The Madonna of Montevergine: Mamma Schiavona

For the past few years I've been pretty deep in exploring Italian and Italian American Spirituality. It's been pretty great because I've recovered a few devotions that were near the brink of becoming nonexistent in my own family, and I've also learned about some ancient traditions from Italy that are incredibly spiritually fulfilling, particularly devotion to the Madonna di Montevergine, or Mamma Schiavona.

Mamma Schiavona is Italian for "Slave Mother" and this is a term of endearment given by the mostly Neapolitan devotees to the Madonna di Montevergine, a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary in the style of a Black Madonna. The name comes the understanding that the Madonna in her compassion associated herself as one the of slaves, the poor, outcasts, and those on the lowest levels and fringes of society; and as we shall see, with the LGBT community.

The main feast day for her is celebrated on the feast of Candlemas on February 2nd, marking the beginning of the season of pilgrimage. Devotees will make a pilgrimage up the mountain, carrying images of her, singing hymns, playing the tambourine, dancing, and praying.  Other important days are September 12, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, and May 22 the day specifically set aside for the Madonna of Montevirgine

She is considered the protector of LGBT people, going back to a legend where in the middle ages two men who were in love were caught kissing on the way to worship at her shrine. the local population driven hate, tied the two men to a tree in the forest near the shrine and left them to die of exposure in the cold and snow. The Madonna, however, was moved by how much the two men cared for each other, and caused the weather to suddenly warn, and the snow to melt, and freed them. The local population accepted this as divine intervention, and left the men alone from then on.

The devotion to the Madonna has its roots in the culture of the local countryside, where in ancient times different Pagan traditions were practiced for thousands of years before the coming of Christianity. The Mountain was said to have been sacred to the goddess Cybele, the Magna Mater or Great Mother, an ancient Earth Goddess believed to be the Mother of the Gods, that would inspire her devotees into ecstatic trances with music and dance; the church where the icon of the Madonna is housed is said to have been built on the ruins of a temple to Cybele.

In one legend, in ancient Italy, in the last years of the Second Punic War, many negative omens appeared, including a meteor shower, failed crops, and famine. After consultations with the Roman Augurs, Etruscan Seers, and Greek Oracles, it was understood that the Roman people were to ritually invite the Mother of the Gods, the Goddess Cybele, from her Mountain home in Asia Minor to come reside in Rome in order bring balance and ward off the negative omens.

When the ship arrived with the Sacred Stone of Cybele, it was declared that only the 'best men and women' of Rome were to ritually greet the Goddess at the harbor. As the the boat carrying the statue approached the harbor it became stuck on a sandbar in the River Tiber. Many people tried to pull the ship free, but it would not move, as if the Goddess herself had stopped the ship. It was then that Claudia Quinta, a woman had been accused of unchastity and was a target of gossip among the 'best men and women' of Rome knelt down in prayer to the Great Mother, beseeching her to come with her to Rome,  according to legend she then was miraculously granted the strength, with one hand, to free the boat from the sandbar and guide it herself into the harbor. When the sacred stone was brought to Rome, the negative omens stopped, the crops regained health, and the famine ended. Cybele it seems, like the Madonna, had a deep sense of compassion and respect for those who were shamed and ridiculed by society.

The Priests of Cybele in Italy were known as Galli. These priests, in order to serve the Goddess, would self castrate themselves in an ecstatic celebration as an act of permanent consecration to her service. They were from then on to live as women, wearing women's clothes, makeup, and jewelry. They celebrated and worshiped the Goddess through dance and song, performing public penances to achieve a state of ritual purity; they would walk through the streets singing praises to the Goddess while begging for charity, which they would in return offer oracles and blessings to those who gave to them. Although Roman citizens technically were forbidden from self castration, this was not limited to the bulk of the Italian population who were resident foreigners, slaves, or freed persons, as such many of the priests of the Great Mother tended to be from the lower classes of Italian society.

Today, among the peoples of Naples there is a traditional class of people known as femminelli: these individuals are culturally accepted as a third gender, those who were born male but who are called to live as women. They are considered to be under the special protection of the Madonna, and play a regular part in the pilgrimage to Montevergine. On the feast of Candlemas the femminelli of Naples will make their ascent up the Mountain with all of the other pilgrims to sing and offer praise to Mamma Schiavona. They are seen as a cultural precursor to those who today identify as transwomen. They are viewed in traditional Neapolitan society, like the ancient Galli, to have an air of sacred otherness, where they may offer blessings to infants and interpret dreams.

With Italy as the seat of the Vatican, the shrine of the Madonna of Montevergine is an alternative queer positive sacred sight. A combination of deep Folk Catholic devotion among the people of Naples, and an ancient spirituality as old as the Mountain itself. The Magna Mater, the Madonna, the Mother of God, and the Mother of Gods become one in Mamma Schiavona's unlimited and boundless love and compassion for those who live their life as they are called to do so. Her infinite love acting as a living embodiment of the Gospel words, "the last shall be first."