In this final presentation in a series about the Black Madonnas we focus on the connection between between The Black Madonnas and Santiago de Matamoros. Oddly enough pilgrims go on and 800 mile trek every year from the southern border of France to a place called Santiago de Compostela. On the journey there are many sites dedicated to The Black Madonna and child where they can find respite and pray to the Madonna for strength, but in the end their final destination is dedicated to Santiago de Matamoros (the Black Killer). He is the patron saint of the Reconquista or the violent retaking of the Iberian Penninsula, known by the Moors, for 700 years as Al-Andalus, now known as Spain. It boggles my mind that they pray for strength to a Black woman and child, as they pay homage to the destruction of one of the most significant Black empires in history.

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