Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Nuestra Señora de La Leche: A Holy Babe at the Breast

Nuestra Señora de La Leche: A Holy Babe at the Breast

Last updated on: August 16, 2024 at 4:12 am by Verónica A. Gutiérrez

0 Comments

Nuestra Señora de La Leche: A Holy Babe at the Breast 2024-08-16T04:12:45-04:00 Verónica A. Gutiérrez

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” –Luke 11:27-28

When the visiting priest from Nigeria read this Gospel passage on Wednesday night during the Vigil Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, my children, standing beside me in the pew, looked up at me and grinned. Unpacking our belongings in our new home, we’ve come across photo albums I made when the kids were babies. My boys’ favorite snapshot captures them both nursing simultaneously. I sit on our black living room sofa gazing down at the new baby who’s latched on and tucked into my right elbow, his tiny arm outstretched to push big brother’s forehead away after he wiggled in under my left elbow and latched on the other side. Even now, at 7 and 9, they still push each other out of the way when one of them wants “Mama Time.”

Nursing the brothers, 2017

******

There is an ancient devotion to the breastfeeding Virgin, or Our Lady of the Milk, dating to the earliest years of the Church. According to tradition, during the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Holy Family took refuge in an underground cave not far from the stable in Bethlehem. Before fleeing into Egypt with Joseph, the Blessed Mother nursed the Baby Jesus and a few drops of her breast milk fell onto the reddish-brown stones, rendering them creamy white. Around the corner from the Church of the Nativity and topped by a stone church that dates to 1838, the Milk Grotto is maintained by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and annually draws tens of thousands of pilgrims.

Hilda Berkley of Bethlehem prays at a painting of Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus at the Milk Grotto chapel in Bethlehem. RNS photo courtesy Debbie Hill/Catholic News Service.

Images and statues of a breastfeeding Virgin Mary, or “Maria Lactans” were once common religious art, illustrating how some in the Church considered her the “wet nurse of salvation.” Many believe that the devotion to Our Lady of the Milk is about 2000 years old, with the earliest known image of the Christ child suckling at his mother’s breast being a third century fresco in a catacomb in Rome.

The Virgin nursing her Child as a philosopher points to a star. Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome, c. 250 A.D.

“Milk shrines” and “lactation miracles” proliferated in the Middle Ages, with one popularly rendered image of St. Bernard of Clairvaux kneeling with folded hands, lips parted to receive breast milk that the Virgin squirts into his mouth. A theologian, preacher, and 12th century reformer of the Cistercian order, some argue that the key to his great wisdom was receiving the gift of the Blessed Mother’s milk.

Lactatio (milk wonder) of Bernhard of Clairvaux. From MS Douce 264, f.38v. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

According to Margaret Miles, a historian who traces the disappearance of the image of the breast-feeding Mary in A Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750,” statues, paintings, and icons of the nursing Mary faded out by the eighteenth century. Even as Miles encountered the appearance of non-Christian paintings of breast-feeding women, she found no evidence of religious imagery of this subject after 1750. Scholars attribute the breastfeeding Madonna’s decline to the rise of the printing press and consequent adaptation of moveable type, which served to sensationalize women’s bodies, contesting the idea that the body reflected the divine. The rise of Protestantism with its rejection of both religious imagery and of Marian devotions shifted Catholic focus away from the succor available in Our Lady’s breasts to the solace provided by the crucified Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. Over time, many Catholics came to consider the breast as an unbefitting image for the House of God.

In the United States, devotion to Nuestra Señora de La Leche y Buen Parto, or Our Lady of the (Breast) Milk and Happy Delivery, as she came to be known, dates to the first Castilian colony in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the continental U.S. [Side note: my research site, Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla, is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Americas].

Statue of Nuestra Señora de La Leche y Buen Parto
National Shrine, St. Augustine, Florida

In early September 1565, explorer and commander Pedro Menéndez de Avilés led five ships commissioned by Philip II into a little cove along the coastline of what the Castilians were calling “La Florida,” or “the Flowery One.” Their two-month journey had been treacherous, involving winds so strong the men confessed their sins and sought absolution even as they threw overboard barrels of water, cooking materials, millstones, reserve rigging, and cables. Were it not for the chaplain of the fleet interceding for the men, the captain would have thrown all of the men’s belongings into the furious sea.

Upon landing, Menéndez planted a cross and claimed the land for Spain in the name of God, hence the mission now known as Nombre de Dios. Details of the journey come down to us from a biographical sketch penned by Menéndez’s companion and brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solís de Merás, as well as the journal of the aforementioned fleet chaplain, a Franciscan named fray Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, who said the first Mass in the continental United States on a simple altar made of wood. It would be here, in what became the first Catholic parish in the U.S., that settlers introduced the popular Castilian devotion to Nuestra Señora de La Leche y Buen Parto. In 2019, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops elevated the church to national shrine status, and in 2021 it received a papally-approved canonical coronation.

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Florida

You can read the friar’s journal entry here, wherein he describes Castilian clashes with the French, Castilian capture of the French fort, and the execution of hundreds of Frenchmen for the crime of being Calvinists.

Lest you think this devotion is relegated to the past, not only are contemporary Latino Catholics keeping it alive, but there’s an active, international Facebook group with 10,000 followers dedicated to “La Virgen de la Leche y Buen Parto.” The group shares images of breastfeeding Virgin Marys and historical and devotional information, including an August 20, 2023 post explaining the symbolism of the image of St. Bernard of Clairvaux drinking the Virgin’s breast milk.

Despite being a life-long Catholic, a mom who meditated on the Virgin Mary’s motherhood during my four pregnancies, and a historian who studies Franciscans in the Americas in the sixteenth century, I somehow remained unfamiliar with the Lady of the Milk until now. In an effort to de-sensualize the breast for my sons and daughter and focus on the beautiful gift of feeding one’s children with one’s own body, I have shared with my little ones what I’ve learned about Nuestra Señora de La Leche. They love the idea that baby Jesus was just like them, suckling at the breast, sharing in the sweet milk, and even sweeter love, of his mother.

Castilian version of La Virgen de la Leche y Buen Parto

I think we’re going to find ourselves an image of Our Lady of the Milk nursing her Son and place it next to the image of me nursing my sons. United in motherhood. If only we could see the Virgin Mary in all nursing mothers. Let it begin with me.

Verónica A. Gutiérrez

Previous Post

August 15, 2024

Jews and Christians in Roman Palestine

Next Post

August 17, 2024 The Beginnings of Becoming the Pastor's Wife

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I love horror but would have to acclimate back to Lovecraft and especially Machen. Have ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"Very good point about MacDonald.I am certainly a Machen fan!"

philipjenkins

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"The Scottish author George MacDonald integrated fairy world into his fiction in a way that ..."

Terry

Fairies, Witches, Folk Horror, and the ..."

"I like the idea that we can have different streams. The coffee analogy is genius."

Lisa Clark Diller

How Do You Take Your Evangelicalism?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites eat in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Corn Fish Bread Manna