Black Madonna Chapel at Kappelberg

Black Madonna Chapel at Kappelberg

On November 19, 1421, the southern Netherlands was struck by the devastating St. Elizabeth's flood, so-named for the saint's feast day. The flood is estimated to have claimed between 2,000 and 10,000 lives, with dozens of villages underwater. As legend holds, one skipper caught in the flood promised Mary, mother of Jesus, that if he were to survive his perils, he would build a chapel at the location where he would once again rest his feet on lan…