, there is a beautiful statue of Notre Dame du Suc along with amazing views of the entire valley. 

source:  http://nddusuc.free.fr/index.php?lng=fr

A Beautiful Lourdes Medal

I love this medal. It’s from Lourdes, France, where St Bernadette saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in a series of visions from February 11 to July 16, 1858.

St Bernadette was a poor peasant girl who lived with her family in a hovel that had formerly been the city jail until it was deemed too unhealthy for the prisoners. She was sickly, with asthma, and uneducated. On February 11, 1858, Bernadette went with her sister and a friend to collect firewood. Before crossing a stream, Bernadette paused beside a grotto known as “La Massabeille” (the old rock) to remover her stockings. Her attention was drawn to the grotto by a gust of wind. Here is what she saw, in Bernadette’s own words:

“ As I raised my head to look at the grotto, I saw a Lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her rosary; the beads of the rosary were white."

"The Lady made a sign for me to approach; but I was seized with fear, and I did not dare, thinking that I was faced with an illusion. I rubbed my eyes, but in vain. I looked again, and I could still see the same Lady. Then I put my hand into my pocket, and took my rosary. I wanted to make the sign of the cross, but in vain; I could not raise my hand to my forehead, it kept on dropping. Then a violent impression took hold of me more strongly, but I did not go."

"The Lady took the rosary that she held in her hands and she made the sign of the cross. Then I commenced not to be afraid. I took my rosary again; I was able to make the sign of the cross; from that moment I felt perfectly undisturbed in mind. I knelt down and said my rosary, seeing this Lady always before my eyes. The Vision slipped the beads of her rosary between her fingers, but she did not move her lips. When I had said my rosary the Lady made a sign for me to approach, but I did not dare. I stayed in the same place. Then, all of a sudden, she disappeared.”

The front of this medal depicts St Bernadette kneeling before the Madonna in the grotto. She’s holding a rosary and a candle because during one of the apparitions, she held her hand over the flame of a candle for at least 15 minutes without burning her skin. This was witnessed by many onlookers, including a doctor who examined her immediately afterwards. The Virgin Mary is depicted just a Bernadette described her. She’s standing in a niche above a rose bush with her hands clasped in prayer. She has a rose on each foot and a rosary hanging from her arm.

You’ll see this depiction of Bernadette and the Virgin Mary on the backs of many medals, usually with Mary on the front. The inscription at the top says “Souvenir of the 50th anniversary” and “1858 to 1908” beneath it. So, dating this medal is pretty easy. We know it was struck in 1908 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.

What makes this medal really unique is what it says on the back – the words the Virgin Mary said to Bernadette during her apparitions! It's in French of course, but here’s what it says in English,

“Will you do me the kindness to come here every day for fifteen days?
I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.
I would like for everyone to come to pray for sinners.
Penitence! Penitence! Penitence!
Go drink at the spring and wash there.
Kiss the ground for sinners.
Go to the priests and tell them to build a chapel here where people can come in procession.
The 25th of March the Virgin said: I am the Immaculate Conception”

That’s a lot to fit on a little pendant that only measures 1 1/8 x ¾ inches!

I could go on and on about Lourdes and the miraculous spring and Bernadette’s life, but I think I’ll save that for another medal - this post is quite long enough as it is. So...to be continued…

St Mechtilde - Have you heard of her?

I originally titled this post "The Efficacious Prayer of the Three Hail Marys".  (Yawn...)  St Gertrude thinking about death sounded much more intersting, so I used it instead.  I found out about St Mechtilde and this special prayer while researching this interesting antique French framed "picture" (for lack of a better word.) 

It looks like it's assembled from a cut-up antique holy card.  The picture features a gold paper lace archway with three little groupings of cherubs, each with a banner saying "Ave Maria" (Hail Mary). Mary displays her Immaculate Heart which radiates three rays: "Puissance, Misericorde, Sagesse" (Power, Mercy, Wisdom).   Also the frame is really neat because the glass is domed over the picture - not flat.

When I first saw the rays coming from Mary's heart, I thought they looked a little like arrows and might be something related to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary (we can talk about that another time).  But when I saw that they had words written on them, I thought something else might be going on.  So I began googling.....

And here's what I found ~ The devotion to the three virtues of the Virgin Mary began with St. Mechtilde, who became a nun in Switzerland in 1258.  Mechtilde was very holy and had such a beautiful singing voice that she was known as Christ's nightingale; however, she suffered a lot of pain from some ailment.  (Just a side note...probably everyone had a lot more pains in 1258.  No Tylenol, no aspirin, no anesthesia....It makes me ache to think about it!) 

Because of this pain she meditated a lot, thought about death, and was especially devoted to the Virgin Mary.  (Thinking about death a lot was not such a morbid preoccupation then as we think of it now.  Death was much more common back then. There was the plague and dirty water and no concept of sanitation and lots of other things that we don't have to worry about today.  Either you were healthy or you were dead! Many great saints contemplated death by using a "momento mori" - an object that represented death, frequently a skull, that was used to focus their thoughts on the topic.  I think stray skulls were much more common back then too - what with all that death....)

