18 AVIOTH (2): the Black Madonna (continuation of post 2: Avioth, a little cathedral in the fields)

The name Avioth seems derived from 'aqua', water, and by extension means ‘humid place’.  And indeed, there are rivers and a lot of springs  nearby.

Some authors think it means “place of Avius”, which is plausible too, because of the Gallo-Roman remains excavated there.

Others think it comes from “a vita” (to life), referring to the miracle of the stillborn babies brought back to life there (see further). 

The statue of Notre Dame d'Avioth dates from around 1100 AD (carbon-14 dated), and was originally black-dark brown, which makes her a 'Black Madonna'. This was testified by Jean Delhotel, priest at  Avioth, in his book “Bref Recueil de l'Etat de l'Eglise Notre-Dame d'Avioth” written  in 1668. The statue was polychromized somewhere during the 18^th century. The Christ she’s carrying is from a later date.

Originally, the site of Avioth was not inhabited. There were only thorn bushes/trees (probably maythorn, hawthorn) on a little hill, with a spring at the foot of the hill and the crossroads of minor (Gallo-)Roman roads where the river Thonne and the brook of Breux merge (see map).

During excavations in 1880, a small building was unearthed not far from the church, containing a stone statue representing a sitting goddess, not unlike the Celtic (Gallo-Roman) mother goddesses of the region. This could indicate a pagan origin of the cult at Avioth, but can't be proved of course.

The legend of Avioth tells us that on a deserted little hill, a Madonna statue was found by shepherds in a blosseming hawthorn tree close to a spring. The statue was transported to the Saint Brice church, back then the parish church of the region, but it returned at night to the place where it was found. This is a widespread legend when 'found' statues and Black Madonnas are concerned. It seems to indicate a conflict between the people and the church authorities about the cult place, or it shows that the clergy tried in vain to destroy an existing cult place, unauthorised by the church. 

Above all, Avioth was a shrine of temporary respite, the Madonna's main miracle there. Stillborn babies were laid on a stone in front of the statue, and the Madonna brought them back to life for the lapse of time needed in order to confer baptism before final death.

As an eye witness described it: “the movement of the veins in the members would return, their blood turned from the color black to red, and bloodletting or a hot sweat occured”. Jean Delhotel described numerous miracles like this during the 17^th century when he was pastor there, and he sounds very convincing, in other words he really believed they came back to life.

The stone in front of the statue

Blosseming Hawthorn