Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Notre Dame de Belloch (history,anyone?)



I've always been intrigued by this particular image of Our Lady since I "discovered" her almost two summers ago. It is a statue classified as a Black Madonna in Dorres, France, in a little village called "Belloch." (or Belloc) She is of an Oriental origin, and was found in the 11th century. She is known as Notre Dame de Belloch. If anyone, and I mean anyone, has any information at allabout this peculiar statue of the Blessed Mother & Christ, please, please, leave a comment. I'm desperate for information! Thanks!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, there is a story behind this and it is in one of Joan Carrol Cruz' books, I believe. I'm too tired to translate the French, but will do that tomorrow if I dont find it in her book. I believe it's in Miraculous Images of Our Lady and you will find tons of source material there for your blog!

Anonymous said...

OK I left my book at my mom's and I can't find the full story and the french versions aren't telling the whole story. But if I remember, they found the statue and then tried to move it to the church but when they went back it was gone and they found it back in its original location! They kept trying to put it in the church but it kept disappearing to the original spot. Finally they prayed and pledged, "We're going to build a sanctuary at this spot, where we found the statue!" and then it stopped going back. So they did build it. Here are some pictures:
http://guillaumebertrand.free.fr/voir/belloch.htm

maria belloch said...

Hello I am called Maria Belloch, it is my first name not my surname. I call this way for this virgin Mi grandmother was born in Dorres, and always I had made clear that the virgin appeared during an August. A shepherd found her. It(he,she) tried to take her to the people(village), but on having gone down realized that habia missing person of his(her,your) bag(stock exchange).
It(He,She) returned to rise and found her in the same site(place). Like that you change times. Ultimately it(he,she) her(it) managed to go down to the village and during the night it snowed on the mountain, but only in the top. The villagers believed that it was a sign of the virgin and there they constructed his(her,your) chapel him(her)

Josh said...

Thank you Marie and Maria Belloch! Your information has helped me greatly! Please visit my new blog at http://catholicmysteriesmarvelsandmiracles.blogspot.com/

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Josh

Anonymous said...

Josh, c'est une légende l'histoire du berger, on la réalité !

Anonymous said...

Sorry, in english, better.
Josh, it's a legend, of course the story of the shepherd, not reality! Like most of those around the "discovery" of the black virgin statues France, around the twelfth century. Sculptors produced them, at the time when St Bernard preached the worship of the Virgin, the Good Mother and the faithful are turning away from old cults was fabricated stories discovered by farmers or shepherds and miraculous return. In fact priests and monks brought them back to the scene once practiced by ancient cults, Druidic or otherwise, Mithra, etc. who were already in sacred places, if only by their location in Terrestrial and celestial waves at the crossroads. They are inspired statues of Isis Egyptian, hence the hieratic stiffness following the Crusades, where many artists accompanied knights and faithful. They are strong, beautiful and splendid remains in France as very few ancient statues than Belloch, (eleventh century), copy of the Puy virgin of Rocamadour, others are more recent. I invite you to read the ovrage "The Book of Egypts" at Lafont, who has just been published and where I wrote the chapter on "black women" .... And where I give my version of their origins.