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The Virgin Mary’s breast milk has been the subject of veneration for centuries and even today couples battling infertility often imbue it with miraculous powers. This is especially true at the Chapel of the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem, where faith and fertility go hand in hand.
The Milk Grotto in Bethlehem, Palestine, is dedicated to the divine maternity of the Virgin Mary. Both Christian and Muslim believers claim that when the Holy Family found refuge during King Herod ’s Massacre of the Innocents , Mary spilled some drops of her breast milk which turned the cave’s walls to a chalky white.
People still drink the powder of the limestone rock of the cave walls, known as Virgin Mary milk powder, to cure their infertility. The faithful often share stories of miraculous births after praying at the grotto, reported the BBC. At the entrance of the Chapel of the Milk Grotto there are hundreds of letters describing these miracles sent in from all over the world.
These days, the underground cave is filled with altars and artworks of the Virgin Mary and her child. But the site has been a place of homage since the 4th century AD, with a church being built in the Byzantine era. Pope Gregory XI granted permission to enlarge the church in the 14th century and the current Chapel of the Milk Grotto was built in the 19th century.