This relic appears in the biblical episode of the Flight into Egypt. This event in the life of Christ begins when King Herod learns of the birth of a young boy who would be God’s messenger on Earth. He then decides to send his army to kill all newborn male children: this is the Massacre of the Innocents.

Joseph, warned of Herod’s intentions by an angel, decides to flee to Egypt with his family. On the way, the Virgin stops in a cave not far from Bethlehem to nurse Christ. While Christ is suckling, a drop of milk falls into a barren cavity in the ground. From this cavity springs a source that covers the dark stone and transforms it into pure white.

This place later became a site of pilgrimage, where believers could collect fragments of this stone, known for its healing properties.

School of Utrecht, The Virgin Nursing the Child, circa 1450 – 1500, bas-relief, terracotta with traces of polychromy, 48 cm x 30 cm x 10 cm, Department of Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Sculpture, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.