Our Lady of Monserrat: The Black Madonna and The Music of the Serrated Mountains

After traveling for an hour on a train from Plaza de España in Barcelona, Spain and then on a rack railway going up the mountain, I finally arrived at the Basilica of Our Lady of Monserrat. Looking at my do-it-yourself itinerary for this place, I thought it was like a mix of pilgrimage, a mountain hike, and a musical concert.  The Basilica sits on the side of Monserrat, a mountain in the Catalan region on the eastern part of Spain. Monserrat is the Catalan word for ‘serrated mountain’ because this mountain range looks like the teeth of a carpenter’s saw from afar.

This basilica is the home of the Black Madonna, or La Morenata, that has been visited by pilgrims from around Europe since the 1200s and has been venerated by millions of pilgrims from around the world. Although the present 38-inch statue of the sitting Virgin with the Child Jesus on the Basilica’s the altar was sculpted during the early years of this church and had gradually turned black over the centuries due to, as some say, candles and lamps lighted in her presence, there is a fascinating story about a mysterious statue that was found at the mountain.

(The Monserrat Abbey and 

the Basilica of the Black Madonna)

According to the legend, in 50 CE in Jerusalem, Saint Luke carved a statue of the Virgin Mary as she was sitting, using the carpentry tools of Saint Joseph. This statue was brought by Saint Peter to Hispania Romana (present-day Spain) and was kept in a church in the Catalonia region.  But when the Arab Muslims invaded Spain in the early 8^th century and were looting and destroying Christian artifacts, the statue was brought up to the mountain of Monserrat around 718 CE for safety. For many years, the statue, named La Jerosolimitana, or The Jerusalemite for having originated in Jerusalem, was forgotten.

But in 880 CE, shepherds in the lowlands saw bright lights emanating from high up the mountain and heard singing coming from that area.  After reporting this strange occurrence to the local bishop, they went up the mountain to investigate and found the cave where they saw the lights and discovered inside a statue of a lady in a sitting position. This cave was eventually named Santa Cova or Holy Cave as they all believed the place provided a home to the La Jerosolimitana all those years. But as they were transporting the statue down the mountain and towards Manresa, a city on the plains near Monserrat, the statue became heavier and heavier until it became physically impossible to carry. The bishop took this as a sign that the Virgin Mary did not want to be anywhere else but to remain on these serrated mountains. She was brought back to Monserrat where a small church was then built around her.

(The view of the plains of Catalonia 

from the Monserrat Mountains)

Although the abbey was founded in 1025, the construction of the church that eventually became a basilica started in the 16^th century and had experienced destruction during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19^th century when the retreating armies of Napoleon went up to Monserrat and destroyed the abbey. But with divine providence, the monks were able to hide the Black Madonna and saved it from destruction. Another significant event occurred on March 25, 1522, when Saint Ignatius of Loyola, after a vigil in front of the Virgin, gave up his sword and dagger at her altar. In 1880, Pope Leo XIII declared Our Lady of Monserrat at the Patroness of Catalonia, Spain, and in 1982, Saint John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Monserrat and prayed in front of the Black Madonna.

It was one cool autumn morning when I set foot on this mystical mountain. By noon that day, I successfully found a seat inside the Basilica near the front of the altar Basilica, joining the thousands of pilgrims awaiting a group of Catalan boys who would sing at the altar. The boys’ choir is L’Escolania de Monserrat, one of the oldest boys’ choirs in Europe, having been founded in the 1200s by a monk. Throughout the year but except during their summer break, this choir of 50 boys, who all live and study at Monserrat, sings inside the Basilica at 1PM and during vespers.

  (Pilgrims listening to the L'Escolania boys' choir)

Sitting next to a lady from Argentina, I introduced myself as a pilgrim from ‘Las Filipinas’ and chatted with her in my basic Spanish. And as she expressed her excitement to hear the L’Escolania de Monserrat, I told her I was once a choir boy myself and knew the dedication and discipline that went with it. I also told her that at this moment, I’d rather be a pilgrim and an audience member listening to the music sung on an altar that’s high up on a mountain that has seen the strength of faith as well as the cruelty of evil, and the devotion to the Virgin as well as the conversion of those who went astray.

As the choir sang El Virolai, the hymn written in the Catalan language and dedicated to Our Lady of Monserrat, its lyrics sing of the Virgin as “Rosa d’abril…Morena de la serra…de Monserrat l’estel” or “April rose…dark-skinned lady of the mountain…you’re the star above Monserrat”. Though the language of these songs was not my own, I sat there sharing the same devotion the music professed. While listening, I wondered whether this was the kind of music the shepherds heard the first time more than a thousand years ago when they were called to go up the mountain.  But the same heavenly sound or not, I realized that this music, that has serenaded the Virgin Mary and has been heard by countless pilgrims for more than a century and sung by young voices pure of heart, strengthens your devotion and enriches your soul whether you are a shepherd, or a pilgrim from afar.

(Standing on one of the lower peaks of Monserrat where shepherds and pilgrims, as well as Napoleon's soldiers, must have wandered, traveled and fought a war)