St. Philomena vs. Our Lady

Until 1862 the island had only one diocese at Santo Domingo.  In 1864 in the whole of Haiti there were only 34 priests caring for thousands in 65 parishes. Out of 516 priests who came from France after the signing of the concordat over three quarters had died or been recalled to Europe as invalids by 1906.  In 1909 there were 182 priests and 92 parishes; as well as a seminary and secondary school at Port-au-Prince, a college in Cap-Haitien dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. 

“The shrine of Saint Philomena in Bord-de-Mer-de-Limonade was renamed as the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help by the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape-Haitian in the 1980s in an effort to curb the freewheeling Vodou devotions that take place there. Pilgrims, however, have altogether ignored the Archdiocese’s decree, as on Perpetual Help’s feast day virtually no one attends Mass, while during Philomena’s feast, tens of thousands flock to the shrine.”

Our Lady as Warrior Goddess

The conflated image of the warrior goddess has such powerful political significance in Haiti any attempt to dissociate Our Lady from it is a potentially dangerous proposition.  The following excerpt from the website of a contemporary movement in Haiti, the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) describes how Haitian freedom fighters intentionally transformed the myth of Ezili.  The organization uses inflammatory language to call upon her to empower the people, in particular black women of Haiti, in the fight for lasting freedom and economic retribution for centuries of enslavement under European and American dominance.

“The power of myth, metaphor and archetypal psychology are no longer disputed. If we were to look upon Ezili Dantò as a major African-Haitian archetype, myth, metaphor or narrative and note Vodun’s major role in the Haitian revolution and that during the Haitian revolution, this archetype was the only spirit principle or hero who was injured, who actually lost her voice, then it would be easier to understand why our work at Ezili’s HLLN has used Vodun lexicon to describe modern pathologies and given the great mother Goddess, Ezili Dantò, her tongue back. Supposedly, after Bwa Kay Iman, in the course of the war for liberation and freedom, Ezili Dantò was the only higher spirit and the only female symbol of love and nurture that was mutilated. Her tongue was cut out. And thus, in some sections of Haiti when this intangible, invisible, untouchable and eternal energy manifests into form through a living Haitian being, it can’t talk. This generation of Haitians at Ezili’s HLLN is not willing to continue putting life into that particular neocolonial metaphor. At Ezili’s HLLN, our work intends to change the world, Haiti’s world, by changing the metaphors and colonial narratives and uplift the warrior mother Goddess Ezili Dantò’s spirit, Dessalines’ three Ideals and the Haitian paradigm for universal freedom. We understand the psychological warfare, neocolonialism, racism and paternalism that would silence the feminine warrior, Ezili Dantò and the role archetypes and archetypal psychology plays in the liberation, life, values and culture of a people."

Our Lady Patroness of Haiti

Many Haitians credit the Virgin Mary under the title of Perpetual Help in performing miracles to prevent a cholera and smallpox outbreak which ravaged the country in 1882. Former Haitian president Élie Lescot and his cabinet petitioned the Holy See to make Our Lady of Perpetual Help the national Patroness of Haiti in 1942 and the Pope Pius XII approved this petition. “Haiti was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the first black-led republic in the world, and the second republic in the Americas. Its successful revolution by slaves and free people of color lasted nearly a decade; all the first leaders of government were former slaves.” (BBC).  According to the CIA World Factbook the religious demographics of Haiti is as follows: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%. There are ten Catholic dioceses in with over 250 parishes and 1500 rural communities. The local clergy has 400 diocesan priests, 1300 missionary priests and 300 seminarians. Vocations to the priesthood are plentiful.

Haitian Vodou and Catholicism

Bondye

Although Catholicism is named as the official state religion in the Haitian constitution, the values and principles of the Catholic faith and Catholic moral teaching have little influence in Haitian government or society.  On his Papal visit to Haiti in 1983 Pope John Paul II criticized the government of then president Jean-Claude Duvalier.  The mix of Catholicism with West African and Taíno religious elements in Haitian Vodou is similar to the syncretism found in the Cuban Santería religion. The Vodou religion seems to have its roots in Benin (Dahomey), the country in West Africa where most of the slaves brought to the Haiti by colonists originated. “Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable creator god, Bondye. As Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, Vodouists direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called loa.  Former president of Haiti, Francois Duvalier (also known as Papa Doc), played a role in elevating the status of Vodou into a national doctrine. Duvalier was involved in the noirisme movement and hoped to re-value cultural practices that had their origins in Africa.”

Vodou Cult of the Black Madonna

Because of the religious syncretism between Catholicism and Vodou, it is difficult to estimate the number of Vodouists in Haiti. Vodou practitioners believe that if they obey all taboos imposed by their loa and offer proper sacrifices, their loa will come to them whenever they call.  Haitian Vodouists who adopt the Catholic faith transfer their spiritual understanding of the loa onto to their understanding of the Catholic saints.  Rather than letting go of their old traditions when they convert, they simply choose images and ideas from their new faith and add them to the beliefs they already hold about the spiritual realm.  For example, Haitian understanding of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and the daily sacrifice of the Mass are intermingled with their Vodou understanding of sacrifice.  "The intent and emphasis of sacrifice is not upon the death of the animal, it is upon the transfusion of its life to the loa; for the understanding is that flesh and blood are of the essence of life and vigor, and these will restore the divine energy of the god." Thus the Haitian understanding of the Black Madonna, Our Lady of Perpetual Help is mixed into their understanding of the loa. In a rural Haitian household one might typically find one or more tables set out for the ancestors, spirits and saints that the family serves with pictures or statues, perfumes, foods, and other things believed to show them honor.  Catholic devotion to Blessed Mother is often mixed into this ancient devotional practice in a way that causes concern to those trying to promote true devotion to Mary and the Catholic saints.  Catholic prayer to Our Father and the Hail Mary prayer are commonly used to salute the ancestral spirits along with the loa and the saints on days dedicated them.