Visiting the Virgin of Montserrat in New York City

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.

A good friend of mine has recently taken a deep dive into the Black Madonnas of Europe, so when I mentioned visiting the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in Manhattan and seeing its beautiful statue of Our Lady of Montserrat of Catalonia, Spain, he readily jumped at the opportunity.

A beautiful church in the neoclassical and neo-baroque architectural style located in the Upper East Side, we were more than a little disappointed (but, admittedly, not entirely surprised) to see banners with garish images of leftist ideologues hanging around the sanctuary.

Before the bye-Alter with the statue of the Black Virgin and along the Communion rail, we began a four-day “Crusade of Prayer,” culminating on the feast of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola (July 31st), for the rejection of heresies within the church and in reparation for the insults and blasphemies against Our Lord Jesus Christ.

After Our Prayers, We Wanted to See More Art

Since we were in the vicinity and invigorated by our prayers, we decided to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Still on a high from our recent visits to the Sketches Among the Ruins, A Focus on the Figure, and Into the Woods installations at the Morgan Library and Museum in Midtown Manhattan, we made it a point to view similarly themed works.

Unfortunately, the pre-1800 European painting galleries are still closed for renovations and won’t be reopening until Fall 2023. Thankfully, the Met’s collection is so vast, we were still able to see many wondrous works in the American Wing, Drawing and Prints, and the 19th and Early 20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture halls.

A View near Tivoli (Morning), 1832, oil on canvas, Thomas Cole (1801-1848)

Shepherdess with Her Flock, ca. 1852, Conté crayon with stumping,
Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) 

Trees in a Thicket, 1845, Conté crayon, Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867)

Rocky Landscape, ca. 1845-50, black chalk on brown paper,
Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

(L) Study for Suffer the Little Children Come unto Me, 1792-96, black and white chalk on paper with gray-blue gouache, Angelica Kauffmann (141-1807).
(R) In the Woods, 1855, oil on canvas, Asher B. Durand (1796-1886)

Wanderer in the Storm, 1835, oil on canvas, Julius von Leypold (1806-1874)