Well, the Virgin Mary began to visit her in a series of visions!  On one of these visits, she gave St Mechtilde this prayer:

Hail, Mary, full of grace...etc. O Holy Mary! Our sovereign Queen! as God the Father, by his omnipotence, has made thee most powerful, so assist us at the hour of our death, by defending us against all the power that is contrary to thine. Hail, Mary, etc.

O Holy Mary! our sovereign Queen! as God the Son has endowed thee with so much knowledge and splendor, that it enlightens all Heaven, so in the hour of our death, illumine and strengthen our souls with the knowledge of the true faith, that they be not perverted by error or pernicious ignorance. Hail, Mary, etc.

O Holy Mary! our sovereign Queen! as the Holy Ghost has plentifully replenished thee with the love of God, so instill into us at the hour of our death, the sweetness of divine love, that all bitterness at that time may become acceptable and pleasant to us Hail, Mary, etc.
 
Each paragraph addresses a different gift given to Mary by the trinity.  God the Father gave her power, God the Son gave her wisdom, and God the Holy Spirit gave her Mercy.
 
During an apparition to St. Gertrude (a close friend and student of St Mechthilde), the Blessed Mother promised, "To any soul who faithfully prays the Three Hail Marys I will appear at the hour of death in a splendor of beauty so extraordinary that it will fill that soul with heavenly consolation."   Since people knew they could get sick today and die tomorrow, this prayer was a great way of being prepared to meet your Maker at any time!
 
Actually, the same could be said for us.  We just don't want to think about it.  So you might copy this little prayer down and keep it handy.  You never know when you might need it!

Jan 1, Feast of Mary, the Mother of God

January 1, the Feast of Mary the Mother of God

Who do you think Jesus is? Today we are very familiar with the idea of his being the second person of the divine Trinity, fully God and fully man, but during the fourth century this was a very new idea.

The feast of Mary, the Mother of God was proclaimed as a way to both honor Mary and make clear exactly who Jesus is ~ not a person who claimed to be divine like the Roman emperors, not a god who just assumed a human "disguise" like the ancient Roman and Greek gods, but that he is God come to earth as man. Fully man and fully God, making Mary the Mother of God.

Today is also a holy day of obligation ~ if you didn't make it to mass today, I'm sure you can find a church that will welcome you tomorrow!

Let's start with the Holy Family....

Where would we Catholics be without the Holy Family? If there were no Mary and Joseph there would be no home for baby Jesus, no nativity story, no Christmas presents...anyway, you get the idea. So I thought I'd begin my blog with a unique Holy Family medal I discovered.

This medal has the Virgin Mary on one side and Joseph holding baby Jesus on the other. The Mary side has a beautiful detailed depiction of the Blessed Mother as she appears on the Miraculous Medal (a medal that Mary requested to be struck with this image on the front...more about that in another post.) She's shown standing on the globe with her foot crushing the head of a serpent to symbolize her triumph over satan. Rays of light are flowing from her hands and she's surrounded by the inscription in French "O MARIE CONCUE SANS PECHE PRIEZ POUR NOUS QUI AVONS RECOURSE A VOUS" (O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you). I just love the turn of Mary's head and the way the artist portrayed the drapery of her robe in this depiction.

Here's the Saint Joseph side. I think this is just about the best looking Saint Joseph I've ever seen on a medal. He looks like the type of man who would take the job of protecting Mary and Jesus pretty seriously and build a few houses on the side to support them all! He's shown as a young man with thick curly hair holding the baby Jesus in his arms. The inscription is in Latin "STE JOSEPH ORA PRO NOBIS" (St Joseph Pray for Us).
And what a cute baby Jesus! All chubby and cute, like I'm sure he was, and actually looking somewhat "baby-ish" as opposed the "mini-adult" which is the way he looks in so many other baby depictions.
Jesus is holding a lilly in his hand to represent St Joseph. The lilly is Joseph's symbol in art for a couple of reasons: one is that the lilly represents purity and Joseph was thought to be very pure since, according to Catholic tradition, Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life. You'll sometimes see him referred to as "Model of Purity" or Mary's "most chaste spouse".
The second reason for the lilly is because of a legend associated with St Joseph. Since Mary was a consecrated virgin, meaning she had taken a religious vow to remain a virgin throughout her life, there were not too many guys pounding down the door to ask for her hand when it was time for her to be married. The available men all put their staffs together and asked for a sign from God to let them know who should be Mary's "most chaste spouse", and Joseph's staff grew a lilly from the tip! A sign from God if ever there was one! So next time you see a depiction of St Joseph holding his staff, take a close look. Frequently you'll see a lilly sprouting from the end of it.
I would guess that this medal dates to the middle of the 19th century. It's detailed, but the depiction is not as detailed as the later 19th century medals of the art nouveau movement. The medal is quite thick and heavy and appears to be solid brass.