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When you step into the 12th century Chartres Cathedral, directly in front of you is the main altar with a white marble sculpture of Mary being assumed into heaven by Bernini. Off to the side of the main altar there is a little side space with pews and people kneeling and praying. Banks of red votive candles are burning and people come and go in and out of this little prayer space most of the hours of the day.

There, on a pillar about six feet high stands one of the Black or Dark Madonnas at Chartres enveloped in garments encrusted with gold embroidery. Directly below sits the Madonna “Sous Terre,” Under the Earth, in the crypt. This wooden statue of the Madonna and Child is also spoken of as a Dark or Black Madonna. How accurate this is remains a matter of debate. Precision and dogma aside, this is the Madonna that accomplishes miracles and healing, hence the many devotees who come to her site from all over the world. The draw to Chartres is not only the extraordinary library of biblical stories in stained glass and the Rose Window, the eleven circuit labyrinth that’s being copied and used world wide, but also these Black or Dark Madonnas.

To clear up some confusion generated by books such as the DaVinci Code, and many others, the Black Madonna and Child or the Black Virgin (Mary without Child) is NOT Mary Magdalene. Magdalene has her own historical existence as does Mary, Christ’s mother.

Here’s a short definition of the Black or Dark Madonna that I recently wrote for the Cambridge Dictionary of Religion (2008). I was limited to 200 words, so the constraints on what I could cover were ferocious. For the moment, know that the term “Black Madonna” refers to a more than one thousand-year old Catholic tradition of venerating non-white images of Mary, the mother of Christ.