BLACK
MADONNA
Altoetting,
Germany
Robert
Trabold
Dark chapel pierced by candle
light. Silver – gold glittering!
Stately candles on the alter
add solemnity. Many yellow
roses blend with gold – silver.
In the middle, small dark
statue – woman with a child
dressed in black - gold
holding a golden rose.
Silence reigns in the chapel.
Many people – pilgrims
no talking – stand at attention
in presence of the Black Madonna.
Statues centuries old
1000 years – Who knows?
People travel - come from far
wide like me.
We carry our human load
ourselves - our world.
Many clouds of thunder
need more rays of sunshine.
Myself with all the
crowd stand here
in silence. No spoken
words – deeper ones inside of us.
Dark skin of the Virgin
child mysterious
gives us hope in the
road of life – our earthly
voyage.
I know that the Virgin
with child are listening.
We all stand in silence
praying – hoping.
It will all work out.
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BLACK MADONNA: PILGRIMAGE
INTO MYSTERY – 2015
ROBERT TRABOLD
In the month of May this year, I had
the privilege and opportunity to visit two Black Madonna shrines in
Europe. I went to Altoetting in
Southern Germany and to Einsiedeln in Switzerland. Both of these shrines are very old and go
back into history more than a thousand years. Altoetting used to be a Roman
trading post where the roads that came over the Alps met. The town became a
center of commerce and trade and had perhaps some religious significance and
temples. With time, it became a center of Christianity and a point for the
further evangelization of that part of Europe. Einsiedeln in the 9th
century was the place where a hermit Meinrad lived in silence. People came to see
him for advice and healings. Upon his death, the hut and place where he lived
became a place of pilgrimage and through the centuries grew into a modern
pilgrimage center.
Both of these pilgrimage shrines are
devoted to and centered upon the statue of the Black Madonna with her child.
These statues are very old and no one knows much about their real age or where
they came from. That these statues are black is a subject of much discussion. They
are very old and as such get dirty. In the past centuries, they were considered
sacred objects as they still are and were not to be touched or restored. As a
result, the candle soot made the statues black and these statues became the
center of pilgrimages and had an ability to draw many people to the shrines.
There is some conjecture that the people are drawn to these Black Madonna
statues because in the ancient Greek and Roman religions, there were black
goddesses. There are many ruins of temples dedicated to them in Southern Europe
pointing to a possible pagan influence in our Christian practice. Be as it may,
these black statues have the ability to draw people from all over Europe who
come with their concerns and problems and who are looking for help from the
Black Madonna.
Over the years, theses statues also
have an elaborate wardrobe. People have made special and richly ornate garments
for the statues. It is a sign of their affection for the Madonna and child that
the people want to make public. These robes are rotated on the statue for
particular seasons and times and add to their attractive power.
I made a contemplative pilgrimage to
these two shrines. I went by myself and I had much time for silence and
meditation. I participated also in the various religious activities of the
place. As I sat in silence in the chapels of the Black Madonna, I experienced a
tremendous sense of mystery surrounding the statues. The beauty of the chapel
and the decorations around the statue were very attractive. I felt that the
Virgin was drawing me there and all the other pilgrims. In one sense we are
drawn to the human figure of the Virgin and child but the blackness has us feel
that they are from another world, the spiritual one, and one that is a mystery
to us. We are not just drawn to the human mother figure but also that she leads
us into another world where we will meet the divine. The silence of the chapel
and the stillness of the people give that aura. In the silence that reigns, we
present out petitions to the Virgin and child and ask help with these.
My meditation there was one of
silence looking at the beautiful decorated statues of the Virgin and child and
I repeated my mantra to try to touch the presence of the Divine at my center
and still point. All of this added to sense of mystery which was the goal of my
pilgrimage to these two shrines. I
believe that the other pilgrims around me had a similar experience. They made a
long trip to be in the presence of the Black Madonna and child and to enter
into the mystery of this divine presence. The Virgin certainly was human in her
life but now in heaven, draws us into her presence so that she can ultimately
help us enter this same spiritual life now and later after our death.
This whole pilgrimage of our life on
earth and the trip to the shrines are shrouded in mystery. Our life on earth
has many ups and downs, moments of light and those of darkness. There are no
easy answers to our living neither to our violent and tumultuous world. For
this reason we make these pilgrimages to the Black Madonna and child. She knows
all our problems but leads us into her presence and that of the child. Amidst
the darkness of life and the mystery of the Divine of which her black skin is a
symbol,
the
Virgin extends a helping hand to all the pilgrims. It gives us hope on our journey through the
years on earth and a sense a purpose to this pilgrimage.
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