Leslie Miller | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Brother Mickey McGrath first discovered the Catholic Church’s long history of Black Madonnas many years ago on an art pilgrimage to Spain, where he visited Our Lady of Montserrat, near Barcelona. St. Ignatius of Loyola famously prayed before the statue of the Black Madonna in 1522 and had a conversion of heart. He laid his sword at her feet, gave up being a soldier and went on to found the Jesuits.

Brother Mickey, a religious brother in the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, spoke and showed art from his latest book, “Madonnas of Color,” Jan. 24 at St. John Neumann Church in Reston, served by the Oblates.