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The sacred image, a beautiful polychrome wood carving from the XII/XIII centuries, rests on a block of polished stone on the mountain of Montserrat, at the base of which there is a Saint Michael by Joseph Granyer (1899-1983). Léon XIII declared her the patron saint of the Catalan dioceses. The dark colour of the face and hands, because of which she is considered a black Madonna, have led Catalan followers of the virgin to refer to her familiarly as Moreneta The colour is not due to the wood, which is not black, nor to the primitive paint; there are historical testimonies which indicate that the wood has slowly turned darker. Before the image of this Virgin, Saint Ignatius of Loyola reaffirmed his religious vocation and like him, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world have come to this spot over the ages to bear witness to their faith and to pray to this image of unusual beauty.