Camino Photo of the Day: the Black Madonna of Le Puy

She sits above the cathedral’s high altar, as she has done for more than fifteen hundred years. The original Black Virgin of Le Puy, carved of ebony and thought variously to date back to anywhere between the third and sixth centuries,¹ was looted and then burned by the revolutionaries in 1794. As it was burning, a hidden drawer popped open and a slip of parchment fell out into the fire. Nobody bothered to see what it said. The current statue was reconstructed in the 19th century from drawings of the original. She is traditionally clothed in vestments of the colour of the season.

Even the reproduction casts a powerful and delightful presence over the church. I sat and prayed here for quite some time.

Date: 17 August 2023
Place: Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire Département, Region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Maps!

1. It was described in documents dating to the sixth century, so this is generally taken as the latest possible date of its construction.