The ‘Black Madonna’ of Częstochowa: Syncretized in Haiti as Ezilí Dantor.
[Black Madonna of Częstochowa] / [Haiti]. Sancta Maria Ćenstochoviensis. Modlitwa. Do Naÿ swiętzi. Mariy Panni Czenstochowskÿ. S.l.: s.n., s.a. [likely late 18th century]. [15.8 x 12.5 cm], [1] f. engraving on laid paper with contemporary hand-color. Remnants of mounting on verso, minor staining, colors still fresh & vibrant.
Unrecorded 18th-century engraving—here enhanced with bright contemporary hand-color—depicting the ‘Black Madonna’ of Częstochowa, an icon of central importance to Polish Catholicism. The Black Madonna also was syncretized by Haitian Voudou to serve as the image of the spirit Ezilí Dantor (or Erzulie Dantò). Printed images of the Black Madonna dating from before the 20th century are, despite the icon’s long-standing popularity, quite rare today.
It has been suggested that the Black Madonna of Częstochowa was introduced to Saint-Domingue by Polish soldiers sent there in 1802 by Napoleon to suppress the slave rebellion. These soldiers carried in their pockets devotional prints of the Madonna used as amulets against harm (see, e.g., S. Rypson; E. A. McAlister; Kingsbury & Chesnut; and Y. Rodriguez). The Black Madonna of Częstochowa soon became widely connected in Voudou with Ezilí Dantor and was repurposed as a champion of revolutionaries, the downtrodden, and, more recently, lesbians, abused women, and unwed mothers.
The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, a Byzantine icon of the Hodegetria type, is preserved in Paulite Jasna Góra Monastery, located on a hill in Częstochowa, Poland. It is attested as having been there since the late 14th century. The picture—claimed to be a true likeness of the Virgin & Child painted by St. Luke—was discovered in Jerusalem by St. Helena in 1384 and taken by her to Constantinople. It was carried to Belz by Lev I of Galicia (r. 1269-1301) and then to Częstochowa by Władysław Opolczyk, Duke of Opole (r. 1367-72).
The panel was damaged by Hussite robbers in 1430. The distinctive parallel “scars” on Mary’s right cheek are said to have resulted from this attack. The rather dark color of the Virgin & Child (a feature observed in several notable Marian icons in Europe) is the result of various ageing processes and led to the image being called a ‘Black Madonna.’ In 1717 Pope Clement XI issued a decree of canonical coronation for the icon (see Maniura; Pasierb & Samek).
This engraving is unsigned. It depicts the Black Madonna icon in a simple frame. Careful attention is given to the coloration of the skin of the crowned Virgin & Child, which is engraved in a distinctive stipple technique and colored in a brown wash. The facing engraved text is a prayer to the Madonna in Polish.
OCLC, KVK, OMNIA and the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek do not locate this print, nor have I seen it illustrated in the literature on the Black Madonna.
* R. Maniura, Pilgrimage to Images in the Fifteenth Century: The Origins of the Cult of Our Lady of Czestochowa; Janusz Pasierb & Jan Samek, The Shrine of the Black Madonna at Czestochowa; E. A. McAlister, “The Madonna of 115th Street Revisited: Vodou and Haitian Catholicism in the Age of Transnationalism,” in R. Stephen Warner, Judith G. Wittner, eds., Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration, pp. 123-160; K. Kingsbury & A. Chesnut, “In Her Own Image: Slave Women and the Re-imagining of the Polish Black Madonna as Ezili Dantò, the Fierce Female Lwa of Haitian Vodou,” International Journal of Latin American Religions, vol. 3, no. 1 (2019), pp. 212-32; Y. Rodriguez, “Reading against the Grain of the Black Madonna Black Motherhood, Race and Religion, in K. Brooks, D. Willis, et al., eds., Women and Migration(s) II, pp. 135-154; S. Rypson, Being Poloné in Haiti: Origins, Survivals, Development, and Narrative Production of the Polish Presence in Haiti.