Our Lady of Bethlehem (Athlone Madonna)
Our Lady of Bethlehem
An old wooden statue of Our Lady holding the Christ Child is preserved in our monastery. It was carved from bog oak, hence the dark colour of the wood and the reason why she is known affectionately by the sisters as ‘The Black Lady’. She has accompanied our Community for the best part of four centuries. In art history circles the statue is often referred to as the ‘Athlone Madonna’ because the motherhouse of our Community was a monastery known as ‘Bethlehem’ near Athlone on the shores of Lough Ree. The Poor Clare community had arrived there in about 1631, having been expelled from Dublin. By 1642, the political situation in Ireland was such that remaining there would have been dangerous for the sisters. In January 1642, one group of sisters, among whom were some native Galwegians, left Bethlehem to make a foundation in the relatively safer environment of Galway .
Meanwhile, in the Summer of 1642, the remaining sisters in ‘Bethlehem’ were forced to flee. Mother Bonaventure Browne in her Chronicle of the early history of the Poor Clares in Ireland outlined what happened. (The excerpt below has been modernised by Fr. Celsus O' Brien)
The Sisters spent some weeks there until they were finally warned that the heretics were on their way to the convent. They then escaped in boats to the other side of the lake. Seeing that their evil intentions came to nothing, the ruthless heretics entered the convent and stayed there for three days and three nights. They ate all the food of the poor Sisters and made great sport and mockery of the altars, pictures, ornaments and sacred objects found there. Some of them put on the nuns’ habits and said as a jest, “Come let’s say Mass while you serve us”. Finally, they set fire to the convent and everything that was in it only God preserved miraculously the tabernacle in the Choir where the Most Blessed Sacrament used to be kept and before which the Sisters prayed fervently for deliverance from their enemies; and likewise an old statue of Our Blessed Lady. Both of these were made of wood.
