| According to legend this ‘Black
Madonna’ (as the locals still insist on calling her) was found
miraculously in a tree by an animal guiding its shepherd. (For more
on this theme see Olot.) This must have been
some time before the year 930 when she received her own church right
next to the parish church of the little village. Unusual indeed.
Black Madonnas often demand their own churches, but never right
next to an existing one. I suspect there was some feud between two
groups that refused to worship together.
Our Lady of Err has a powerful reputation for averting all kinds
of calamities. She heals humans and animals, ends droughts, and
stops fires. She puts all things in order.
In 1726 the parish council decides on the 2nd of July as the feast
day of the Black Madonna of Err, to be celebrated with a procession
that follows the exact same path ever since. The statue is taken
down from her high altar the night before to be closer to her people.
She is carried in procession by four girls wearing white dresses
and veils.
Ean Begg mentions "fairy grottoes" in connection with
this Madonna, but I couldn't find any more information about them.
("The Cult of the Black Virgin", Arkana,
1985, p. 187)
|

the two churches separated only by a cemetery |