Several locations of archaeological finds of temples to the Oscan Goddess Mefitis along the Melfa river in Lazio in what is now the National Park of the Abruzzo point to Mefitis being a Goddess associated with all healing waters, not only “smelly ones” and a continuous tradition of the association of female deities, water, healing, and the oracular tradition up into the present day.
This is part 3 in a series of posts about Mefitis.
Read part 1: Mefitis: The Oscan Goddess of Oracles and Seers
Part 2: A Place of Worship for the Oscan Goddess Mefitis in the Valle d’Ansanto
The shrine in the Canneto Valley illustrates this most fully. This was a very large temple dedicated to Mefitis. Votive offerings were found there and it was clearly a healing center.
“Ancient popular traditions attest that in the Canneto valley, in the municipality of Settefrati not far from the town of Atina in the province of Frosinone, an Oscan deity, Mephite, has been venerated since ancient times, connected to the fresh springs and waters in general, with related symbolisms to rebirth and fertility. The pagan cult seems to arrive in this valley in a very remote period, around the 8th century BC as evidenced by the archaeological research carried out at the end of the last century and, as attested for other Samnite sanctuaries, the fulcrum of veneration is located at the sources of a water course, the Melfa, whose riverbed crosses and characterizes much of the surrounding area”(saniti.info/mefite.html).
The name Mefitis was found engraved onto a votive memorial stone at this location which is believed to have once held a statue of Mefitis. Here is a present day church to the Blessed Virgin Mary at Canneto. This church, like the shrine to Mefitis, is close to the source of the Melfa, which is a tributary of the Liri River. Here, a thousand meters above sea level, are waterfalls and beech forests.
The Blessed Virgin of Canneto also turns out to be a Black Madonna. The statue of the Madonna is described as:
“This is a wooden structure: brown face and penetrating eyes. In the tradition of Marian iconography, it is related to the ancient theme of the Madonna with Child enthroned. The Madonna (height 170 cm) is made of elm wood, the child (height 40 cm) of walnut”(https://cannetosociety.com/history/).
The modern story is that a shepherdess received a visitation from the Virgin Mother who asked for a church to be built for her at the location.
“It was built by Benedictine monks probably on the remains of a previous temple. From the archaeological excavations this place was a pagan place of worship dedicated to the Goddess Mefiti who in 400 AD was adapted by Christians”(https://www.discoverplaces.travel/en/experiences/activities/churches-and-places-of-worship/settefrati-sanctuary-madonna-di-canneto#:~:text=Settefrati.,of%20the%20Madonna%20di%20Canneto).
Like Mefitis, Black Madonnas are often associated with springs, healing waters and deep underground healing potentials. Marian shrines in general are often associated with curative water and healing. They are often built over the remains of earlier pagan shrines. Clearly this one follows in that tradition with Mefitis being the ancient version of the deity worshipped here. Similar stories of visitations from Mary requesting a church and the subsequent discovery of a statue populate Black Madonna shrines worldwide.
It it interesting to remember that the shrine to Mefitis in the valley d’Ansanto has a wooden sculpture of Mefitis. This Black Madonna of Canneto is carved out of the wood of a elm tree. This indicates the probability of many of the original Mefitis shrines at one time possessing wooden effigies. This would account for the lack of them that have been found since wood doesn’t often last through time. The Black Madonnas may very well harken back to figures of Mefitis and other pre-Roman female deities.
Many of the ancient temples were originally located in caves or grottoes holding the power of the inner earth to support life in the above. These small wooden statues sat upon a ledge within, where votive offerings were left to her. Petitioners entered the caves or grottoes, the dark spaces, to interact with her, sometimes for oracular purposes, sometimes for a blessing or wish. An answer to a prayer. Prayers for healing. The underground realm was believed to offer potent nurture, resurrection and restoration — the waters that arose from it even more so.
The fact that these statues are made from the wood of trees must not be overlooked. The Goddesses were the trees and the trees were the Goddesses. Diana the oak and the walnut. The origin of the wood for these statues would have been of utmost importance. It held the power of the Goddess within it.
The veneration of Mary and especially the Black Madonna is continuous of these traditions. Humans yet pilgrimage to these places with petitions and prayer.
Some believe the name of the river Melfa may even be related to the word Mefitis.
“The origin of the name is obscure, perhaps to be associated with the goddess Mefitis, worshipped in a sanctuary uncovered in 1958 at the place called Capodaqua, right below the source. Other toponyms from the same root include the locality Melfi a Pontecorvo, also near the Liri, seat of an ancient cult of John the Baptist; the city of Melfi and Molfetta, anciently Melficta; Melpum in the central Paduan plain, perhaps also Amalfi; in Lucania the hydronym Melpes is found”(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melfa).
Also found on the Melfa river is the shrine to Mefitis in Casalattico dating back to the 4th-3rd century BCE.
“The belief in the sacredness of life-giving water at the sources of rivers, springs and wells extends from prehistory to this century. We still hear of Living Water which imports strength, heals the sick, rejuvenates the old, restores sight, and reassembles dismembered bodies and brings them back to life. The cult of wells and thermal springs, especially those at the source of larger streams and rivers cannot be separated from the cult of the life-dispensing Goddess”(Gimbutus 43).
In Sepino, a location not on the Melfa river, a bronze statue of Mefitis holding a duck was found. The website of the park that is now located there says it is a migratory waterbird symbolizing the cycles of nature. This was a Samnite settlement surrounded by stone walls which contains the ruins of a triangular shaped temple within it. It is located in the current province of Molise. This temple continued to be used in Roman time until 7th century AD when it was dedicated to San Pietro.
Originally a Samnite temple in the 3rd century BCE with votive offerings and the “stupendous bronze statue of a female figure, positioned on a podium with a dedication in the Oscan language, brought together the values of “sanatio” of the deities and those connected to the sphere of fertility, reproduction and motherhood and therefore to the cult of Mephite, personified by the figure which should bear witness to the goddess”(www.sanniti.info/mefite.html).
“Sanatio” is latin for healing.
“Of the four elements, water — ruled by the moon —is most frequently associated with the feminine. It is the waters of life that surround the unborn child, and the primordial waters that are the fountain of life. Waterways, wells, miraculous springs and mysterious lakes have always been a favorite haunt of the Goddess”(Getty 74).
It is clear that the Goddess Mefitis fits into this summation and situates herself firmly into the category of primordial healing Goddesses and all that comes with that.
©Theresa C. Dintino 2026
Works cited:
Getty, Adele. Goddess. Thames & Hudson, 1990.
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. Harper & Row, 1989.
