A00145 - A Return to Montserrat and a "Miraculous" Introduction to the Black Madonna

 

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, on the way from Barcelona to Lourdes, my guide stopped at the mountaintop monastery known as Monserrat.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_de_Montserrat_Abbey

The time allocated for this visit to this monastery was one hour.  However, it is a massive monastery perched on a mountain cliff and my fear  of heights slowed my pace.  On that Thursday, I spent a good 15 minutes at the information center trying to determine what was available for me to see.  I walked over to the basilica but it was not open.  So I found that I spent about 20 minutes in the gift shops choosing souvenirs that I wanted to bring home with me.  

While in the gift shop I was amazed by the massive collection of black madonnas on display. I soon learned that the black madonna was the reason for the existence of the monastery and that her significance extended beyond this mountain sanctuary in Spain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_Montserrat

Sadly, because the basilica was closed during our hour in Montserrat on Thursday, I was not able to see the Lady of Montserrat.  However, one of my souvenir items was a booklet entitled What is Montserrat?  While in Lourdes, I began reading this booklet and this is what it said:

"The mountain of Montserrat must have taken on a religious significance at a very early date.  Even if we ignore the invented legend according to which a temple dedicated to Venus had been built there in pagan times and was destroyed by the miraculous intervention of the Archangel Michael, a figure connected with many other mountains, there are indications of the presence of hermits on the mountain as early as the eighth century.  The first trustworthy reference, however, dates from the latter part of the ninth century, just after the reconquest of this area from the Moors.  Shortly after that there is documentary evidence of the names of four hermitages, one of which -- dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the name of St. Mary -- was the origin of the present sanctuary.

"The hermitage of St.Iscle (Acisclus), which still exists today, gives us a fair idea of those earliest beginnings.

"In the first third of the eleventh century the abbot-bishop Oliba, a figure of the utmost importance in the formation of medieval Christendom in Catalonia, founded a little monastery beside the hermitage of St. Mary.  This foundation grew rapidly, thanks to the fame of the miracles wrought there by the Blessed Virgin.  The presence of St. Mary on Montserrat was given material expression, between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in the image which still presides over the monastery.  Venerated down through the ages, it is held in high esteem both as a religious treasure and for its artistic value.  It is a Romanesque sculpture, later retouched, with delicately stylized features.  The dark colour of the face, by reason of which it is classified among the black Virgins, has given rise to the familiar name of La Moreneta (The little dark one) by which it is known to the devout in Catalonia. 

"The fame of Montserrat very soon spread beyond the surrounding area.  Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela made it known along their way, while King Alfonso X of Castile (Alfonso the Wise) devoted six of his Canticles to St. Mary of Montserrat.

"The devotion to this virgin spread eastwards with the Mediterranean conquests of the Catalan-Aragonese monarchy: throughout their Italian territories there were over a hundred and fifty churches or chapels dedicated to the Madonna of Montserrat.  At a later period the imperial dynasty of Spain consolidated the cult of the Moreneta in central Europe -- in Bohemia and above all in Austria -- and carried it westwards with the discovery and conquest of America, which had links with Montserrat from the very beginning thanks to the presence at Columbus' side of a former hermit on the mountain, Bernat Boil, who thus became the first missionary of the new world.  The first churches in Mexico, Chile, and Peru were dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat, while the name of Montserrat was also given to an island, to different mountains and to several towns and villages. In Brazil the Portuguese missionaries founded two monasteries, still flourishing today, under the name of Montserrat.

"This expansion in all directions, thanks to which the Virgin of Montserrat became the first of the names of Mary to be known on a really worldwide scale, was stimulated by the favour of popes and kings, by the presence of saints and other illustrious pilgrims, by the attention of artists and men of letters and by the ever-growing number of devotees."

*****

Based on this history, I decided that I wanted to meet the Black Madonna of Montserrat.  Accordingly, on my return trip to Barcelona, I asked to return to Montserrat.  We arrived a little bit before 4pm on Saturday, April 8, 2023.  My driver dropped me off near the gift shop area while he went to park the car.  I immediately went inside the gift shop and purchased a Black Madonna as a souvenir.  By the time my driver reconnected with me, it was after 4pm.  We then proceeded to the information office to see if we could get tickets to see the Black Madonna.  Sadly, the people in the office could only give us tickets for the 4;45pm showing, a time that would have taken us beyond our schedule.  We had to decline.

Instead we went up to the basilica area where my driver took my picture framed by an arch with a cross on a ledge across a chasm in the background.  We then decided to go to the basilica, to see if we could persuade the people there to let us in for the 4:30 showing even though we did not have a ticket.

We arrived at the basilica door at about 4:10 and got in the line for those who do not have reservations.  While standing there, a kind gentleman approached us and offered a ticket for two for the 4:15 pm entrance to the basilica and the Black Madonna.  Stunned by the offer, we graciously accepted.  We approached the basilica which had an exterior that featured statuary by some of the same artists that worked on the Sagrada Familia.   The inside entry passed by a number of private prayer areas and then a staircase led to the Black Madonna with her Black Baby Jesus looking over the cathedral floor proceedings below.  The Black Madonna is enclosed in glass now. But I was able to touch the glass and to look admiringly at the Black Madonna ... and to smile.

*****

By the grace of God, I was able to see the Black Madonna yesterday.  Miracles do not need to be big, they can be small. However, they are miracles all the same.

Have a Blessed Easter Sunday Everyone.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

Barcelona, Spain

August 8, 2023