Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Pilgrim badge from the shrine of the Virgin of the Carmelite Friars, Toulouse in France. These would have been used to sew the badge onto its owner’s clothes. The Virgin Mary is depicted in the centre, sitting on a throne and wearing a crown. She holds a fleur-de-lys sceptre in her right hand and the infant Jesus Christ sits on her left knee. Christ is shown raising his right hand in blessing. There is a kneeling pilgrim on left, with a Devil flying out of her mouth, which shows that she has been miraculously cured of insanity (a reference to a miracle that took place at the shrine in 1265). On the right side is a male pilgrim who is standing, having left his hand-crutches on the ground, showing his miraculous recovery from paralysis. At the bottom of the badge is the figure of a kneeling Carmelite friar wearing a habit and a pointed hood. His hands are joined in prayer. Around the edge of the badge is an inscription: ‘+S[IGNVM]:BEATE:MARIE:DE:MONTE:CARMELI:THOL[OS]E’ (meaning ‘Sign of the blessed Mary of Mount Carmel of Toulouse’).

The Carmelite friars had originally been a group of hermits that settled on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land in the 12th century. They travelled to Europe in the 13th century to avoid persecution from the Saracens and one group settled in Toulouse. This group had a miracle-working image of the Virgin Mary which became a popular pilgrim attraction by the 1270s.